Kaldath was kind enough to send along the following:
This Coming Wednesday Disney XD will be premiering a brand new Avengers Cartoon series. Last night and this morning, they showed a BOAT LOAD of 8 minute Long micro episodes setting things up for the premier. These Micro Episodes are on Youtube, and I thought you might like to see them, so here is a link for you.
One of my long-standing aggravations with my "out in the boondocks" Internet access is that watching streaming video is incredibly painful. So while I haven't yet been able to wait the requisite hours to actually watch one, I definitely like the idea of an Avengers cartoon, so I'm putting it up in the "Things I Like" file with the understanding that I can withdraw my provisional liking should the show actually, you know, suck.
Here's mini-episode 1:
I have to admit, I'm a little dubious about this. Just from the stills, it looks like Marvel's continuing to go with the traditional Japanese animation style, which I've never cottoned to. DC's animation studios in my opinion have always been much more successful than Marvel's, the exact opposite of their movies.
What makes DC's animated shows great is that they pick a unique visual style and go for it, combining it with great storytelling and a solid take on the characters. It started with Bruce Timm's Batman and hasn't slowed down, even as they abandoned that style for Darwyn Cook's "New Frontier" or the Kirby-like "Brave and the Bold". Marvel hasn't ever managed that same level of visual or storytelling success, in my opinion.
But a new day dawns, and hopefully "The Avengers" will right the ship. I'm curious to hear what you all think of the shorts.
@Jeff: Now everybody uses Anime-style artwork, DC and Marvel.
For example: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/0/04/TeenTitansTogether.png
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/9/99/Thebats.jpg
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/6/67/Young_Justice_TV_series.PNG
All DC.
From the five minute tailer it seams this is a continuation of th films or a connection between Iron-man and the Avengers movies. Maybe a short prequel thing instead of a full show.
The animation’s not bad, but the Robert Downey Jr impersonator they’ve got playing Iron Man is gonna get annoying real fast.
Seems cool to me. I’ll keep an eye on it.
And the animation doesn’t seem very Anime to me.
The Animation styling while not fully Anime in appearance ( at least not to me ) is certainly heavily influenced by Anime ( which is fine by me since I like Anime ). The one thing I find very interesting about this series, is that much like the now defunct spectacular spider-man carton “The Avengers: Earths Mightiest Heroes” seems to be a very interesting mix of the mainstream Marvel universe and the Ultimate Marvel Universe.
I really don’t know what you’re talking about. I’ve tried to think of every style of anime I could think of and it doesn’t look like that. It looks more like the art style prevalent in the 90’s at one point. As for the clip itself, I really didn’t care for it. I was kinda bored after 2 minutes.
Forget the art style, the exciting this is alot of the episodes will be based on Kirby-era Avengers books. That’s pretty cool.
How did his iron mask manage that many expressions?
Here is some more Disney XD and Marvel News
Ultimate Spider-Man Fall of 2011:
http://marvel.com/news/moviestories.12016.new_tales_of_ultimate_spidey_get_animated~excl~
I’m thinking the animation style is kind of like the quasi-anime-esque western animation style found in some cartoons such as (I’m embarrassed to say I know this) “Totally Spies.” Not exactly, but close. Curious where the animation is being produced, but I’m guessing either France or Korea.
It looks interesting, but the short seems to be closely copying the continuity from the Iron Man movies mostly.
The Anime Series that springs to mind the most when looking at the Avengers is Ghost in the Shell. It is not 100% Anime like I said before ( most notably the lack of spikey hair ) But if I had to describe the style I would certainly say it was a Westernized Anime style.
Europian or Korean style like Myro said…
Also I to am embarrassed to admit I know what “Totally Spys” is….>__> If I could make and akward whistling sound with a keybord right now I would…
Totally Spies, Martin Mystery, Team Galaxy and some other cartoons were made by a french production company called Marathon. And THOSE are what I would call “anime-esque” or “heavily influenced by anime”. The animation on The Avengers is not close even to that. And I don’t see any resemblance with The Ghost In The Shell.
I agree that compared to DC animation, Marvel has that habbit of trying to find their niche on what their animation style should be. For the most part, it’s obvious that Marvel is trying to make Avengers similar to Justice League by making it as much like the cartoon as possible. Their old animation studio from the 90’s is trying to mix their work with Bruce Timm or “Man of Action” (the hacks that make those Ben 10 and Generator Rex cartoons with a similar Bruce Timm Style). It’s not just the animation, they’re also trying to make the acting just as similar as JL, but making it more like the film versions of the Marvel characters. Although the voices are terrific (especially for Rhodes and Pepper), I’m not digging the voice of Tony Stark, since he sounds like he’s never heard of Robert Downey Jr, or his personality. Other than that, I hope the series will be as good as the 90’s X-Men cartoon.
@Haxx (1): I love Teen Titans, but I think in some ways the theme song shows that they’re trying to hard to be anime-esque.
God… they’re making IRON MAN the leader? Okay, that’s Captain America’s job… I guess they’re just pimping whoever has the most popular movie this year.
actually liked the season premier, great action and a great plot for a half an hour origin show. The animation style is a little off model but it sure beat that sad Avengers cartoon from the late nineties where everyone looked like rejects from robocop!
http://cdn2.ioffer.com/img/item/123/902/737/tPTDI4Xg1H52UQd.jpg