DC Comics to Produce DVD Movies

slasher13 · Post by **slasher13** » 27 Jul 2006, 09:27

Sourced from DVD Active

DC Comics, Warner Home Video and Warner Bros. Animation are jointly planning to produce and distribute a series of original "DC Universe" animated movies for DVD, with the films being animated and directed by acclaimed comic book creators and animators.

All the movies are to be rated as PG-13, and will be distributed worldwide by Warner Home Video. The first three will appear between 2007 and 2008, and will include:

* Justice League: New Frontier - written by Stan Berkowitz, with Darwyn Cooke as story and visual consultant
* Teen Titans: The Judas Contract - written by Marv Wolfman and Tom DeSanto, produced by DeSanto
* Superman: Doomsday - produced by Bruce Timm and written by Duane Capizzi, from a story by Timm & Capizzi

"We are working closely with WHV and WBA to insure that the films honor the legacy of our great heroes. And we are lucky to have Marv Wolfman and Darwyn Cooke, two of the writers who created the source material for the films, involved in the project," said DC Comics President & Publisher Paul Levitz. "The creators bring a passion for the material and a level of creative ambition that will resonate with both DC Comics' fans who treasure the original stories and adults who love adventure, heroics and top-notch animation."

"We are thrilled to announce this unprecedented venture with DC Comics and Warner Bros. Animation," said Ron Sanders, President, Warner Home Video. "This initiative is a testament to our commitment to bringing fans new and innovative content created by the most revered names in the comic industry."

Those involved in future releases will including award-winning writer/artist Darwyn Cooke (The New Frontier; Catwoman) and writer Marv Wolfman (The New Teen Titans), along with Bruce Timm (Justice League Unlimited, Batman: The Animated Series) and Tom DeSanto (executive producer of the first two X-Men films and producer of the forthcoming Transformers feature). Writer/producers Duane Capizzi (The Batman, The Batman vs. Dracula) and Stan Berkowitz (Justice League) will also be part of the creative team on the DC Universe films, with Timm serving as supervising producer on each of the titles.

Other DC products with films in development include Green Lantern, Flash and Wonder Woman.

I'm interested in Superman: Doomday, I read the novel which was based on the comic and really enjoyed it. So hope this works out. I really wish they did Batman: Knightfall, that would be great to watch

EvaUnit02 · Post by **EvaUnit02** » 27 Jul 2006, 10:00

I wonder if they'll be set in the Paul Dini/Bruce Timm DC animated universe or stand-alone?

I know that there's a new Superman DTV animated film recently made that was set in the Dini/Timm-verse:- Superman: Brainiac Attacks.

Yi-Long · Post by **Yi-Long** » 27 Jul 2006, 10:32

EvaUnit02 wrote:
I know that there's a new Superman DTV animated film recently made that was set in the Dini/Timm-verse:- Superman: Brainiac Attacks.

I hope it's nothing like that new Batman show.

Whats doomsday about?

slasher13 · Post by **slasher13** » 27 Jul 2006, 10:39

Hopefully Doomsday is The Death of Superman. It was a 4 part comic. Here is more information:

Death in Metropolis

In the space of only a few issues of the Superman comic book series, Superman and Doomsday engaged in a titanic battle that made Superman realize that Doomsday would continue to attack relentlessly, endlessly, with no defeat or surrender in sight. It culminated in Superman #75, where in a heroic act of self-sacrifice, Superman fought Doomsday to the bitter end, until the two combatants struck a simultaneous, fatal blow that left both of them lifeless in front of the Daily Planet building in Metropolis.

In the aftermath of Superman's apparent death, no fewer than four super-beings appeared in his wake, three of them declaring themselves to be the "real" Superman. One of these four, a half-man/half-machine cyborg (who would later become a dangerous villain called simply "The Cyborg") took the apparently lifeless body of Doomsday and, after strapping it to an asteroid, flung it into deep space, on a trajectory that would supposedly ensure that it would never land on any planet. The issue closes with an image of an awakened and laughing Doomsday, still strapped to the asteroid, but otherwise in good condition.

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doomsday_(comics)

Killer Meteor · Post by **Killer Meteor** » 27 Jul 2006, 10:52

Sounds like great news! I wonder if they'll adapt The Killing Joke or Knightfall?

slasher13 · Post by **slasher13** » 27 Jul 2006, 11:13

Hey Ivan, I don't know anything about Killing Joke, what that about? But would love to see Knightfall be made, it would be great to see Bane (even thou he has been placed in Batman Beyond) and Nightwing

Yi-Long · Post by **Yi-Long** » 27 Jul 2006, 11:34

Slasher: thanks for the info man. I never took that story about 4 new superman (one of which was a boy, right?) all that seriously. I never read it, didnt seem interesting. There was alsoa videogame of it, right? I remember playing it on SNES.

