SupermanShazam The Return Of Black Adam DC Showcase

Posted In: Jonah Hex

Katie Tubville says...

First Some Details about the Movie Itself



The Original Shazam/Superman is 22 minutes long With the the extra shorts the Green Arrow, Jonah Hex,And Spectre making up the other 39 minutes. The unfortunate part for those who have purchased past animations from Dcu is your basically paying 19.99 for shorts you already own. I hope this wont be a practice we will continue to see from Joaquim Dos Santos and his crew of anime creators.



The Movie itself is a basic knockdown drag out between Some of the Dcu mightiest heros. But everything seemed to be to linear. everything happened just as expected without any real surprises.Situation just happened to unfold just like it was a setup. From the lunch meeting between Clark Kent and Billy to the first introduction of Black Adam. By not having that extra time to create a full storyline we were left with the quick rush rush of events mentality.





If you don't own the others story's this can have some retribution on you you will see some great short story's but to those who have purchased the others your outta luck. Surprised?

Posted on February 2, 2011

Weston Hald says...

The animated short has a great look to it. So what if it is not a full length feature. The storyline which involves the origins of Captain Marvel fits within the time frame without a feeling of being jam-packed. Fantastic art work with the fist-to-face strikes. Brilliant!!

Posted on February 3, 2011

Marilee Stafiej says...

My kids and I enjoyed the "Return of Black Adam," but it wasn't until it arrived it that we realized it's a "short."



As you can imagine, it was a little disappointing, given they charged full feature length film price for it. (At $19.99, to boot.)



Next time, I'll be sure to look at the length of the main film before I buy.

Posted on February 3, 2011

Shawnta Presser says...

I apparently didn't pay attention, because I bought this thinking it was a full length movie, or at the very least, an hour long.Turns out it was just a bit over 22 minutes.It was a good 22 minutes, but not what I was expecting.And if I had known that the other shorts were not new, I probably would have bought one of the other DC animated movies instead.

Posted on February 3, 2011

Tabatha Earthman says...

This disc contains one new and three previously released shorts. However, they were only released on the special editions of the longer films. If anyone, like me, didn't buy the special editions, these are all new. In the long run, getting them all here is cheaper than if I bought all the special editions.

Posted on February 3, 2011

Suanne Seegar says...

Bruce Timm and company just keep cranking out the hits. Ever since BTAS, I have just been overwhelmed, by everything that these guys have done. One of things that I love about the DCAU, is that while have been given great stories about Batman and Superman and the other big name DC heroes, they always remember the little guy.



DC Showcase is a collection of short films that revolve around `other' heroes in the DC universe and give us a story about how they do what they do to keep truth and justice. Three of these shorts have already been given to us in the last 3 DCAU DVD releases, but it is still nice to get them in their own package. Of course the main attraction is the title, `Superman/Shazam: The Return of Black Adam' Captain Marvel isn't what one would call a less popular hero, in fact he is extremely popular. Still, the DCAU has not really given him the screen time he deserves. After the JLU episode `Clash' I was so happy to finally see Captain Marvel as part of the DCAU, now he gets his own origin story. The short is about the length of an actual tv episode and it is great to see Superman witness the creation of Captain Marvel. Brining back George Newbern and Jerry O'Connell to voice their respective characters was awesome, because like in `Clash the two actors work off each other so well. Arnold Vosloo brings a great persona to Black Adam and just having Black Adam in general in the short is great as well, because like Captain Marvel he is another character that never really has been given much time in the spotlight.



Along with this new short there are extended versions of the first three shorts. You barley notice the changes, but they do seem longer with a lot less broken dialogue so the flow is much better. `The Spectre', is perhaps my favorite because it uses the old 1970s film scratch effects to make it come off an old cartoon. The casting of Gary Cole to voice The Spectre was pure genius, as he is probably one of the best character actors out there today. It's a great story of revenge and mystery and it works well from beginning to end. `Green Arrow' is the most modern of the shorts. Casting Neil Mcdonugh and Malcom McDowell is a real one two punch. It is a great Green Arrow story of him doing what he does best. It's got great action sequences and witty humor and throwing a little surprise in at the end is just the icing on the cake.The final short is `Jonah Hex' and its style is a true western. The animation is very brown and earthy like the westerns of old, so the vibe is there. You have a great cast in Thomas Jane, Linda Hamilton and Michelle Tractenberg. It's a very slow story more plot driven than action driven, though the action sequences are great.It definitely makes up for the bust that the actual film was.



