Young Justice S02E19 – Review

By: Greg Weisman (story)

The Story: No one’s back is safe in this arena of betrayal.

The Review: Gah, gah—this is the second to last episode of Young Justice.  Did you hear that?  We only have one more episode before it all ends.  I can hardly believe it myself.  I always hoped that this show would go the way of Justice League (Unlimited or otherwise): a cartoon staple, one everyone will look back on as a high-water mark for American serial animation.  To think that it’s getting canned before its time is heartbreaking, to say the least.

For one thing, I can’t think of any other cartoon currently running that takes its characters as seriously as this one does.  I never felt that the show’s writers ever took advantage of the team’s youth to deliver sloppy, silly, or haphazard personalities or behaviors.  All YJ ever wanted was to be recognized for their efforts and treated with respect, and they have always gone above and beyond to earn that recognition and respect from everyone.

Young Justice S02E13 – Review

By: Greg Weisman (story)

The Story: Artemis begins to think a life of domesticity doesn’t sound so bad.

The Review: I’m no history buff, but I’m pretty sure that every superhero team in history has included a combo of those with superpowers and those without.  A lot of the time, those without powers have to possess some quality that makes up for it: prodigious physical abilities, mastery of certain skills and talents, or genius intellect.  Nowadays, the non-powereds tend to come with something else: true grit and sheer verve.

Now, let’s take a close look at Artemis.  Obviously, having no powers is a major downside.  In the martial arts department, her archery rivals is just a step below that of Red Arrow and she certainly doesn’t come close to Nightwing in hand-to-hand combat.  She doesn’t have the tech prowess or pure intelligence as other heroes, either.  So ever since she started this double agent gig, the show got us wondering, Of all the people in the world, why this retired C-lister?

Young Justice S02E04 – Review

By: Greg Weisman (story)

The Story: Roy, we’re your friends, but we feel like we’re losing you.  Come back to us, man!

The Review: Although the finale offered a pretty good wrap-up of the first season’s major storylines, it also left a couple open.  The biggie, of course, is the truth of what happened to the “16 hour” Leaguers while under the Light’s possession, which will undoubtedly form the basis of much of the coming season’s conflicts.  But we also have the issue of Red Arrow being a clone of the original Speedy (who remains MIA), which the show put on the back-burner.

Weisman uses this episode to follow up on that particularly volatile plotline, showing us that in the interim five years, clone-Roy has fallen on hard times, a sad twist for the ex-sidekick who first earned League membership.  Weisman clearly gets his inspiration from the infamous “Snowbirds Don’t Fly” storyline in Green Lantern/Green Arrow #85-86, which depicted (the original) Roy as secretly addicted to heroin, a problem he overcame with Black Canary’s help.

Young Justice S02E01 – Review

By: Greg Weisman (story)

The Story: YJ’s philosophy toward recruitment?  The more the merrier.

The Review: When I reviewed the show’s season finale last week, I was all settled in for a summer’s break until its return.  I suppose I should have known by now to give up trying to figure out this show’s release schedule.  Who could ever predict that the premiere of the second season would follow right on the heels of the first’s season finale?  I can only guess this is Cartoon Network’s way of keeping up its newly-minted DC Nation block.

The first few minutes of the episode get you pumped for another season of teen superhero action, as you watch Superboy, Miss Martian, and Robin take down Clayface in a sewer with great finesse and confidence, proving their victory aboard the League watchtower did wonders for their street cred.  When Robin appears from the shadows in a whole new costume, you’re only briefly curious.  Then an alligator slides down a chute and becomes Beast Boy.  Blue Beetle flies in, remarking on the smell.  A shrunken Bumblebee hovers above and resizes back to normal.  You think to yourself, Wow, their street cred really must have taken off to recruit this much.  And then Superboy reports back to HQ, only to be told to head back by one “Nightwing.”

Young Justice Episode 15 – Review

By: Greg Weisman

The Story: I think this is the beginning of a magical friendship.

The Review: Zatanna has a rather complicated place in the DCU and especially with the Justice League.  Originally, she came into the League as a rookie, one of its youngest, if not its very youngest, members.  While her teammates carried an experienced maturity, she had a bright-eyed innocence and humor that rang a little closer to that of a much younger hero.  Though now an honored member of the League, she still retains a certain youthful charm about her.

Very fitting then that she gets introduced to Young Justice as one of their peers.  In a lot of ways, she fills a vacuum within the team.  For one, she adds another female presence to a largely testosterone heavy cast.  For another, the team has had to deal with a lot of mystical threats with only Aqualad’s dabbling in magic as a viable defense, so having Zee as a direct answer to those situations seems not only appropriate, but ideal.

Weisman smartly avoids using Zee as a magical cure-all to the team’s obstacles by quickly establishing some limitations to her powers: familiarity with her spells, a proper source of energy, and preparation.  None of this stops her from making an impressive showing on her unofficial mission with the YJers, proving that her value to any team is less about solving their problems with some backwards words and more about manipulating the odds in their favor.

Her unpredictability not only in her powers but also in her status as an unknown factor proves crucial when the team finally has their showdown with their treacherous former mentor.  Of course, we know Red Tornado’s no traitor, but it’s necessary the team learns that for themselves, since they still hold a brisk chip on their shoulder when it comes to their League chaperones.  Hopefully, this episode marks a critical point in turning their wariness to genuine affection.

Young Justice Episode 11 – Review

By: Greg Weisman (writer)

The Story: Superboy and Miss Martian skip school to go to prison and discover little difference.

The Review: At some point in every superhero series, for better or worse, you’ve got to have a villain breakout.  If you’re going to gather a bunch of vicious sociopaths with meta-abilities into one room, it doesn’t really matter what precautions you take; sooner or later, all that toxic chemistry will blow up in your face—which sounds like a disaster on the surface, but it makes for good reading sometimes, doesn’t it?

You often see heroes reacting to these annual breakouts after the fact, once everyone has already gotten loose and swarming all over the place.  Young Justice tackles the problem from a more proactive angle, with Batman, ever the master of prep-time, planning to defeat the villains’ escape plans before they can execute.  To that end, he sends in Miss Martian and Superboy to impersonate the newly incarcerated Terror Twins and foil the villains from the inside.

It’s a solid plan, but once our heroes actually get inside Belle Reve (which everyone takes pains to pronounce with proper French intonations: “Reve” as in “rev” as in “bev” as in “beverage”), they really have nothing much to do except kill time until the villains launch their plans.  It’d make sense to fill this watch-and-wait period with your standard prison drama—the new fish learning the ropes the hard way—but aside from a minor tussle, we don’t get much of that.

What we do get is a lot of daddy issues, which seems in vogue for male characters nowadays.  Superboy has good reason to resent his “dad’s” distance, and to parallel that with Icicle, Jr.’s issues with the senior Icicle is a clever ploy on Weisman’s part.  But that relationship never ventures beyond the usual “son can’t live up to father’s expectations” bit, and although Connor shows a couple moments of sympathy, he gains and learns nothing from the experience.