Michael Jelenic

This week marks the digital release of Batman: Return of the Caped Crusaders, the new film that reunites Adam West, Burt Ward, and Julie Newmar for an all-new adventure set in the campy, pop-art gotham city of the 1966 Batman television show. The movie stands alongside projects like the Batman '66 comic and the home video release of the entire series as part of a new (and welcome) wave of appreciation that we're enjoying here at the 50th anniversary, but by its very nature, that sets a standard that ends up being very difficult to live up to.

Over almost two years and over eighty episodes on the air, Cartoon Network’s Teen Titans Go has dropped its characters into a wide variety of different situations. They might go to the future, meet alternate versions of themselves, or die of old age. There are even songs. Some critics have accused the show of being too silly, so in the episode debuting today, “Let’s Get Serious,” the Titans meet some of these critics in the form of Young Justice, the teen superhero team from their own, departed, animated show --- and they’re definitely not pleased with what they see. To battle their critics, the Titans grimace really hard until they too become incredibly serious, muscled, gritty one-liner-spouting versions of themselves. We spoke to series producer Michael Jelenic about the crossover, bouncing criticisms back at detractors and pushing the show into even wider, weirder directions.

This week's creative team is comprised of longtime Warner Bros. Animation talent Michael Jelenic, best known for his work on Teen Titans Go!, Thundercats, and, of course, the animated Wonder Woman feature film. He's joined by veteran comics artists Drew Johnson and Ray Snyder, alumni of the famous Jolly Roger Studio, and colorist Lizzy John, whose work we've seen before in Archaia's line of Jim Henson Company comics and graphic novels. The cover comes courtesy of illustrator Paul Davey, whose contribution here represents his first comic book work, as far as I know. As you can see in this exclusive preview, the team's story falls along the lines of the traditional adventure story with the kind of mythological, majestical scale to which Wonder Woman lends herself so well.

Teen Titans Go is big, loud, and uncompromisingly silly. Recent episodes have included animated puppets, time-traveling with George Washington, and a subplot devoted to Starfire wearing a rubber mask of an old man's face and referring to herself as Jeff. Nearly every character is voiced by their actor from the original 2003 series, which, paired with Dan Hipp's vivacious art direction, makes for a frantically fun trip down the more ridiculous avenues of childhood. As the second season kicks into high gear, ComicsAlliance spoke to Tara Strong (Raven), Scott Menville (Robin), and Greg Cipes (Beast Boy), and producers Michael Jelenic and Aaron Horvath, about getting the band back together, testing what they can get away with, and keeping things weird.

If you've been flipping through new comics this month, you've probably seen the ads announcing that Batman: The Brave and the Bold is being released on BluRay soon. With that being the case, now seems like a good time to look back on what might just end up being my favorite take on the DC Universe of all time, full of team-ups, ruthless villains, and, perhaps most importantly, Batman's laser sword

If the Young Justice animated series isn't enough to satisfy your desire for cartoons about DC's teenage super-heroes, then 2013 is going to bring some good news: an all-new Teen Titans Go! series that will return the voices and characters of the 2003 - 2006 Teen Titans series to action in a series of 11-minute episodes based around the more "sitcom-style" premise first explored in the