In honor of the release of Secret Invasion last week, we're going to be taking a look at the second release from the current Fantastic Four animated series. It's currently running on Cartoon Network and was created to capitalize on the success of the second FF film starring the Silver Surfer.

On the whole, the show isn't bad at all. It works quite well as an update of the classic Lee/Kirby foundation when they created the book and ran for 100+ issues. The show doesn't come up with as many original ideas on par with Harley Quinn from the Batman animated series, but it does an excellent job of retooling the old ideas and making them hipper.

The visual style of the show is obviously anime-inspired. Johnny's vertical hair is certainly emblematic of that, but even their eyes are more animated than in the past. There is nowhere near the amount of postulating as there is in traditional anime, so I can deal with this. On the plus side, they've finally found a way to animate the Human Torch correctly. No other animated version has nailed him right (though his guest appearance in the Spider-Man 90s show came close) until now. Resembling the Skottie Young version from the Torch solo series, his body is a dark red while surrounded by flowing brights. It's the most natural and downright cool looking the Torch has been in some time.

This second volume contains four episodes from the show's first season. Included int he set are Trial By Fire, My Neighbor Was a Skrull, Impossible, and Revenge of the Skrulls. The episodes vary in quality, so let's take a look at the individually, shall we?

Trial By Fire is one of the better episodes of the whole series as it sets in motion the overarching story of the first season. In the episode, Johnny is kidnapped by Ronan the Accuser and but on trial for crimes against the Kree Empire. It seems Johnny destroyed a few Kree Sentries. Of course, the other three team members become involved and hae to save Johnny, but what's important is that Johnny gets off and makes a serious enemy in Ronan.

Spurning Ronan causes him to lose favor in the eyes of the Supreme Intelligence and forces him to look for help in destroying our heroes elsewhere also known as the fourth episode in this set). As a standalone episode, there's nothing wrong with it. It gets a bit misogynistic having Sue faint when she realizes her brother has been teleported away. It was a little TOO much like the Lee/Ditko era.

My Neighbor Was A Skrull, the second episode, focuses on our Secret Invasion ne'er do wells - the Skrulls! The FF are trapped in a Baxter Building they never made and surrounded by strangely acting neighbors. We find out soon enough they are all Skrulls, but why do they only want genetic samples? Once more, we find that out in the fourth episode.

The episode is set up quite nicely. You don't know what's going on at the beginning and even hen you've figured it out, there's a nice twist halfway through. The obvious is not true and while it's hardly the greatest reveal in television history, it's a neat little twist.

Episode three, Impossible, stars our favorite alien from the planet Poppup, the Impossible Man. He was never a favorite of mine and this episode did little to change my mind. It's a funny episode at times, but tit certainly plays more to the kids in the audience. It's hard to argue that as kids are the main target here. This is a standalone episode, so it doesn't play into the Kree/Skrull storyline building up in the last two episodes.

Episode four is called Revenge of the Skrulls, but it isn't the best name for the episode. In it, Ronan has joined forces with the Skrulls to give Commander Kl'rt the combined powers of the FF, creating the Super Skrull! It's an important note that Ronan has joined with the the Skrulls as the Kree are fighting a war with the green skinned shapeshifters. Throughout the Trial By Fire episode, the Skrulls are mentioned as enemies of the Kree Empire. This is their eventual downfall as Kl'rt's association with Ronan forces his army to walk away from him, causing both Ronan and Kl'rt to become outsiders to their races. It's an interesting comparison for two characters from such antagonistic races.

The episode ties together plot lines from several previous episodes and will most likely continue to push forth the Kree and Skrull storylines. As two of the most long running villains in FF history, it's nice to see them acting as the villain backbone for the series. The callbacks are welcomed as well as Ronan is infuriated that Johnny doesn't remember him, even tho Ronan put Johnny on trial not too long ago. Johnny's defense? "Sorry, dude, but we meet a lot of blue people."

Special features? Not a one. There will probably be a few behind the scenes featurettes when the DVD volumes are collected into a full season set, but until then we've got nada.

You can buy this DVD right HERE.