Crisis of Infinite Episodes - Dark Knight Court

Not only did Dark Knight Court cleverly play on the title of one of Batman's best known nicknames, but the episode dished out homages to a number of superheroes who eventually formed the elderly team of Dependables. I will admit, the mash up of Marvel and DC characters onto a single team does make the purist in me a little unconformable, but the parody was still pretty memorable. 

Crisis of Infinite Episodes - The Death of Superman

Superman died and it was all Firestorms fault! I guess I didn't realize that killing Superman was a recurring thing, but supposedly this episode took the lead from an out of continuity comic story - though I also picked up some serious Wrath of Khan / Search for Spock vibes, what with photon funeral, secret trance, and the recovery of the undead body,

Crisis of Infinite Episodes - The Seeds of Doom

 After single handedly taking down a robot spider piloted by Lex Luthor, Cyborg the teenage tin man got invited to join the Super "Powers" team. Turns out that Cyborg missed being a normal guy but when he was called upon to defend the world against Darkseid, he decided being a member of the team wasn't so bad. At least it was better than living in Apokolips.

Crisis of Infinite Episodes - An Unexpected Treasure

Another stink whiff of bad Wonder Twins featuring a couple kids that found a flying saucer just laying around in the desert. A very likely scenario indeed.The Hawks also appeared in this one with She-Hawk rocking a new look and believe it or not, this alt-Hawk look just may have been the episodes true unexpected treasure. Now I don't know if Hawkgirl dyed her hair and went on a shopping trip or if Hawkman was flocking with a new chick, but one has to wonder why the redesign for this one short?

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Episode Count: 0457
Series Count: (59 of 66)

Crisis of Infinite Episodes - Revenge Of Bizarro

This is one I have been waiting for and it did not disappoint. Bizarro World had a horse riding a man, a junkyard full of treasure and a doppelganger Lois Lane and that was just the intro. By the time the dust settled I had been on a wild ride laced with red kryptonite and Bizarroized Super Friends. Octopusman was the highlight. This was thoroughly entertaining and one of the best of the season so far. Or as Bizarro would say, "Me am hate this!"

Crisis of Infinite Episodes - The Incredible Crude Oil Monster

Oh the evils of big oil.  Fortunately, even though Aquaman almost drown because he had some oil on his pants, he was able to later swim through the big crude oil monster to rescue an eaten pair of Hawks. Luckily they found the creatures one weakness... laundry soap. After all, "the old soap trick always cleans up the bad guys." Good one Hawkman.

Crisis of Infinite Episodes - Just-Us League of Supertoons

Batduck proved a popular parody paving the way for a full on Justice League homage on Tiny Toons Adventures in 1992 during a segment of New Class Day titled Just-Us League of Supertoons.In the adventure, Batduck and Decoy were asked to join the League composed of Superbun,Wonder Babs, Little Dasher, Hawk Loon, Aquamutt, Pink Canary, Keen Arrow, and Scentana (extra points for the Zatanna homage). The invitation was revoked when the League realized Batduck had no powers.

Crisis of Infinite Episodes - Sword of the Atom #1

As far as the shorts go, the biggest problem here was (ironically) that it was too short. Obviously, this was just the first chapter in a series of Sword of the Atom shorts which ended with a "To Be Continued" tag, so it really shouldn't be judged too hard on its own - even though it was a decent introduction to the series. I am looking forward to the next episodes, but I also am remaining hopeful that this stands apart from the Batman: The Brave and the Bold episode of the same name. So far, I don't feel this series is justified since the other just came out the previous year with a similar animation style. The Hawkman cameo was a nice nod and hopefully the Winged Wonder has his own batch of shorts in the works.

Crisis of Infinite Episodes - Time Rescue

If a time machine lost someone in the future, I would probably not "rush" to their rescue. But this episode still ended up being pretty amazing with its own version of a Mos Eisley-like future cantina full of scum, villainy,  bizarre voices, and little guys that looked like Orko. A totally idiotic story, yes, but still a fun one to watch.

Crisis of Infinite Episodes - Space Emergency

The episode marked the first guest appearance by the Hawks which also served as the onscreen debut of Hawkgirl or Hawkwoman if you prefer. Too bad she was practically useless. There really wasn't much to this adventure. The out of nowhere meteor shower was unnecessary and using the Hawkship to deflect the meteors didn't really seem like a good idea. And why did the Hawkship look like a  piece of junk? Having said all that, the Friends did get the job done and I guess that's what counts.

Crisis of Infinite Episodes - DC Super Heroes Recap

The batch of Teen Titans episodes were easily at the top of the pile amid the DC Super Heroes with the other super team, Justice League of America coming in at the bottom. Since you would see all the Leaguers in action in their solo outings, the JLA did not make the essential five. Also, in an effort to give a variety, each of the heroes was only given a single slot.

Essential Five:

1. Operation Rescue (Teen Titans)

2. To Catch a Blue Bolt (Flash)

3. Evil is as Evil Does (Green Lantern)

4. Invasion of the Beetle-Men (Atom)

5. The Twenty Third Dimension (Hawkman)

Hawks, Saints, and Sapphires Coming to Green Lantern

Another video from Wondercon, this time featuring Green Lantern. Among the 4 clips were a fight with Red Lanterns including Skallox, Carol in full Sapphire regalia, Saint Walker meeting Razer, and Hal vs a Hawkman. This series looks like its going to just keep getting better.

