Peter David, Writer
Leonard Kirk and Robin Riggs, Artists
Gene D'Angelo, Colorist
Digital Chameleon, Seps
Bill Oakley, Letterer
Frank Berrios, Asst. Editor
Mike McAvennie, Editor
Our cover shows Dante slamming Supergirl's head into the glass containing the lava monster Dis, while the possessed Young Justice attacks from the rear. Not only is this slightly inaccurate, it's absolutely horrible-looking. Why is everything pink and purple? And when did Dante transform from a suave disco stud into a grotesque half-man, half-ape? The only slightly redeeming element of this cover is Impulse running upside down on the cavern walls. That's pretty cool.
Our story picks right up where we left off last time, with Dis breaking free of his glass container. But Supergirl is somehow able to contain him with a telekinetic blast (I wasn't aware of that power), and she reseals the container with her flame vision. But Dis is still somehow able to cause Supergirl to be covered in ice, which shatters her flame wings.
The mysterious Lord Carnivore is watching the progress of Young Justice's assault on Leesburg, Virginia. Superboy and Wonder Girl have thrown a bunch of trees in a pile, which Arrowette lights on fire. And Impulse is running around with a very small speed limit sign for some reason. Carnivore knows this should be pleasing him, but something's nagging away at him.
Dante begins beating on Supergirl, vowing to have more fun with Young Justice once he's done with her. Supergirl is able to fight through the ice and throw Dante off her. Unfortunately, she threw him right into Dis' container, shattering it.
In Leesburg, Young Justice has moved on to freeing the inmates from the prison. As Superboy and Wonder Girl rip off the cell doors, Impulse steals the guns from the police and hands them to the criminals, saying he was recently taught in social studies to not infringe on bearing arms. Arrowette and Robin fight off the police outside, relishing in their new villainous attitudes.
Dis finally breaks free once and for all, and in his eagerness to kill Supergirl, he inadvertently engulfs Dante, who suffers a horrible death. This angers Carnivore, who wanted Supergirl to be the one to kill Dante. He doesn't want her to die, but to fall.
Back on the surface, Robin notices the weather has suddenly become very cold. The demon-creatures on the backs of his and Arrowette's necks are suddenly hit with something, and the two of them feel like they're coming out of a fog. The Super-Cycle shows up, and Robin and Arrowette use it to rescue some officers from Superboy, Wonder Girl and Impulse.
The Super-Cycle fires three pink beams at the creatures on our heroes, freeing them from Dante's control. Robin explains that the Super-Cycle's tactic was risky, which is why it didn't attempt it earlier. But it decided to take that risk once it saw the heroes freeing criminals. Returned to his senses, Impulse very quickly incarcerates all the inmates with ropes and chains since the doors are still broken.
In Dante's Inferno, all the other demon-creatures suddenly decide to leave the prisoners. Supergirl arrives with Dis (literally) hot on her tail. As Supergirl wonders how she can rescue all these people, Young Justice arrives in the Super-Cycle to save the day. Arrowette offers an awkward apology to Supergirl, and they load everybody into the cycle, which phases out to freedom.
Agents Fite and Maad (who are always able to travel great distances quickly) have left Chicago and arrived in Leesburg to search for Young Justice. They don't have to look very long, because Young Justice and all the criminals Dante had kidnapped phase up right in front of the A.P.E.S. agents. But Dis isn't far behind, bursting up through the sewers. However, as soon as he's exposed to the daylight, he turns to ice and shatters. Everyone congratulates Supergirl, and she takes the credit, but secretly doesn't know what happened. And Carnivore isn't sure, either, suspecting only that Hell is freezing over.
I'm pretty disappointed with this issue. Besides the lackluster art, the story was just full of too many coincidences. The Super-Cycle just happened to be able to rescue Young Justice, but conveniently waited until the end of the story. Dante was conveniently killed by Dis, and the demons conveniently just decided to leave. Young Justice just happened to arrive right at the most convenient time — heck, even Supergirl called that a deus ex machina. And Dis conveniently died before he could cause any real damage. Ultimately, our heroes didn't do anything to save the day. They were just kind of there while things happened around them.
All in all, it was a disappointing story and a disappointing crossover. While Young Justice did get a fair amount of time in these four issues, and their side stories did continue in their series, this whole crossover mostly felt like a Supergirl story. All the villains ended up being Supergirl villains involved in this very strange world of demons and angels. Dante started off rather interesting, especially since he believed he was actually a good guy. But he very quickly devolved into a worthless pawn in this story that I don't find all that appealing. In the end, I feel like a Supergirl-Young Justice crossover could have and should have been much better.
Next time, we'll wrap up the month with Impulse #53.
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