DC Media: TV Shows, Animated Movies and Video Games

[byrd156]

Not enough. Never enough. If I bleed, superheroes should bleed, that way I can relate to them

Not sure if serious or joking....

[GrandKaiser]

Not sure if serious or joking....

Joking. Justice League Dark should be a bloody and very serious film

[Hilden B. Lade]

I'm just sad we never got to see Constantine snort Santa's ashes in live-action.

[byrd156]

Joking. Justice League Dark should be a bloody and very serious film

All the new animated films are bloody and very serious. What would be really great would be one that isn't.

[GrandKaiser]

All the new animated films are bloody and very serious. What would be really great would be one that isn't.

Or one that actually makes the inclusion of grittiness and blood appropriate.

[Triple J]

All the new animated films are bloody and very serious. What would be really great would be one that isn't.

There are many. This year we will (or we have gotten):

Batman Unlimited (2 shorts and 2 movies), Justice League vs. Bizarro League and Super friends (3 shorts).

[The S0/\/\@7ic Si/\/\[]Dl370n]

Haven't seen this posted already:

Hudlin & Cowan on Why a Live-Action Static Shock is More Timely Than Ever

On Wednesday, comic book fans were surprised to learn that Milestone Media has returned in what's been dubbed "Milestone 2.0," a company headed by Denys Cowan and Derek Dingle (two of the founders of the original Milestone along with Michael Davis, the late Dwayne McDuffie and Christopher Priest, who left the company before its first comics were released) plus comics and Hollywood veteran Reginald Hudlin. Though specific plans have yet to be revealed, the new Milestone looks to return to comics -- again pairing with '90s publishing partner DC Comics, along with reaching out to new outlets -- and also pursuing opportunities in a variety of media, buoyed by the original goal of increasing minority representation in both characters and creators.

But maybe fans shouldn't have been quite that surprised. Back in October a live-action "Static Shock" series was announced as part of the initial lineup of programming for Warner Bros.' new short-form digital division, Blue Ribbon Content, with both Hudlin and Cowan on board as producers. While it's still early in the process, the show will feature Static, one of the marquee Milestone characters who gained a larger audience through the 2000-2004 "Static Shock" animated series and was subsequently introduced into the DC Universe alongside that company's iconic roster.

Though Static is a more than 20-year-old character at this point, Hudlin and Cowan told CBR News that they feel a live-action "Static Shock" series -- starring a teenage Black male science nerd superhero -- is "more timely than ever," both due to growing changes towards minority representation, and the multiple recent headlines of violence and murder towards Black youth.

CBR News: Reggie, Denys, fans were surprised when the "Static Shock" live-action digital series was announced back in October -- it was the first we've seen from the character in a while, and not necessarily the obvious choice of a comic book character to lead a new digital initiative. What can you share about how this came to be?

Reginald Hudlin: We're working out our deal , pretty excited about all this, and then, we get this random call from Blue Ribbon -- the division of Warner Bros. "Hey, we want to do a live-action Static. What do you think?" Uh, yeah! "But we want to do this deal super-quick. We want to announce our division, we want this to be sort of the prime driver -- we have a lot of exciting properties, but this is the most exciting thing."

Denys Cowan: Part of us were like, "OK, yeah, right. I'm sure you want to make this your prime thing." But OK, we'll take the meeting. So we took the meeting, and Sam Register was very excited about it, and quite serious, and they made the announcement. Big picture of Static Shock. They used Static Shock to announce Blue Ribbon, basically. That's when we knew they were very serious, because they could have picked anything. They could have picked Flash, they could have picked Superman, but they didn't do that.

Hudlin: Every meeting we've had with Sam Register and the folks at Blue Ribbon has been bigger and better. We're so in love with each other -- we're having so much fun on this property. Denys, of course, had already done tons of brainstorming of what we thought it could be.

Cowan: Reggie pitched them a story, and they loved it.

Hudlin: They said, "OK, don't start writing yet..." So I started writing. [Laughs] Everyone's been just so fired up and so supportive and so enthusiastic. It's just a great process. It's literally the most exciting thing I'm working on right now. It feels like some sort of weird summation of everything. Everyone who hears about it, they're like, "That's the thing."

