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DC's Doom Patrol Review

3/12/2019

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Beware the Ides of March...and donkeys.
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​Guys I...I think I was wrong about the DC Universe streaming service. Well not wrong about the price, currently, or the fact that what it does offer is lacking in content.  The latter part definitely does not warrant its current price.  These are legit concerns for me. Yet after watching and being absolutely amazed and falling in love in just a short time with the characters in the new Doom Patrol series, I understand why DC would feel the need to do this. I understand why DC would bet on the fact that their audience, in multiple mediums, would eventually flock to this. More importantly why in a few years, there’s no way they would not want to stay. This is DC’s full assault against Netflix, and damn if the Doom Patrol is not an impressive third attack. They aren’t going to knock out Netflix any time soon, but if they continue at this pace, even Netflix is gonna have to respect their gangsta.


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****SPOILERS BELOW****

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Doom Patrol, for those who aren’t aware, is one of the more golden era eccentric comic book ideas. The idea of it works in part because of its absurdity and also because of the writers  who have used the series as a mirror of the industry itself. In other words, smart somewhat meta commentary on comic books and the mythology of superheroes. Commentary especially on the various ways powers are seemed to accidentally be bestowed on folks. At its best, the Doom Patrol comics are part the original Watchmen comic book series with a dash of the Fantastic Four, and a cup of the Mad Scientist with some Tales from the Crypt horror pulp stories from the 60’s and 70’s mixed in. The Grant Morrison run of the series is a perfect example of this.

The  main characters that make up the team are Robotman (think the Thing), Elasti-Girl (Susan Storm with Mr. Fantastic’s powers), Negative Man (The Human Torch of the group) and The Chief (Reed Richard, but if he was crippled like Professor X). All of them had terrible, usually life ending, events happen to them leaving them powered but it also immensely scarred them and their team both physically and mentally.  The Chief is usually the doctor, father figure and team leader for this band of misfits. Generally speaking, he isn’t always the nicest but he really does have their best interests at heart.

The TV show keeps with this general line up except with the addition of two characters. One is Crazy Jane who has been on the team many times before in its various interpretations. The other is Cyborg,  famously known for his origins with the Teen Titans and, in recent years, associated with the Justice League. Initially, the addition of Cyborg didn’t make sense to fans, myself included, especially when you had a perfectly good Titan series to place him in.

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Side Note: DC has confirmed for next season in Titans that he will be transitioning from one team/tv show to  another.


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Weirdest college tour ever
However, as I continued to watch Doom Patrol, I realized that the adult tone was necessary to convey the intent of the series. This is ironic because Titans was the first series to give us dark content which audiences weren't expecting. Doom Patrol thooo.. it beats Titans in the gruesome category.  It’s funny as hell at times, but damn do you want to drink and give the characters a hug at the end of each episode.

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What you mean " You people?"

​A great example of this is the first episode called “Pilot.” This episode gavel us the origin story of Robotman, voiced amazingly by the internet’s favorite Mummy catcher, Brendan Frasier, and physically performed by Riley Shanahan, as Cliff Steele. In the first episode, we learn about his past before his accident as a drug abusing, serial cheating, aging champion race car driver.  We discover his past intertwined as flashbacks during his transformation into Robotman, in addition to finding out about the loss of his family. As heart wrenching as it was to watch Cliff go through his own tragedies, I found myself laughing at times simply from his depressingly sad sarcasm and way of acting during all this. This is exactly who the character is in most versions of him in the comic books, and it’s a testament to Brendan Frasier as an actor that you see this so clearly in just one episode. Ya’ll most of the time you only see Cliff as Robotman, who has no face to emote with, yet it doesn't even matter with how good Brendan voices him as the tragic  robot man.

