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November YJ includes Peter David’s first episode

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By Jason Kirk / 01 November 2011 / Animated Shows & DVDs / 0 Comments

Cartoon Network have released the schedule for Young Justice episodes in November and a number of descriptions will be familiar to readers of the original comic book. Episodes 16-18 are titled “Failsafe”, “Disordered”, and “Secrets”. That third episode will be written by Peter David, the original writer of the YJ (first series) comic book.  Possible spoiler details after the break:

The episode descriptions are:

“Failsafe” by Nicole Dubuc

Episode 16 — Airing November 4th — During an alien invasion, the team faces the ultimate challenge when they are forced to replace the fallen Justice League!

“Disordered” by Andrew Robinson

Episode 17 — Airing November 11th — Conner Kent’s pet Sphere has undergone a startling transformation, bringing it to the attention of the forever people of New Genesis. Turns out Sphere originally belonged to them… and they want it back!

“Secrets” by Peter David

Episode 18 — Airing November 18th — On Halloween, Artemis and Zatanna go to Manhattan for a night on the town, only to be hunted by Harm, a psycho-in-training, hiding a deadly secret…

The plot of “Disordered” – the Forever People’s Supercycle – was a subplot that ran from the very first issue of the team’s original comic book series. While “Secrets” features the introduction of a character (Harm) and teases the existence of another very popular character (The Secret) from YJ’s run.

[Descriptions from World's Finest, writer names from Ask Greg]

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Justice League: Doom trailer

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By Jason Kirk / 17 October 2011 / Animated Shows & DVDs / 4 Comments

The first trailer for Justice League: Doom, the next DC Universe animated-DVD after the just released Batman: Year One, has premièred online. The film featured the Legion of Doom, led by Vandal Savage, as they attempt to destroy the Justice League using plans stolen from the Batman. The film is written by the late Dwayne McDuffie and is based (loosely) on “Tower of Babel” by Mark Waid.  The League’s voices are preformed by Kevin Conroy (Batman), Tim Daly (Superman), Susan Eisenberg (Wonder Woman), Carl Lumby (J’onn J’onzz), Michael Rosenbaum (Flash, Barry Allen this time) from the old DCAU days and they are joined by Nathan Fillion (Green Lantern Hal Jordan).

Updated: 2011/10/20 with higher-quality trailer from IGN’s Youtube channel.

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Young Justice returns & wins an Emmy

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By Jason Kirk / 18 August 2011 / Animated Shows & DVDs / 0 Comments

It’s been a while in the coming, but new episodes of Young Justice are returning to Cartoon Network’s schedules as of Friday, September 16th. World’s Finest report that the first new episode will be “Targets” which features Red Arrow’s continued encounters with the League of Shadows. The first new YJ episode is being shown back-to-back with a new episode of Batman The Brave and the Bold. The block starts at 6pm and Young Justice starts at 6.30pm (check your local guide for confirmed listings). Additionally, TV Shows on DVD are reporting that the second volume of the Young Justice DVD series will be available a month later on October 25th. The DVD will feature “Schooled”, “Infiltrator”, “Denial” and “Downtime”.

Congratulations are in order for Young Justice character designer Phil Bourassa who according to YJ co-producers Brandon Vietti and Greg Weisman has won an Emmy for his work on the series. Vietti, in complementing Bourassa, said:

Maybe I’m a little partial, but I think Phil has raised the bar for design in action/adventure animation in the US.

In tangentially related news, DC have released a series of trailers and TV commercials to spotlight the new 52. This makes me wonder (warning: unproven conspiracy theory) if YJ and BBATB were held back to synchronise them with the launch of the publicity for the New 52. This is the 30-second ad:

Not too bad visually, but I’m not a fan of the music.

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Young Justice at SDCC

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By Jason Kirk / 27 July 2011 / Animated Shows & DVDs / 0 Comments

The Young Justice panel at SDCC was on Sundayz but there has been very little online buzz about it as far as I can tell. This may be because YJ isn’t currently airing and Cartoon Network haven’t yet begun their promotional push for its return in the Fall. There was a poster shown around at the Con promoting the return, but I haven’t been able to find a high-resolution copy of it yet.

