Monday, March 23, 2015

Appreciation for Animation (Part 1)

It might surprise you that your host-little ol' me-was not first introduced to comic books through the books themselves, but rather from their animated adaptions. I happen to be a big animation buff, diving deep into almost all of DC Comic's animated movies. I believe these movies are some of the best material to get people invested in comic books, so today I'll be sharing a few of my favorites in this, The Panel Biter's Top 5 DC Animated Movies.

#5. Batman: Assault on Arkham

Don't let the name fool you, folks. This movie does not feature Batman assaulting Arkham Asylum, it actually focuses on The Suicide Squad. This team of criminals was assembled Agent Amanda Waller and the US government for a specific task: break The Joker out of Arkham. The team features Deadshot, Captain Boomerang, Killer Frost, King Shark, Black Spider, and-last, but not least-Harley Quinn. Batman does appear in this movie, but he's more like a secondary threat to the team. This movie is high on violence, vulgarity, and action, as any Suicide Squad property should. The only downside is that this movie is tied to the "Batman: Arkham" video game series, so if you know the video games' canon some things might become predictable.

#4. Green Lantern: Emerald Knights


Before we had the awful Green Lantern movie, we had this stunning animated movie. A sort-of sequel to "Green Lantern: First Flight" and taking cues from "Batman: Gotham Knight", this animated movie not only stars The Green Lantern Hal Jordan, but also many other members of the Green Lantern Corps. Stories about The First Lantern, Kilowag, Laira, Mogo, and Abin Sur are told to rookie Lantern Arisia Rrab by veteran Lantern Hal Jordan. Fans of The Green Lantern comics will feast on all the lore they love and new fans will absorb more knowledge of GL history than they knew before. The movie gels better after watching "Green Lantern: First Flight", but it's stories are rich and fulfilling enough to warrant a watch by itself.

#3. Justice League: Flashpoint Paradox

Based off the precursor to The New 52, this animated movie-while titled Justice League-is mostly focused on Barry Allen/The Flash who accidentally reshapes the world by messing with time. This movie features alternate takes on many DC Characters like a gun-totting Batman, a warlord Aquaman, and Cyborg as the President's favorite superhero. This animated movie is ripe with violence and presents a world much unlike anything comic book fans have seen for the DCU. The only thing about "Flashpoint Paradox" that is discomforting, is that this movie sets up a lackluster shared animated universe, putting an end to one-and-done animated movies.

Got more fuel for toons? Continue on to Part 2 of this list.
http://panelbiter.blogspot.com/2015/03/appreciation-for-animation-part-2.html

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