The Seige of Asgard

Season: Micro-Season
Episode Number: 8
Season Episode Number: 8
Production Number: M08
Airdate: October 12, 2010

Writer: Michael Ryan
Director: Vinton Heuck

Voices: Rick D. Wasserman (Thor), Graham McTavish (Loki), Unknown (Heimdall), Unknown (Frost Giant), Clancy Brown (Odin).

Plot: Loki sends three Frost Giants to destroy Asgard, but Thor shows up to save the day!

Review (Warning! Spoilers!): I'll admit it. I said in my review of Thor the Mighty from which this micro-episode continues, that I wasn't too keen on seeing much of Asgard and its inhabitants.

But golly, this was a great micro-episode! Since this was a big battle there wasn't much on plot or characterization, but there was still plenty to talk about. The backgrounds, and building and character designs are beautiful! The artists have really captured magical, mythical realm that hasn't been seen yet in animation. I think I even like it better than the Asgard from Hulk vs. Thor.

The other thing I noticed is the animation. Each of these micro-episodes has had superb animation, but this one kicks it up a notch and really create an intense and elaborate battle sequence as Thor takes on three huge Frost Giants!

I have heard some criticism of the animation here and there, and I can't for the life of me understand what they are talking about. As far as TV animation goes, this is top notch!

A potential problem for this series will be fitting in the mythology and rogues gallery for each of the main characters of the show. How will Loki and Asgard fit in with the rest of the Earth-based Avengers? We'll see!

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Avengers Assemble Tonight!

Tonight is what I consider to be the biggest animated premiere of the season! After waiting for the past two years, being teased with posters, artwork and micro-episodes, Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes will finally make its one-hour debut on Disney XD at 8:30pm (ET/PT).

Iron Man, Thor, Hulk and more of Marvel's greatest characters assemble for the first time in the series premiere two-parter of The Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes on Wednesday, October 20 at 8:30 p.m., ET/PT on Disney XD. Now, on a day like none other, prisons open wide, simultaneously releasing every single villain in a breakout unlike anything the world has never seen. Our heroes' only hope is to band together…to become the Avengers!

Chris Yost had this to say in a recent interview:

If you've been following the Micro-Episodes, you've seen the heroes in action, facing HYDRA, the Wrecking Crew, the Red Skull, Klaw, Abosrbing Man--[and] we've hinted at Kang, Loki, Ultron and more--well, I can tell you that you haven't seen anything yet. The fight against Graviton is just the beginning. By the time we hit our November two-parter, you'll start to see the scope of this show.

The producers, writers, crew, we're all fans, and we all love the Avengers as much as you do. And "The Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes!" is going to give you "a day unlike any other."

Super Hero Squad Season Two Intro

Take a look at the second season intro for The Super Hero Squad Show. It's the same song with new words, but the visuals are completely different, showing off this season's big bad: Thanos and the Infinity Gauntlet! Also seen in this opening is Scarlet Witch who will be a regular cast member, and Thor's new outfit!

The second season debuts on Cartoon Network on October 23!

Wolverine and the X-Men DVD and Blu-Ray Available Today!

If you're like me, you're still a bit sore over the loss of Wolverine and the X-Men. Lucky for us, there is one final joy that this fantastic show can bring us, and that is the complete series on Blu-ray!

Released a few days ago is the entire 26-episode run of this short-lived and groundbreaking series on Blu-ray and DVD!

Canadians have already seen a complete series package, but it was barebones, without any of the special features found in this box set, including 29 audio commentaries! This box set is worth picking up as it stands to be one of the best superhero animated show to have come out in a long time.

Sadly, this is probably the last news report for this show that you will hear unless something MAJOR happens. Let's keep our fingers crossed.

Young Justice NY Comic Con Footage

Here is another clip taken at the NY Comic Con last weekend. This time it's a very nice look at the upcoming Young Justice series! What do you think? It looks great to me! I can't wait to see some non-bootleg footage!



UPDATE: Here's a great interview with the creators of the show that give you a better picture of the series as well as the plans they have for the comic book tie-in!

Green Lantern Animated Series First Image

I was stuck out of town with a dead laptop and no charger, so I wasn't able to give you all the heads up that there would be big news at this year's New York Comic Con. But now that it has happened, here is a first look at the highly anticipated Green Lantern: the Animated Series.

The CG series, produced by Giancarlo Volpe (Star Wars: The Clone Wars) and Jim Krieg (Ben 10: Alien Swarm) and executive produced by the mighty Bruce Timm, with star Hal Jordan and the Green Lantern Corps and is set to debut in line with the Ryan Reynolds live action film.

