Guardians of Justice review: This is the gritty superhero parody you need while waiting for Peacemaker to hit the UK

Early on in Guardians of Justice, Knight Hawk, a superhero fighting battling an impending World World IV as well as insubordination from within his crime fighting faction, says: "In a world of superheroes, technology and magic you should never trust appearances."

This could be as true for the show itself, which launched with very little publicity on Netflix this week, as for the dour superhero who uttered the line - played by WWE Hall of Famer Dallas Page.

Writer and producer Adi Shankar's Bootleg Universe superhero series shouldn't work in a world where Marvel and DC are throwing big budgets, big technology and big names at the genre.

The Guardians of Justice budget is obviously wafer thin, to the extent that I'd bet money that Netflix spent more on the catering budget of its blockbuster Bridgerton.

In some places, most notably the costumes, the lack of investment shows but elsewhere the lack of budget seems to have inspired some creative thought and jaw-dropping visuals.

Frankly, and I genuinely didn't expect to say this, it's a blast.

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If, like me, you loved The Watchmen (the Moore/Gibbons comic not the surprisingly soulless HBO show), Edgar Wright's Scott Pilgrim Vs The World movie and Sin City then there is much here to enjoy in this mixture of live-action, CGI, animation, claymation, stop-motion and glorious 8-bit gaming with a decidedly Mortal Kombat-ish tinge.

Shankar clearly loves his source material and viewers who are of the same mindset are going to get a real kick out of the in-jokes and nods peppered throughout the seven episode series.

But this isn't just satire, there's a cracking story in here