The Killing Joke is a pretty important story in Batman's history. It deals with the Joker's past, and the never-ending struggle between the Batman and the Joker, and how Batman's unwillingness to kill the Joker will keep resulting in more and more victims.
Also, The Joker goes to far when he criples Barbara Gordon, and abducts her dad and tries to drive him completely insane.

It's a pretty depressing story, but pretty good. However, I'm not sure if you could fill 80-90 minutes with it. And also not sure if it isnt TOO dark for the animated series. I dont have a problem with it, but I'm sure others would. However it also doesnt really seem to fit the tone of the show.

It's a nice story though. A bit too short, and not much text... but still impressive.

slasher13 · Post by **slasher13** » 27 Jul 2006, 11:51

No problem Yi-Long

, yes that the one, never played the snes version. Hope that the movie they make, and put it a bit darker.

Now I want to read The Killing Joke, it sounds really really good. Just Finished reading Batman: Dark Knight Returns (really excellent Frank Miller comic - cant believe I missed this out), and am presently reading Superman: Birthright. It is really good. After that the next one is: Superman/Batman: Absolute Power

Yi-Long · Post by **Yi-Long** » 27 Jul 2006, 12:18

Well.. it's nothing like Dark Knight. The Killing Joke is really quite a short story with lil text, while Dark Knight is really quite epic with lots of text.
It's a good story, but because it's so short and you go through it pretty quickly compared to other graphic novels, you shouldnt pay too much for it.

EvaUnit02 · Post by **EvaUnit02** » 28 Jul 2006, 13:17

The Killing Joke is written by Alan Moore (the greatest comic writer all time some claim), so it's guaranteed to be good. If you don't want it spoiled, avoid ALL references you find of The Oracle.

EDIT: I see that Yi outright spoiled it for you. Anyway, Barbara Gordon is paralysed by the Joker and becomes the Oracle. To get an idea of that character, the elderly Bruce Wayne was in a similar support role for the new Batman - Terry McGinnis in Batman Beyond/of the Future.

Yi-Long · Post by **Yi-Long** » 28 Jul 2006, 14:20

No mention of 'the Oracle' was made in the Killing Joke.
Didnt thought it was a spoiler, as it's an old book plus a well known fact by now by most people interested in Batman... And it happens in the first couple of pages. It's not like I gave away a surprise ending or something

PS: Darth Vader? Batman's Father! You heard it here first

slasher13 · Post by **slasher13** » 29 Jul 2006, 09:06

EvaUnit02 wrote:The Killing Joke is written by Alan Moore (the greatest comic writer all time some claim),

... To get an idea of that character, the elderly Bruce Wayne was in a similar support role for the new Batman - Terry McGinnis in Batman Beyond/of the Future.

Ahhh I see, Yep really want this now. BTW Alan Moore wrote V For Vengence right Eva? I've never read that comic book, enjoyed the film thou. So might want to check it out. What his style like?

@Yi-Long: LOL

EvaUnit02 · Post by **EvaUnit02** » 29 Jul 2006, 10:36

slasher13 wrote:Ahhh I see, Yep really want this now. BTW Alan Moore wrote V For Vengence right Eva?

Yes, it's actually called V for Vendetta BTW.

What his style like?

I couldn't tell you, never read any of his works. I never got into comics.

slasher13 · Post by **slasher13** » 12 Jun 2007, 15:22

Bruce Timm and Co talk about the upcoming Superman Doomsday, which is from the comics, it actually looks great!!!, see the mini interview here

They are going for the darker look.... Can't wait!!

Also found a trailer for it, click here

Yi-Long · Post by **Yi-Long** » 12 Jun 2007, 20:56

Looks promising. Cant possibly be worse than Superman Returns. Man that was awfull.
On the page of the trailer, they mention Baldwin is the voice of Superman. 1 question; why? The original voice was pretty good, wasnt he? I hate it when they change voice-actors on characters. And the only reason I can think of them changing to Baldwin, is he would possibly reel in a few more buyers.

Talking of Supes, is Superman: Birthright worth a buy!?

slasher13 · Post by **slasher13** » 12 Jun 2007, 21:49

Hey Yi, Yes Superman: Birthright is very good, a good retelling of Superman made in today world. Him and Lex are quite fleshed out, You see why he wears glasses, and why does he want to protect people. I really enjoyed it, actually I'm going to read it again.

