With the cancellation of the "Teen Titans" and issuance of the hideously awful "Superman: Brainiac Attacks" simultaneously in 2006, I was sure I was witnessing the final end of the glorious reign of the intelligently-written and superbly-drawn and -scored sequence of DC superhero cartoons beginning in 1991 with Bruce Timm's Batman, and continuing on through the 1990s and 2000s with Superman, Batman Beyond, Static Shock, The Zeta Project, Justice League, and the "high anime" Titans. But just as I was about to curl up in a fetal position shaking from withdrawal, along comes the thoroughly delightful "Leagion of Super-Heroes" which pushes all the right buttons. From the look of especially the second episode, plots are going to be quite adventurous compared to the usually Earth-bound shows of the other series.
Animation style: I would describe the designs of the various characters as being between those of "New Batman" or Superman and those of the "Teen Titans", but closer to the former (and young Clark Kent wouldn't look at all out of place if he were appearing in a time-traveling episode of Justice League). ***There is NO "high anime" "mugging the camera" -- so "purists" and "fanboys" can take heart.*** The show appears to have a decent budget at least on par with Justice League (or a lesser one more frugally spent) to permit a good score and higher frame-rate polished-up animation which avoids any "only the lips are moving" or "clunky CGI" feelings. There's a noticeable amount of cheap "bouncing cut-outs" in the first episode (I'm guessing Ep1 is partly cobbled from recycled in-house promotional materials) -- but the second episode is a knock-out.
Target audience is children, but the writing isn't forcibly "dumbed-down" or insulting to the intelligence. If you're hoping to see blood or evil malevolences like Darkseid laying waste to the countryside with omega-beams, you can forget it -- but if you can put your "TV-14+ rating" preferences aside, you'll find you can have a good time on the couch alongside a grade-school kid. Rest-assured: Clark will get blasted, fried, squished, stomped into the concrete, you name it -- all in the very first episode. In short, whole lotta butt-whoopin' just the way there should be in a DC cartoon. The second episode demonstrates that, while red ink won't be overflowing the bathtubs, the series will be capable of creepy and mysterious scripts that'll definitely have little tykes freaked and cartoon-buff adults glued.
In my opinion, "Legion" is going to be a huge winner -- the creators have obviously done their homework.
Geek stuff: Care has been taken to not disrupt the "continuity" of the Bruce Timm/Paul Dini "universe" by having the Legion "borrow" Clark Kent as a young man (big teenager?) prior to his even thinking of becoming Superman, and literally promise to bring him right back to the moment after they've left (hopefully after at least fifty episodes!) -- so nothing is "screwed up" by the basic premise. Nifty treat: The reason why Superman's cape is so indestructible may be finally answered. A continuity non-carryover I'm willing to put up with: Superman doesn't need a suit to survive in space.
