TELEVISION OPINION: An Ode To Young Justice and the Comic Book Animated Universe

The two comic book juggernauts, Marvel and DC, have put a lot of their attention in putting their characters on the big screen. As businesses, you cannot blame them.  They have the opportunity to reach so many more people in movies with their characters (or intellectual property if you want to look at it that way), and the revenue gained from DVD/Blu-Ray sales, Pay-Per-View, and syndication is pretty hefty. The problem is that these movies can take a long time to make.  Also, when using real actors, a producer or director’s vision is limited to what technology and the studio’s bank account can spare. For awhile, no one thought comic book movies were marketable.  Now, you don’t stand a chance to break even unless the movie IS based on a comic book. It is crazy how far the adaptation of comic books for other media has gone. 

However, I have always felt that the television-animated universe from both companies has largely been underappreciated. The cartoons about these heroes are what kept them relevant throughout the years. They also kept our appetites satisfied between the blockbuster movies. I wish more people would support these shows because they generally have a hard time lasting more than a couple seasons, with a few exceptions. Both Marvel and DC have released high quality animated series with great writing, character development, plot development, and voice acting. Many of these shows deserve as much critical acclaim as the best primetime dramas on ABC or HBO. They will always have a soft spot in my heart; these shows were a big part of my youth and still garner my attention more than any other popular television program that exists. That isn’t saying much since most television programs have become reality TV garbage. But even compared to the best current programs, a lot of these animated shows are just as good, if not better.

That’s not to say that both Marvel and DC have made some controversial decisions along the way.  Back in 2009, the Walt Disney Company purchased Marvel Entertainment LLC for some ridiculous amount of money.  At the time, many looked at it as a mistake, but nowadays whoever came up with the idea is considered a genius. However, after acquiring Marvel, the powers-that-be made two decisions regarding animated shows that left many fans scratching their heads.


The first one was their decision to not renew the critically acclaimed series The Spectacular Spiderman for a third season and instead develop another series called Ultimate Spiderman, which premiered in April 2012. This decision really upset fans, me included.  Since the classic Spider-Man: the Animated Series ended in 1998, there have been nothing but Spiderman cartoons dripping of wack juice since. For example, I remember some show called Spiderman Unlimited where Spidey goes into the future. It was so wack that it only lasted one season. Another Spiderman series came out in 2003 on MTV, but the corny voice acting and CGI animation left a lot to be desired. It also lasted one season (that probably has more to do with MTV than the program’s quality).  Spectacular Spiderman was the first show in a long time to actually get it right.  It had great stories, voice acting, and character development. Some had issues with the animation, but I thought it was way better than that CGI bullshit that MTV pulled out of their ass.  The show was just starting to hit its stride at the end of the second season, but Marvel pulled the plug without any good explanation. Worst of all, its replacement, Ultimate Spiderman, isn’t anywhere near the same quality. Spiderman is now working for S.H.I.E.L.D.; he works on a team with teenage versions of Power Man, Nova, Iron Fist, and White Tiger. Mary Jane is now an aspiring journalist and not an actress, and every joke from Spidey seems like it came from Family Guy, but without the explicit content AND without being funny. I could deal with this new interpretation if the episodes were good, but except for a couple, they are mostly garbage. When it comes to writing episodes, they just pick a random villain or hero and then “write a plot” around it. Of course, with a show this bad, they decided to renew it for a second season.  Yay.  With writers Brian Michael Bendis and Paul Dini behind this, I don’t understand why it turned out so poor.  The fact that Marvel canned a great show to make way for this garbage is just shit-flavored icing on the cake.

The second controversial decision that Marvel made was to cancel another critically acclaimed series, The Avengers: Earth’s Mightiest Heroes, in favor of a new show called Avengers Assemble. The new show is supposed to be in line with the 2012 Avengers movie, which is a sign that Disney has definitely taken over the Marvel franchise. If you know Disney, then you know that they exploit any popular item to death until they have squeezed every last dime from it, no matter what it does to the brand. In this case, they unfortunately got rid of a good show to accomplish this. The Avengers: Earth’s Mightiest Heroes was actually the best adaptation of Marvel characters besides Spiderman and the X-Men that has been released so far. Prior attempts to make Iron Man/Hulk/Avengers cartoons had failed, but this show actually pulled it off. The show did a great job interweaving the classic Avengers story arcs with the modern story arcs. The show even started with the original line-up for the Avengers and stuck with the original story behind Captain America’s introduction to the Avengers. It really was not until the end of the second season that the quality of the episodes really went down hill, which I blame on the fact that the show’s producers knew that it wasn’t going to get renewed. Knowing that, motivation to make quality episodes probably went down the tubes.