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​You also are introduced to the origins of Elasti-Girl Rita Farr, played by April Bowlby, and Negative Man Larry Trainer, played by Matt Bomer and Matthew Zuk. You find out Rita was a 1950’s B film actress with A film diva attitude.  Who during a shoot ends up in an accident causing her to turn into a sentient version of the Blob from the Thing movie if she doesn’t keep her emotional state in check. Larry who seemed to be the nicest most normal one of the trio is a married family man ace fighter pilot. Like a lot of similar origin stories, during an experimental flight finds trouble in the stars that causes him to crash. This leads to him being horribly burned and disfigured, but also now being the host of some alien like parasite inside of him. 
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​​These are deeply traumatized individuals who have no idea how to use the “gifts” they have been given. Usually causing more harm than good when they try to step out of the comfort of their home with the Chief to attempt to be heroes. The only one who seems to even remotely know how to use their power is Robotman who can act as the tank of the group, but to the horrible side effect he can’t feel anything at all. They have no business honestly taking matters in their own hands, but the story is woven so well that for them to be able to actually have lives after their incidents, and not just be living, they must go out in the world as Frankenstein’s monsters and learn who they can be..not who they were. 


We haven’t seen the origin story of Crazy Jane yet, who ha 64 personalities each one with a separate super power, but the fact she’s called you CRAZY Jane, I doubt it’s filled with a trip to Disney with puppy dog belly rubs. Just saying. She’s played by Diane Guerrero most commonly known as Maritza from  Orange is the New Black. She gives an absolute mischief in a glass bottle energy to Crazy Jane that makes any moment she is on screen as a possible scene stealer. Between her personalities and the random ways they can approach any situation, she is an absolute joy to watch.
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Freshman year vs Senior year

​The Cyborg character is the most known out of the group so his origin is pretty well known to folks by now. A young school star Vic Stone ends up in some type of accident at his father’s lab, and in the process of having his life saved is turned into Cyborg. The difference in this iteration played by Joivan Wade is he is not in that “Whoa is me!” phase we see in other current iterations. This Cyborg while he remembers all the time what happened to him, he uses it to be a better person, the best hero he can be. It’s even said throughout first meeting him that he's training himself to apply for the Justice League in a few years. This is the Cyborg who can really show what he can do, when not always depressed about his situation, which is a big bag of fresh air after the last few rides through his origin story to be honest.
The three faces of "Nobody"

Yet, what is a dysfunctional team of misfits, without a villain to match, and lordy lordy is Mr. Nobody perfect. Played by the always great to see show up Alan Tudyk, he is menacing in how ludicrous he seems to be. Breaking the 4th wall as the narrator of the story for the first few episodes, his powerset makes him seem like a certain 5th dimensional imp that Superman has a hard time with saying their name. His time shown while not much is used to its fullest potential to where even though he is clearly a big villain baddie, he’s so fun to watch you kind of root for him just to see what lethal hi-jinks comes up next. Keyword: flatulent donkey.
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Episode 3 "Puppet Patrol"

​I can honestly not think of one bad thing about this series currently, and 4 solid episodes in that is saying a lot. By this time in the Titans series while the premise was a lot better than the trailers portrayed, there were gaps in story and decisions that left audiences wanting. With Doom Patrol though...I got nothing. It’s the same type of feeling I had watching the first Guardians of the Galaxy movie. There was no reason for any of this to work, but by embracing the camp and absurdity of the story and characters, DC has actually created an emotionally poignant and strong framework. The sky's the limit if they continue on this path, and I am all in for the ride. The next series up is slated to be Swamp Thing (a personal favorite of mine), and if the constant success and critical acclaim that DC Universe has received so far continues , it will herald something new. Not great in any means for the masses in terms of the streaming wars, but for fans who want to see dedication and passion placed in the projects of our favorite characters and pastimes, well, I’ll just say this. This may be the perfect time if your a DC fanboy or girl to put your money, where your mouth is.


Doom Patrol: A+


Jay

Wondering what type of power he would get from eating a radioactive burrito while driving an experimental hooptie through a wormhole.

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The  Rise, Fall, and Rise Again of Young Justice pt.3

2/18/2019

0 Comments

 
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The hardest DC mixtape cover evaaaaa....

​For the previous posts check out part 1 here, and part 2 here.

