Young Justice Episode 23 – Review

By: Peter David (writer)

The Story: Imagine hanging with your boo’s ex—that’s the awkwardness we have here.

The Review: I waxed poetic about David in my review of the last episode he wrote for this series, so there’s no need to fall over myself again here.  I just have to wonder, though: how does he really feel about this show that took on the name of one of his most reputable works, yet reflects his tone and concepts in virtually no other way?  How must it feel to adapt himself to characters and conceits that in some ways go against his sensibilities?

These are all rhetorical questions, of course, best left to private but ultimately fruitless musings.  The only thing that matters is how David works the material he’s given—which is pretty darn well, actually.  Watching this episode, it occurs to me that in many ways, David takes the YJers at hand treat them like the ones he knew.

Case in point: Kid Flash and Artemis.  If any of you followed the Young Justice comics back in the day, you might remember the bit of puppy love Impulse had for Arrowette at the time.  Though that particular romance never really panned out, David seems to revive it here through their TV-screen counterparts.  The show has labored to convince us that a Kid Flash-Artemis pairing would be a great idea, but only under David’s writing do sparks actually fly.  It’s a sweet moment when Wally tells Art she has nothing to prove, made even sweeter by his bashfulness and her pleased reaction.  If we get more of this, we can look forward to their courtship.

Unfortunately, the plot throws several obstacles in their path this episode.  Despite Wally’s reassurance, Artemis does let the presence of Red Arrow get to her, though not, perhaps, for the reasons everyone expects.  It’s not about the difference in their skill levels, or even of his long history with most the team.  Artemis set out on her own to rise above the criminals all around her (apparently including her mother—as the Huntress, of all things); to discover the acceptance from her heroic mentor and teammates is unearned and tenuous is a painful experience, indeed.

Supergirl #67 – Review

By: Kelly Sue DeConnick (writer), Chriscross (penciller), Marc Deering (inker), Blond (colorist)

The Story: Think Ghostbusters meets the Goonies, with a splash of the Breakfast Club.

The Review: In my review of Zatanna #13, I mentioned that a supporting cast can really make a title, a point worth elaborating.  No matter how strong a star, they can’t carry an entire issue on their backs all the time.  Getting a few other people into the mix breaks up the story, keeps you from stalling in one place for too long, and adds any number of possibilities to send the plot into an unexpectedly wonderful direction.

DeConnick clearly understands the value of giving everyone something important to do, even the ones who probably (well, definitely—this is the end of the line for the series, after all) will never show up again.  Even though Professor Ivo’s bank of the absolute finest genetic potential humanity has to offer doesn’t really go anywhere out of the ordinary, the story zips along and keeps you interested, in no small part due to the antics of the non-capes in this issue.

Remember, you have a crew of geeky geniuses (the two things aren’t always synonymous), and they’re in a sewer with a bunch of mechanical junk lying around.  Put them together, and you have a pump capable of funneling sewage water to drown a pack of robotic rats, and several stun guns with various vacuum cleaner attachments for their muzzles.  Now you have a Supergirl rescue squad, which means the threshold for danger gets that much higher.

Supergirl #66 – Review

By: Kelly Sue DeConnick (writer), Chrisscross (penciller), Marc Deering (inker), Blond (colorist)

The Story: And here I thought college was supposed to get you out of the sewers.

The Review: To capture the audience’s attention and to keep it, even long after the story finishes, you need characters who strike you with as much vitality as a flesh-and-blood person would.  Some writers try to do this by piling on the backstory, hoping their meticulously realistic attention to detail will somehow form the character and make him/her live.  But it’s so much more effective to let the character interact with the story, revealing their lives in the process.

Look at this issue’s redheaded girl, a member of Henry Flyte’s merry band.  Her boast, “We don’t need a map.  We’ve got a Henry,” and her assurance that “He’s just messing with us,” indicates an attachment to her leader beyond respect.  No one has to point out her possible crush; in fact, mentioning it outright would make it easier for us to dismiss her, a bad choice as she also demonstrates a take-charge attitude and intellect that implies she was probably Hanks’ right-hand woman.  That’s a lot of information for us to gather without any of it ever being told to us.