In attendance at Comic-Con were the producers Brandon Vietti and Greg Weisman, Miss Martian voice talent Danica McKellar, and lead character designer Phil Bourassa.

About the only write up of the actual YJ panel I’ve found is by YJ Blogger of the Young Justice blog. Her write up is great and shows that a lot of enthusiastic fans were there for the panel. However, she also confirms that the producers didn’t reveal any spoilers and really just talked about their vision for the show.

The WB.com was there with a short report for Youtube:

Buzz Focus interviewed McKellar at the signing and she revealed some of the details of working with Nolan North’s Superboy:

When I asked her if she record her lines for the movie by herself or with her fellow cast members she said in person, especially with Nolan North. “He and I almost always record together,” McKellar said. “And it’s good too because we’ve (our characters) got this romance going on and I can tell you that there’s going to be a kiss. In fact, the kiss is real. They had us kiss in the booth, which is very rare. In voiceover, they always have usually asked to kiss (the top of) our hand [demonstrates].

But they said, ‘it doesn’t quite sound right.’ At the time I was eight months pregnant so I was like, [drawing with her hand how big her stomach was] “Well, sure!” but Nolan felt all weird about it. “Are you okay with this? This feels wrong.” Yes I’m okay, I’m an actress, I’ve done this before.’ It’s a sweet kiss but still a very real kiss in the booth.

You can find photographs of their signing at Seat24F and on the @danicamckellar’s twitter stream (below):

DC Women Kick Ass posted that Velro-Chick had found a set of playing cards that were being distributed at the con showing character designs of upcoming characters including the Joker, Queen Bee, Zatanna, and a range of villains. Perhaps most intriguing is the inclusion of the Milestone character Rocket on the cards.

The panel included a showing of “Targets”, the next episode which was briefly leaked online by Cartoon Network’s own website. World’s Finest has a couple of clips from Targets as does Toon Zone.

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Young Justice Season 1 & 2 progress

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By Jason Kirk / 19 July 2011 / Animated Shows & DVDs / 2 Comments

Young Justice co-producer Greg Weisman has updated his S8 Ask Greg feed with details of the current status of the show. He addresses several myths and shoots down some fan rumours/theories.

One thing he does stress is that the show is a co-production between himself and Brandon Vietti. It seems Vietti’s name often gets left off of articles. I think I may be guilty of this myself at times (Sorry Mr Vietti), it’s probably because Weisman makes more noise via  his Ask Greg column and the comic book.

There is also an update on the episodes:

Season One

In brief: episode 10-15 are finished and episode 16 is undergoing its final review. As to when they’ll return to air:

So why aren’t we airing new episodes now? That’s a fair question that I don’t have an answer for. After all, we have six unaired episodes in the can, with four more on the verge of completion. It’s a Cartoon Network decision. [...] My best guess – and that’s all it is – is that CN will air new episodes – starting with 110 (“Targets”) – in September.

Season Two

Season Two of Young Justice was commission a little while ago and is subtitled “Invasion”. We’ve had few details of its plot, but it would seem that work is progression apace. The progress on the scripts is

  • Episodes 201-202 (i.e. Season Two, Episodes one and two) – Are fully recorded and are in storyboard. (201 was written by me. 202 by Nicole Dubuc.)
  • Episode 203, written by Kevin Hopps, is almost fully recorded. We have one actor left to pick up, who has been out of town. It is also in storyboard.
  • Episode 204, written by me, will record this week. It is also in storyboard.
  • Episode 205 – Brandon Vietti, has turned in his draft of the script. I have to read and edit it.
  • Episode 206 – The outline, written by Peter David and edited by me, went out Monday for notes, which are due tomorrow.
  • Episode 207 – Kevin Hopps turned in his outline, which I need to read and edit.
  • Episode 208 – I’m writing this one. I’ll start the outline, after I’ve edited the outline to 207.
  • Episode 209 – Jon Weisman turned in his outline, which I need to read and edit.
  • Episode 210 – Kevin Hopps is working on his outline.

Great to see that Peter David’s association carries over to the second season. They haven’t officially been given the word on episodes past 210, but his bosses have nevertheless told him to prepare work for episodes 211-220 of Season 2. It will begin airing in 2012 as part of the new DC Nation cartoon block.

