DC Showcase: The Spectre, Jonah Hex, Green Arrow and Captain Marvel

In my last post about Young Justice, I went on a tangent about how impressed I am with the some of the current crop of animation directors working in television. Within that crowd there is one in particular that I've been keeping an eye out for, and that is Joaquim Dos Santos. I loved every minute of G.I. Joe: Resolute and he'd contributed to some of the best episodes to Justice League: Unlimited and Avatar: The Last Airbender. With this in mind it was no surprise to see his name on the credits for the DC Showcase shorts.

That is to say, each of these short films is excellent.

Over the past few years DC, via Warner Bros Animation, have been delving into the direct-to-dvd market. The films have varied in quality, from average to oustanding, but they're always too short. Or too long. Either way, it's an awkward running time with each film playing like a three-parter of a well produced tv series.

Typically, these films have to focus on the big three, or at least the original power players of the Justice League. So far we've had Superman, Green Lantern, Wonder Woman, a couple of Batman films and a couple of Justice League films. While we occasionally get to glimpse some of the lesser known heroes, its always in a supporting role and usually in combat, meaning we get very little character. In response to this we have the DC Showcase, a series of awesome short films released alongside the larger features.

Three of the shorts are about 11 minutes long, with the title short 'Superman/Shazam! : The Return of Black Adam' lasting the longest at about 25 minutes (your average tv episode length). Suffice to say, the shorter episodes are the best, with the Superman/Shazam team up decending into impressively staged, but overly long battle sequences. So with that out of the way, lets go through these in order of release. 

The Spectre (Gary Cole) does Horror.... Warner Bros Animation

The Spectre is the first short and is probably my favourite. In fact, in order to categorise what I think is good about it, I'll have to basically detail the whole thing. I knew from the instant it started that I'd fall for it. It's appropriation of 70s film qualities was so spot on, I don't think I could've disliked it. Those first few bars of the soundtrack was all I needed. That bass heavy wah-wah 70s Detective music, you know the kind. The scratches and film grain, the wide angle lenses, even the choices made for the credits are exacting in their replication of that style. The opening sequence where a movie producer is killed via an exploding diving board is an eye opener. It's like nothing out of DC animation before and it got me excited for what was to come.

...and the Detective movie. Warner Bros Animation

Not only does the film echo those hard-boiled Detective films like Dirty Harry, but they also manage to do a proper horror film as well. Gary Cole's performance as both faces of The Spectre is superb, imitating that gravelly Eastwood timbre for the Detective and tapping into something more primal when slipping into the guise of the jade spook. The way the Detective story dovetails into the Horror aspect and back again is so elegant it makes me feel stupid for not being able to write that well. The rest of the vocal performances are good, but I'm sure Grey DeLisle would have done just as good a job as Alyssa Milano (pictured on side).

The Spectre may actually be my favourite production to come from the DC animation line. It just happened to push a lot of the right buttons and then it was finished, leaving me hungry for more. At 11 minutes, they pack a lot into this short and I for one am appreciative of their work. It can't be easy to script something like this in such a condense running time, but they make it seem effortless. The character designs (in this and the rest of the Showcase series) strikes a perfect balance between detailed and simplified and they look fantastic in animation. On that topic, the animation in this series exceeds anything in the other DCU films in my opinion. Maybe it was that short running time, but whatever the reason it looks incredible. For me, only Jonah Hex's showcase short comes close to competing for sheer class and mastery of style.

Jonah Hex; Here to take your blood and soul, right now. Warner Bros Animation

Jonah Hex, like The Spectre, is a character I'm only peripherally aware of. The abominable live-action film starring Josh Brolin certainly didn't tell me anything interesting (or canon I've been told).  In 11 minutes, this short does so many things that the live-action feature fails to even attempt, let alone the many things it does significantly better. Dos Santos demonstrates here that he can switch genres with the best animation directors. He has so effectively switched gears and styles, that it's almost impossible to think this guy's bread and butter as a director is super-powered punch-ups.

Broads, beers and bounties. Oh that Jonah. Warner Bros.

The story, like The Spectre, is kind of vicious. But that's the great thing about these DC Showcase shorts. They're taking risks and telling the kinds of stories, pushing the boundaries of the PG-13 rating in ways that other DC productions cant. All of the necessary details for the Western are pitch perfect, and the art and sound deliver a deliciously dirty version of the staple Saloon. Hex is in town looking for a bounty and gets drawn into the murderous web of the Saloons owner. This short is practically dripping with sex and blood, and regardless of how implicit it is, its quite surprising to see it in a DC short film. The action scene that takes place towards the end of the short is expert in its staging and timing, taking a scene that might drag on interminably in a live-action film and compressing it to the best moments. The fluidity to the movements, the colour of the scene and the gut-punching sound of the combat is top-notch and definitely had me raring to see more.

Call him a Queen, he dares ya! Warner Bros Animation

Which makes The Green Arrow short just that teeny little bit disappointing. But only a little. Joaquim Dos Santos signature action scenes take front and centre on this short, and I can't complain about that too much. Greg Weisman contributes the script to this one, and while the story is straight forward, it does play perfectly to the sort of genre it's chosen to fit into. Having done a 70s Detective/Horror film, and a gritty Western, Santos has now moved onto the glossy prestige studio Action films of the 90s, particularly any set in an airport. 

Fist fight in the luggage sorting area. Thanks Die Hard 2.

The change of locale suits the character, and just to show that just because the script is straightforward doesn't mean its lazy, includes plenty of fun moments and little zingers in the dialogue. There's a very elegant setup and payoff in the short that only works if you know the super heroes alter-egos and relationships. In that sense it is both rewarding to fans and alienating to new viewers. Still, its so minor, and introduced so fluidly, that you can't help but enjoy how this story wraps up.

Which brings us to the least of the DC Showcase shorts, Superman/Shazam! : The Return of Black Adam. Already warning bells are sounding for me. Why do the other heroes get a short named after them, but Captain Marvel has to share his title with not only Supes but the villain of the piece. No that's not true, it just occured to me that it was a very long title, with no real reason to exist that way.

Arnold Vosloo loves playing ancient Egyptians gone crazy with magic. Warner Bros Animation

In any case, this is the most generic of the shorts and plays much more like a compressed two-parter or movie than any of the other short films did. Where as The Spectre, Jonah Hex and Green Arrow were all fully formed characters that WE were being introduced to, the Shazam short acts as an origin story for Captain Marvel. This is already a little less interesting and slows the pace down considerably. It's also an example of those super-powered punch ups I was referring to earlier. They can be fun (Green Arrow certainly was), but if they're going to be twice as long as the amazing Spectre and Jonah Hex shorts, it really ought to be bringing something special. Unfortunately, this one doesn't.

There's some great action in the episode though, and it does have a pretty satisfactory ending, but in comparison to the other three shorts in the DC Showcase lineup, this one is sorely lacking. I definitely put that down to the script and story moreso than anything Dos Santos does, because its certainly a professionally executed version of the 'Origin/Super-Powered Punch-Up' film. In fact I'd say that it's the voice cast, coupled with the colourful designs and bombastic action that saves the short. 

Capt Marvel (Jerry O'Connell). Warner Bros Animation

DC Showcase is definitely worth the time to watch. You can watch one and a time and it wont even consume much of your day. But they're exciting, and cool, and you'll probably find yourself jumping straight into the next short. Showcase is a particularly apt name in this instance, as not only is the series a fantastic showcase for many of the lesser known heroes of the DC universe, but it's also a showcase for some seriously stunning work from director Joaquim Dos Santos.

Somebody give this guy a feature already.