Crisis of Infinite Episodes - Hawkman Recap

Sadly Hawkman stumbled a bit out of the gate back in '67 and hasn't had a chance since then to really redeem himself. At least he didn't completely strike out as the third episode had some sort of frenetic energy that at least made it interesting. Strangely, the Hawkman character had one of the richest back stories at this point its a shame that all Filmation gave us was a bird dude with a utility glove. One last complaint, I am really getting tired of all these episodes from Superboy to Superman to this ending with a character winking at the screen. I bring it up now because ending the first episode with a Skreal wink just put the whole gimmick over the top. Here is to hoping the JLA ends up being greater than the sum of its parts...

Essential Episode:
The Twenty Third Dimension

Crisis of Infinite Episodes - The Twenty Third Dimension

Another adventure, another batch of meanies from our very own solar system. My very excellent mother just served us nine pizzas indeed, although I guess Pluto isn't even a planet anymore. The aliens from Pluto looked like they could have escaped from Geppetto's workshop, so I don't blame them for being cranky. But instead of a Blue Fairy, they instead found themselves facing a winged and bare chested Hawkman. And then things got weird. 

Crisis of Infinite Episodes - A Visit to Venus

Hawkman was off to another planet, this time Venus as the title so spoilerifically informed us. Once again Hawkman and head perched Skreal made for the Hawkship, but in this episode the ship was already in space! So, apparently Hawkman and his bird don't need oxygen to survive. Hawkman once again put his gauntlet to use, this time revealing an electro welding option. With the help of his bird, he was able to rescue some captured astronauts and steal a power gem. I just wonder if he was able to make time for a Baby Ruth? Based on these two boring adventures, Hawkman is fast becoming my least favorite superhero.

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Episode Count: 0157
Series Count: (2 of 3)

Crisis of Infinite Episodes - Peril from Pluto

With his pet hawk Skreal perched upon his head, Hawkman flew into his Hawkship to block a destructive beam which was coming from Pluto. Once on Pluto (which looked a lot warmer than I would have expected) Hawkman used his Swiss Army claw to put the beam out of commission. About his claw, it could shoot beams, in chemo-mode it shot acid, and of course it could also be used in razor sharp "destructo" mode. Hawkman's wings could also deflect lasers. This was pretty lame overall. I am not overly familiar with Hawkman, but compared to the other DC Filmation heroes, his powers seemed pretty weak. Aside from his claw gadget and pet bird, he didn't really have a gimmick. Two more chances at bat Hawkman...

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Episode Count: 0156
Series Count: (1 of 3)
First Appearance: Hawkman

Crisis of Infinite Episodes - Hawkman

Carter Hall, scientific genius from a far off world flies into action as HAWKMAN, Winged Wonder - who with Skreal his faithful fighting mascot pits his arsenal of phenomenal powers against both earthly and interplanetary foes of peace. HAWKMAN, the Winged Avenger.

The character of Hawkman is one that I really am not 100% clear on. Carter Hall was the first Hawkman whose origin involved him being a resurrected Egyptian who put on a wing harness to fly. The Silver Age Hawkman, Katar Hol, came from a Hawkworld and used the name Carter Hall as a secret identity. I am not sure how these two origins have been reconciled in the modern comics, but for the Filmation cartoons, the Silver Age version was used. Similarly for the Atom and Flash, these three shorts served as the pinnacle of Hawkman's onscreen career, being the only time the hero had a series with his name in the title.

Crisis of Infinite Episodes - DC Super Heroes

In 1968's Superman / Aquaman Hour of Adventure, episodes of Superman, Superboy, and Aquaman, were mashed together with those of a rotating slate of guest heroes including the Atom, the Flash (with Kid Flash), Green Lantern, Hawkman, the Justice League (comprised of all the adult heroes including Superman), and the Teen Titans (with regularly featured kid sidekicks Aqualad and Kid Flash joined by Wonder Girl and Speedy).

Super Friends Reborn, Online, Kinda

Fisher Price has gone above and beyond to promote their DC Super Friends line of Imaginext toys by creating an animated short titled The Joker's Playhouse. While Superman and Batman were showcased, Green Lantern, Cyborg, Hawkman, and Flash also did their best to convince kids they were toy worthy. The toys have been around for a couple years, but a new wave looks to be arriving in 2011.

The clip opens with an homage to the old Super Friends show, but Wonder Woman, Aquaman and Robin don't actually appear in the episode- but even Booster Gold got a cameo.

The heroes face off with the Joker in the Hall of Justice along with a couple of other baddies who may end up as toys including Gorilla Grodd, an "ice-sliding" Mr. Freeze, and Solomon Grundy. This is the kind of commercial you just don't mind sitting through.

Up Next: Young Justice

The Superman/Aquaman Hour of Adventure * Super Friends * The All New Super Friends Hour * Challenge of the Super Friends * Legends of the Superheroes * The World's Greatest Super Friends * Super Friends (Shorts) * Super Friends (Lost Episodes) * Super Friends: The Legendary Super Powers Show * The Super Powers Team: Galactic Guardians * Justice League of America (TV Pilot) * Justice League Unlimited on Batman Beyond * Justice League * Justice League Unlimited * Smallville * The Batman * Justice League: The New Frontier * Justice League: Crisis on Two Earths * Batman: The Brave and the Bold * Imaginext - DC Super Heroes

Smallville's Stargirl Reveals Her Stars

Because you demanded it, here are more pics of Smallville's Justice Society. Hawkman, Stargirl, and Dr. Fate are the main three Society members who will appear and the looks of all three of them are pretty true to their comic book designs.

It interesting to see the creators coming around with these designs. Could we be seeing some tights and or flights soon? Or maybe at least some more traditional costumes for the Leaguers? Hope so.