Justice League Unlimited: Dark Heart

Ever since signing up for the DC Universe streaming service, I've been doing a rewatch of both Justice League animated series, the original and Unlimited. I've been making screencaps and gifs of my favorites scenes.

The 10th episode of Unlimited, Dark Heart, was written by Warren Ellis. It bears all of his trademarks:

• A fascination with technology and science fiction - in this case, alien nano tech.
• A simple way of explaining the threat: the entire planet about to overrun by nano bots!
• A clever way of turning a relatively obscure/unused character into a hero who can deal with this problem: Ray Palmer, The Atom.
• A good deal of light hearted humor.

Wonder Woman kicks a lot of ass in this episode. She's aggressive in fighting off the bots and transporting Ray Palmer to the ship containing the "Dark Heart" of the bots. At first she carries The Atom in her hand and then transfers him to a location any fan would love (she needs to punch things without damaging him).

In addition to the usual Justice League team, many other second and third tier DC Universe characters show up. One of my favorites has always been the Western character Vigilante. This singing cowboy crimefighter traded in a horse for a cycle and that appears here.

The very last scene has the camera pull back so you can see the wide array of DC Comics characters assembled on this team. The Shining Knight, Blue Devil, Vixen, Doc Midnight, Wildcat and many other characters. Even Aztek who was around during the Grant Morrison JLA era.

Nuff Said!

Classic X-Men Gallery by Bruce Timm

I just can’t get into too many modern X-Men comics nowadays—maybe the last arc I really got into was Joss Whedon and John Cassaday’s run on Astonishing X-Men.  But I can always get into the original classic X-team, and these pin-ups by Bruce Timm, showing the mutants in their original blue and yellow uniforms, just brings back all the Lee/Kirby magic.

Cyclops later graduated into his own costume—a minor variation on the first, that removed the yellow harness.  I always liked Cyclops in the early years, he was an underdog struggling to become a leader.  On paper, Warren Worthington III was probably better qualified.  When Wolverine called Cyke a dick in the first X-Men movie I laughed and felt like a traitor to my boyhood hero!

Marvel Girl was the sweetheart of the team in the 1960s, waiting to see if Scott Summers would be bold enough to confess his feelings.  Never thought much of her until Claremont took over.  The original X-Men uniform looks pretty nice in retrospect.  Speaking of the first X-Men movie, I never bought Famke Janssen as Jean Grey at all.

Timm also did this take on Jean Grey’s malevolent persona, Dark Phoenix.  

Even though he didn’t come on the team until Giant-Size X-Men #1, no X-Men gallery would be complete without Wolverine!  I wish I could have found some Timm pieces featuring Beast, Angel, and Iceman on their own, but alas, I came up short.  Nuff Said.

Crystal by Bruce Timm, with a Kirby pin-up

A few characters by Timm always seem spot-on.  Or maybe all the women he draws are just spot-on?  In any case, he really nails the character of Crystal in these two pin-ups.  The above has Crystal standing in Attilan, the home of the Inhumans.  The costume has these real subtle elements, like the belt buckle around her (tiny) waist, the flared gloves and boots. 

I always like Crystal from the first 140 issues of the Fantastic Four.  She was Johnny Storm’s first love, and the one that hurt him the most when that slime ball Quicksilver stole her away.  She had various guest appearances over the years, was an Avenger for a brief period of time.  Lately she was married to Ronan the Accuser of all people.

Jack Kirby designed Crystal’s look and costume, of course, but where did this costume actually appear in the FF?  I searched quickly through a few comics and could only come up with this pin-up from Fantastic Four Annual #5 in 1967.  In other FF appearances, I found Crystal wearing a variety of outfits, and when she replaced Sue briefly in the latter stage of Kirby’s run, Crystal put on the traditional blue FF outfit.  At any rate, it is a great costume.  I imagine Kirby created this in less than an hour and did it all based on imagination and instinct.  Nuff Said!

New Black Canary pin-ups by Bruce Timm and some fashion commentary

Here are a couple Black Canary pin-ups by Bruce Timm that I recently discovered.  These may not be new to you, but they are to me!  Another guy named Tim had a lot of comments on Canary’s classic outfit:  With fishnets, the wider the weave, broader the weave, the more vulgar the look is going to be. Any guesses* as to who that other Tim was?

Timm very much is into a style that screams Femme Fatale and Black Canary fits that type of character very well in these pin-ups.  She resembles Veronica Lake, the movie star from the 1940s.  Of course, Veronica didn’t run around in tights and lingerie fighting crime.  But she could have been an inspiration for Canary’s creators—clearly she had an impact on Timm and Darwin Cooke.

*Tim Gunn from Bravo TV’s Project Runway.  He critiqued Black Canary’s outfit in the first episode of Crazy Sexy Geeks.  Timm called Canary “a tramp” and made the acute observation that fishnets send “a very powerful sexual message”.  I think we geeks already knew that, right?  Nuff Said!

Big Barda by Bruce Timm and Jack Kirby, designer of swimwear!

Big Barda is a secret little favorite among comics geeks who hardly gets any attention.  She appeared in Mister Miracle but has made very few guest appearances over the years.  I always like to see artists that get a kick out of drawing Barda for fans.  Bruce Timm obviously digs Barda, especially in this outfit.

Barda strikes another pose.  I started wondering about this battle bikini.  Did Kirby really invent it?  I recalled that he did and all the elements on that outfit seemed to be designed by the King.

The answer is YES!  Big Barda’s first appearance was in Mister Miracle #4, 1971.  In that issue, Barda first appears in her full-on battle armor, with the blue chain mail.  At the end of the story, when Barda is at home with Scott and Oberon, she slips into this bikini—a little something comfortable.  Oberon, who didn’t like Barda up until this point, even exclaims: Whoever made that Gal wear a uniform should be horsewhipped! 

Kirby knew he had designed a great character at this point.  The splash page of Mister Miracle #5 from 1971 featured Barda doing Yoga in her swimwear, to the delight of Scott Free’s neighbors.

I cannot imagine being a super-villain and facing down Big Barda or Wonder Woman!  I do find it incredibly strange that this character has remained hidden in DC Comics for all these years.  Nuff Said.

Buffy the Vampire Slayer by Bruce Timm

I used to have a bunch of Bruce Timm pics on the old Photon Torpedoes blog.  When I migrated over here to Blogger, I lost them…but starting today I will get them back!  Here is Timm’s rendition of Buffy the Vampire Slayer.  Buffy seems like a natural character for Timm to draw, as he is very good at portraying action-oriented women.

Buffy in animated action versus a vampire.  Timm doesn’t skirt the issue that Buffy is a lot smaller than her opponents, yet she kicks ass every time.

Great team-ups that will only happen in fan-fiction: Buffy and Vampirella!  Timm drew this piece back in 2001 and it has become a fan favorite, given the amount of times it comes up in Google searches.  Nuff Said!

Black Canary by Bruce Timm

I'm still in a black mood...a Black Canary mood.  And Bruce Timm is here to help me out.  His version of Dinah Lance is sexy, but not over the top, much like yesterday's Terry Austin pinup.

I like this picture of Black Canary taking a break on a sofa.  That face and haircut is right out of a 1950s film noir movie.

Here's a typical Timm pose with Black Canary getting ready to spring into action.

Looking at these pieces reminded me of a time when women could be portrayed as sexy and dangerous without their boobs and butt spilling all over the place.  Unlike this portrayal of Canary in All-Star Batman and Robin.  Nuff said.