Last post we were speaking of growing up and fam. The fact DC is now in charge of this completely, not Cartoon Network or even Netflix means it can jump into some adult themes and not get in trouble. Where once if someone was hurt or possibly died you would see a little blood splatter on them, or oozing from their lips. That’s if their death isn’t just done off scene period. Not season 3 tho. Naw season 3 with the shitz and they want you to know lol. Halo a character whose back story and various powers, is told throughout the season dies enough times to be low-key called Kenny . She gets murked like someone yells “ FINISH HER!”, and all the villains want smoke. There’s legit a shot where she is killed, graphically shown how, and her body is just dropped on the floor with us looking at her dead eyes. I could have sworn I heard Vandal Savage in my ear whispering “ If she dies, she dies.”

There’s even a very obvious sex scene done were the usage of someone being called Dick is used like a straight Austin Powers Monty Python gag. It had me clutching my pearls,
sweartogod. The reason the DCAU has been generally critically acclaimed is because even though they are cartoons and animated movies, they masterfully ride the fence of never straying from the adult themes that make sense for strong storylines and adult characters. While also still being young adult and teen friendly. This makes the action scenes especially much more visceral in a series that already had great attention to action detail already, with the one on one fights seen in Episode 10 with Batman, Katana, and Metamorpho being extra bueno.
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Episode 4. That's all we're gonna say. 

There are some issues with the series though, I’m not gonna lie. One major issue is the scope of how big the overarching story has become, making it clearly hard for them to balance like they use to the large multi team characters. Previous fan favorites like Aqualad,
excuse me my bad, HNIC Aquaman, are now taking support roles to give the new characters room for their story to be told in one season. Also there’s like 6 teams led by 7 people and unless you actively pay attention it can become a bit confusing at times tracking what team is doing what and why. In story they explain this as being the good guys using the guerilla tactics as the bad guys to play catch up, but for the audience itself it could be explained better. Just because the villains need to be in the dark does not mean the audience does.
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Batman's Outsiders team or what I like to call them  the " I wish a meta would" squad

Another issue as 
well is DC’s decision to make this only available for their streaming service, meaning they are solely responsible for the costs to make it. Which shows in the earlier episodes as the animation not being as tight and crisp as previous seasons, especially with slight character remodels that aren’t as clean as their previous Young Justice iterations. It is still levels above most animated shows, but the dip in quality is clear (something most folks would notice as well in a lot of the DCAU’s recent movies too). It also means money wise they use who they can. Which is why Khary Payton who we love for the black voice excellence he brings, is playing 4 different characters in the series. FOUR. All of them black men, and all of them sounding hella related. I mean he tries and I am not knocking him getting his check, but ya’ll... it is definitely noticeable. Especially when you have 2 of his characters yelling “BOOYAAAH” at different times in the same episode.. The biggest negative though is the most obvious one. It’s on DC’s streaming service. Right now as of this writing the only 2 original series the service has is the Titans, and Young Justice, with Doom Patrol coming next. That is not enough to pay over $10 monthly, with all the other more robust services out there. DC knows this as well, which is why they only air a certain amount of episodes a week to stretch out viewership, but that can only work for so long. Most people fear DC will see folks dropping their service after Young Justice finally ends and may decide to let it go again. I doubt that since it’s one of the only strong fanbases who will follow shows they have right now, but hey the cancelled over toy merchandise before so who the hell knows what metrics they use for this. Either way the series is great, and I did enjoy having to wait another week to catch new ones and not binging it.  The fact remains however, that without more to offer their service doesn’t offer enough for most to stay with it, and that is a bottom line that puts anything they put on it in danger.
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Only Young Justice could make "Sportsmaster" somewhat legit

Young Justice is a series no one asked for, that became a huge fan favorite and success, that was cancelled just for the love of fans to have it brought back. It’s a hero origin story in real life, and for those who can watch it, they will fall in love all over again. While the DC service makes it hard to just jump into right away for those internet savvy enough, it’s not a real challenge at all to find ( not to say we at the NJL would EVER do such things), and is just as binge worthy as previous seasons. It has some growing pains to deal with for sure, but the pros vastly outweigh the cons, leaving you not just whelmed but overwhelmed with how the season ends and will leave you wanting more.

