Green Lantern: The Animated Series

I said in class that I want to work on animated programs, specifically for DC Comics, so I felt like my first blog post should pertain to my interest. Recently DC has released their first complete CG program; Green Lantern: The Animated Series. DC has done many 2D animated programs, such as Batman: The Animated Series and (more recently) Young Justice, but for them to jump on the bandwagon of many other production houses and dive into the 3D animation is very interesting. As a fan I was very tentative about this idea. I've seen many 3D TV series, and many have a great deal of fundamental problems; many dealing in the characters movements. I was afraid that DC's streak of well produced animated programs might be broken if they couldn't pull off the 3D very well. Bruce Timm; who is the artist behind Batman: The Animated Series; Justice League; as well as many others; mentioned his trepidations about this endeavor. "For a while, I was actually really resistant of CG because everyone was like ‘Oh, this is so much better and blah blah blah!’ So, I probably had a chip on my shoulder about CG, but then certain movies came out and it’s just like, wow, The Incredibles is amazing! To me, that’s like CG done perfect. And I really enjoyed Tangled. I thought Tangled was really awesome…. But it’s the difference between comic book line art and a painting. It’s not like one is better than the other just because ‘It’s a painting, therefore it’s better!’ Not necessarily. There’s a certain power in the black and white line art that you can’t get in the painting and vice versa." I think this was a very interesting analysis, especially coming from a man who made his name in 2D. What I think is remarkable about the show is that it retains his art style; the powerful jaw lines, the hour-glass bodies. It was iconic for my childhood and the idea that they are able to recreate that in a program like Maya is incredibly exciting for me. Everyone always says the possibilities are endless for these kinds of programs, and this just reaffirms that for me. The pilot episode has already aired and it was well received by fans and critics alike. Right now it has nominations pending for the 39th Annie Awards. Here's a 6 minute preview from the pilot:

The series returns Saturday March 17th at 10 AM on Cartoon Network.