The only negative that I have about the package in general is that there were not enough short films. It would have been great to see at least 6 Showcase shorts because there are so many characters that still have yet to be Showcased. While this installment is a tremendous success I really hope that this is the first of many more installments to come.

Posted on February 4, 2011

Edgardo Cocuzza says...

SUPERMAN/SHAZAM! - THE RETURN OF BLACK ADAM is the featured short in this DVD offering, and the spotlight is well warranted. This is a terrific action-packed adventure which reintroduces (and modernizes) the origin of the World's Mightiest Mortal and has him teaming up with the Man of Steel, to boot. Since this featured short runs at only around 24 minutes long, it's damn decent of DC and Warner Brothers to also pack this DVD with three previously released shorts in the DC Showcase animated collection (featuring the Specter short from JUSTICE LEAGUE: CRISIS ON TWO EARTHS, the Jonah Hex short from BATMAN: UNDER THE RED HOOD, and the Green Arrow short - in his Mike Grell hooded costume - from SUPERMAN/BATMAN: APOCALYPSE). So, yes, know what you're going into. The Superman/Shazam! story is the only thing spanking new in this DVD.



Superman has three vulnerabilities: kryptonite, magic, and girls with two 'L's in their names. Black Adam has magic oozing out his ears, which presents a definite challenge for the Man of Steel. Black Adam has returned to Earth after five thousand years of an exile imposed on him by the wizard Shazam. Crashing into Fawcett City, Black Adam's mission is to seek out Shazam's chosen new champion and kill him. Except that young Billy Batson hasn't yet met the immortal wizard. Billy inhabits a cramped apartment in a slum neighborhood, but he hasn't allowed the awful urban condition to infect him. Billy has his head on straight, strives to do the right thing (little dude even feeds the rats in his apartment). It helps that he's got Clark Kent for a mentor.



It's ironic that Black Adam's first attempt on his life proves to be the catalyst which introduces Billy to the wizard haunting the subway station. And so, with one magic word, the lightning flashes and the kid transforms into the imposing Captain Marvel. It's an exhilarating thing to see. It's nice, too, that at this stage Superman doesn't just get shoved to the sidelines. He and the rookie play equal roles in taking on and besting Black Adam.



The animation is superb. Whoever came up with the blistering action sequences was dreaming big. I love that the scope of the battle reflects the inhuman power of our characters. Automobiles and colossal obelisks hurtle thru the air. Heroes and villain collide with concussive force. Black Adam holding up that fire engine truck is an awesome, awesome sight. The animation sells all this marvelously. This being a short, there isn't much time for heavy plot development, but the story moves at a crackling pace while doing a solid job of conveying the core personality traits of the three main characters. I love that the writers managed to capture Billy Batson's exuberance and innocence, especially in his guise as the Big Red Cheese. And the Mister Tawky Tawny sighting is much appreciated. I think C.C. Beck would've been proud of this one. Not even the fat kid from STAND BY ME doing the voice of Captain Marvel could ruin this one. James Garner as the wizard Shazam is nothing but awesome.



Besides the three other animated shorts - which are all fantastic (with the Green Arrow short being my favorite of the three) - the DVD also has the trailer to BATMAN: THE BRAVE AND THE BOLD and four episodes from past DC cartoon shows as selected by Bruce Timm: "Showdown" from BATMAN: T.A.S. (featuring Jonah Hex and Ra's al Ghul), "The Chill of the Night" from BATMAN: THE BRAVE AND THE BOLD (featuring the Specter, Phantom Stranger, and Zatanna), "Initiation" (featuring Green Arrow, Captain Atom, Supergirl, and Green Lantern) and "Clash" (pitting Captain Marvel and an enraged Superman in an absolutely epic brawl), both episodes from JUSTICE LEAGUE UNLIMITED.

