Superman Homepage reviewer Thomas Dreyfuss reviews episodes from the “Justice League Action” Animated Series, airing on Cartoon Network.
Check out his review of the 24th episode of Season 1 in which the Atom shrinks Superman down to microscopic size so that he can enter the Bottled City of Kandor but when Brainiac breaks into the Fortress of Solitude, defeats Cyborg, and reclaims the bottle, Atom must try to stop Brainiac on his own.
Originally Aired: January 29, 2017 (U.K.); June 17, 2017 (U.S.)
Written by Duane Capizzi
Directed by Doug Murphy
CAST:
Jason J. Lewis as Superman/Chancellor Al-On (voice)
John de Lancie as Brainiac (voice)
Jerry O’Connell as The Atom (voice)
Khary Payton as Cyborg (voice)
Rating – 4 (out of 5): Apologies in advance for the brevity of this JLA review. Between attending E3 and visiting Disneyland/Disney’s California Adventure for my 27th Birthday, I’m totally exhausted. But I have a deadline to meet so let’s get into this.
Following the events of “Plastic Man Saves The World”, Brainiac has tracked down the bottled city of Kandor to Superman’s Fortress of Solitude. Unbeknownst to the Collector of Worlds, Cyborg and the Atom have shrunken the Man of Steel inside the bottle to make contact with Kandor’s Chancellor, Al-On. So when Brainiac steals the bottled city and incapacitates Cyborg, it’s up to the Atom to save Kandor and Superman before it’s too late. It’s a really good episode that better demonstrates the Atom’s prowess as a crime fighter than “Inside Job” did with it’s Fantastic Voyage send off. Seeing the Atom take control of one of Superman’s robot sentries and threaten a foe like Brainiac turned this version of Ray Palmer into a bit of a badass which I hope sticks for JLA.
It’s also nice to see Superman taking an active interest in his Kryptonian heritage and super creepy to see Brainiac’s hobby for collecting things. What’s not cool was Cyborg getting sidelined when they could’ve done something cool like Brainiac trying to hack him. That being said, that cutaway gag with the dial up tone ringing as Cyborg reboots was funny. Sure, it’s the kind of joke only folks of my internet age will understand but I liked it. And tiny Superman kicking the crap out Brainiac? That’s a quintessential JLA moment.
Check out the “Justice League Action – Episode Reviews” Contents page.
