Superheroes balance the books in Crackle’s new comic book spoof.
Like so many parodies before it, Crackle’s stop-motion cartoon SuperMansion — you can watch the premiere via YouTube below — satirizes the superhero genre with themed observational humor and crude antics. Think The Awesomes or Drawn Together but in the style of Robot Chicken, whose executive producers Matthew Seinrich, Zeb Wells and Seth Green also developed this show. But while SuperMansion definitely has its moments, most of the jokes have already been done before in other projects — including Robot Chicken’s own DC Comics Specials.
On the plus side, Breaking Bad’s Bryan Cranston voices the main character, Titanium Rex, the geriatric leader of the League of Freedom, whose “Golden Age” is well behind them. Now they all live in a mansion together, struggling to stay relevant in a world that’s sick of superheroes.
Among the team is Rex’s number two, the gravelly voiced Black Saturn (Tucker Gilmore) self-proclaimed scourge of the night (“and day too”) — guess who he’s parodying. There’s also American Ranger (Keegan-Michael Key), whose racism and antiquated ideals are probably more reflective of what an actual “Man Out of Time” would be like. We also witness the origin of Jewbot (Wells), formerly known as Robobot, who goes through a crisis of faith when he discovers his maker’s name is Martha Goldstein. There are other members of the group, but you get the idea.
We want to hear it.
In the first episode, the League accidentally destroys the Washington Monument during a run-of-the-mill skirmish with one of their foes. This includes typical banter and gag-ridden comedy-action, as Rex and the others trade eye-rolling jabs with an out-of-shape gem thief. (The line “Somebody call Frodo, there’s a new Lord of the Rings!” is uttered by Black Saturn at one point.)
The episode doesn’t really start to show signs of life until the League is called before Congress to defend their property expenses. Here we get some humorous back and forth between Rex and the senators, who berate the League for their gross misconduct. (“Just let him keep the gems! Good God, they’re insured!”) Meanwhile, military accountant Sgt. Agony — a no-nonsense Nick Fury type — is assigned to look into the heroes’ other expenses, which leaves Rex to solve the their ever-worsening budget crisis.
Gettin’ too old for this s***.
To SuperMansion’s credit, there are some amusing moments to come out of the premiere, like Jewbot hiring a reluctant rabbi to be his religious guide. (As you might have guessed, the religious leader isn’t crazy about Jewbot’s recent name change.) Also, from a visual standpoint, SuperMansion is some of Stoopid Buddy Stoodios’ best work. The animation is not only clean but dynamic, featuring more camera motion than most Robot Chicken episodes. It’s definitely a good fit for the superhero-comedy subgenre.
We want to hear it.
Unfortunately, the jokes just aren’t up to par. In addition to tired character archetypes, the scenarios and situations feel like a lazy patchwork of better superhero breakdowns (Freakazoid!, Action League Now! and The Tick, to name a few). Granted, names like Cranston, Green and Key lend some credibility to the proceedings, but the constant age jokes, forced vulgarity and obvious superhero references keep SuperMansion from living up to its potential.
Despite the involvement of Bryan Cranston and the Robot Chicken studio, Crackle’s SuperMansion goes for easy laughs rather and doesn’t break any new ground on superhero spoofs. While there are some funny moments and the animation is solid, the series’ initial premise and shabby take on the genre don’t seem promising.
The first three episodes of SuperMansion debut on Crackle on October 8th.