Posted on February 5, 2011

Carina Huus says...

DC Universe decided to go ahead and take their DC Showcase features from three of their prior regular full-length releases into a single movie anthology, along with a brand new longer segment, the headliner of Superman/Shazam: The Return Of Black Adam. It also claims to have all three of the previous shorts now in expanded editions, but that is not the case with this as none of the shorts of The Spectre, Jonah Hex, or Green Arrow were changed in any way from their original release. Why they advertised it like this I have no idea, as Warner Bros. is usually pretty straight forward with their promotions and let you know what you're really getting.



The first feature is of Superman/Shazam that actually acts as an origin story for Captain Marvel, which is pretty cool since there's never really been anything done of him outside the comic books. BTW, I need to point out that this is the DC Comics' Captain Marvel who is really the original one, and not the Marvel Comics character of the same name. There's a long history behind that involving copyrights and whatnot, that I suggest you look up on your own time. Anyway, it opens with an evil superpowered baddy called Black Adam arriving on Earth after hitchhiking it across the galaxy for the last 5,000 years. Adam was given the powers of the Greek Gods by the wizard Shazam long ago, but went rogue, so the wizard sent him far into space. Now that he's returned, Adam seeks out the next one who will inherit the powers of Shazam. It turns out to be a young orphen named Billy Batson who is currently being interviewed by Clark Kent for a news report on the homeless(even though he has an apartment). Adam shows up and flings Kent through a wall, although conveniently Superman shows up(weird!)to give him a run for his money. Billy manages to escape, and is magically sent to the underground lair of the aging Shazam. He gives Billy the ability to turn into an older version of himself with the powers of flight, speed, and superstrength, with the new name of Captain Marvel. He and Superman team up to take down Black Adam, and with the help of Shazam's talking tiger friend, con the villain into reverting back to his old form which ages him five millenia in a single moment. The mini-movie ends with Billy sorta forgetting the whole concept of a "secret identity" when confronted by some punks. This was a great little feature which explored some of the old DC Comics Presents territory where Superman would team up with other heroes in Brave And The Bold fashion. It was wonderfully directed by Joaquim Dos Santos who also did great work in Avatar: The Last Airbender, as well as the other DC Showcase shorts .



The first of the three original Showcase stories is The Spectre which is done like a cross between a 70s detective TV show and a grindhouse movie. Jim Corrigan is a police detective who is really the Spirit of Vengenance, and as the Spectre he hunts down the murderers of an ex-girlfriend's rich father. This has some particularly spooky and gripping scenes in it. The Spectre himself is very convincing as voiced by Gary Cole(aka: Harvey Birdman!)



Next is Green Arrow, where the Emerald Archer has to rescue a young princess in an airport from assassins. He gets into a chase with several thugs while being shot at by the evil archer, Merlyn The Magnificent. GA bests Merlyn, but is nearly taken out by his client, Count Vertigo. Luckily, Black Canary shows up to bail Arrow out. Neal McDonough was fine as GA, and Malcom McDowell is charismatic as ever as Merlyn.



The final bit is Jonah Hex which was phenomenally better than that crappy live-action movie. It's a regular tale of the horribly scarred gunslinger with no supernatural plotpoints thrown in for no good reason. Jonah goes hunting for an outlaw with a large bounty on him, and runs a fowl of a crooked but dead sexy bar owner and her goons. This holds up as being a great Old West tale, while still holding onto the great feel of a nostalgic comic story. Thomas Jane is also just as tough as the voice of Hex, and not just doing a Western version of The Punisher.



Aside from how there was nothing new added to the previously released shorts, I'd say this is worth at least renting if you didn't have the Justice League: Crisis On Two Earths, Batman: Under The Red Hood, or Superman/Batman: Apocalypse special edition DVDs or Blu-Rays. I dunno if there are plans to release Superman/Shazam as a bonus on an upcoming feature release, but otherwise unless you're a huge Superman or Capt. Marvel fan you might wanna save your money until this ends up in the used DVD rack.

Posted on February 8, 2011

Taisha Schimanski says...