As much as Marvel has had its hiccups concerning their animated shows, DC has definitely taken the cake.  As I write this, we are within two episodes of the series finale of the animated series Young Justice, which Cartoon Network has not renewed for a third season. The show premiered in November 2010 and was immediately praised for its writing and voice acting (I should note that Greg Weisman, the producer for Young Justice also produced Spectacular Spiderman as well as another excellent cartoon called Gargoyles that Disney eventually fucked up).  However, since its premiere, Young Justice has dealt with long, unexplained delays within seasons, piss-poor promotion, and inconsistent airtimes.  As a result, the show has had a hard time gaining an audience, and the long delays have crippled its momentum. I remember seeing the pilot episode in November 2010, and because I didn’t know when it would air again, I assumed that the pilot episode was just one of DC’s animated movies that Cartoon Network airs periodically. It looked like DC was finally getting it right when it started the DC Nation animated block in April 2012, putting the show alongside Green Lantern: The Animated Series, which has also not been renewed for another season (it’s good but not great, and nothing compared to Young Justice). Once again, though, the powers that be made another huge mistake.  After a 3-month hiatus, the show premiered two new episodes in October 2012.  Then, after promoting a third new episode to premiere the following week, the episode was suddenly pulled from the lineup without explanation and replaced with a new cartoon based on the movie How To Train Your Dragon (enjoyed the movie, but I wanted to see Young Justice, not that shit). A couple days later, Cartoon Network stated on its Twitter and Facebook page that new episodes would continue in January 2013. Fans, including myself, were understandably irate. Some started petitions to bring back DC Nation from its hiatus (the Green Lantern show was pulled as well). I signed a few, and since the new episodes have aired without any interruptions, I thought that those petitions had actually made a difference.  However, when Cartoon Network announced its 2013-2014 lineup in January, Young Justice was missing, signaling the end of another good show on Cartoon Network. Now, we are left counting down the episodes until the end, hoping for a miracle.

In a perfect world, Cartoon Network deserves the blame for this bullshit.  They have notoriously fucked over other good shows through the same actions, including, in my opinion, Justice League Unlimited. The network has faced criticism for years for ending good shows for no damn reason and keeping shows that fans cannot stand.  However, DC and Cartoon Network are under the same umbrella (Time Warner, Inc.), so they are all to blame. At the end of the day, every good cartoon based on comic books ends too soon.  We never figure out exactly why it happens, but it always points to the same culprits: Disney and Time Warner.

I keep wondering why this keeps happening, especially within the last decade or so.  I know that the production costs for many of these shows are high. No longer can shows use the same footage for multiple episodes (even Spider-Man: the Animated Series did it multiple times, as if nobody would notice). It has got to be brand new every time, or all hell will break loose. In addition, you need people to write the scripts, voice actors, voice acting directors, producers, etc.  All these people cost money, and I am sure that it’s not cheap. Furthermore, the rights to every character used on the shows don’t necessarily belong to either DC or Marvel. Selling the rights to one character might limit its use in other mediums. That is why certain villains did not appear in Spider-Man: the Animated Series. It is also why many heroes and villains were either absent in Justice League Unlimited or re-tooled to have an alternative identity. In fact, Young Justice was going to lose the ability to use the Milestone characters in the show due to losing the legal battle for their rights (Icon, Rocket, Static Shock, etc.). I guess that the law is the law, but I believe that the inclusion of these characters was a tribute to the late great Dwayne McDuffie, who was also instrumental in crafting the shows from the original DC animated universe.

I also believe that the audience has changed. No matter how much Cartoon Network tries to ignore it, the fact is that adults watch cartoons as well. Many show creators reflect that truth and incorporate mature storylines into their shows. I would not be surprised that this could conflict with a network’s desired audience. Young Justice definitely had that problem. The characters were dealing with real life situations, facing and coping with tragedies, and dealing with romantic relationships. Some moments were surprisingly violent, though not over the top. I saw the same issues arise with Justice League, and I wonder if that’s what signaled its untimely demise.  Despite the critical acclaim that these shows receive, the network’s wishes seems to be the only thing that matters, and the network always wins. The sad part is that many comic book animated series are not adult enough for the adult networks.  They are not edgy enough for Spike or FX, not alternative enough for G4 or SciFi, or not explicit enough for HBO or Showtime. There appears to be no middle ground, although there might be some hope on the The Hub, which has been showing old episodes of Batman: The Animated Series and Superman: The Animated Series on a regular basis. Maybe that could be a landing spot for DC Nation, but I doubt that Time Warner is going to give it up just for the love of comic books, unless it increases its revenues.

I am truly sad about the cancellation of Young Justice. The only thing that I hope can be done is to never let this happen again. Good shows will come in the future, but networks have to understand how to market, promote, and utilize these shows for their needs. Honestly, as much as people love comic book characters these days, all you have to do is tell us when it will be on, and we will watch it. We do not want any bullshit issues with programming and airtimes. Just put on a good show, and we will come. Furthermore, as an audience, we need to support the good shows and not support the bad ones. With all the complaints about Ultimate Spiderman as a whole, people are still commenting on how bad each newly aired episode is. I think people are hoping that it will get better, but it never does. I fell for the same thing in the first season, and you know what I am doing for the second season? I am NOT WATCHING THAT SHIT! If you hate it, don’t watch it! You sit through a bad show, and the network gains ratings and more ad revenue, prompting them to keep playing the same thing over again. It is a small step, but eventually, they will notice.

Anybody that remembers the greatness of The Incredible Hulk (the first season only), The Spectacular Spiderman, Wolverine and the X-Men, Justice League Unlimited, and now Young Justice, do not want this to happen again . . . but it will.  It sucks because there won’t be a high quality show like the aforementioned programs for another 5 years. There seems to be nothing we can do about it, but if you are like me and cannot just sit and do nothing, then just do what you can. Right now, I am going roll up in a ball and weep and then continue the fight tomorrow.