Justice league animated.

There is a huge difference in the character designs of both versions of the Justice League. The reason why is probably very easy to tell. One is an animated series where 24 frames per second have to be drawn and the other is a comic book. Which I might add probably takes a lot of time and effort to make as well. Personally, I didn't like the Justice League comics since I couldn't really follow the story. It just looked like mega detailed images trying to tell a story to but I mostly just get distracted by al the anatomically incorrect muscles and body fats. "Incorrect" body anatomy in the design of comic characters isn't something that really appeals to me, neither in most American (superhero) comics or manga. I understand that there are a lot of comics and manga that don't follow the trend of anatomically incorrect designs on their characters and try to get more "correct" or just totally off the scale, (Scott Pilgrim, Adventure Time, One Piece (frankly, One Piece has both the super bulky and the super stretchy designs, but that aside), Death Note, Tintin, Spike and Suzy (had to look up the English title there.)) which is something I can really adore for I like the silliness or simplicity.

But why is there such a difference in design between the comics and the animation? Justice League comics have been around since the 1960's, and over time design of the comics has changed a lot, for it started out with anatomically more correct bodies to the blown up proportions we see today.

I think the answer to the question "why the notable difference?" can be quite simple: They perhaps wanted a fresh design that can be reproduced more easily and quick than the current comic style at that moment. The animated series of the Justice League originates from the animated series of Batman and Superman, created in the 1990's running up to 2000. Justice League ran from 2001 to 2006, taking over the existing style (which is a continuity across the animated characters in the DC animated universe.) To be fair, the designs in the series don't look all that American to me. A lot of American cartoons at that time looked far more different than these. (Think: Hey Arnold, the Simpsons, Daria, Rugrats)

While a lot of cartoons made at that time (as still the case today) were created by more than one studio, most of the time located in the USA (with the occasional Korean, Japanese or Taiwanese studio). Starting from the Batman series, the animation has been done by Japanese and Korean studios only. It's not a straight fact to conclude this is the case of the design, but it could be a relevant reason why the designs and way of animation are similar to 90's anime. It's at least a notable difference between "Caucasian"-looking and anime-ish designs.

Apart form bitching about the difference in design (which honestly, is nothing wrong with), I must say I like the animation more than the comics. As I said before, I like reading comics and manga, but I don't really like the buff-ness in the American superhero comics. It's just a look that doesn't really appeal to me, also the way superhero comics are designed in general I find a bit overwhelming. What I really like about the animation is that a lot more subtler jokes can be put in, since the sense of timing can play a big part on them. As well does tone of voice, which are both not present when drawn on paper. I'm really sad I didn't watch Justice League when I was little since we never received Cartoon Network until I was a bit older and superheroes weren't really to my liking at that time (Shame on me, oh how the tables have turned.) I'd just say: bring back the clever animation! (Doesn't moving image just bring more justice to the movements you're trying to imply? Looking at you DC)