Young Justice cartoon (page 3)

SDCC Panels: Young Justice transcript

DC Comics has uploaded podcasts of all of its San Diego panels to its website. That includes the WB Animation: Batman: Brave and the Bold Panel (MP3) which includes a few minutes of Young Justice intro by producers Greg Weisman and Brandon Vietti. It starts around the 24 minute mark if you want to jump straight to it, but the rest of the panel is quite fun and it’s only 32 minutes long. The rest of the hour-long slot was spent watching a new episode of Batman: The Brave and the Bold, which unfortunately, isn’t included on the podcast.

The panel was moderated by Sam Register, the Executive Vice-President for Creative Affairs at Warner Brothers Animation. He introduced the Young Justice segment by describing how it came about.

We were working on Batman when I got to the studio a couple of years ago and we had one show in production. We had to put other shows into development and somebody at Marvel messed up in my opinion because they let Greg Weisman [supervising producer of The Spectacular Spiderman] go. So I went hunting after Greg Weisman immediately. And at the same time Brandon Vietti, who has been working on many great shows, was directing on Under The Red Hood [the latest DCU direct-to-DVD feature]. I got these guys together. Now… they look alike, they think alike… and what came from this pairing was Young Justice.

Now guys, this is decidedly a different take on the other show [i.e. the comedy of Brave and the Bold which had just been discussed]. So what we wanted to do is, this show will be premiering this November, I think, on Cartoon Network. And what we wanted to do today, because you are fans of DC and Animation DC, we wanted to give you guys the oppurtunity to share for the first time some animation from what the Young Justice series will look like.

Greg Weisman and Brandon Vietti then take over the microphone, but its hard to tell which one is which. I think Vietti may be the one with the slightly deeper voice. Sorry if I’ve got them back to front.

Vietti: We’ve been working on this show for about a year now. It’s all about secrets and lies and we’re going to share a few secrets with you right now.

Continue reading →

Peter David writing for Young Justice

Peter David, the writer of the original on-going Young Justice comic book, will be writing several episodes for the new animated series of the same name he announced on his blog.

First, I neglected to mention yesterday that I attended the presentation of the “Young Justice” animated series. The audience reaction seems overwhelmingly positive, and I’m glad to hear it, because (and I am now free to mention it) I’m going to be writing several episodes for the series. I’m thrilled to have the opportunity to reconnect with the characters, even if there are some differences between the guys I wrote and the new incarnation. I would love to tell you all about my first episode, but I’m afraid that it’s…oh, what’s the word…Secret.

The Secret was the name of a young girl with a mysterious background who was freed from a Government owned “orphanage” for young super humans. She actually pre-dates David’s run on the title and first appeared in a Young Justice one-shot written by Todd Dezago.

A new Young Justice comic will be released by DC and will be written the current creative team of the Billy Batson book.

Young Justice voice cast

Following the release of yesterday’s preview reel for Young Justice, UGO has reported from the Brave and the Bold panel that the main cast has been announced.

Robin/Dick Grayson – Jesse McCartney a singer and song writer with the boy band Dream Street, played “Andy” in Greek, and Theodore in Alvin and the Chipmunks. The UGO announcement specifically references that this Robin is Dick Grayson.
Kid Flash/Wally West – Jason Spizak - is a voice actor and computer programmer. Apparently he worked on some Linux distributions – for any true geek this is way cooler than any of his voice work. The UGO announcement specifically references that this Kid Flash is Wally West, which would logically make the JLA’s Flash Barry Allen.
Aqualad - Kari Peyton – Possibly a surprise, she was a former Olympic US High-Jumper and has since turned her hand to some acting and cast direction. As Len points out in the comments, Aqualad is actually going to be voiced by Khary Payton who played Cyborg in the Teen Titans animated series. It had been reported that Tequan Richmond was one of those who auditioned for the role. The UGO announcement contains the spoiler that this boy is Black Manta’s son, that may be a plot line that gets explored in Brightest Day prior to Young Justice’s first airing.
Superboy/Connor Kent – Nolan North – Cyclops from Wolverine and the X-Men, played Power Ring in Justice League: Crisis on Two Earths. Potentially the most experienced voice artist in the cast. The UGO announcement pegs this Superboy as Conner.
Miss Martian – Danica McKellar – Freida Goren from Static Shock and Sapphire Stagg from Justice League “Metamorphosis“.
Artemis – Stephanie Lemelin – She announced her own casting prematurely on her blog and had to rapidly delete the post. She followed up with a proper post once the series announcement has been made.

Other voices announced are for members of the Justice League.

