ComicCritic87's DVD Reviews of Avengers: Earths Mightiest Heroes Vol 1 & 2

ComicCritic87's DVD Reviews of Avengers: Earths Mightiest Heroes Vol 1 & 2

My in-depth review of the first two volumes of the Marvel animated series

Review Opinion
By StuckInPanels - May 21, 2011 07:05 PM EST
Filed Under: Animated Features

Hey friends, today is a special, non-comic book review, I recently bought Avengers Earths Mightiest Heroes volume 1 and volume 2. Being a huge fan of Marvel and the Avengers team, this to me is series I was dying to get a view of. Sadly my Comcast on Demand sucks because so many episodes that are out, the last I remember was episode 459 involving Captain Marvel, and nothing new since then. So I decided to say SCREW IT and actually pick it up on DVD. I got bought in one swoop, what are my thoughts….let’s find out shall we. Since this is a special type of review, I’m going to review it in a different format, seeing how my comic reviews are based on art and story. Here I’m reviewing the whole shebang. With that, lets begin

AVENGERS: EARTHS MIGHTIEST HEROES VOLUME 1

Volume one collects episodes 1-7, episodes 1-5 are the collected formats of the micro-episodes that were released prior to the full release of the series. Each episode chronicles the founding member of the team, including Captain America and Black Panther, and how their actions lead up to episodes 6 and 7, the two episodes premiere, BREAKOUT.

Review: Each of the main members episodes are pure joy and a blast to be seen, while a few to me at least aren’t as strong as the others, the Strongest is a tie between Captain America and Thor, while to me Ant-man and Wasps episode was all over the place and lacked cohesion since the segments were literally segmented, whereas the other 4 were all connected and were better handled. As mentioned as each members episode brings the events of BREAKOUT possible, which as a premiere is the best handled of the source material. We see tons and I mean tons of many of the Marvel Universes worst threats, while most in the prisons seem to be lower tiered villains, they do establish them in a good light. The higher tiered villains do play bigger parts as the series progresses. The fight with Graviton is one of the best fights; it showcases each hero and his/hers fighting style and what abilities they bring to this team.

Episode Grades
#1.Iron Man is Born: B+
#2.Thor the Mighty: A-
#3.Hulk vs. the World: B-
#4.Meet Captain America: A+
#5.The Man on the Ant Hill: C+
#6.Breakout, Part 1: B+
#7.Breakout, Part 2: A-

Overall volume 1 is a solid first volume, a great way to introduce newcomers and diehards to this world and these characters. The action moments in this are true and classic to the characters and team. Pick this up wherever available, online or in stores. This DVD gets an A-

AVENGERS: EARTHS MIGHTIEST HEROES VOLUME 2

Volume 2 collects episodes 8-13, following the events of BREAKOUT, the team is fully assembled, only for them to lose a member yet gain two new ones(Captain America and Black Panther), we also follow the exploits of Hawkeye, who is trying to clear his name as a traitor and to figure out whose side Black Widow is on. The volume ends with the Hulk centric two part special, GAMMA WORLD.

Review: This DVD like many should do, builds upon the foundation of the first and continues to follow the trend. This volume follows the tried and true villain of the week format, whiling setting up a bigger revelation with a consistent villain. We also see the formation of a hero/villain in this volume (Wonder Man). The team begins to find their place amongst the ranks, having Iron Man as the unofficial leader, Thor as the heavy hitter, Wasp being the witty one, Ant-man as the pacifistic fighter (looking for ways other than fisticuffs), Captain America as the soldier(at first), and Black Panther as the acrobatic fighter. I enjoy the standard V.O.W. format this volume does; it showcases some of the fun aspects of the team as well as showcases them as newbies, stilling ironing out the things that set them apart and to unite as a strong, formidable team, to become the Mightiest indeed.

