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A Superman Animated Series Was Pitched To Warner Bros In 2018...

There was a pitch meeting at Warner Bros in 2018 for a Super Family animated series, here's some of the designs from it. Jon and Damian would have been in it, and Natasha Irons as Steel!

From designer Sean Galloway:

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I’m extremely grateful to super-talented @vintonheuck for the opportunity to be one of the participants to partake in the character design test for his pitch last year to Warner Bros. Thank you for the guidance and pushing me to keep barreling past my comfort zone. As a fan of DC comics and Warner Bros. animation this has been a dream come true.

https://www.instagram.com/p/Bu-Qc9pnq1o/

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Any idea why it was rejected?

Probably not enough representation, or diverse enough.

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Originally Posted by Andrew NDB (Post 1798796)

Probably not enough representation, or diverse enough.

Nah, it just looks like garbage.

Looks adorable, shame it never happened. I've always had a soft spot for Cheeks art style.

That art style probably caused the studio executive to die of diabetes.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Turo602 (Post 1798800)

Nah, it just looks like garbage.

Yeah, looks lame. They clearly already did design it to check off every possible box, to the point it was over-stuffed. "So we have Jon and Damien involved, because kids nowadays can only relate to characters their own age... And if we have Natasha as Steel, we get to check both the 'female character' box AND the 'black character' box! Are we missing anything?" "Umm... More focus on Superman?" "Pssssssh, f*ck that guy." I wasn't there, but I can promise that that's exactly how the meeting went.

Nevermind that Damien's a sh*t character, nobody has EVER cared about Natasha, and that Clark having a kid fresh out of the box adds its own set of problems and pushes Superman to the periphery of his own story.

I'd love a new Superman cartoon but this would've been a misfire. It's long overdue, but really, all they'd need to do is approach it the way the 90s series did, but with much better animation and focus on some of the newer characters and stories that have been introduced over the last 20 years.

This would've just been too much. No need to try and cram everything in, just keep it simple and basic. If they wanted a new approach, they could simply create a show that balances the action with regular Lois and Clark interaction, since the old show never bothered to make them anything more than co-workers. It would be interesting to actually watch their relationship develop over time and would work well as a counter-balance to the action stuff.

Ah well.

I actually like the art style. I am curious what the finished product would have been like.

Yuck. Not a fan of the art-style.

I know, right?

"So the number one criticism the character consistently faces is that 'he only appeals to little kids.' Nobody who's 'cool' likes Superman. How do we combat this?"

"I say we completely lean into it, 100%. Design our show so that anyone over age 7 would be ashamed to ever be seen watching it."

"...That... is... BRILLIANT!" :lol:

At least they got the costume right, for a change.

Length of time would be an issue as well...I have little reason to doubt this show would just be about ten or so minutes per episode with the occasional half hour special, much like JL Action and TTG because f*ck attention spans.

Yeah, good call buddy. Under those restraints, I could see it being like that abysmal 1960s Dick Tracy Cartoon, where Tracy himself was just there to bookend the (mis)adventures of his Collection Of Colorfully Racist Sidekicks, and otherwise did nothing. Fun little show, if horribly dated and pretty offensive through a modern lens, but it ultimately had about as much to do with "Dick Tracy" as my ass. Terrible misuse of the license. I can see this being similar, with Superman pretty much just flying in at the end of a skit to give Jon or Natasha a pat on the head, and that would be just the worst.

Y'know what I'd like to see if they HAD to do something more lighthearted and "kiddie"? Something like the Batman "Brave and the Bold" show, with Superman teaming up with different DC characters and the presentation being skewed younger but still mostly-faithful to the comic books. That show did a great job of being "all-ages" without being just plain silly or dumb. They'd need a title; "B&B" was always traditionally Batman's team-up book, so naming the show after it made sense, but Superman's team-up book was always "DC Comics Presents", which is both clunky and also not quite befitting a Superman-centric cartoon show. Maybe they could fudge things a bit, call it "Superman and the World's Finest", and have a lot of the episodes team him up with Batman. I'unno, just spitballing.

If I were booking it, I'd have a show like the 90s series with a more modern art style and skew it to teens and up. But if they had to do a show aimed at a younger audience, the above is what I'd like to see. I don't think Brave and the Bold gets enough credit sometimes, and repeating the formula with Superman seems like a win/win for everyone involved if they HAVE to go in a younger direction. I could even see the art style seen above working in that context, maybe toned down just a little.

Was it intended for the 80th anniversary?

Quote:

Originally Posted by Leo656 (Post 1798852)

If I were booking it, I'd have a show like the 90s series with a more modern art style and skew it to teens and up. But if they had to do a show aimed at a younger audience, the above is what I'd like to see. I don't think Brave and the Bold gets enough credit sometimes, and repeating the formula with Superman seems like a win/win for everyone involved if they HAVE to go in a younger direction. I could even see the art style seen above working in that context, maybe toned down just a little.