Details are scarce, but Josh Keaton (Spectacular Spider-Man will be lending his voice, as will Robert Englund (Nightmare on Elm Street's Freddy Kruger) who will be playing Myglom of the Spider Guild.

UPDATE: A bootleg copy of the test footage shown at the NYCC has surfaced on youtube!

Hulk Versus the World

Season: Micro-Season
Episode Number: 7
Season Episode Number: 7
Production Number: M07
Airdate: October 12, 2010

Writer: Kevin Burke & Chris Wyatt
Director: Sebastian Montes

Voices: (Bruce Banner), Fred Tatasciore (Hulk), Vanessa Marshall (Black Widow), Chris Cox (Hawkeye), Rick D. Wasserman (Absorbing Man), (General "Thunderbolt" Ross), (Pilot)

Plot: General "Thunderbolt" Ross interrupts the showdown between the Hulk and the Absorbing Man!

Review (Warning! Spoilers!): I've never liked the Absorbing Man. He's never been a strong character, and his super powers have never been really used as well as they could (which is why, I think, they gave him the ability to absorb people's bodies and minds in the comics).

This micro-episode, which is a continuation of The Coming of the Hulk, displays Absorbing Man's powers better than I have seen in animation, and much better than, in my opinion, the comics.

However, he's still a putz and this series is no exception. Ultimately, "Crusher" Creel is always played up as comic relief.

This episode gives us a sneak peek of two more of the main Avengers cast: Black Widow and Hawkeye. The two are written very much like we have come to expect from these characters, but since we only see them at the very end of this clip, we have yet to see if the production team will put their own spin on these fan favourites, or keep them as we know them and love them.

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Behold, the Mandroids!

Season: Micro-Season
Episode Number: 6
Season Episode Number: 6
Production Number: M06
Airdate: October 12, 2010

Writer: Brandon Auman
Director: Vinton Heuck

Voices: Eric Loomis (Iron Man), Phil LaMarr (JARVIS), Bumper Robinson (Jim "Rhodey" Rhodes), Dawn Olivieri (Pepper Potts), Alex Désert (Nick Fury), Kari Wührer (Maria Hill), (Mandroid).

Plot: Iron Man has a few words with Nick Fury about how SHIELD is using StarkTech in a way against Tony's wishes.

Review (Warning! Spoilers!): Behold, the Mandroids is the third part to the Iron Man micro-story, last seen in Hydra Lives. If you haven't noticed already, the titles to these micro-episodes are all taken from classic issues of Avengers, Iron Man and other Silver Age Marvel comics.

In this episode, Tony and Nick have a nice little chat. The entire five and a half minutes is dialogue with a lot of tension. Tony and Fury have a reluctant working relationship which should prove to be great for character development in the series.

While Tony and Iron Man are based heavily on the movie, this version of Nick Fury isn't. He's sort of a mix between the Ultimate Fury and the classic Fury. A bit off-putting at first, since all the fanboys and girls will be saying "don't they read the comics ever??" but I'll bet that by the second episode we'll all be used to it.

I'm guessing that the race to acquire StarkTech will play a major role in the series for both SHIELD, HYDRA and probably many other tech based villains.

There wasn't a whole lot to show off in the way of animation in this micro-episode. Mainly talking head. Not much else to say about this one.

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Iron Man Anime Opening Animation and Theme Song!

I don't usually post on Saturday, but I have something to share that can't wait until Monday! We haven't heard anything about Iron Man Anime since SDCC, but the opening intro to the mini-series has surfaced on youtube! Watch it while you can!

The animation looks spectacular! Madhouse Studios pulls out all the stops for this one! The scenes in the first thirty seconds will look very familiar to fans of the first Iron Man movie, while the second thirty seconds give us a look at what to expect from the series, including what looks like Unicorn!



UPDATE: The basis of the first episodes is that Tony Stark travels to Japan to oversea the Japanese branch of Stark Industries (Pepper Potts is in charge of the main US branch) and demonstrate a new version of the Iron Man armour which he calls Iron Man Dio (which you can see a glimpse of in the theme song embeded above).

Tony's plan is the retire his old suit, but when Iron Man Dio goes haywire, Tony must bring his original suit back into action to see who is behind the sabotage.

Here is the main cast:

Tony Stark - Keiji Fujiwara (who also voiced Tony in the dub of the live action movie)
Pepper Potts - Hiroe Oka
Reporter Nanami Ota - Shizuka Ito
Dr. Tanaka - Takako Honda