For the most part, WB’s animated take on DC heroes has had PG-13 tones, but the upcoming adaptation of Batman: The Killing Joke will receive an R-rating. Based on the Alan Moore and Brian Bolland‘s famous comic book storyline of the same name, the animated direct-to-video feature will be close to its source and have voice actors Kevin Conroy and Mark Hamill reprising their roles as Batman and The Joker, respectively.

Now a new trailer has appeared showing us just how close the animated feature will be to its storyline. Check it out below.

DC Entertainment and Warner Bros. Home Entertainment revealed the February 28 release date and box cover art for the next DC animated feature, Justice League: Doom.

Justice League: Doom, an animated film based off of the events of Mark Waid’s Tower of Babel story, is the next movie in the popular line of animated films featuring the characters of DC Comics. The feature will star a wide variety of actors voicing the members of The Justice League including Nathan Fillion as The Green Lantern, Michael Rosenbaum as The Flash (Barry Allen), Tim Daly as Superman, Susan Eisenberg as Wonder Woman and the return of Kevin Conroy as the voice of Batman.

The power players from DC Entertainment‘s Animated Universe hit the stage at New York Comic-Con this weekend to discuss some of their upcoming projects including Batman: Year One, the Catwoman animated short, and Justice League: Doom.

The panelists on stage for the discussion were voice casting director Andrea Romano, Bruce Timm, and Batman himself, Kevin Conroy, who was a surprise panelist (Conroy had been in the IGN Theater early in the day for the panel for Batman: Arkham Asylum, in which he also voices Batman).

Warner Home Video, DC Entertainment, and Warner Bros Animation announced details on their upcoming DC Animation panel at next month’s New York Comic-Con, as well as releasing the first image from the Catwoman short feature on the Batman: Year One DVD and Blu-ray releasing on Tuesday, October 18, 2011.

First, this animation panel at NYCC looks amazing. The panel will be an hour long on Friday, October 14, and will take place from 3-4pm. Scheduled to appear on the panel are legendary casting director Andrea Romano, DCU executive producer Bruce Timm, and the voice of Batman himself Kevin Conroy. The announcement hints at more possible guests for the panel, as well. And if one person could be suspected of showing up, it would be Eliza Dushku, the voice of Catwoman in both the 15-minute animated feature that this panel will be debuting and Batman: Year One, but that’s purely speculation on my part. In addition, the panel guests will be available for autograph signings directly after the panel.

The Venture Brothers
Season 4 Volume 1
DVD/Blu-ray
Created by: Doc Hammer and Jackson Publick
Staring: Patrick Warburton, James Urbaniak, Christopher McCulloch
Cartoon Network/Warner Brothers
Release Date: October 26, 2010

I’ll get the easy part out of the way up front; Yes, The Venture Brothers Season 4, Volume 1 is another great set of episodes from my favorite show on TV, so yes, I’m going to give this a guarded recommendation (I’ll explain the guarded part later). The eight episodes on this disc comprise the first half of season four, and while they may not be the best of the series, they are still very funny, and fans of the show are going to want to pick this up. If you haven’t seen the show before I would recommend starting at the beginning, because these episodes are built on a lot of things that have gone on in the show before.

I don’t know if I love the episodes on this disc as much as some of the other seasons. Certainly the absence of Brock Samson (voiced by Patrick Warburton) is a big reason why I don’t enjoy these as much. There are still a number of good episodes, particularly “Hansom Ransom” which features Kevin Conroy (Batman: The Animated Series) playing a very different kind of super-hero. Other standout episodes include “The Revenge Society” which features the return of Phantom Limb and which may be my favorite episode of the season, and “Self-Medication” which has Doc Venture joining a boy adventurer support group and has guest voices by Seth Green, John Hodgeman, and Patton Oswalt. There are good episodes just not as many as in previous seasons.