Batman - Bruce Greenwood – Interesting casting as he also plays Batman in the upcoming Red Hood direct-to-DVD feature. He played Christopher Pike in the recent Star Trek film.
Green Arrow - Alan Tudyk – Played the Barry Allen Flash in an episode of Brave and the Bold. Wash from Josh Whedon’s Firefly.
Aquaman - Phil LaMarr – the immensely talented Phil LaMarr played Green Lantern John Stewart in Justice League and Justice League Unlimited.
Captain Marvel - Rob Lowe – Sam Seaborn from the Westwing. He was also Wayne’s rival for Cassandra’s heart in the original Wayne’s World film.

There is an interesting weight to that Justice League cast that makes them distinct from the Young Justice cast.

And, maybe the most surprisingly, bit of info was that this is all set on Earth-16 in the DC Multiverse proper. No 16 no doubt because it is a reference to the age of the characters.

Young Justice First Footage & Producer Interview

Our first look at Young Justice curtsey of TheWB and producers Greg Weisman and Brandon Vietti. New details include that this is set in a DC Universe that has been running for about 10 years, there is a 14-member JLA operating out of the now classic Hall of Justice, and these are their students. New characters mentioned include Red Arrow (the male Roy Harper Speedy).

The animation looks great and the character models seem to follow Phil Bourassa’s style and the look established for Justice League: Crisis on Two Earths. I’m not saying its set in the Crisis on Two Earths universe, just that it look more like that film that the older Bruce Timm DCAU.

Dan Didio mentioned at the DC Nation panel that there would be a Young Justice in the Johnny DC line which is a bit odd as the cartoon looks like its skewing slightly older than the normal pre-teen target audience of the Johnny DC range.

Young Justice SDCC 2010 Preview Video Screen Cap 02

Young Justice SDCC 2010 Preview Video Screen Cap 03

Young Justice SDCC 2010 Preview Video Screen Cap 04

Young Justice SDCC 2010 Preview Video Screen Cap 05

Young Justice SDCC 2010 Preview Video Screen Cap 06

Young Justice SDCC 2010 Preview Video Screen Cap 08

Young Justice SDCC 2010 Preview Video Screen Cap 09

Young Justice SDCC 2010 Preview Video Screen Cap 10

Young Justice action figures announced

Mattel, the current licensee for DC’s consumer action figures/toys, has put out a press release describing their plans for 2011. It focuses heavily on lines to supporting next years Green Lantern motion picture and cgi cartoon series, but there is a paragraph about plans for a line of toys to support the new Young Justice cartoon.

Mattel is also rolling out products inspired by Young Justice, which will premiere on Cartoon Network during the 2010-2011 season. This all-new series is produced by Warner Bros. Animation and is based on characters from DC Comics. Featuring a team of teenage heroes, the show brings the popular comic to the small screen with favorites including Robin, Aqualad, Kid Flash, Superboy, Miss Martian and Artemis. Product offerings from Mattel include figures, playsets and other show-inspired lines.

Young Justice cartoon: it’s official!

It’s official. DC Comics and Cartoon Network have announced that they are producing a Young Justice cartoon. The full announcement was rather brief:

YOUNG JUSTICE is an all-new series produced by Warner Bros. Animation and based upon the characters from DC Comics. In YOUNG JUSTICE, being a teenager means proving yourself over and over – to peers, parents, teachers, mentors and, ultimately, to yourself. But what if you’re not just a normal teenager? What if you’re a teenage super hero? How much harder will it be to prove yourself in a world of super powers, super villains and super secrets? Are you ready to come of age in such a world? Are you ready for life or death rites of passage? Are you ready to join the ranks of the great heroes and prove you’re worthy of the Justice League? The members of Young Justice—Robin, Aqualad, Kid Flash, Superboy, Miss Martian and Artemis—are about to find out.

This all-new series is produced by Warner Bros. Animation and based upon characters from DC Comics. Sam Register (Teen Titans, Ben 10, Batman: The Brave and the Bold) is the executive producer. Brandon Vietti (Batman: Under the Red Hood, Superman Doomsday, The Batman) and Greg Weisman (Gargoyles, The Spectacular Spider-Man, W.I.T.C.H.) are the producers.

The above poster shows the line-up mentioned in the announcement. In the background are the three original Young Justice characters from Peter David’s series – Robin, Kid Flash (originally Impulse), and Superboy – along with Miss Martian from Geoff Johns post-Infinite Crisis Teen Titans. The two foreground characters are an archer called Artemis and Aqualad. Artemis is the character who was leaked after Stephanie Lemelin blogged that she landed the role of a character called “Arrowette” in a cartoon called Young Justice League. Obviously the names have changed slightly, but the designs she showed the her character are the same as for Artemis. The Aqualad character was leaked after T-Rich tweeted that he’d read for the part.