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Young Justice & GL panels at SDCC 2011

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By Jason Kirk / 21 June 2011 / Animated Shows & DVDs, General / 0 Comments

Warner Brothers TV have released their panel schedule for next months San Diego Comic Con. Included is a Young Justice panel on the Sunday (July 24th) with both producers and lead character designer in attendance.

SUNDAY, JULY 24, 2011 10:00–11:00 a.m. Young Justice Screening and Q&A – Robin, Aqualad, Kid Flash, Miss Martian, Red Arrow and Superboy — these aren’t your average sidekicks and this isn’t your average cartoon. In a short amount of time, and with just a small number of episodes, fans have embraced this new action-adventure series as Warner Bros. Animation has brought some of their favorite DC heroes to life. Following a special screening, producers Brandon Vietti (Batman: Under the Red Hood) and Greg Weisman (Gargoyles), lead character designer Phil Bourassa (Justice League: Crisis on Two Earths) and additional members of the creative team will be on hand to answer your burning questions on what the future holds for “the team.” Young Justice Season 1, Part 1 is available on DVD now. Room 7AB

There is also a Green Lantern: The Animated Series panel. I wouldn’t normally mentioned it, but the still from the press kit is fantastic:

Now that’s what Hal Jordan should look like!

The panel description:

FRIDAY, JULY 22, 2011 – 2:00–3:00 p.m. Green Lantern: The Animated Series Video Presentation and Q&A – Warner Bros. Animation brings the Green Lantern to television in an all-new CG animated action series for Cartoon Network from world-renowned producer, artist and animator Bruce Timm (Batman: The Animated Series). Based upon the DC Comics super hero, Green Lantern: The Animated Series centers on Hal Jordan and his partner Kilowog who find themselves alone on the edge of the Guardian Frontier fighting off an invasion by the deadly Red Lantern Corps. Timm will headline a panel — moderated by Warner Bros. Animation’s Sam Register (Teen Titans) — which will also feature producer Giancarlo Volpe (Star Wars: The Clone Wars) and producer/story editor Jim Krieg (Ben 10: Alien Swarm). In addition to the Q&A, fans in attendance will be treated to footage of this highly anticipated new series prepared exclusively for Comic-Con. Don’t miss out, or you’ll be waiting ’til 2012. Room 6BCF

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Young Justice developments (DVD, Action Figures, new episode)

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By Jason Kirk / 16 June 2011 / Animated Shows & DVDs, Merchandise & Action Figures / 0 Comments

Things have been pretty quiet on the Young Justice cartoon front for a little while now, but there are a couple of releases and developments I haven’t blogged about yet – a brief appearance of a new episode, a DVD, and those action figures.

Action Figures (July 1st)

Back during the New York Toy Fair there was a lot of excitement about the new line of Young Justice action figures. Well their release is almost upon us.

I spotted these on Amazon: Batman/Robin and Aquaman/Aqualad 2-packs:

The entire first wave should be out at the same time. Review units have been sent out to the big action figure sites. Amazon lists July 1st as the ship data, Toywiz lists June 2011. AFI had an update on the packing for the single figures and they list summer as the ship date – either way they should be appearing in stores soon. (That’s if you believe the notoriously unreliable Toy Company schedules. Kudos to anybody who first spots these in the wild).

There is also a special Superboy variant which will be available at this year’s San Diego Comic Con:

DVD (July 19th)

The first Young Justice DVD, Young Justice: Season One V.1, will be released on July 19th (in about a month).

This volume contains the first four episodes – "Independence Day", "Fireworks", "Welcome to Happy Harbor", and "Drop-Zone". This has drawn a few negative pre-release comments on places like Amazon as  it isn’t a season boxed set. But, to be fair to WB the season isn’t over yet and this is standard practise in marketing kids DVDs.

New Episodes (MIA)

This posting was actually prompted by a question from a reader. Rick asked:

Is Young Justice coming back with a new story line?

The short answer is yes, but we don’t known when. Back in May Greg Weisman (YJ co-producer) gave a production update on the status of the of the show. It listed episodes 10 & 11 as ready to air and episodes 12 & 13 as in post-production (the last episode broadcast was episode 9). However, the current status of the TV schedule is that both DC’s Young Justice and Batman: The Brave and the Bold are in repeats through to at least July 1st.