Episode Grades
#8.Some Assembly Required: B+
#9.Living Legend: A-
#10.Everything is Wonderful: A-
#11.Panthers Quest: B+
#12.Gamma World, Part 1: A-
#13.Gamma World, Part 2: A+

Overall, this is a great follow up volume, if you are fan of the weekly villain aspect, this volume will surely entertain you. I love seeing the team grow and flourish, the moments with Black Widow is some of the best secondary stories I have seen in a series based around continuity. Pick up where available, either online or in store. This DVD gets an A

Now I will do the more fun aspect of the review. I will review the artwork style and the voice acting of the main team, including Black Widow, Hawkeye, and Nick Fury. I will omit the villains since many are more or less ancillary and not touched upon greatly.

ARTSTYLE

Now this is really a huge aspect when it comes to doing any form of animated series, many call it out on being bad, but really this to me, in my honest opinion is what a comic book cartoon should look like, second to Batman: the animated series. The animation is bright and colorful, like we have been pulled into a comic book and in some moments; they do remind me of the panel format, most comics use, in some shots, not all of them since the cartoon is more flowing and fluid. The character designs are pretty much spot on, every character looks like the characters from the comics, save for Wasp, which considering all of her costumes over the decades are not the best, her cartoon costume seems to be a variation of her first (with the headphones), the last known version (the black and yellow), and mixed in with a bit of Ultimate universe (the two piece style). The best examples of keeping true to form are Thor from the 60s version, Captain America, Hawkeye, and Black Widow (Drools). And then there is Nick Fury, this is the biggest taboo the series did yet it’s not the worst thing imagined. They amalgamated the white Fury with Ultimate Fury into a single character, melding both styles somewhat seamlessly. Overall, I find nothing wrong with the art style; it’s a classic example of substance over style, the look and feel is the best way of doing this series without it being too over the top, everything feels and looks solid from the punches to the characters looks. The art style gets an A-

VOICE ACTING

The casting of the team is some of the best; I know many of the voice actors from many other projects and know that they more or less fit these roles perfectly. Wally Wingert voices Hank Pym aka Ant-man (voices Renji on Bleach and Maxio in both Maxio games), he gives Pym the exact same personality he has in the early comics, showing off the scientist as well as the hero. Colleen O’Shaughnessey (Jazz Fenton in Danny Phantom) voices Janet Van Dyne aka the Wasp. She brings her sweet, charming, and wit to the character that in the early comics was shown to be a bit ditzy but here, she holds her own and has fun with the position she is in. Eric Loomis, who is new to the voice acting scene is DEAD PERFECT as Tony Stark aka Iron Man. Clearly he is inspired by the Downey Jr version of the character, since that is probably the best interpretation. Fred Tatascriore once again returns to the role of Hulk, he pretty much does the best with the character much like Kevin Conroy has done with Batman and Steven Blum as Wolverine. Captain America (Brian Bloom) and Thor (Rick D. Wasserman) have voice actors that I have not heard of but they are great fits for the character, the two do great and keeps true to their personalities. The rest of the cast are some of the best known voice actors: Chris Cox, Nolan North (He’s in EVERYTHING), Vanessa Marshall, Phil LaMarr, Quinton Flynn, J. B. Blanc, Kari Whalgren, Jennifer Hale (SEXY), CLANCY BROWN (The Kurgan as Odin…..WINNING!!!)….the list goes on, the best and strongest talents are on this show, many who I admire. Hands down a strong and great cast, I can’t wait to see who they bring in next. The voice acting is a solid A+

DVD EXTRAS

Well as much as I hoping for a great amount of content, like behind the scenes, concept art, commentary by the actors and creators, bios, and bloopers/outtakes. We do however get two specials (one on each disk) of the upcoming season 2 with all the biggest and best mini spoilers you can imagine, like costume changes, new characters, new villains, new cameos, new story lines, and even bigger surprises. Since not much is here, I can’t really fault them since it was most likely due to budget restraints. The DVD extras get a B+

And there you have my take on the first two volumes of Avengers: Earths Mightiest Heroes, this is consider being the half way mark of the first season. Volumes 3 and 4 will be available as soon as the second half finishes in June, so expect to see them by July or August, the latest will probably be in September. Thanks for reading this, I enjoyed every minute of writing it. Catch you later, ComicCritic87 OUT!!!!!

