Young Justice S02E08 – Review

By: Greg Weisman (story)

The Story: The original Roy Harper proves he can take on Lex Luthor with only one hand.

The Review: I will never understand this show’s habit of going on hiatus mid-season.  Of course, this is the same show which aired its pilot months before the rest of the first season episodes, then took a summer-long break in between.  I’m sure there are some very good practical reasons why all this must be so, but it’s annoying anyway.  You would never put up with this on a lesser show.

However, Young Justice has the good fortune of being a very good show, so it can afford its logistical oddities from time to time.  We left off last time with some fairly gnarly plot twists, and this episode shows that the creators have given plenty of thought over the summer as to how to proceed.  More than any other cartoon I’ve heard seen on American television, this series does not mess around when it comes to exploring its stories from every possible angle.

Young Justice Episode 26 – Review

By: Greg Weisman (story)

The Story: Now is the time for the students to become the masters…too cheesy?

The Review: If you ask me, last episode was really the big, team-centered climax of the season.  Once all the secrets came out and the group became just that much tighter for it, that’s when you really saw YJ as the complete package for the first time.  From now on, they’ll have moments of growth, possibly life-changing ones, even ones that will alter the group dynamic completely, but nothing really compares to that first moment when they all truly come together for the first time.

For that reason, this episode feels a bit more like clean up, an opportunity for the team to wrap up loose ends and show what this new team is made of.  But what an opportunity it is: taking on the entire League, who both grossly outnumbers and out-powers them on pretty much every level.

Young Justice Episode 6 – Review

By: Jon Weisman (writer)

The Story: In the middle of a mission to shut down some mechanical creepy-crawlies, the team decides whether to nice or ice the new girl.

The Review: There are a couple classic ways to handle the rookie-on-the-superhero-team situation.  You can let them run into the group and merge them in through a trial by fire, or they can join the team formally and slowly work their way into the mesh of the group.  Either way, it’s usual for the newbie to receive a reasonable dose of distrust or doubt.

Congratulations are in order for Young Justice then, since their reception to Artemis has none of the obligatory distrust and is light on the doubt, mostly from the outraged Kid Flash.  Weisman continues the tradition of allowing the teens to act as collected as possible, even when thrust into the situation of relying on an untried, unknown teammate during a high-stakes mission.  It’s a relief to finally get some fictional adolescents that don’t act like completely overemotional idiots.

Even though Speedy—I’m sorry—Red Arrow is technically not part of the team, his character has been handled really well each time he’s shown up.  His resentment towards his former mentor comes off a little hissy, but since it never goes over the top, it works—he’s just your typical rebel without a cause, to borrow an old cliché.  And before his temper makes him too unlikable, his confrontation with Artemis at the tail end of the episode reassures you he’s still looking out for his friends.  Here’s hoping he’ll be a key ally for the team in the future.

I’ve had my concerns about the show getting a little overinvested in its drama and action, while neglecting the fact most of these guys are still in the throes of puberty (possibly excepting Aqualad, who sounds like he left the womb wailing in baritone).  So the gang’s beach outing is just the thing the show needs more of.  It has all the syrupy cheer of a high school anime’s summer montage, a perfect contrast to the grimness of Wally’s first day of school (love him getting pummeled during dodgeball—the timing is on par with Avatar’s standard of slapstick).

Young Justice Episode 3 – Review

By: Kevin Hopps (writer)

The Story: Our young heroes wonder if their team will be more than a metahuman Key Club, and face their first super-powered whack-job–good times.

The Review: We’ve only gotten through the first few episodes, so there’s still a long ways to go for Young Justice to prove its long-term success.  Even so, it looks like there’ll be two big positives going for it: terrific animation and outstanding action choreography.  Everything pops with vibrant color and clean lines, and all the character movements are slick and kinetic.  In battle, the characters are in constant motion, getting into position to support each other with appreciably unexpected uses of their powers and skills.  These elements will always be major pulls for the show, no matter where it ends up going.

There’s a lot of promise on the writing side of things too.  This episode takes the first baby step forward to establishing the characters’ default personalities and the overall team dynamics.  Kevin Hopps makes use of a tried-and-true plot structure to give the characters their first outing as a team: an up-and-coming villain wants to make waves in the super-crime world, so he tests his mettle against the untried, rookie heroes.

