Christmas comic book cartoons

Last year, I made recordings and an all-in-one DVD of three different holiday-themed comic book cartoons. I'd forgotten I had this, stumbled upon it, and popped it in during Christmas Eve festivities. Glad I did.

(And, yes, there's a theme here.)

Powerpuff Girls: Twas the Fight Before Christmas

I miss this show. Tom Kenny is an amazing voice talent. The special has Princess Morebucks, who is one of my favorite baddies to hate -- and she's a Powerpuff girl? And Santa takes Christmas away from everyone? And then he's ... had ... enough!?

Good stuff.

Justice League ("Comfort and Joy")

This was a great series, and I'd argue better than its follow-on Unlimited incarnation.

This holiday one shot (most episodes were part of 2- or 3-episode arcs) is fun, has a lot of heart, and shows some (mostly) non-combatitive vignette moments of key members of the team. Superman/Clark and Martian Manhunter/J'onn visit Smallville. Green Lantern/Jon Stewart and Hawkgirl/Shayera have a superhero version of a snowball fight (then are off to an alien bar for a decidedly different holiday tradition). The Flash/Wally West and Ultra-Humanite end up in a battle that winds up well for everyone (including some orphans).

Batman: The Animated Series ("Holiday Knights")

Perhaps my favorite all-time cartoon, this holiday one-shot was one of the last episodes of the 1990s TV series. It has three great, different stories that have Bruce Timm's trademark "I get it" take on each character. The first story has Harley Quinn and Poison Ivy kidnap Bruce Wayne and put him under their control, using his money for a huge Christmas shopping spree. In the second story, Batgirl takes on Clayface in a Gotham Department Store during the holiday shopping rush. , Finally, Batman and Robin take on the Joker, who's (understandably) trying to kill all the people at Gotham City's New Year's Eve celebration. Great, solid acting and good story throughout.

I need to add the "Christmas With The Joker" episode to this collection. That episode has Mark Hamill (The Joker) in top form. And he sings a special version of "Jingle Bells".

Borat!: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan.

I just watched Borat!: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan.

I have probably never laughed so hard at so many inappropriate things in one sitting.

And then sitting out in the parking lot reliving the highlights for 20 minutes. My cheeks hurt.

Don't see this film if you're easily offended. Don't see this film if you're moderately offended.

Oh, but I'm glad I did ...

Friday Night Lights

Friday Night Lights is important to the Central Texas acting scene.

The thing is shot and produced here, and a big lift for this part of the acting world. I've got a lot of friends in it.

Watch it. It's genuinely good.

It's about competition and relationships and that passion and importance that is spotlighted in high school, but exists as part of the human condition, and we probably shouldn't be covering up so much once we graduate.

Wow, NBC has Friday Night Lights, Heroes, 30 Rock, Studio 60, Twenty Good Years ... This is becoming my network ...

Heroes

I am such a comic book geek, so I so want Heroes to succeed.

The pilot was pretty good. Good rough, and setting stuff up to hit the fan.

I'm hoping the tightness improves following episodes -- there were some particularly bad editing moments in first episode, and at least two scenes that seemed so contrived (dropping the ring in the garbage disposal, etc.), that I got jarred out of the moment.

And the acting is a mixed bag. Some good, some definitely showing us acting -- which I've gotten really sensitive to.

I was thinking this series was going to be an episodic version of Unbreakable, but it looks like it's actually going to be more blatant about its comic book tie-in.

I hope they don't try to ape to many past dramas, like the X-Files Smoking Man or TNT's Witchblade (though if they must ape Witchblade, let it be season 1, not season 2).

And check out the Website --Everything from watching missed episodes (full or 2-minute summary to keep you up to date), interviews, downloads, and an ongoing, online-only comic book that expands the Heroes world.

Hey, it's better comic book fare than Who Wants to be a Super Hero?, which I'm painfully working my way through (only because of Stan Lee's brilliance and entrepreneurship).