posted
You know, as a parent of a precocious little reader, I'm not so sure a "reimagining" is exactly what is needed. What do we expect? Comic books are no longer made for kids, but cartoons ARE. So the JLU doesn't reflect current continuity--doesn't it distill the essence of what makes those characters SO COOL? Everyone in America (if not the world) understands the concept of Batman and Superman, but very few people would understand what the heck is going on in any of the three hundred titles currently on the market featuring Bats, Supes, both, or their supporting characters.
The animated series Batman and Superman were superbly done IMO. The Justice League series was a little silly and repetitive, but the Unlimited series is brilliant so far. Not to mention the fact that the Teen Titans absolutely wraps my 6 and 5 year olds UP (note the sig). I would love to see an animated Legion series that does the same thing--distill the concept down to its essence and rebuilds it for a new, younger, Cartoon Network-type audience. THEN, hopefully, 10-15% of those Legion cartoon fans will go buy The Great Darkness Saga TPB and the monthly series, and end up as bitter adults endlessly deconstructing Legion history and arguing about Bouncing Boy's powers, or, god forbid, spending quality time yapping on the internet....
-------------------- The only consistent feature of all of your dissatisfying relationships is you.
Don't judge me!
Registered: Aug 2003
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posted
A Legion cartoon would be great! It's all subjective, but I don't mind changes as long as the end product is still good. I like "Teen Titans" which doesn't remotely resemble DC continuity. I liked "X-Men: Evolution" a lot more than the previous X-Men series even though the latter was almost an animated version of various X-Men storylines. I liked "Spider-Man and his Amazing Friends" a lot more than that other Spider-Man series that was also a lot more faithful to the books.
All I know is, I always watched "GI Joe" to catch Snake-Eyes, so I'll be watching any Legion cartoon if there's even a glimmer of hope of seeing WILDFIRE!
From: New York, NY | Registered: Jul 2003
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posted
When my sons were younger, they LOVED the Legion Archive Editions! There were so many funny, weird, interesting and charming things going on. My daughter, who is 8, is a big fan of JLU and the Titans (and Totally Spies). So, a Legion animated series would be very well received in this house.
I would hope to have a somewhat retro styled Legion animated series. I'd hope for there to be a perfect blend of charming style and modern technology working together to make for the perfect Legion universe. I would prefer to avoid the anime style and the ultra airbrushed looking cgi.
Having said all that, I would record every single episode of any Legion cartoon. I'd buy every bit of merchandise, even if it meant getting into online auctions. This is only good news, to me.
posted
As long as it's not done by the same folks who did that WildC.A.T.S. series or the "Spider-Man Unlimited" series (is that even what it was called?). Oh, or that horrible "Avengers" series!
From: New York, NY | Registered: Jul 2003
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posted
Yeah, there's no doubt that there has been some poop superhero cartoon in the last few years--not to mention that excerable Marvel Action Hour of a few years ago with Hulk, Iron Man, et al. But DC properties seem to have been able to avoid that kind of cheap cashing in.
-------------------- The only consistent feature of all of your dissatisfying relationships is you.
Don't judge me!
Registered: Aug 2003
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posted
I find JLU and TTG both very good. So does my son, who isn't even 3 yet. From what I can tell, both series are done by people who are 1) big fans of the source material, and 2) very smart about how to package that source material for a new generation of audiences. As fans of the "source material," it's hard to see how we could ask for anything more, especially given how bad other super-hero media adaptations tend to be.
What I am shocked by is that the TTG comic only sells 14,000 copies a month!?! This really demonstrates how DC, and other comics publishers, have fallen into the fan-boy niche from hell. They need to figure out how to get some sort of Teen Titans publication into the eager hands of the kids watching the show.
-------------------- ...but you don't have a moment where you're sitting there staring at a table full of twenty-five characters with little name signs that say, "Hi, my superpower is confusing you!"
From: Chicago, IL | Registered: Jul 2004
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quote:Originally posted by armsfalloffboy: Yeah, there's no doubt that there has been some poop superhero cartoon in the last few years--not to mention that excerable Marvel Action Hour of a few years ago with Hulk, Iron Man, et al. But DC properties seem to have been able to avoid that kind of cheap cashing in.
Weren't those two done out of that horrible animation house based out of Korea?
-------------------- White. A blank page or canvas. His favorite. So... many... possibilities.
From: Birmingham, AL | Registered: Jul 2003
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posted
They need to figure out how to get some sort of Teen Titans publication into the eager hands of the kids watching the show.
The real problem is that I'm not sure how much they care. DC and Marvel are both making huge amounts of money off of licensed properties and movies. Comics really seem more like a resource to be mined to make money in other ways. So, whatever is going on in the current comic doesn't really matter, to the bottom line or to the average Time/Warner executive. The only thing they really need to do to get TTG into the eager hand of the kids watching the show is to get them displayed prominently in every Wal-Mart. I myself would prefer spinner racks. Until comics become an impulse item again ("Mom, can I get a comic book?" as they shop for groceries) instead of a specialty item they need to wheedle Mom into taking them to a special comic store to get, 14,000 will be all they sell.
posted
They only sell 14,000 copies of the TTG comic in *comic book stores*.
I'm sure they sell quite a few more in 'regular' book stores and in grocery stores. I've seen them in Kroger's before. I don't think there's any source for sales in these alternative venues (for us, alternative-- for kids-- these'd be the main places they'd pick them up... definitely not in comic book stores).
From: Knoxville, TN | Registered: Jul 2003
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posted
Hmm, I *would* take the LSH toon 'news' in the DC Logo press release with a bit of salt. They also mentioned Birds of Prey DVDs, and when that news was followed up on, it was found out there are actually no plans for such a thing.
