Justice League: Gods and Monsters Chronicles "Season One" Talkback (Spoilers)

[James Harvey]

Learn the origins to the Justice League's key members here in Justice League: Gods and Monsters Chronicles - only on Machinima.

Watch all three episodes right here!​

Justice League: Gods and Monsters Chronicles
"Season One" - Debuts June 8th, 2015 on Machinima

Justice League: Gods and Monsters Chronicles turns the DC Universe upside-down. In this dark, alternate world, telling the good guys from the bad guys is never easy: Superman is not the son of Jor-El, he's the son of General Zod; Wonder Woman is not from peaceful Themyscira, but rather the warring nation of Ares; and Batman is more vampire-bat than man ...and he's not Bruce Wayne. It is unclear if our greatest heroes are here to protect us...or to rule us.

Justice League: Gods and Monsters Chronicles Season 1 will launch its first episode officially on Monday, June 8 followed by episode two on Wednesday, June 10 and the third and final episode of the first season on Friday, June 12.

Comments? Discuss the first season of Justice League: Gods and Monsters Chronicles!

Related Threads:
"Justice League: Gods And Monsters Chronicles (Short-form Series)" News & Discussion (Spoilers)
"Justice League: Gods and Monsters" Animated Feature News & Discussion Thread (Spoilers)

Watch Episode One "Twisted" above, and check the thread for additional episodes!​

EDIT: Original link

 

[Pfeiffer-Pfan]

Suitably creepy, with some great action. I have to say, this is yet another unique take on Harley Quinn... playing her more psychopathic than we've seen before. Plus, as always, it's so nice to see those great Timm designs and his general aesthetic.

Looking forward to the other two.

 

[JoeMabbon]

That was a good start. I think the new Batman design is really good. Its unique and has its own appeal, but doesn't stray so far that it becomes unfamiliar.

 

[Mostezli]

Delightfully refreshing.
This Harley Quinn really reminded me of DCAU's Toyman.

 

[Lord Sidious]

It's TOO SHORT!!

plus I thought this was going to be origin stories.

its not bad but not great either.

Non powered Batman can easily wipe the floor with Harley yet Vampired Powered Batman had a harder time unless he was just toying with her to get her blood pumping.

 

[Gold Guy]

The first episode was a bit too short for me to form a real opinion, but I liked the animation and voice acting.

That said, for people who dislike how dark DC can get - this will not change their minds one bit.

I do wish the trailer hand't spoiled the final scene, though. It was pretty intense.

 

[Troy Troodon]

After some careful concentration, I have summed up a proper reaction to this short....


JESUS!!!!

 

[Frontier]

Well, that was...I'm still trying to process my reaction .

Timm definitely let the Elseworlds nature of Gods and Monsters let him go crazy with the characters and what he was able to do with the universe, and going far further from the originals than any DC reboot ever really has. Maybe this'll make comic fans realize how lucky they were the New 52 wasn't as radical a reboot as it was .

I liked that opening shot of Batman flying in and the bat silhouette .

I think I might end up liking this Vampire!Batman the most out of the Gods and Monsters version of the Trinity. Sure, he kills people and is a vampire, which is very un-Batman like, but at least he's saving innocents from bad guys .

But man...some of that imagery and moments in the episode were really creepy .

Gods and Monsters Harley was definitely far crazier and psychotic than normal Harley ever is, and it seems like she's inherited Joker's role in this universe of committing crimes under the pretense of livening up people's lives and saving them from their dull, drab, normal life...except by going farther than I think Joker would ever go .

I do have to wonder about Harley's origins though. She seems as patchwork as her victims, but it seems her perspective on life and people is more her own than something a Joker-figure may have given her. I wonder if this is the first time she and Batman have ever encountered one another? Was definitely nice to have Tara Strong back as Harley .

The fight between Batman and Harley was pretty nice, if short. And it looks like this Batman is definitely taking a bite out of crime (sorry). Though I wonder if he kills most of his villains or ever genuinely turns them into vampires as well so that they serve under him in fighting crime? Maybe that's the Gods and Monsters Bat-Family ?

 

[Yojimbo]

plus I thought this was going to be origin stories.

No, it's a prequel series from what I understand. Season one will be anyway. The origin stories are more the focus of the six issue digital comic tie-in in July and August.

 

[BigFatHairyDeal]

The content itself wasn't all that noteworthy, but it's still pretty neat to consider that WB animation is bothering to do this at all.

EDIT: Maybe it would've been better if the video title didn't tell you who the villain was going to be.

 

[Frontier]

The content itself wasn't all that noteworthy, but it's still pretty neat to consider that WB animation is bothering to do this at all.

EDIT: Maybe it would've been better if the video title didn't tell you who the villain was going to be.

Well anyone who saw a promo would probably already know who would be in the Batman short. I'd say the content was noteworthy enough to really hammer in just how different the Gods and Monsters universe is from most DC faire, if the trailers hadn't done so already .

 

[BigFatHairyDeal]

Well anyone who saw a promo would probably already know who would be in the Batman short. I'd say the content was noteworthy enough to really hammer in just how different the Gods and Monsters universe is from most DC faire, if the trailers hadn't done so already .

Well, to be fair, if you read/saw the promos, you'd already know that it was going to be radically different.

I suppose my point is that I don't feel like you really miss anything important if you never see it, and at that short run time it's not like there's much plot reveal, but the fact that WB Animation puts the effort in makes me happy.

 

[Frontier]

Agreed .