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drykillogic22
drykillogic22 - 5/22/2011, 9:39 AM
Love this series...Hulk and Panther are Awesome and Hawkeye is Spot-on
Dakjaniels
Dakjaniels - 5/22/2011, 10:52 AM
Awesome show, sounds like kind of a weak release though. 6-7 Episodes to a volume? How much are these disks again?
Dartanian300
Dartanian300 - 5/22/2011, 11:29 AM
@ Dakjaniels They're $15 a piece at Walmart
StuckInPanels
StuckInPanels - 5/22/2011, 11:56 AM
@Dak, I got them for under 30 bucks(14.99 each). I'm sure that after season one is fully released there might be a boxed set of all four volumes
Freshkicks1212
Freshkicks1212 - 5/22/2011, 1:01 PM
Yet another bias review from a fan. "The character designs are pretty much spot on, every character looks like the characters from the comics". And giving the Artstyle a "A-".
Hahaha what a joke, you fools will just eat up whatever garbage Marvel puts out, being just happy for the material and seeing your "favorite characters" animated once again. P.s what Im really trying to say is that the Art Style sucks and should have deserved a C- or even F.
StuckInPanels
StuckInPanels - 5/22/2011, 1:59 PM
@Freshkicks....did you read my comments on Nick Fury and Wasp? Wasp was changed because none of her comic canon costumes would be translatable in the animated format. Nick Fury was changed for unknown reasons, most likely to widen the demographic of colored characters since Black Panther is the only other African hero on the show, which hopefully they will bring in Luke Cage, Blade, and others. I'm not as you say, Bias, I gave my say on some of the stuff I didn't like. I said that this is the second best comic book animated show, right behind Batman: The Animated series. I'm not a fan of Super Hero Squad. Also its clear your a DC Diehard, I prefer the Marvel brand for the stories and characters more so than DC which have great characters but they are rarely used and handled.
Freshkicks1212
Freshkicks1212 - 5/22/2011, 2:23 PM
No Im not a "DC Diehard" and I myself prefer Marvel Characters and Story over DC. The only thing I'm Judging this series on and criticizing it mainly for is its Character Designs, which I think looks like a cheap less Defined, childish Draw, in comparison to what DC is doing with its Animated series.
I think that they should have took note from DC and Used the Character Designs from their animated movies, changing it to meet today's Standard.

But anyway back to this series I could never really get used to those Ugly cheap looking character designs and while the show might have a wonderful story and I may continue watching it. I will rather wait for the next Marvel animated series Ultimate Spiderman which looks great and I'm more hype for.
StuckInPanels
StuckInPanels - 5/22/2011, 3:09 PM
@Fresh.....DC and WB have Bruce Timm who is arguably the best designer for the Timmverse versions of Batman, Superman, JL and JLU.....Marvel and Disney don't have a Bruce Timm to call their own because they allowed other companies to do animated takes of their characters. You also have to see it as somewhat of a budgetary concern since it was a big gamble for Disney and luckily it paid off, since the Season 2 sneak peaks,we see much better looks to them and probably an improvement with the artwork, seeing that they have gained some traction and popularity. Many Cartoons are guilty of this, the first few episodes of Samurai Jack looked terrible but as the show flourished, it looked AMAZING....if they had the guy behind Samurai Jack as the lead art designer, then the show would be very amazing. I see how you say its cheap, but sometimes less is more and with what they did, in my opinion did a good job. I too am looking forward to Ultimate Spider-man since they have the guys who have done Ben 10 as partners
CPBuff22
CPBuff22 - 5/22/2011, 4:13 PM
I would like to pick this up.. but Wolverine & The X-Men burned me. I purchased two volumes on DVD for my kid only to have a blu-ray release follow with the entire season for the same price the two previous dvd's cost. I will wait until the entire Avengers season releases on Blu-ray.
StuckInPanels
StuckInPanels - 5/22/2011, 5:04 PM
@CPB.....I haven't heard hide or hair of them pondering the idea of a Blu Ray release. IDK if Disney XD runs on an HD channel.....but I'm sure there will be a collected 4 disc boxed set of the first season
LeeShard
LeeShard - 5/22/2011, 5:38 PM
Excellent review buddy, big thumbs and congrats! :)
StuckInPanels
StuckInPanels - 5/22/2011, 6:43 PM
@LeeShard......thanks dude
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