PixlBit

I don't normally blog about things other than gaming, but this current situation has summoned up a lot of feelings within me that I wanted to get out. For those who don't follow my twitter, or know me personally, you know that I'm a huge fan of super hero animated series. I've been watching them since I was young, but the ones that have come out over the past 6 or 7 years have been outstanding. However, despite the overall quality of these shows, they end up getting cancelled due to outside factors like toy sales, and merch. 

Marvel is notorious for this. Great shows like Wolverine and the X-Men, Spectacular SpiderMan and Avengers: Earths Mightiest Heroes showed fans what a great cartoon could offer. Wolverine and the Xmen had a dark story, great characters and voice work, and some of the most memorable twists I've seen. The show had a few filler type episodes, but the overall quality of the show was top notch. Not to mention the show ended with a huge cliffhanger, and the promise of a second season. That promise was revoked midway through the off-season, when exec's declared they couldn't continue to fund the show. It was an outrage. 

Spectacular SpiderMan was very similar. While a bit more cartoony, the plot was true to the source material. Great voice work brought the characters to life, like the expected quippy nature of Peter Parker/SpiderMan (thanks to Josh Keaton) and some awesome fan-service. That show too ended on a cliffhanger that was almost as unfair as the one for Wolverine and the X-Men. Why did they cancel it? Because they wanted to take SpiderMan in a different, more kid friendly direction that could tie in with other Marvel properties. The idea was alright at first...but then they delivered with the abomination that is Ultimate Spiderman. I mean sure, the animation is fine, but the plot and pretty much everything else is pure garbage. It's a shame.

Avengers, unlike the other shows actually got the chance to end properly, though it was still rushed. That show also got a longer run at 52 episodes instead of 26 but it was clear by the direction of earlier episodes that they had a bigger idea in mind. With the amount of crossovers and plot devices we saw, they had some huge ideas in mind. Civil War anyone? I guess not... Again, they decided to get rid of the show to create more synergy with shows like Ultimate Spiderman, and on top of that they wanted to give the Avengers more of a style that resembled the movie. The new show, Avengers Assemble isn't out yet, but if its anything like Ultimate Spiderman, I'll be very disappointed.

I was frustrated by the losses of all of those shows, and criticized the higher ups at Marvel for not knowing what they were losing. I praised DC for having the balls to run shows like Justice League and Teen Titans. Both prior shows got decent runs and ended when they needed to. However, I had no idea that DC would be the next to burn me.

The major subject of my rant comes with the cancellation of Green Lantern: The Animated Series and Young Justice. Today, the final episodes of both shows aired. Its a sad day to be a fan of quality shows because both shows showed SO much promise, and SO much potential, but ended much too soon, especially Green Lantern. 

Young Justice fortunately got a two season run. The show, which chronicled the adventures of the Justice League's protege's and their growth as heroes and as people in general. The show won me over early with its slick animation and interesting premise, but the incredible storytelling is what really won me over. Some of the themes dealt with were more mature than I expected a Saturday morning cartoon to deal with. You had characters dealing with death, betrayal, sexual frustration and more. Not to meniton, characters from the DC Universe that got little attention before got the spotlight and looked cooler than ever, like Aqualad and the villan Sportsmaster. Not only was season 1 great, but season 2 began picking up 5 years after the first season ended and mindfucked everyone. I won't spoil too much, but the way the story was told was beyond impressive. The show easily became my favorite currently running animated show after The Legend of Korra.

Green Lantern on the other hand was a show I was reluctant to watch. The movie was garbage, and I had little to no interest of the character. However, the show aired right before Young Justice, so when I would tune in to see YJ, id sometimes catch the last few minutes of Green Lantern. One particualr ending for an episode was so epic, I made it a point to catch up with the whole series and I'm glad I did. The show, just like YJ, dealt with serious topics and stayed true to the source material. This show alone is the reason why I now think the Green Lantern universe is one of DC's most interesting and one I want to learn more about. The story is often more light hearted than YJ, but easily slipped into territory that you would consider a bit much for a child. In the first episode, a character gets murdered by a Red Lantern. Didn't quite expect that in a Saturday Morning show. And did I mention there is a Green Lantern Planet? I mean literally...a planet sized lantern that fights along side Hal and the others during an episode. It was friggin awesome!

Anyway, both shows, though having a tremendous fan base were cancelled by CN earlier this year. Green Lantern due to poor toy sales (no retailer wanted GL toys because nobody bought toys for the Ryan Renolds Green Lantern Movie) and YJ was cancelled for similar reasons. Both shows are being replaced by shows that look just...awful. Beware the Batman seemed interesting, but a gun toting, assassin Alfred killed the premise for me. And Teen Titan's GO!, a show i would have been excited for years ago, just ends up looking like another dumb kids show using characters from a show that I actually used to enjoy. Oh sure, they got the voice actors back, but still...why take away a good show instead of just adding to the "DC Nation" roster. Is 4 shows really too much for a Saturday morning block? Back in the day Kids WB and Fox Kids ran pretty much all morning.

Not to my surprise, (but still as enraging) both shows ended on Cliffhangers. Green Lantern's was a bit more subtle, but Young Justice ended on a huge one. I mean, how do you introduce HUGE f-ing villans at the end and not get renewed for another season? I know its not the writers fault, but Cartoon Network really f-ed up. With todays finale's they lost their current best shows. If it wasnt for the completely unrelated Adventure Time and Regular Show, i'd have no reason to watch the channel anymore. Its a shame...

So i understand that was a huge and to some, pointless rant, but still it pains me to see great shows go away, especially when you can tell they didnt get the chance to end. Especially when its not because of bad ratings, but because of dumb external factors like merch sales, and appeasing to kids. I dont remember Fox Kids cancelling the 90's X-Men cartoon or Batman: TAS because of their mature content not getting across to children. I truly think they are handling it the wrong way. *sigh*

Anyway, thats my rant. If you are into shows of this type, I strongly recommend everything i mentioned today (excluding Ultimate Spiderman...yuck). Though most of them never got a complete ending, they are great stories that deserve to be enjoyed. Maybe one day a great super hero show will actually get to end?! Lol