Justice League

By chance, I caught the three-part series finale of "Justice League" that just aired on Cartoon Network. In it, the Thanagarians (Hawkgirl's people) offer to help Earth fend off an alien invasion. Most of the Justice League is ready to cooperate, except of course, Batman. And of course, Batman (still WB Animation's favorite hero) is right. It's learned that Hawkgirl was actually assigned to spy on Earth to see if it could withstand an attack from the Thanagarians' archenemy, the Gordanians.

What even Hawkgirl doesn't know is her people don't plan to make a stand on Earth, but to sacrifice the planet to build a jumping-off point to attack the Gordanians. In short, for most of the episode, the League--especially Green Lantern--feels betrayed by Hawkgirl. By the end of the episode, even though disaster is averted (at the cost of GL's power ring and Batman's Watchtower), Hawkgirl resigns from the Justice League to go off on her own.

Beginning in August, Cartoon Network will air "Justice League Unlimited," featuring new characters like Supergirl, Green Arrow, and (gulp) Firestorm. In all likelihood, I'll be watching. For now, though, I have to tip my cap to this version of JL. It's not easy to manage big name players like Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, Green Lantern, and the Flash. Bruce Timm and company did an admirable job.