Dwayne McDuffie gave a lot to comic book fans in his far too short time on this Earth. From being one of the founding members of Milestone Media, to work on all sorts of animated DC Comics projects, a successful run on the Justice League comic book, Dwayne did it all. In one of his last written works, we are given a perfect example of why he was one of the best in the business.
It is well known that I am quite a big DC Comics fan, so I relish any chance I get to see my favorite characters brought to life on screen. Sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn’t. In the case of the DC animated movies that started with Superman: Doomsday and have lead up to Justice League: DOOM (sensing a pattern?) there have been more hits than misses. Lead by Bruce Timm, most of these movies are backed by great writing, excellent voice acting and some beautiful animation. JLD is no exception to this rule.
Adapting the now infamous JLA story “Tower of Babel”, JLD follows the Justice League as they deal with one of their most ferocious villains, Vandal Savage. Savage replaces Batman main stay Ra’s Al Ghul, who was the antagonist in the comic but the replacement is seamless as he bands together a group of villains worthy of the league and uses a set of tactical maneuvers worthy of their creator to take the League down. Where did he get these plans? From Batman.
As far as voice acting goes, JLD gives us a reunion of sorts. Kevin Conroy, Tim Daly, Carl Lumbry, Susan Eisenberg and Michael Rosenbaum return as Batman, Superman, Martian Manhunter, Wonder Woman and The Flash respectively. All reprising their roles from the Justice League and Justice League Unlimited cartoons, except for Daly who played big blue in his own animated series. We are also treated to Nathan Fillion once again voicing Green Lantern and Phil Morris as Vandal Savage. All actors deliver in a way that makes you think they never took off their tights.
The animation is fantastic. Revisiting a style that was seen in Justice League: Crisis on Two Earths and is very similar to that of the new Young Justice animated series, JLD looks great. The fights are more intense and brutal than most that I have seen in animation and are more than welcome to this rock em sock em adventure.
One of the best parts about JLD is the inclusion of Cyborg to the Justice League. A move that was brought about by Geoff Johns in the New 52 relaunch, McDuffie was a perfect choice to bring him to the forefront in animation. The only bad thing is that we won’t ever see a McDuffie written Cyborg again.
All in all, JLD is a great final piece from the great Dwayne McDuffie. With a tight story and some character moments than are better than some live action comic movies I’ve seen, this movie will forever show what McDuffie really brought to the comics he worked on: Heart.