It's weird, because so much of it comes from what Static is as a concept. It's amazing, because Static as an idea is more timely than ever. Part of it is just how history moves. But in terms of social relevance and who he is and what he represents, it's perfect. You've got these fans who grew up reading the comic book when they were 10 or 12, now they're young adults, they've got kids. It's a project that's very much on the fast track. I don't have a timetable for you, I don't have any real details about it, but it's moving very quickly, and literally everyone who's in the room loses their mind. That's what's so crazy! No one doesn't get it. Everyone goes, "Oh, yes. That!" It's really been a fantastic experience.

[The S0/\/\@7ic Si/\/\[]Dl370n]

Continued:

Let's talk a bit more about those qualities of Static as a character -- of all the original Milestone characters, Static has endured the most, gained the most popularity, starred in an animated series and relatively recently was in his own DC Comics series. What do you think it is about the character in particular has contributed to that long life, heading into this new spotlight of a live-action digital series?

Cowan: To me, a lot of it has to do with the kinds of stories that we told with "Static Shock." But a lot of it has to do with his personality, because Static isn't a dark character, he's not a dark, driven, blah blah blah -- he actually represents light in every situation. Whenever you hear his name, there's a positive feeling, not a bad feeling. He has a lot of the same qualities as Spider-Man, and was designed very specifically to have certain qualities that we like about that character, and we like about a lot of the heroes that we like.

Hudlin: The only thing more alienated that a science nerd is a Black science nerd. [Laughs] At the same time, we're living in this era where nerds rule.

Cowan: And a lot of people identity with Static. He's aspirational. He's basically the skinny kid, the nerd, scientist, who got picked on and then got powers. And then still got picked on, but at least he had powers.

Hudlin: It's his personality, it's his attitude about life, and the fact that the Milestone Universe, in a lot of ways, just feels more grounded in the real world than a lot of superhero characters. A lot of times when people talk about "grounding," what they mean is grim and gritty, which turns into a shock effect approach. As opposed to, just being really honest about the complexities of being a young person and all the choices you have to make.

Cowan: Having to figure things out.

Hudlin: When you deal with ethnicity, with class from an inside-out way -- not like, "What are those people doing?" but, "Here are experiences that we went through, that we can just take on a larger scale once you add superpowers." When you look at the world that young people are living in today, and the diminishment of opportunities, the vilification of being young, of being of color, certainly of being a young Black male, where you're presumed guilty until proven dead -- and then we'll really talk about you.

Cowan: Or you're taking your life in your hands every time you go outside. There's a lot of powerlessness that comes with that feeling.

Hudlin: That's a great way of putting it. So what happens with this kid when he gets a little bit of power? What are those choices? When there's not clear right or wrong, how do you know what to do? What's your relationship with your parents? What's your relationship with the world? What is it you really desire?

Cowan: And, what does it mean to be a hero, and how do you use your powers for good? And why? And how do you measure good? These are all the things that we talked about in "Static Shock," and that we'll continue to talk about in the [live-action] series.

Hudlin: It's all about, "Y'know, these choices really aren't that easy." We really tried to create as many moral dilemmas as possible. If you're any kind of writer, you try to make the antagonists as relatable as possible, and I really love our antagonist in this series. We try to never take the easy way out, and give them all very good reasons why they're doing what they're doing, so you can feel conflicted even as the hero may be winning or losing -- because what's really the win, or what's really the loss, here? All those actions are the ripple effect that keeps going on -- we're not going to have clean resets, everything goes back to normal at the end of that storyline.

It's also the fun of having your own universe. It's great to have the extraordinary legacy of DC and Marvel Comics, where you have characters that have a 75-year history. But there's also something great about [not having] to feel insecure because you don't know about all these stories and characters that were created before you were born. I know I like that when I read new characters and new comics.

Cowan: It's easy entry, as opposed to this complex thing.

Hudlin: And as popular as those characters were in their first incarnation, there's no doubt they're all going to be bigger now, because frankly, the mental health or our nation just keeps getting better. When my 10-year-old daughter has play dates with her friends in Beverly Hills, amongst the pile of Barbie dolls, there are some Black Barbie dolls, because people are just less racially hung up. People just want the cool thing. They just go, "Oh, that looks cool." We know that our audience is really broad, and we're going to make multiracial comics for a multiracial generation.


Cowan: One of the reasons why Static, and a lot of the Milestone characters, are popular, is that he's an original character. We gave them qualities that we liked in other things, but he's an original character, from a very distinct point of view, and not derivative in terms of being "the Black version" of anything.

People responded to that, and that's why they responded to "Blade." Even though he was a vampire hunter, you hadn't seen a vampire hunter like that. He wasn't the Black version of Van Helsing, or something.

