The second box set of the animated Superman series continues the
adventures of the Man Of Steel in high style, with old adversaries such as
Brainiac and Metallo returning with new challenges for Superman. Live Wire also
returns in Double Dose, where she teams up with Parasite for a tag team match
against Superman. New antagonists in the form of Bizzaro and Mr. Mxyzptlk also
make their debut in animated form in this set. Identity Crisis creates an
imaginative new origin for the bizarre Bizzaro, an alternative Superman who is
also voiced by Superman/Clark Kent actor Tim Daly. He returns in the superb
Bizarro’s World, where Bizzaro steals Superman’s life. Darkseid and his minions return in
Father’s Day, while Superman battles a Lovecraftian demon in The Hand Of Fate.
And in Mxyzpixilated, scribe Paul Dini does a marvelous job at bringing the
mischievous imp Mr. Mxyzptlk to life in a very funny episode.
John Henry Irons, voiced by Star Trek: The Next Generation actor Michael Dorn
(Worf), makes an appearance in Prototype, where he builds a battle suit for the
Metropolis Police department through Lex Luthor’s company. Irons is better known
in the Superman comics as the superhero Steel, and that’s just who he becomes in
Heavy Metal, where he goes up against Metallo. Lex Luthor has some troubles of
his own when he discovers a Ghost In The Machine at his laboratory. In The Late
Mr. Kent, while investigating the claims of innocence of a death row inmate,
Clark Kent is "killed" by a car bomb. Lois Lane enters a Brave New Metropolis
when she gets accidentally sucked into a parallel universe where Superman is a
despotic ruler. But the real jewel in the crown of this set is World’s Finest,
the three part saga that has Superman meeting Batman for the first time when the
Joker and Lex Luthor form an unlikely alliance.
Special features on the two disc set (one disc is a flipper) include audio
commentaries on the episodes Brave New Metropolis and World’s Finest Part One.
Mxyzpixlated has a video commentary, where you can see the creators of the
episode speaking, and some of their banter is almost as funny as the episode
itself. Menaces Of Metropolis: Behind The Villains Of Superman offers a good,
in-depth look at Superman’s rogue’s gallery with comments from the series’
creative team. While it would be enough for me that this set offers 18 episodes
of the imaginative Superman: The Animated Series, plus some great special
features, the real icing on the cake is the World Finest trilogy of episodes.
Even casual fans of Superman and Batman will thoroughly enjoy this exciting and
fun tale. --SF
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