Cartoon Network had earlier said that they were going to show the new material, but then changed their minds. (If I had to speculate on why Cartoon Network were holding back new material I’d guess that it’s probably to build up a run of material which they could then show as a block without having to fall back to repeats.)

For some reason episode 10 “Targets” was briefly available on Cartoon Network’s website, although I can’t see it on there at the moment or on Amazon’s download service.

http://www.actionfigureinsider.com/main/mattel-reveals-new-young-justice-2-pack-packagingA
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Wondercon: Justice League movies

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By Jason Kirk / 02 April 2011 / Animated Shows & DVDs, Live Action Movies & TV Shows / 0 Comments

Coming out of Wondercon are titbits of info about two Justice League movies. The first is Justice League: Doom, a new direct-to-DVD animated feature announced by Bruce Timm for release in early 2012. It’s written by the late Dwayne McDuffie and is an adaptation of Mark Waid’s “Tower of Babel” – the story of Batman’s anti-JLA contingency plans being stolen by Ra’s Al Ghul.

The second one is the live action film that WB’s Robinov mentioned was in development for 2013. There had been speculation that it may tie into Chris Nolan’s Superman and Batman franchises and with the new Green Lantern franchise, but there have now been a statements refuting that. Ryan Reynolds (Hal Jordan in the new Green Lantern movie) was asked about his involvement with the Justice League project at the GL Movie Panel at Wondercon. Quoting from Comic Book Resources:

The only other newsworthy item concerned the recent talk of a ‘Justice League’ movie. Asked if he’s going to be involved, Reynolds replied, “It’s not something that anyone’s talked to me about.” Then he looked pointedly at [Geoff] Johns, who said to the crowd, “I can’t really talk much about ‘Justice League,’ except [to say that] it’s in development.”

This mirrored a short red-carpet Q&A that Superman reboot producer Zack Synder had given a few days earlier. He said that the Justice League film would be “it’s own thing, with its own Batman and it’s own Superman.”

(Man that Synder line has been refracted and reflected across almost the entire blogosphere. I was so sick of seeing it that I almost didn’t bother posting it, but the Ryan Reynolds quote makes it more of a story. )

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More details of Young Justice Season Two

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By Jason Kirk / 31 March 2011 / Animated Shows & DVDs / 1 Comments

Young Justice co-Producer Greg Weisman has updated fans on the current status of the show in the wake of Cartoon Network’s announcement that they have commissioned a second season. The new series is a special 10-part mini-series called Young Justice: Invasion. Weisman revealed that work has already begun on the Invasion series.

We immediately began work on this new season last week, and are breaking approximately (but not quite) one episode per day. The creative team is fundamentally the same as for Season One.

And though, of course, we will be introducing many new characters episodically in Season Two (just as we do episodically in Season One), I don’t want to give the impression that this is some spin-off featuring, I dunno, the League or something, in the same Earth-16 setting. Invasion IS the second season of Young Justice and absolutely features our “Team”. Episode 26 of Season One is time-stamped “December 31″. Episode 1 of Season Two will be time-stamped “January 1″, in essence picking up right where we left off.

As of the moment Young Justice is a repeat cycle of the first 9 episodes and episodes 10 and 11 are in post-production. All of April’s showing are repeats. CN appear to be showing the repeats in sequence – if they show all the material it’ll be into mid-May before they repeat the repeats or they segway into new material.  The rest of the 26-episodes have been written and the dialogue has been recorded.

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Young Justice picked up for second season

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By Jason Kirk / 25 March 2011 / Animated Shows & DVDs / 0 Comments

I suppose this qualifies as an official announcement nowadays – the official Young Justice twitter has tweeted that:

#YoungJustice has been picked up for a 2nd season.

We are currently not even half way through the first season and they’ve already announced the second. This will presumably part of the new DC Nation branded block of DC cartoons on Cartoon Network. The block was described in their press release as:

A multi-platform, branded block of original programming and exclusive content based on the DC Comics library of legendary character properties, DC Nation is developed in partnership with Cartoon Network, Warner Bros. and DC Entertainment. The all-new venture will harness the publishing, theatrical and television assets together for one powerful on-air block on Cartoon Network with exclusive online content.

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