Wallpaper of The Week: Farewell, Young Justice & Green Lantern

        Last weekend, two great DC animated series ended before their time, which left us with the immediate need for more. Each series left us with a fitting end, but not without providing some cliffhangers into what would have been another great season from each series, unfortunately, this will never happen. In their places, we will be given Teen Titans Go!, a wacky, Japanese-styled show, similar to the original Teen Titans TV series several years ago, but even more kid-friendly, unfortunately. On the plus side, we're given our first new Batman show since the end of The Brave and The Bold back in November of 2011, titled: Beware The Batman, which will return Batman to his darker roots and will use a similar animation style to Green Lantern. While I am somewhat excited for the new shows, I may never get over the loss of two of DC's finest series since the end Justice League Unlimited. All I can do now is honor them in my Wallpaper of The Week, but not even this will bring them back, only remind us of two shows that could have been so much more. Enjoy!

The Future of Superhero Gaming

       From the Spiderman Atari 2600 videogame released in 1982 all the way to Batman: Arkham City and beyond. Superhero games have been around almost as long as Pong itself, evolving into what is an entertainment phenomenon today. Hundreds of millions of people, of all ages, play superhero videogames everyday and the total number will only increase as these games become more dominant and engaging and more reflective of their comic book counterparts. There have been a few misfires in recent years including: Green Lantern Rise of the Manhunters, Captain America, and Thor God of Thunder. Fortunately for hardcore fans, there have been even more games that have truly captured the essence of the characters its representing, making us forget all about those bad ones.

Within the last year we’ve seen the release of Lego Batman 2, a fun, comedic take on classic heroes and villains playable and enjoyable for children and adults. The Amazing Spiderman, a nicely developed “sequel” to the film truly capturing what it means to “do whatever a spider can.” And of course, Batman Arkham City, my personal favorite and the most realistic representation of the caped crusader ever. Never before have you been able to feel this much like the real vigilante. The key to a good superhero game involves staying true to the characters and doing what works. As the old saying goes, “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.” When the design and gameplay of a game works and sells, don’t alter it for the sake of altering it. We enjoyed it before and we’ll enjoy it again. Having said that, the right change in this business comes around quite rarely. The near future of superhero videogames depends on:

The Avengers: Battle For Earth (October 30th, 2012)

       Being released for the Wii and Xbox 360, Battle For Earth will mark the first anticipated superhero game for the Kinect. I’m not too sure how this game will do in the reviews or whether it will be fun, but I do know that even acting out the powers of superheroes and having them appear on the screen in front of you could be kind of cool. The game does allow you to play as heroes and villains, not just from the Avengers’ universe, but also from the entire Marvel universe.

What to do: If you liked the Avengers and are a fan of fighting games and are interested in how they will apply the powers of the characters, then you should get this game.

Young Justice Vs. Teen Titans

       

       Young Justice, the new animated series that debuted last year, has pretty much wrapped up its first season and I’m very hopeful for a second season this fall. After original viewing of the show I couldn’t help but compare it to the Teen Titans series from a few years back. The characters, the plot, the animation; in my head I broke down the differences and similarities between the shows. But more importantly, I decided which series was better and I’d like to share that information with you.

Teen Titans

         A Japanese-style animated take on the comic book classics. The show tried to stay away from the stereotypical “sidekicks” of the big-time heroes and use of cast of characters well known in the comics, but new to younger fans, which is exactly who this show was geared for. With different animation the show was able to exaggerate on most of their movements and expressions. The creators were definitely trying to make comedy a large part of the series. With a character like Beat Boy they were able to make his many animal-like transformations fun and enjoyable for younger audiences. Even Cyborg could add some comedic with strange modifications, which he would often make to his robotic body.

         Though when it came to action, the show stayed as serious as possible in order to make the fight scenes fast-paced and exciting. The series offered a long list of villains and guest heroes from across the DC Universe. Guests of honors included: Slade, Trigon, HIVE, Terra and the Brotherhood of Evil. As for heroes, Aqualad, Speedy, Kid Flash and many more made appearances. With a large array of heroes and villains, the episodes stood on their own, meaning that each one was unique and original from any others.

         Out of five seasons choosing the top episode was very difficult, but my favorite episode would have to be “Titans Together”. The second last of the series saw all of the heroes that we’ve met over the five seasons work together to defeat the Brotherhood of Evil once and for all. That or “Lightspeed” with Kid Flash (its hard to just choose one episode out of five seasons, give me a break. Also, I’m just a big Flash fan).