It's been a long time since the Super Friends were on television. To prove it, DC Comics has released a preview of the new Superman/Batman: Public Enemies video, the latest in their animated onslaught of the direct-to-DVD market.

Like most of the stuff DC Comics produces for the animated market, this one is based on a comic book. The basic plot is the Lex Luthor is the President of the United States and declares Superman and Batman as, you guessed it, public enemies.

Looking at the preview, two thoughts come to mind. First, the American animation style is no longer present in action movies (although it's still around for comedies) and has been superseded by the Japanese style. The movie looks like anime, plain and simple. Second, there are an awful lot of villains in the movie, plus quite possibly the coolest-looking mad-scientist rocket ever.

The video follows so you can judge for yourself.

Having released Superman: Doomsday, Justice League: New Frontier and the new Wonder Woman animated movie (which I found to be quite good), DC has on its plate to release Green Lantern next year. But after that, it looks like Superman/Batman:Public Enemies will be released in the Fall of 2009.

Public Enemies was a story from DC's World's Finest comic. I have been enjoying this new venture from DC, but why do they choose such mediocre stories to base an animated feature on? When will they try animating the heavy-hitters like The Dark Knight Returns or Kingdom Come (admittedly a difficult task in animating Alex Ross' art) or something from the Vertigo line?

Plus, they're diving back into the whole "President Luthor" storyline which I felt was more of a commentary on the Bush presidency and is therefore kind of irrelevant now. Perhaps DC wants to use the concept before people forget the previous administration entirely.