JLA Adventures: Trapped in Time Is (Much) Better Than It Probably Should Be

Given its origins as a marketing device for toys, many of which don’t seem to exist yet (has anybody seen any of these villains, or Robin, or the Legionnaires, in Target’s Justice League toy line?), last week’s direct-to-DVD release JLA Adventures: Trapped in Time is a real triumph.Director Giancarlo Volpe and writer Mike Ryan were tasked, essentially, with creating an update not of the acclaimed Justice League Unlimited but with the Super Friends–a series which, if viewed critically and not through the lens of nostalgia, is largely indefensible. With shoddy animation and wooden dialogue, the show was obviously created to be a profit center, and it succeeded in that regard. After all, decades later you can find the episode of Super Friends on which JLA Adventures: Trapped in Time is loosely based available to buy in a number of formats.