Young Justice #21

Young, just us too

Peter David Writer
Todd Nauck & Sunny Lee Pencils
Lary Stucker & Norm Rapmund Inks
Jason Wright Colors
Digital Chameleon Separations
Ken Lopez Letters
Maureen McTigue Assoc. Editor
Eddie Berganza Editor

Our cover by Nauck and Stucker is a re-creation of Young Justice #18. They new heroes are in almost the exact same pose as the originals, and they were matched up fairly well. In Superboy's spot is CM3 (or Captain Marvel Jr.), Batgirl instead of Robin, Flamebird for Wonder Girl and Beast Boy in place of Impulse. The only "stretch" I'd say is Lagoon Boy for Secret, but everyone else is fairly close in terms of power set and/or personality. Of course, the big twist with this cover, is that Superboy, Robin and Impulse are reading the actual comic (which is enormously huge for some reason). I do love how Impulse is inexplicably upside down, as he should often be.

Our story begins in the middle of a battle with the new Young Justice. Beast Boy, CM3 and Lagoon Boy are knocked out, leaving just Flamebird and Batgirl standing between Lobo and Klarion. Flamebird asks Batgirl for suggestions, but she's not going to get any, since this Batgirl is a mute.

Earlier, we see the original Young Justice enjoying their time off at the Catskills resort. They're all wearing a strange mixture of civilian clothes with their superhero uniforms. Bart is playing pool with Superboy and ping pong with Robin simultaneously, while Cassie talks on the phone with Cissie, filling her in on the latest developments. (Secret is nowhere to be seen.)

Cassie explains that the new Young Justice sort of formed spontaneously when those heroes learned the original Young Justice wanted to take a break. They said they'd show some solidarity by stepping up to handle monitor duty. Cissie approves of CM3 and Beast Boy, but thinks Lagoon Boy and Flamebird are lame. Cissie says that new team needs a dark and mysterious member to provide some angst. Cassie reflexively says that Cissie provided that, then immediately apologizes. Cissie forgives her, then tells Cassie about her mom wanting to take her somewhere. Cassie advises her against this, while Bart accidentally tries to play ping pong with a pool cue and pool with a ping pong racket — again.

And that's all we see of our hero, Bart Allen in this issue. But there are a few important things here we need to discuss, so let's keep going. Klarion retreats to Gotham City in an effort to avoid Lobo, but the intergalactic bounty hunter quickly finds the witch boy and demands again to be turned back into an adult. Klarion says he can't change him back without Doiby Dickles' aging gun, but Lobo thinks he's just making excuses. So Klarion tries to change him into a radish, but when nothing happens, Lobo explains that his Czarnian physiology adapts quickly to threats, and is now resisting Klarion's magic. Klarion points out that this means that it's now impossible to turn Lobo back into an adult, and Lobo realizes he's right. But the Top Teen still wants to kill the witch boy anyway.

Meanwhile, Cissie decides to go against Cassie's advice and join her mother on her mystery trip. Cissie still thinks she's being crazy, though, so Bonnie tries to encourage her by saying that people thought Isaac Newton was crazy after he was inspired by a piece of falling fruit, but if it weren't for him, we wouldn't have the fig cookie.

The new Young Justice begins battling both Klarion and Lobo, and it does not go well. Their path of destruction catches the attention of Batgirl, who steps in to help. We cut back to Bonnie and Cissie, who arrive at the Australia Games Qualifying Archery Finals. Cissie isn't sure about being an Olympic archer, and Bonnie again gives her a chance to leave. But she also points out that this is a good opportunity for her to use her talent and represent her country. So Cissie gives it a try, but the new bow is uncomfortable, and her first shot barely hits the target. Bonnie points out that Cissie never just stands and shoots arrows anymore. And when Cissie overhears some other girls making fun of her, she fires a couple of arrows while performing a somersault. The first arrow hits dead bullseye, and the second hits the first arrow perfectly and splits it in three. The other girls are amazed that Cissie pulled a "Robin Hood," and the former Arrowette begins to enjoy the idea of being an Olympian.

The fight in Gotham continues its chaotic ways, with Batgirl initially assuming that Klarion was a child victim. But Flamebird is able to sort her out, while Lobo and Klarion knock out the three boys of the team. And that brings us back to the beginning of our story. Flamebird learns that Lobo wants to be an adult again, so she decides to try reasoning with him (since nobody has been able to harm him with physical attacks). Flamebird points out that when Lobo was an adult, he was the Main Man. But being on top is boring, because most people are afraid to challenge him, and if they do, he's just fighting to maintain the status quo. But, Flamebird argues, the climb to the top is much more exciting than staying on top. And now that Lobo is a teenager, he gets to enjoy that climb to the top once more.

Lobo agrees with this logic, so he decides to thank Klarion ... by punching him in the face once more. He gives Flamebird a big kiss on the lips, then flies off on his motorcycle. Flamebird barfs as soon as Lobo's gone, and both Klarion and Batgirl disappear when nobody's looking. Batman finds Batgirl and chews her out for disobeying his orders to stay away from other metahumans. And Klarion ends up in a random field somewhere, lamenting his loneliness. But a spaceship crash lands near him, and out pops a strange and fascinating girl about Klarion's age — R'e'l, the Supergirl of the future. The two instantly fall in love, much to the dismay of Teekl.


This wasn't too bad of an issue. I don't know if DC ever intended to do anything serious with this New Young Justice team, but they were a somewhat interesting group to fill in the gap before the next big story in this series. While this issue failed to show us exactly how these heroes decided to become the replacement YJ team, it did tell us exactly how and why Lobo is stuck as a teenager. True, it is a bit convenient, but I am glad that this was addressed. And I also enjoyed the twist of him being convinced that it's a good thing to be a teenager again. Perhaps the best part of the issue, though, was the growing relationship between Cissie and her mom. Not only is joining the Olympics a natural fit for Cissie, but it's also a sweet way to bring her closer to her mom.

Todd Nauck finally got a break with this issue — sort of. He still did the heavy lifting here, drawing all the pages with New Young Justice fighting Klarion and Lobo, leaving all the quiet scenes to Sunny Lee. Unfortunately, his style stands out in stark contrast with Nauck's, and left a lot to be desired. Lee put very little detail into the background characters, which really hurt the nice gag of Bart messing up while playing pool and ping pong at the same time. Also, someone forgot to tell Lee that Robin doesn't have to wear his mask around his teammates anymore, and that it would be a good idea to show Secret hanging out with her friends.

We only have two letters to the editor, starting with Tony Shiber, of Van Lear, Ky., who gives a fairly in-depth analysis of how Superboy was able to use his tactile telekinesis to prevent being burned way back in Young Justice #11.

Laura Beshewish, of Norristown, Penn., was shocked that in Young Justice #17, Cissie told Bart she'd miss him most, but then went and kissed Robin. Laura just knew that Arrowette and Impulse were going to get together, and believed that they should have had the parting kiss. Eddie Berganza notes that one kiss does not a relationship make. Now for the new ads:

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Next time, we'll begin the epic event, Mercury Falling in Impulse #62.