 

[RoyalRubble]

This first episode was pretty cool. I like how Batman looks here, his costume is pretty awesome and it was great seeing him in action. Harley looked pretty good too, and her attitude here just added to the creepy atmosphere the cartoon managed to create. The animation was very nice and the fight scenes were done well, with some neat choreography. Pretty brutal at times (like the part where Harley accidentally slices her "grandma's" head) but I liked it. The ending was kind of predictable, but it still worked. It would have been nice if the episode was a little longer but other than that I don't really have any complaints.

 

[Itchy]

Yeah, this is definitely the weirdest Harley I've seen so far. The New 52 prostitute look with Leatherface-esque personality traits. And this from the actual creator of the character, of all people.

 

[Yojimbo]

"Twisted" was definitely an appropriate title for this one. Interesting it seems this version of Harley Quinn, Harlequin, became super psychotic from not meeting the Joker and 'being kept in check' by him. Not what was worse - the fridge, the man turned into a jack-in-a-box or the family. It could have been a lot more horrific but felt like there was a good balance - no doubt Timm and Burnett's many years of experience. Even though Gotham is still Gotham. lol. James Tucker did a great job boarding this episode.

 

[Nobodyman]

...................*sigh*

Remember when superheroes were fun?

Remember when they were in shows that parents could watch with their kids?

Remember when they inspired hope and optimism?

Remember when Harley was a spunky villainess and not a depraved, chainsaw-wielding, panty-exposing lunatic who put body parts in a fridge for no discernible reason?

And now everything's dark and brutal. Because, for some reason, superheroes had to be dark and brutal.

And, yeah, I get it. The fans don't want to be "talked down to". They don't want to be "treated like kids." But we have The Dark Knight Returns. We have Watchmen. We have Burton's Batman. We have Nolan's Batman. We have Man of Steel. We have a comic universe full of killers, wife-beaters, drunks, people dying horribly, and people angsting over their inability to save people (and these are meant to be our heroes). And now we have Harley Quinn committing acts so gruesome it would make Hannibal Lecter blush.

What more do you want?

And I'm not against dark elements in story-telling. In fact, that's part of what made the DCAU so great. But they were always done with a bit of class and restraint. One of, if not the best, moments in Superman TAS comes at the end of Darkseid's invasion of Earth. With Superman incapacitated, Dan Turpin, an ordinary man with no superheroes, rallies the people of Metropolis together and they succeed in holding off Darkseid's forces and inspiring Superman to break free. Darkseid's invasion is stopped, but, in one final act of spite, he murders Dan Turpin. The world has lost a hero. After his funeral, Superman looks over his grave and says, "In the end, the world didn't need a Superman...just a brave one." The episode is dedicated to Jack Kirby.

I've read the gist of what this Gods and Monster thing is and, apparently, what we take away from it is that, in some alternate universe, the heroes we know and love are a bunch of crazy people who kill their enemies with no due process. Gee. How uplifting.

This isn't creative. This isn't original. This isn't clever. It requires no talent and there's no wisdom in it. It's just a sick twisted fantasy that a teenager would think up, which is mainly what this is marketed to.

I know it's kind of random to be saying all this now since, yes, superheroes have been uber dark for quite some time. And yes, I know this isn't meant for a large audience, and will most-likely be bought only by the hardcore DC fans who will watch it and then, probably, just as soon forget about it in a few weeks. But...maybe it's because it's Bruce Timm doing this. Heck, maybe this isn't even the first time he's done something like this, but I turned on that video hoping I'd see more superhero-y goodness from the master and, sure, the animation is top notch as usual, but.......yeah. And what's really sad is that this is apparently what Timm's generation has turned into. A bunch of shut-ins who want to see the stuffed decaying corpse of a little boy. This is what we took away from those old cartoons?

Well, I hope they enjoy it.

EDIT: And I'm sorry. I know everything I've said isn't 100% fair, but I just wanted to get that out.

 

[Troy Troodon]

While I do kind'a agree that not everything has to be dark and gritty, or "Mature" I think Bruce Timm knows what he's doing, he's making this dark for a reason, and not for the sake of it being dark. I admit some of the content thus far may be a bit much, but just remember... this is not the Justice League we know.

This is an elsewhere story where Zod's son is Superman, Kirk Langstrom is Batman, and Wonder Woman is the child of a New God and Ares. He could have adapted a similar story that was already written sure, but what Bruce Timm is doing is actually clever.

While I do prefer the more heroic knight-errant-esque DC universe as apposed to the New52, This one could very well be DC's answer to Watchmen. (Yes I know Watchmen is already owned by DC, but you know what I mean.) Sort of a deconstruction on superheroes if you will, as well as an elsewhere tale.

 

[GWOtaku]

So this short is basically an introduction to G&M Batman. Its impact is a bit lessened for me personally because I knew going in from some promo video that he was a vampire that got by feeding on the worst of the worst. Absent any foreknowledge, the ending is an effective twist though. I think it admittedly could have been achieved just fine without a take on Harley that made her this over-the-top insane. If I thought this house of horrors stuff would be the norm for what to expect, that'd be one thing. But I don't think it is. Based on this these first shorts seem more like preamble to the film, and I want to think that Timm & company have more in store for what that's all about than shock value.

In the case of G&M Batman he does come off as a monster hunting monsters. The "Jail?" moment suggests that while he has to do this to live, punishing criminals this way is also something he gets pleasure out of. He also doesn't make much effort to intimidate from the shadows, which I imagine is because the whole "I'm a vampire!" thing is more than sufficient by itself.

 

[hobbyfan]

I watched part 1 on YouTube earlier. Dang, that was wack. Harley's been repackaged as a merger of her old self and that of "Mistah J". Langstrom as Batman? Hmmmmmmkay. The ending will freak people out, I'm sure.