Likely, whoever wrote the press release saw some mention of the LSH cartoon from years ago, and dropped that in there.
J
-------------------- "Why must power be so elusive?" - Zoe Saugin Enter Zoe's Closet
From: Everywhere, nowhere... | Registered: Dec 2004
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posted
I would be overjoyed if there was a Legion cartoon, but Kinetix is probably right. We know that the people who make these things have been toying with the idea for a few years, but there's no evidence that it ever got beyond the 'kicking ideas around' stage. I have a feeling that it's the same here. Until I see anything more concrete, I will consider this another unconfirmed rumour for now.
And I would *love* to see an anime-style Legion cartoon. Not the half-assed psuedo-anime style of the Titans cartoon, but a real full-blown anime art style, with the big eyes and tiny noses and everything! I'm always amazed when I read comic forums (not this one but the DC forums and others) about how vehement and venomous western comic fans are about the manga/anime style. Am I the only one out here who's a huge fan of both?
I don't get it. When done properly, anime style art can be absolutely breathtaking. I can only imagine that the people who say they hate it with such passion have only seen the bad stuff.
I wish that more western comic fans would give anime style artwork a chance!
-------------------- Fire in the disco! Fire in the Taco Bell! Fire in the disco! Fire in the gates of hell!!
From: England | Registered: Jun 2004
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posted
Sometimes I think I'm not even sure what anime is.
Is 'Spirited Away' anime? Or 'Neon Genesis Evangelion'? I enjoyed them. And I *really* like the kind-of half-anime that they use in the Teen Titans cartoon. But in my head I've always thought to myself that I don't like anime. Maybe its like you say Drura and I've just seen too much bad anime.
Wait, wait - is manga the same as anime? Maybe its manga I don't like. Though Lord knows there's a lot of bad 'Western' art out there too. All I know is that if it came down to the choice between good 'Western' art or good anime I would probably go for the former.
From: Australia | Registered: Dec 2003
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posted
I guess... to me at least... and I'm no expert in art or style by any stretch of the imagination... but I have watched a lot of cartoons over the years... but anime and manga are faily close in my mind. Manga seems to put an empahsis on Big Eyes and curves and cute... like Toad or Toadette in the Nintendo games.
Anime puts more of an emphasis on Big Eyes and angular features (ie: chins and noses) but there is also an economy of movement that I associate with anime. What I mean by that is that an anime sequence starts out with a drawing and the camera draws back to show the rest of the frame but the characters never move, although the illusion of movement is created by the camera moving. Yu Gi Oh uses this technique a lot and I would think of that as anime for kids.
That's just my take on it. I'm sure there are alot of manga and anime purists that would vehemently disagree with my take, and I couldn't say that they would be wrong either.
As for The Legion cartoon... If it gets produced, I would prefer it to be in the Timm style. If it were to be produced like TT Go I would end up shaking my head too much at what could have been. I'd still watch it because that's the type of geek I am but I wouldn't be ecstatic about it.
-------------------- Something Filthy!
From: NOVA by way of NOIN | Registered: Jul 2003
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posted
I'm a huge anime/manga fan, probably more so than an American comic fan really. I've taken two years of Japanese language studies and have been to Japan, and I have over 200 Japanese doujinshi or fan comics. I'm not sure how many actual manga I have, but it's quite a lot.
I don't tend to think of things as being in "anime style" or not... what's seen as "anime" style was originally based on the art done by Disney. "Anime" just means "animation" really, anyway. Although the big-eyes pointy-nose cliches are very common in anime and manga, they aren't universal. And manga varies even more than anime in my experience--between romance comics, sports comics, fighting/action comics, mystery comics, cutesy 'magical girl' comics, or dramatic space opera comics, there's no reason why someone couldn't possibly find at least one series they liked. I'm not sure where the idea that manga focuses on cute more than anime comes from, except maybe seeing more romance or magical girl or magical pet manga. I wouldn't say that's true at all, sorry. As for the economy of movement... anime is produced on much smaller budgets than the kinds of cartoons we see here in the west. It's gotten better than it used to be, but there's no denying that most anime cut corners wherever they can with still frame shots, hiding mouths when talking, and recycling or cycling animation. I think people tend to see a few anime or manga and characterize all anime and manga by them. But the Japanese comic industry is far more diverse than the western industry, which is dominated by superhero comics with things like romance comics being unusual.
When I say I'm an anime/manga fan, what I really mean is that I'm mostly interested in some of the stories that are currently being produced in Japan. But I tend to be fond of animation from any country, and I really do hope this Legion cartoon thing actually goes through and isn't another false hope. I mean, I REALLY REALLY REALLY HOPE that it goes through. Although I'm not a huge fan of TTG!, I would kind of be fascinated by the "anime style" gags and the J-pop opening if they went that way with the Legion. But I preferred the Timm style cartoons too.
By the way, if anyone knows anything about whether or not TTG! has aired in Japan, please let me know. I've tried to find information on it, but haven't been able to. Searching for related merchandise on YahooJapan Auctions was also a bust.
From: Colu | Registered: Dec 2003
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I'm always amazed when I read comic forums (not this one but the DC forums and others) about how vehement and venomous western comic fans are about the manga/anime style. Am I the only one out here who's a huge fan of both?![[Confused]](confused.gif)
As for the economy of movement... anime is produced on much smaller budgets than the kinds of cartoons we see here in the west. It's gotten better than it used to be, but there's no denying that most anime cut corners wherever they can with still frame shots, hiding mouths when talking, and recycling or cycling animation. I think people tend to see a few anime or manga and characterize all anime and manga by them. But the Japanese comic industry is far more diverse than the western industry, which is dominated by superhero comics with things like romance comics being unusual. 