There definitely seems to be increasing diversity in high-profile comic book-based adaptations -- shows like "The Flash" and "Arrow" have major Black characters -- but minorities haven't been the lead character yet, as opposed to in this instance, and a few other upcoming projects. That seems like a huge part in the move forward.

Hudlin: People clamor for "Black Panther" or "Luke Cage," and the incredible response when the "Static" show was announced -- that wasn't just Black fans going "yay, about time." That was fans going, "yay, about time." Everyone knows diversity is good. We want Black superheroes, we want female superheroes, we want Latino superheroes. That makes things better. And they don't have to be sidekicks or buddies, they can be rock stars themselves.

Cowan: Original rock stars.

"Static Shock" is relatively uncharted territory in that it's a superhero show released in a digital format, with short-form episodes. It's early still, but how has that shaped things, creatively?

Hudlin: I've been lucky enough to work in movies, in TV shows, in comic books, in music videos, in commercials. One thing I've learned is, you just have to respect the rules of each medium. Everything is different. Doing short-form is important, and you have to make it work, so when you sit down and click on it, and it may be the first one you click on, it works as a standalone piece. At the same time, when you watch it, you're going to want to see more, for sure. My job is to hook you.

At the same time, that property is probably going to have an afterlife. You're going to see all those pieces, and they may form like Voltron at the end of it. It's a tricky process, but as we've been working on it, it's been really satisfying.

The thing I also love about digital, quite frankly, is the speed. I've worked in movies and TV a long time, and there's a lot of thinking, there's a lot of masticating, and digital is, "Sounds great, let's do it now. How fast can it be on? How fast can you make another one?" It's just not so slow. I don't know if all that overthinking is making better product. Most pilots fail, right? I like the idea of, "Let's just go do it." Sometimes you just have to go for it, and that's what makes thing happen. The attitude, the spirit of digital production, I think is really helping us. You just got to make moves.

Stay tuned to CBR News for more on Blue Ribbon Content's live-action "Static Shock" series.

http://www.comicbookresources.com/?p...ticle&id=58692

[Vakanai]

I am just glad DC/WB has products aimed at both adults and kids - movies like these for kids, and the more mature animated universe movie for adults

While that is good, I don't want the children's stuff dumbed down because kids deserve quality animation too, and I don't want mindless violence for the adult stuff just because it has to make that rating. Whether it is aimed at kids or adults, I believe it's always best to aim for quality all the way.

Also, movies for adults and/or kids should also still aim for the fan in all of us. I know DC's got me excited for this movie.

As far as I know there's an animated Batman '66 tribute film, one obligatory Justice League Film along with a unknown 3rd. Maybe the 3rd film will be the WB animation dept finally getting out of their Justice League/Batman comfort zone. I know GL and Wonder Woman didn't do great in sales but it's still no excuse to latch on to Batman all the time.

Actually, and sadly, to them yes it is an excuse to latch onto Batman all the time. WB is a business, their other hero properties have failed (allegedly) to bring in the same sort of numbers/sales as their Batman or Justice League stuff. They even stopped making Superman, freaking Superman, since his last film didn't do so well. Sure, the reason for that was it just wasn't that good, they should have done a better job making the Brainiac story a quality adaptation, but that's not the lesson WB chose to take from it. They chose to take the terrible lesson that 'only Batman sells like we want'. So we won't see them move out of that comfort zone until either they learn a better lesson, or more likely they want an animated WW or Cyborg film to help push the live action movies.

The new animated films are already bloody enough.

Yes and no. I don't mind the blood and/or violence, I could do with less or more bloody violence, either's good as long as it makes sense with the story, that it is tonally appropriate. I don't like blood for blood's sake. There is never too much or too little, there's only 'is it good for the story or scene? Does it really work here?' and to me they haven't gotten that aspect right as much or as often as they should. Of course different strokes for different folks, some people love that level of violence and blood and want it pushed even further, others are turned off by it, but I just really want it to feel appropriate for the movie.

I'm just sad we never got to see Constantine snort Santa's ashes in live-action.

Did that really happen in the books? Damn.

All the new animated films are bloody and very serious. What would be really great would be one that isn't.

Eh, bloody sure, serious though has been kind of hit and miss...

Or one that actually makes the inclusion of grittiness and blood appropriate.

This, all this.