The premise may be a bit cliché and low-stakes, but Hopps executes it with surprising nuance.  The idea that the adult heroes set up this team as a meaningless distraction for their sidekicks gets tackled early on and is mostly banished by the end of the episode.  After all, Mr. Twister turns out not to be a set-up by the kids’ mentors, and they get to deal with the formidable villain on their own terms.  Red Tornado’s determination to not interfere and let them figure out their problems themselves is a pretty cool move; it respects YJ’s freedom and aptitude, definitely bucking the trend in superhero fiction of adults not taking teens seriously.  The revelations about Mr. Twister’s origins also introduce us to the big baddies of the season, promising even bigger, more important challenges for the team.

This episode is a great showcase for Miss Martian, who shows up at the tail end of the pilot, so you know least about her going in.  Her eagerness to fit in gets a little too cutesy at times (baking cookies—really?), but her proactive role in fighting Mr. Twister shows off her competent side, and her value to the team.  Kid Flash’s snappy jokes and constant lines on Miss Martian are hit-and-miss, but offer most of the episode’s humor.  Robin strikes the right balance between teen hijinks and the professionalism required of a Batman accomplice.  There’s not much to Aqualad other than an admirable, slightly off-putting seriousness.  Superboy remains angsty and temperamental, but his apology to Miss Martian for his earlier freakout at her telepathy—a stiff “Sorry” and immediate exit—shows how his social awkwardness can be played for chuckles.

Justice League: The Rise of Arsenal #1

By: J.T. Krul (writer), Geraldo Borges (artist), Marlo Alquiza (inker)

What’s Good: J.T. Krul’s name on the cover and Greg Horn’s cover art! These immediately drew me in, but from the first page, Geraldo Borges’ pencils blew me away. I haven’t seen his work before, but it’s well-proportioned, supple, fluid, and textured. In other words, Borges is just a fine draftsman. The fight scenes are moving and powerful with a lot of dynamism. Check out Prometheus on the first splash page: he looks like he’s leaping out of the book itself! In the same scene, you’ve got Arsenal’s ruined face and the devastating attack that maimed him (not for the faint of heart). I liked pretty much everything about the art. I also have to say I liked the not-so-subtle beginning of the return of Arsenal’s drug problem. You don’t see enough honest human frailty and temptation in the lives of comic heroes.

Titans #23 – Review

By: Eddie Berganza (writer), Scott Clark and Adrian Syaf (pencillers), Dave Beatty and Vicente Cifuentes (inkers)

What’s Good: This is the first time I’ve seen Eddie Berganza in the writer’s chair. He’s been editing Blackest Night, Cry for Justice, Wednesday Comics, and others up to now, but I think he did a fine job as a writer. I don’t know if this is a new direction for him or if he’s just pinch-hitting while they find a replacement for the excellent J.T. Krul who has taken over as writer of Green Arrow. Berganza takes us through the perspectives of three characters (Dick Grayson (now Batman), Wally West (now the third Flash) and Donna Troy) as they reminisce about their early adventures in the 1960 and how Speedy (now maimed and fighting for his life under medical care) touched their lives. Berganza has skillfully made all the narrators unreliable, because although they remember the same events, their individual regrets and bitterness tinge the narrative. It’s very hard to write a character that is fooling themselves or not seeing the big picture and Berganza did a good job. There’s a lot more bitterness and regret in the Titans’ history than I knew about. But, all this would be nothing if Berganza couldn’t tie this to the present and the struggles of now. Berganza does this by showing Dick, Wally and Donna struggling in their new roles (especially Dick) as some of the heavy-hitters in the DCU. Lastly, I really like how Berganza made Speedy/Red Arrow both a sympathetic and unsympathetic by showing his errors and his core humanity as a father, with the added tension that he still doesn’t know his daughter is dead. All in all, Berganza has shown that he is every bit the character writer that Krul is.

Clark, Syaf, Beatty and Cifuentes did some fine work too on the art chores. They separated the past from the present with the shadows and tones of the inking. The scenes set in the past had almost no inking on the characters, even in the dark, which made the scenes effectively moody and even a bit ghostly, which underscored the unreliability of some of the narrators.