Not long ago, I bought the Strangers in Paradise Omnibus. It’s the kind of thing I love—take something awesome, and collect all of it, regardless of scope and size, in one big-ass box. So it was a pleasant surprise when, about three weeks ago, Warner Brothers Home Video sent me The Complete Justice League animated series in the mail.
Now, I won’t lie—I was never a huge fan of the show when it was on the air. I’d only ever seen a couple of episodes, and they were the ones that revolved around characters like Booster Gold and Green Lantern, who I already follow. Sitting down with this box set finally gave me a real sense for what it was that made so many fans love Justice League and Justice League Unlimited—it’s certainly a step above most of the other animated series on the air right now in terms of both craftsmanship and content.
The best part of the collection, for me, was the special features, though. The commentary tracks were both informative and entertaining (something that frankly doesn’t happen most of the time), and the documentaries about the making and history of the show, aren’t perfect but they’re a lot more interesting than the ones that have been on the DC Universe original DVDs. The crew of the series clearly have a passion for the characters and the concepts of the DC Universe, and it’s interesting to hear conversations about things like redesigning the Green Lantern Corps and making sure that about 99% of all the crazy aliens in the background are actual DC Universe beings.
The Superman and Batman series that have been released lately are almost as exciting—but the scope of the Justice League series is something that’s pretty hard to reproduce. This show is, of course, the precursor to the Brave & the Bold series that’s currently on Cartoon Network, except that this one’s a lot more watchable for older, smarter audiences. It’s safe to say it’s probably the best comic book TV adaptation ever done, and the collected edition is a great value.