There are many. This year we will (or we have gotten):

Batman Unlimited (2 shorts and 2 movies), Justice League vs. Bizarro League and Super friends (3 shorts).

And last year we got JLA Adventures: Trapped in Time, the year before that LEGO Batman movie based on the game, and next year the 66 film with Adam West. Plus we fans often see it as a tidal wave of violent not nice for kids stuff because we watch the pg 13 films, but during most of these films we had totally kid friendly TV shows like Brave and the Bold, Teen Titans Go, Beware the Batman, and so forth. The kids have had plenty to watch aimed for them while we've been spoiled with films. It's been a great time for fans of every age really, something we've never really had before.

[AquaLantern]

Actually, and sadly, to them yes it is an excuse to latch onto Batman all the time. WB is a business, their other hero properties have failed (allegedly) to bring in the same sort of numbers/sales as their Batman or Justice League stuff. They even stopped making Superman, freaking Superman, since his last film didn't do so well. Sure, the reason for that was it just wasn't that good, they should have done a better job making the Brainiac story a quality adaptation, but that's not the lesson WB chose to take from it. They chose to take the terrible lesson that 'only Batman sells like we want'. So we won't see them move out of that comfort zone until either they learn a better lesson, or more likely they want an animated WW or Cyborg film to help push the live action movies.

I understand they're a business and they wanna make easy money, but the "use batman for everything" approach is so limiting. Instead of thinking "how can we make more money with Batman" they need to think "how can we profit with our other properties". What's ironic is that I got into reading comics last July (with Teen Titans and GL: New Guardians) because I was fed up with seeing Batman everywhere.

[DochaDocha]

Or one that actually makes the inclusion of grittiness and blood appropriate.

Interesting argument. I'll bite; what makes the use of grittiness and blood appropriate?

[Vakanai]

I understand they're a business and they wanna make easy money, but the "use batman for everything" approach is so limiting. Instead of thinking "how can we make more money with Batman" they need to think "how can we profit with our other properties". What's ironic is that I got into reading comics last July (with Teen Titans and GL: New Guardians) because I was fed up with seeing Batman everywhere.

It doesn't matter that it's limiting, what matters is making money. The question they would ask is never "how can we profit with our other properties" but rather "why risk money on our other properties when this one property does so well so consistently and others haven't". Not saying it is good but that's more in line with the thought processes of a business. Only fans would think of "how can we profit with our other properties" as a thing, usually. Marvel luckily learned to expand and think that way with their properties, but only because other studios had so many of their other characters. If Sony and Fox had never been an issue, we still might not have an Iron Man movie never mind an Avengers.

[GrandKaiser]

Interesting argument. I'll bite; what makes the use of grittiness and blood appropriate?

Instead of shoving violent and bloody scenes for no reason, put it in a scene where it makes sense and with a property that is normally associated with those things. Constantine for example, Hellblazer, is an incredibly dark and violent comic series. If they were to make an animated movie and they put a bunch of blood and violence and nudity in it, I wouldn't complain, because that's how the comic series was. That stuff fits into Constantine's world. It doesn't fit in Batman's, unless it's some kind of AU story. I don't like seeing a bunch of blood and excessive violence in Batman & Robin movies. A few of the Justice League Dark characters were introduced in mature books, where blood, violence, nudity, and grittiness was everywhere. So if they were to make movies based on those characters I wouldn't mind seeing that stuff. I do mind it in Justice League movies. It all depends on what you're adapting and you also have to make sure you're not exploiting violence or sex, just using it to progress the story.

[DochaDocha]

Instead of shoving violent and bloody scenes for no reason, put it in a scene where it makes sense and with a property that is normally associated with those things. Constantine for example, Hellblazer, is an incredibly dark and violent comic series. If they were to make an animated movie and they put a bunch of blood and violence and nudity in it, I wouldn't complain, because that's how the comic series was. That stuff fits into Constantine's world. It doesn't fit in Batman's, unless it's some kind of AU story. I don't like seeing a bunch of blood and excessive violence in Batman & Robin movies. A few of the Justice League Dark characters were introduced in mature books, where blood, violence, nudity, and grittiness was everywhere. So if they were to make movies based on those characters I wouldn't mind seeing that stuff. I do mind it in Justice League movies. It all depends on what you're adapting and you also have to make sure you're not exploiting violence or sex, just using it to progress the story.

I can dig it. I appreciate your thorough answer.

[colonyofcells]

Sex and violence sells so should be ok for superhero movies to take advantage of sex and violence.