Justice League: Gods and Monsters Chronicles: Episode #2 "Bomb" Review

Hope

It's time to head back into the world of Justice League: Gods and Monsters! The next member up to bat is the leader of the League, the man of tomorrow himself, Superman. Despite me enjoying the new Batman, the Superman AND Wonder Woman of the world have a harder mold to break. As Bat-mite put it, "Batman's rich history allows him to be interpreted in a multitude of ways," but this does not apply to Superman. We have seen Superman as a communist, a Nazi, and even a minion of Darkseid, but in the end he keeps snapping back to either one of two types of Superman; the perfect hero or the mad dictator. After 75 years of doing this dance, people tend to get a little bored with these outcomes! This leads to my main concern and question going into this short. Can this break the molds laid out from over 75 years of character history? Lets dive right in and find out!

On the JL:Gods and Monsters Earth, the Superman is not the Kal-El/Clark Kent that the world has grown to love. This Superman is the son of General Zod (hence that sweet goatee), who lands on earth and is taken in by Mexican Immigrants. The plot of this short is that he is called in by President Amanda Waller to stop the government weapon Brainiac from destroying the east coast. If he fails, thanks to the advising of Doctor Sivana, the government will nuke Metropolis. However when he gets to Brainiac, Superman learns that his greatest multiversal enemy...is a scared child. Superman tries to help him control the power, but when Brainiac can't, Superman takes the step no one ever wants to see him take...

In my opinion, this short blew away Batman's. This had the dark tone the first set up, but there is one major difference. This is Superman, the morally grey Superman we've been looking for; Not the Boy-Scout or the Dictator. The reason I say this is because while Batman is a brutal vampire, most would probably not have realized it's Batman until Harley Quinn showed up. In this short however, you can see this guy IS Superman. When he finds out Brainiac can't control his power, he doesn't rip off his head as I first expected him to do in this brutal world. He actually tries to help him through words, as he had similar problems controlling his powers as a child. He even looks depressed when he has to finish off Brainiac! Did Batman show remorse for killing Harley? Not one bit!

This short also had a balance of good art AND ESPECIALLY good music. It's nice to see the old Timm style back for this series, adding newer designs to match the dark tone the world is going for.  The music helps sets this tone of danger to the current situation...but then shifts into this depressing tune as Superman stops the threat of Brainiac. If it had no music, I would have just been sad...but with it...it actually made me tear up...it was a beautiful execution of art, music and character. 

This short has done an amazing job showing more of the dark world, but show that there is still some heroism and good in our league. All that leaves us with is the Wonder Woman, and if hers is as good as the past two shorts, this is a world we can really get into.

What did you think of the second short of the Justice League: Gods and Monsters world? Leave a comment, and if you want to see the next short, head over to the Machinima YouTube channel by clicking HERE