Synopsis: A time when heroes became legends. The origin of the Justice League based on the DC Comics' "The New 52!" In Gotham City's shadows lurks a mysterious figure, a silent guardian known only as the Batman. While battling crime and an ever-growing public distrust, he faces the injustices of the night alone. During a criminal pursuit, the Batman crosses paths with the arrogant intergalactic cop Green Lantern, and the unlikely duo uncovers an impending threat bigger and more deadly than anything the Earth has faced before. For the Earth to have a chance to survive, it will be a race to forge an uneasy alliance of its greatest super powers, including the Kryptonian alien, Superman; the Amazonian envoy, Wonder Woman; and the Scarlet Speedster, the Flash. Along with newcomers Cyborg and teen super hero Shazam, this awesome assembly of the world's finest are prepared to meet evil head-on and offer mankind its only hope, if they don't self-destruct first!

Blu-ray Bonus Features
• A Sneak Peek at Son of Batman – An advance look into the next DC Animated Feature Film with the creators and cast
• Deconstructing Justice League: War with Jay Oliva and Jim Lee – Part commentary, part documentary, director Jay Oliva teams up with artist Jim Lee as they compare and contrast the comic to screen process of some of the most memorable moments in the film.
• Creating Heroes: The Life and Art of Jim Lee – This documentary film explores the work of master artist, Jim Lee, from his early days to his current position at DC and collaboration with Geoff Johns.
• Justice League: War Act D – From animatic to pencil test
• From the DC Comics Vault:
–1. Justice League Unlimited Season 3 “Destroyer”
–2. Batman: The Brave and The Bold Season 2 “The Malicious Mr. Mind”
–3. Young Justice Invasion: Destiny Calling Season 2 Part 1 “Happy New Year”
–4. Young Justice Invasion: Destiny Calling Season 2 Part 1 “Earthlings”
• Includes UltraViolet so you can enjoy the film on many different compatible devices.

Two-Disc DVD Special Edition Bonus Features
• A Sneak Peek at Son of Batman – An advance look into the next DC Animated Feature Film with the creators and cast
• Creating Heroes: The Life and Art of Jim Lee – This documentary film explores the work of master artist, Jim Lee, from his early days to his current position at DC and collaboration with Geoff Johns.
• From the DC Comics Vault: - 2 DC Comics classic cartoons

Single-Disc DVD Bonus Features
• Sneak Peak at Son of Batman, the next DC Universe Animated Original Movie

Justice League: War Blu-ray Review
by James Harvey

Warner Bros. Home Entertainment has given Justice League: War a nice Blu-ray Combo release, offering a fine helping of extras that both explore the main feature and the source material. As always, the Blu-ray Combo set come with Blu-ray, DVD, and Ultraviolent copies of the movie.

Starting off first with the audio and video presentation, it’s no surprise this is another quality release. It’s not perfect, but it is up to the standards of previous DC Universe Animated Original Movie releases. The video is pretty crisp, but there is some color banding that pops in from time to time. Macro-blocking also tends to sneak in on a few occasions, but that tends to be the fault of the actual source material and not the transfer itself. The DTS-HD MA 5.1 English track is gets a solid workout courtesy of the numerous heavy action pieces, which basically takes up the vast majority of the film's running time. The ongoing onslaught of Paradeomons, coupled with the Justice League's heroic efforts, makes for an unending assault on the sound system.

Moving on to the bonus content, Warner Bros. Home Entertainment offers up some cool bonus content, including a neat featurette where director Jay Oliva and artist Jim Lee sit down, watch and chit-chat about Justice League: War. The last few releases in the DC Universe Animated Original Movie line have presented some pretty informative and clever bonus features which expanded upon the themes of the main feature, and this release continues that trend quite nicely.

First up is the “Creating Heroes: The Life and Art of Jim Lee” feature, running upwards of 38 minutes, covering the life and career of artist Jim Lee. A surprisingly thorough look, viewers are treated to the earliest of Lee’s work, included his scribbles as a child and his first published gig. Shockingly, his Marvel and Image work is actually covered here in great detail, allowing for a good overview of everything he’s done to date. Fans of Lee will no doubt get a kick out of this, and it’s an adequate tribute to his storied career. After that is “Justice League: War Act D,” a 24-minute plus look at the animatics and rough pencils for the final act of Justice League: War stacked up against the finished product. Oliva walks us through both, explaining the alterations made between them, techniques used to fix mistakes or quicken the pace, etc. Pretty informative for those interested in how these movies are put together, though I was disappointed when Oliva stopped talking for the last chunk of the featurette. The last substantial bonus feature is “Deconstructing War with Jay Oliva and Jim Lee” where, basically, Oliva and Lee discuss both the movie and the comic book source material for 21 minutes. They discuss changes made as the Justice League: Origin comic became the Justice League: War movie, decisions on why certain characters were included, and so on. The highlight is when Oliva fanboys-out in front of Lee, admitting more than once how great it is to meet the comic legend.

The special features listed above in particular are pretty interesting for those fascinated in the process behind these animated DC Comics movies, but aren't groundbreaking by any means. Oliva seems excited to share why the final product is what it is, usually in great detail, and his enthusiasm is apparent and very infectious. With luck, Oliva will continue to share his passion and knowledge with fans for some time to come.

The disc is wrapped up with four bonus episodes - Justice League Unlimited “Destroyer,” Batman: The Brave and The Bold “The Malicious Mr. Mind,” Young Justice: Invasion “Happy New Year,” and Young Justice: Invasion “Earthlings” – a host of trailers, a preview of the next DC Universe Animated Original Movie, and the standard additional DVD and UltraViolet copy Justice League: War.

It’s worth noting that the sneak peek of Son of Batman, the next DC Universe Animated Original Movie, actually features a wealth of finished footage - the first preview in a long time to do do. It includes the usual interview snippets and such, yes, but there's also a great chunk of finished footage and production art from the movie. One of the better ‘sneak peek’ previews in sometime, it should have fans anxious for the Son of Batman’s release in May 2014.

Overall, Warner Bros. Home Entertainment has given Justice League: War a Blu-ray home video release worth checking out. The audio and video quality is on par with previous Blu-ray releases in the DC Universe Animated Original Movie line - great but with a few slight issues - and the overall bonus content package is pretty good. If you’re a sucker for learning a film’s production history, and intrigued by the creative process behind it all, the special features here will scratch that itch. Of course, that all may hinder on whether or not you enjoyed the main feature. Unquestionably divisive, I think Justice League: War will find a home in the collection of many comic book fans and definitely comes Recommended.

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