So the second season of Bruce Timm, Paul Dini and Dwayne McDuffie’s Justice League animated series (and last season before Unlimited started) has now been released on DVD for a few weeks, timed to coincide with the theatrical release of Superman Returns. Season 2 was a step-up in many ways from the lackluster first season, though it doesn’t quite achieve the range and maturity of storytelling as seen in Justice League Unlimited.

The first season of Justice League picked up where the third season of Superman the Animated Series left off and was set to begin the climax of the Timm/Dini DC Animated Universe. Season 1 got the show off to a rocky start with several boring or predictable stories, a noticeably pared-down Superman and, frankly, nothing with a whole lot of “oomph”. Season 2 almost feels like a completely different show, with the writers and animators getting the hang of the characters, the dynamics with one-another and how to manage them in some truly epic stories.

The series starts out with one of the best Darkseid stories ever written, “Twilight”, which sets up elements which will be expanded upon in the third season of JLU. After viewing Twilight, right away you know that you’re in store for a superior Justice League experience. “Tabula Rasa” is a decent arc introducing Dr. Ivo’s Amazo android. While this version of Amazo is much more interesting than his comic book counterpart, the story doesn’t stand out as one of my favorites. Now, “Only a Dream”, that one holds up as my favorite arc of the series. The best interpretation of Dr. Destiny (a personal favorite villain of mine) since Neil Gaiman wrote him into an issue of Sandman, the story runs like the Justice League vs. Freddy Krueger. William Atherton (Ghostbusters, Die Hard, Real Genius) plays a fantastic Dr. Destiny. You’ve got possibly the most important story of the season on disc 2, “A Better World”, which sets up everything of importance that’ll be used in JLU season 2. “Wild Card” is a hilarious Joker-centric story which ties into Batman Beyond. Also of note, all the members of the Royal Flush Gang are voiced by the cast of Teen Titans. Nice little reference, there.

There are a few “meh” episodes in the bunch, I will admit. “Secret Society”, while a good super villain brawl with a less-than-subtle Challenge of the Superfriends inspiration, never really struck me as the high-point of the season. “Maid of Honor” is a rather “bleh” Vandal Savage story, predictable from start to finish, starring an annoying spoiled Princess who falls in love with the villain. Easily the weakest link in the season. “Hearts and Minds” is a Green Lantern-focused story starring Despero as the villain. Despite the phenomenal Keith David providing the villain’s voice, the whole story just doesn’t grab you at all.

However, the good episodes very easily out-weigh the not-so-good ones. “Hereafter” is a great twist on the Death of Superman idea, “Comfort and Joy” is a syrupy Christmas-themed comedy relief episode (with blink-and-you’ll-miss-it Swamp Thing cameo!), “The Terror Beyond” is a great Solomon Grundy story that’ll appeal to any H.P. Lovecraft fan, and then there’s the 3-part series finale, “Starcrossed”, which is all sorts of hardcore. Really a fantastic selection of episodes, and even the worst of the bunch aren’t nearly as bad as “Warworld” from season 1.

The special features are decent-enough. “A Better World part 2”, “Twilight part 2” and “Starcrossed part 3” all have commentary tracks with Bruce Timm, Dwayne McDuffie and various other members of the production team. They’ve all improved their commentary skills since the Batman the Animated Series box sets (which had the most boring commentaries I’ve ever sat through) and listening to them geek-out is always fun, especially if you’re a hardcore comic book nerd and can catch all their references. The only documentary included in the set is Justice League Declassified, an interview and question and answer panel hosted by the ever-entertaining Phil Lamarr (voice of Green Lantern). He interviews various members of the creative staff, which is very informative (though a lot of the info they give in the documentary is told during the commentaries).

You get 26 episodes on 4 disks with hardly a sucky one in the bunch. While Justice League Unlimited was an improvement, the second season of Justice League is still a marvelous show and should certainly be on any comic book fan’s wish-list.

Related Articles

• Justice League Season 2
• Superman the Animated Series season 3: Review
• Superman the Animated Series season 3: Review
• Much Vaunted Big Man Out For The Season
• Justice #9

• TrackBack URI
• RSS feed for comments on this post