Highly recommended

Superman/Batman: Absolute Power is pretty disturbing in parts, they are being overlords rather than heroes, killing off famous DC characters, I quite enoyed that as well

Yeah I know what you mean? I haven't seen all the Superman cartoons, but wished they used the original voice actor. Some bits of Superman Return was pretty good, the airplane scene was a stunner, errr that its

. Would like to see the director cut of it, see what happen with Supes in Krypton.

Yi-Long · Post by **Yi-Long** » 12 Jun 2007, 22:57

Damn... now I feel even worse about not picking up Birthright when I came across it in Amsterdam 1-2 months ago, for only 18 bucks.

Will surely get it, though.

Superman/Batman Absolute Power? Havent heard anything about that. I'll be wiki-googling it after my post

Are the Jeph Loeb Batman/Superman graphic novels any good? Like http://www.play.com/Books/Books/4-/6723 ... oduct.html !?

I find it kinda hard to find good sites which have reviews on normal comic TPB's. IGN usually has info on the loose issues, but with some heroes/groups having multiple series, it's kinda hard to really search for info fast.

What I'd REALLY like, though, is if they would re-issue John Byrne's Superman. For me, that was THE version of Superman. Just perfect in every sense. Lois Lane was smart and cool, Clark wasnt a fucking nerdy dumb-ass, Lex Luthor was actually a 3d dimensional realistic rich bad-ass, etc etc.
I wish they'd go back to the original black and white line-art, and have it colored in with some of today's top colorists.
John Byrne's art was gorgeous in that day, and probably still is.

On a related sidenote, I decided to practice photoshop coloring last week, and it just happened that I was checking out Byrne's website and found a cool B/W Superman picture, which I went on to color in Photoshop.

Hopefully, I'll be able to practice more coloring once I've re-installed CS2 this week, or maybe I'll get CS3. (Just formatted and re-installed my whole PC yesterday cause it needed cleaning up)

Anyway, about Superman Returns. I'm sure people who arent into the comics and just wanna see a movie about a flying guy with a cape, had a nice time, but I thought it sucked on so many levels.
First of all, the casting is just ridiculous. Superman looks like he's 22 years old or something. He would have fitted in a Superboy flick, but this movie was about Superman RETURNING after a 5 year absence...
Lois Lane is a joke as well. As is Lex Luthor and his cronies.
I'll be totally honest: I didnt finish watching the movie. I feel asleep somewhere halfway through. I just lost interest. It just SUCKED. It didnt feel like Superman to me, AT ALL. The only thing I liked was the scene where Clark was discovering his jumping/flying powers, out in the field and ending up floating in a barn. THAT was the right feeling. But everything in Metropolis just sucked. It was like an 80's movie for a 21st century audience.

slasher13 · Post by **slasher13** » 13 Jun 2007, 07:19

Bloody hell Yi, Love the colouring, it brilliant, keep at it, but it looks like you are done.

What I'd REALLY like, though, is if they would re-issue John Byrne's Superman. For me, that was THE version of Superman. Just perfect in every sense. Lois Lane was smart and cool, Clark wasnt a fucking nerdy dumb-ass, Lex Luthor was actually a 3d dimensional realistic rich bad-ass, etc etc.

Birthright is similar to this, It focus more on Clark, him in the beginning being in Africa as a freelance reporter, feeling helpless at one point. I'm shame to say I haven't read John Byrne's retelling of Superman. Heard alot, but haven't got it

Are the Jeph Loeb Batman/Superman graphic novels any good?

From what I have read, which is the following:
http://www.play.com/Books/Books/4-/1119 ... oduct.html

, This graphic novel is very good, I'm going to get the one you have listed, as I enjoyed it, as well as the Killing Joke. I just finished reading the killing joke, like you said it was short, but it is excellent, Apparantely Tim Burton was he was asked to direct Batman, he held this comic book, and said I want to use this comic book for the story, if you got the Special Edition of Batman, you will see him saying it

My wishlist is to get Dark Knight Returns, Batman: Year One, Killing Joke

Got any recommended Superman comics? This looks interesting:
http://www.play.com/Books/Books/4-/6723 ... oduct.html

gojensen · Post by **gojensen** » 13 Jun 2007, 07:56

You haven't read Dark Knight or Batman Year One?!!!!

...

Poor thing - get'em... NOW!

slasher13 · Post by **slasher13** » 13 Jun 2007, 09:16

gojensen wrote:You haven't read Dark Knight or Batman Year One?!!!!

Whoops tell a lie, its only recently I have read Dark Knight Returns, but haven't read the follow on which is Dark Knight Strikes Again!, Yes I loved the Dark Knight Returns, so have high hope for Strikes and Year One