B+


Jay

If I could have one superpower it would be being treated in the world like a nice rich white man.

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The  Rise, Fall, and Rise Again of Young Justice pt.2

2/11/2019

2 Comments

 
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So when during even the better second season there was discussion of “Young Justice” being cancelled already due to issues with not selling enough girl toys (seriously), fans were shocked. We voiced on forums, and twitter how stupid DC was being with this decision. We sent messages on all the social media sites for DC to not do this to prove the fanbases commitment. Even at the NJL we did a review of season 1 when it hit Netflix ( way back in episode 13 ), and have often talked our love about the series.  I mean seriously, WTF DC? Why you make it so hard to love you?

​For fans it also felt a bit salty what DC was doing, since at the time it live action movies were not hitting like we wanted, and the animated movies were being pumped out so much that the quality was clearly being neglected for quantity. Also it brought back bad memories of Teen Titans being cancelled on a cliffhanger, just when it was reaching a point of truly being great. All of these factors made the cancellation seem less about a lack of viewership, and even not about the stacks, but DC just being stupid and no longer knowing their audience. So when DC announced a season 3 would actually happen, we all clapped for joy, danced a jig, whipped our hair back and forth...till we found out it was only coming to DC’s stream service. Yaaaaaaayyyyy.
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 20 points to your Hogwarts House if you know who this awesome guy next to Superman is. Hint...he's iconic.
The stream service, remind you, that at the time did not even exist. That wanted a strong subscription base like Netflix, with not even a quarter of the content. That only had this, a “Titans” live action show definitely being planned, and a fairly high entry price for a niche limited library streaming service. This was all found out too, after the show was cancelled when Netflix was and is still Stream God and had the first 2 seasons on it already. Shade aside tho, fans were ecstatic! I mean,  it seemed that our wishes were being granted by a low rent unemployed fairy godmother, but still granted nonetheless! Every time DC released a little bit more of what the upcoming series was going to bring, what characters were coming back or added, the more fans were prepared it seem to try out DC’s streaming service test run. So when the day finally happened in January, year 2019 of our lord and savior Beeboo, that Young Justice Outsiders came out for all our streaming pleasure the voice of all its fans unanimously said one thing. “Ay mane, who got a password for the DC Universe stream I can borrow real quick?”
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From L to R: Katana, Geo-Force, Forager, Halo, Metamorpho, and Nightwing
Season 3 starts with a time jump that has become almost expected with Young Justice and their overarching storyline of the League and all its teams fighting the Villains group called “ The Light”. The storyline of young metas being weaponized against their will continues, and throughout it we are introduced to new characters in the series. Black Lightning who deals with issues with his powers after a fight where a young meta dies, and who he tries to become after. Halo, Forager, and Geo-force are also introduced as new characters early as the young metas who make up the Outsiders team.

Black Lightning went from "Agent Negro 47" to " New phone who dis?" Perfect example of why  Black Beards Matter.
They are led now by mid 20’s Nightwing, Miss Martian, Superboy, and Arrowette, who ironically are in the exact spot their adult counterparts where at over 5 years ago with them. Which I LOVE. It’s rare in a cartoon series for the characters to actually age so clearly, especially from teen to adult. I mean Superboy went from this angsty teen upset his clone dad Superman wasn’t giving him no love. To a grown man with patience, wisdom, a job building bikes, and giving his own dad advice on things. Arrowette is living with the original to us Roy Harper, who is actually a clone, and now called Will ( long story, but not nearly as convoluted as it seems...promise). Who owns a security business ( Episode 4 dealing with his company is also one of the funniest in the whole series). Aqualad is now Aquaman ( Which if Cherry’s suggestion for MBJ to play him didn’t make sense, it definitely makes sense now) and runs the whole Justice League. It’s sad we don’t see much action from him this year honestly, but to see him go from not thinking he mattered in season 1 to being HNIC, is great. Nightwing is well, still Nightwing but has better understanding of why Batman does things the way he does. It’s all very well done, and gives moments in the new season where you see their glow up and understanding the headache their mentors had dealing with them, and it's great.