Joaquim Dos Santos( JLU, G.I. Joe: Resolute, Avatar: LAB ) has been the director/producer on the DC Showcase Shorts which for me has been great as I'm a big fan of his work( he even got me to watch a short on Green Arrow who I HATE ). What's even better when his name is attached to something you're pretty much about to see some high quality animation that not even a lot of prime time cartoons get other then The Boondocks that is still traditional 2D animation.



Shazam/Superman is the origin story of Shazam and Black Adam, now I'm not a Superman fan but I am a fan of when him and Shazam get into their tussles but I am a huge Black Adam fan. Who gets this short rolling as he makes his return to earth after being exiled with two things on his mind, kill the wizard Shazam and his new champion. Which leads us to Billy Bastion who is being interviewed by Clark Kent, some would argue that this sounds wrong but again it's a short film and instead of a long drawn out way to have these two in the same city they just cut to the chase. Joaquim and the writer of this had the perfect idea of what happens when super powered people get near each other in a fight, throw buildings and cars at each other giving us a major fight that hasn't been seen since the JL episode featuring Shazam/Supes( which is a bonus feature on this disc ). The choice of getting Arnold Vosloo( The Mummy ) to voice Black Adam was great as he brings that regal voice to the role, Jerry o' Conell was ok but then he didn't really say much other then grunting.



The Specter was a very great throwback to old school horror thanks to Steve Niles and the added choice of having the old film grain was great. While it doesn't have the hand to hand combat Dos Santos is known for he still had people being attacked by objects and you'd never know that this could have been his first time doing so. The music score was also perfect for this and done by the "Track Team" who pretty much handled all the music for these shorts, it would be nice to see what these two could do with a full length feature.



Green Arrow is pretty much my fav short which is shocking as while I'm not a Superman fan I really can't stand Green Arrow( more of a fan of his son Connor ). It could have also been this was written by Greg Weisman who created Gargoyles and was a head writer for Spectacular Spider-Man but it also helped that he basically let Dos Santos turn up his fight meter to 11( even had Ollie pull off a armbar ). Not shabby that Malcom McDowell lends his voice too boot



Jonah Hex is pretty much was better then the live action movie and as a fan of the comic it was nice that the cahracter at least took some steps forwards after that disaster. Thomas Jane once again proves that he's perfect for voicing cowboys( having done so in Gun ) and Linda Hamilton while not saying a whole lot makes sure every time she does it's worth something.



There you have it, while these are short( they are short films ) they're still pretty great and either you've seen these already from when they were packaged with other $20 now a days is still a deal

Posted on February 9, 2011

Anibal Postley says...

Superman/Shazam: The Return of Black Adam, is actually a compilation of DC Universe animated shorts, the main attraction being the main title of course, which is also the only one here that's new.In Superman/Shazam, the evil and ultra-powerful Black Adam (voiced by The Mummy himself Arnold Vosloo) seeks to take out the new inheritor of the Power of Shazam, which happens to be young Billy Batson (voiced by Zach Callison).Superman (voiced by Justice League Unlimited Supes George Newbern) shows up to lend a hand as Billy gets a crash course in being Captain Marvel (voiced by Jerry O'Connell), and there's some great action and animation throughout.As said before, Superman/Shazam is the only new short to be found here, but that's not saying that what's also included is bad either.The short featuring The Spectre is worth the price of admission in itself, as DC's resident spirit of vengeance (voiced by Gary Cole) exacts brutal retribution upon the guilty in a noir-ish type style, while a short starring Green Arrow (voiced by Neal McDonough) finds the Emerald Archer defending a princess from his arch-nemesis Merlyn (voiced by Malcolm McDowell), and finally a short starring Jonah Hex (voiced by Thomas Jane) finds the scarred bounty hunter taking on a murderous madam (voiced by Linda Hamilton).The other three shorts have been released before on special editions and Blu-Ray's of previous DC animated features, so if you already own them, there isn't really much here to warrant a purchase unless you're a die hard completest.If you don't already own them however, then by all means pick this up, as you won't find many better animated comic adaptations in the market today.

Posted on February 14, 2011