Just imagine what DeConnick does with her star characters.  Lois Lane’s craftiness has never had better display, using a mixture of disarming small talk and aggressive questioning to get the answers she wants.  After the direct approach fails (she’s caught sneaking and rummaging through the Stanhope College president’s office), she offhandedly mentions Kara’s (feigned) interest in the institution, then slyly segueways into the matter at hand by claiming concern over her “niece’s” safety, leading into the missing students case.  Well-played indeed, Lois.

Supergirl #65 – Review

By: Kelly Sue DeConnick (writer), ChrissCross (penciller), Marc Deering (inker), Blond (colorist)

The Story: Just remember, kids: college doesn’t protect you from sinister hostage plots.

The Review: A lot of fanfare greeted Kara Zor-El when she finally returned to the DCU proper, but after over five years, with currently the longest-running female-led title on the stands (except for the inflated numbers on Wonder Woman), we still have no grasp on her character.  Each writer’s had a different take: the distant outsider, the party girl, the eager-to-please sweetheart, the girl who’s at once trying to live up to her famous cousin’s name and get out of his shadow.

The most consistent version of Supergirl is both serious and sincere, given to insecurity about her place in the heroic pantheon.  DeConnick tosses aside the inferiority complex to focus on the girl beneath the “S”-shield.  She does this the smartest way possible: getting Kara to interact with the real world with her costume under wraps, allowing her personality to take center stage.

It’s been a while since Kara got to rub shoulders with her Earthling peers, and this arc sets up a plot, which places her squarely amidst a whole university of them.  Comics rarely get into this setting (odd, considering a lot/most of us are of that age), but DeConnick shows the potential for stories that can come of it, with its wide range of personalities.  Half the energy of this issue comes from introducing a bunch of collegiate archetypes and letting them butt heads.

Young Justice Episode 5 – Review

By: Nicole Dubuc (writer)

The Story: Superboy gets treated to his first encounter with a woman in fishnets, and the team discovers flying monkeys don’t always have fur.

The Review: It used to be that teenaged sidekicks couldn’t get much of an identity beyond their partnership to their more popular mentors.  Eventually, they grew more popular and came into their own as characters, some of the lucky ones even gaining their own ongoings.  Nowadays, writers make a point of keeping the older superheroes and their younger counterparts separate.  It lets the kids stand on their own, but it also cuts the mentorship aspect out of their relationships.

So far, one of Young Justice’s supervisors, Red Tornado, has stuck to a strict rule of letting his charges work out their own problems.  It’s an admirable philosophy, but it defeats the idea that there’s some valuable experience the adults could pass on to make the teen heroes that much more effective.  Nicole Dubuc tackles the issue by making Superboy’s lack of connection with his natural mentor central to the episode’s tension.

Enter Black Canary, who takes a more hands-on approach to managing the team—and couldn’t be a more perfect choice.  She’s a legacy hero herself, and how awesome is it to have a character that has a superpower, but is much better known for her butt-kicking skills?  Dubuc writes a tough, no-nonsense, but sensitive Canary, but the writing team has been doing a great job offering natural characters.  Canary doesn’t blink an eye at Superboy’s sass, and though she’s merciless in striking his weaknesses, she stays committed to being a source of guidance for him.

A good thing, as the Man of Steel doesn’t seem like he’ll be stepping up anytime soon.  The timing couldn’t be better to address Superman’s attitude to his young clone.  When Batman is the one telling you you’ve got a chip on your shoulder, that’s bad.  Their conversation is logical and offers some fun character quirks (Bruce Wayne has a sweet tooth—who knew?), but ultimately nothing advances on that front and Superman comes off looking like a bigger jag than ever.  It just doesn’t gel that the big Boy Scout can be so harsh to someone so eager for his approval.  The perils of a parallel Earth, I suppose.