Brave and the Bold was great, all the Silver Age/Golden Age nods, Bat Mite was doing virtually everything Myxy could hope to get up to, and hey, it even adapted Emperor Joker, which was largely a Superman story

Looks very "kiddish", for the lack of better term.

Looks retro like it was from the 50's or 60's, so it interests me.

New details on the Superman Family pitch in this interview with Vinton Heuck

https://img.purch.com/h/1400/aHR0cDo...U1NTk1OTA3MQ==

Quote:

Newsarama: Vinton, you and Sean Galloway worked on a pitch for a Superman Family animated series. Sadly it didn't get picked up, but it is great to enjoy and think about what could have been. Can you tell us your pitch of what the show would've been about?

Vinton Heuck: I came up with it while directing on season three of Young Justice. I drew some pitch art that was basically an animation friendly version of Superman: Rebirth, with Jon (a.k.a. Superboy) front and center.

My angle was to combine these new storylines with a lighter tone inspired by all those crazy Silver Age stories I read as a young lad. Seeing for instance how Jon and his mom Lois would deal with his dad being turned into a Super-Merman was something I dearly wanted to see. There are so many dark, adult-themed DC stories I felt the company needed something that got back to its roots and was made for kids.

The people at Warner Bros. Animation liked it and had me try out a bunch of talented artists to help design the look of it, and settled on Sean Galloway for me to pair off with and develop the final pitch for DC. Unfortunately, they passed, but I'm hopeful the success of Shazam! will help open the door for more fun, kid-friendly stories.

Nrama: Why was Sean the right person to do the concept work?

Heuck: Sean's art style is just incredibly fun to look at, and has an optimistic feel. It's also very unique and works great for animation.

He was the lead designer on Spectacular Spider-Man, a cartoon many consider the best one to date featuring the Web-Slinger. I freelance storyboarded on a few episodes for that production and this is where I first met Sean. We kept in contact a little over the years, and when I came up with the Superman pitch his was one of the first names that came to mind.

Nrama: For Superman Family you mapped out a great ensemble cast, including Kong Kenan, Jon Kent, Damian Wayne, Mr. Mzyzptlk and even Natasha Irons as Steel. Can you tell us about them?

Heuck: I love the characters I grew up with like Mzyzptlk, and Steel and they were envisioned as their classic comic book counterparts. Damian Wayne was a natural choice based on the chemistry he has with Jon in their comic book adventures, the "Super Sons."

The female Steel is also an established character from the comics named Natasha. She is Steel's niece and I thought it would be cool to see her having adventures with Jon as a slightly older female protagonist. It was also important to bring diversity to my project to reflect the world we live in and reach out to a wider audience. That is also why I included Kong Kenan. He is a relatively new character, but I loved the idea of China having its own Superman.

Nrama: Just to kind of give casual people perspective, how often do pitches like this get generated in house by the artists or directors and pitched to WB?

Heuck: I couldn't tell you. For me personally it's very rare. I'm usually quite busy with my paid animation work and with my side passion projects like my new Kickstarter, Mabigon: The Blue Stones (shameless plug).

I don't get the bug to develop a pitch unless I'm inspired by something I feel brings something new or interesting to the table.

Credit: Sean Galloway
Nrama: Can you point to any series that were successfully pitched to WB and picked up from one of the animators and/or directors?

Heuck: Bruce Timm did it best with Batman: The Animated Series, which along with his Superman and Justice League series remain some of the best of their kind. One of My career highlights was getting to work with him recently, something I hope to do again.

Nrama: You've been working recently on DC Universe's Harley Quinn, and previously worked on everything from The Batman to Avengers, and even Transformers: Prime. If Superman Family would've made it, how do you think it would've been received?

Heuck: My Superman Family was inspired by the comic book version I grew up with. I wanted to create something that captured the same fun and excitement I got reading those stories.

Credit: Sean Galloway
Like anything done well I wanted something that older audiences could appreciate as well, but my focus was having it be for a young audience. I actually love working on the more adult shows like Harley, and much of my own work follows a mature approach, but I felt it was time for a new Superman-based cartoon that was all-ages.

Nrama: So an animated series might be a no-no. Have you thought about pitching it to DC as a comic book series?

Heuck: Come to think of it, it's not a bad idea! I'll let you know how that goes if I get around to it.

Nrama: What'd you learn from the Superman Family pitch experience, even if it didn't ultimately get picked up?

Heuck: I learned that I'm pretty good at coming up with and delivering pitches. Who knew?

https://www.newsarama.com/44879-insi...lmost-was.html