DC Nation Coming to Cartoon Network

Written by Ryan Heuer of the Comicbooks.com staff.

Perhaps as a method to combat Disney XD’s block of Marvel cartoons, DC and Cartoon Network are teaming up to bring a block of DC themed programming to DC fans and cartoon fans alike. The starting airdate has been announced as March 3^rd, 2012, and to those who have been waiting for new Young Justice episodes, this date won’t come soon enough. But new Young Justice episodes aren’t the only thing to look forward to when this block goes live.

Green Lantern: The Animated Series, which Cartoon Network gave a sneak peak of back in November last year, will make its grand entrance. The sneak peak boasted a unique computer animation, that mixed a visual style reminiscent of Cartoon Network’s already wildly successful Star Wars: The Clone Wars with The Incredibles. Focusing on none other than Hal Jordan, the series will run for an initial 26 episodes. Bruce Timm, one of the minds behind Batman: The Animated Series, is executive producing the show, so it should be a fresh new look at the DC hero. More info is available here at the official Green Lantern: The Animated Series website. (http://www.cartoonnetwork.com/tv_shows/green-lantern/index.html)

Another interesting feature of this block will be the series of DC Nation Shorts created especially for this block. The Teen Titans maintained a fairly successful run with the chibi-style animation, and they will return in the form of shorts. Other heroes slated to make appearances in these shorts include Plastic Man, Doom Patrol, Blue Beetle and some comical Batman shorts. Although mere bite-sized cartoons, this could be a great method to test out new cartoon ideas and springboard them into full series in the future.

Of course, DC would be nothing without their superstar, Batman. After the finale of Batman: The Brave and the Bold, Cartoon Network has already been looking to fill in the void of Batman cartoons, which is why a new Batman series is in the works to air on DC Nation. Unfortunately, Beware the Batman, the title of the new series, won’t make it anywhere near the March 3 date, the series is slated to air on the DC Nation block in 2013. This might sound like disappointing news, but hopefully this is an indicator that Cartoon Network and DC are serious about making this block have a successful run.

You can check out the official preview here! (http://www.cartoonnetwork.com/tv_shows/green-lantern/video/index.html )