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To be concluded with the final part 3 Friday ….
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Jay

Has been known to be a strong follower of Dionysus from time to time

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The  Rise, Fall, and Rise Again of Young Justice pt.1

2/8/2019

0 Comments

 
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​This is the part 1 of a 3 part series discussing the history of the show Young Justice, its critical acclaim amid cancellation, and its new life provided by DC’s new streaming service DC Universe.  Part 1 this week will discuss the moves that lead to the series creation, and its fan base growing love before cancellation. Next week part 2 will discuss its cancellation, and the move to DC’s streaming service DC Universe. Finally, part 3 we give a review of season 3 and our hopes for Young Justice’s future.
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Original OG comic book lineup: Superboy (Connor Kent), Impulse (Bart Allen), and Robin (Tim Drake)
Spoilers Ahead

Batman: The Animated Series. Superman: The Animated Series. Justice League Unlimited. Teen Titans. Fam, there was a solid 10-15 years where the DCAU ran point on all things amazing and animated. Marvel honestly could not catch up on the animated front (let’s be real they still can’t, but they trying lol), and no one really cared because the DC Animated Universe was so trill! This was still a bit before the huge Comic Movie Universes that boomed from 2008 with Iron Man and kept running till this day, that now has Marvel in the clear spotlight. So for us comic book geeks and all things Marvel or DC back then, our attentions were focused on these shows as kids and young adults. Even as an adult rewatching, let me tell you they stand the test of time. They may have moments of corny, because let’s be real, these were shows made for the Saturday morning cartoon crowd, but the overall gangsta can not be denied. Then in 2010, several years after its similar theme predecessor “Teen Titans” was cancelled, DC showed us once again why they reign King in the animated land with the drop of “Young Justice.”
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“Young Justice” was based on the comic book series of the same name created in 1998. that usually involves the characters of Robin, Superboy, Impulse, Arrowette, and others who were either permanent or temporary members throughout its first few volumes.. It was DC’s way of having a Teen Titans during the late 90s and early 2000s, but without needing all of the backlog of the actual Teen Titans mythology. It was meant to have the freedom to try fresh new stories with at the time new iterations of Robin ( Tim Drake ) Impulse/Kid Flash ( Bart Allen), and Superboy (Connor Kent). It was a really fun series, that started off light hearted, but delved into really deep stories of identity, legacy, and carving your own path when your not the first or even second version of your public hero image. The show included new iterations of Aqualad Kaldur'ahm (who’s super black boy magic fyi), and a “niece” of John Jones the Martian Manhunter in Miss Martian. It came at a perfect time too since it was a few years after the Teen Titans highly acclaimed show was cancelled in 2006 on a cliffhanger, so fans were ready for what promised to be another great series, and my guy did they deliver.
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HAIC *Head Aquaman In Charge*

From the first few episodes involving the initial team lineup rescuing Superboy and their interactions with their adult counterparts, fans knew we were in for a treat. In fact it was loved so much that even after 2 seasons it was in a lot of circles being compared to the gold standards of Batman with the overarching stories and new origin mythos being given for heroes and villains alike. While also doing an amazing job of having an ensemble cast with some amazing action set pieces just like in the JLU series. The cadmus escape, and the attack in Atlantis are perfect examples of the use of multiple characters done well in action scenes, and there are so many more throughout the series.

It is ridiculous honestly. Strong building blocks like this in the superb action scenes, intense story, and seeing new versions of loved characters that for fans Young Justice seemed like a  damn sure thing. We all thought it was another solid investment from DC, a new series to love and make a classic. If we only knew.



​To be continued with part 2 next week….


Jay

Remembers when he thought Superboy's leather jacket was amazing.  He is totally not looking to buy one online.

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