Peter David Writer
Todd Nauck & Pop Mhan Pencils
Jamie Mendoza & Norman Lee Inks
Guy Major Colors
Clem Robins Letters
David Nestelle Designer
Philip Simon & Tom Palmer, Jr. Assistant Editors
Phil Amara & Eddie Berganza Editors
Pop Mhan Cover Art
Special thanks to Neela Weber at DC Comics
The front of our cover focuses on Superboy, SpyGirl and Impulse, with the back showing Secret, Lobo (even though he's not in this story), Rip Roar (apparently fighting with Young Justice for some reason), Impulse again and SpyBoy's friend, Butch. I really do appreciate that all three of these covers included Impulse. And although the artwork has been decent enough, the covers on a whole have been rather nonsensical, showing villains and some heroes that are nowhere to be seen in this three-part story. I wish Mhan could have done something like this that tied in better to our story.
We open on Annie Mae's shark-shaped submarine, with Harm explaining to her the concept of Hell-Holes. He says they're essentially sinkholes created by demons seeking to blur the boundaries between Earth and Hell. And when Hell-Holes get wide enough, they consume whatever is on top of them. Apparently, the Grand Canyon was a Hell-Hole that destroyed an ancient civilization, and the San Andreas fault is a slow-moving Hell-Hole. But the one that's caught Harm's eye is underneath Tokyo, positioned directly under the Grand Emperor Hotel, which is currently hosting 50 of the world's top business leaders. Harm explains that he sent the SDs to Tokyo to attract Young Justice and SpyBoy to the Hell-Hole, which will kill them and the world leaders.
As Harm speaks, our heroes are busy battling the diminutive versions of themselves. SpyBoy stops his doppelgänger from killing Robin, but the SpyBoy SD gets in the real SpyBoy's head, making him think that his Alex Fleming persona is fake. Impulse and Superboy find their counterparts out on the roof. Impulse tries to kindly reason with his SD, but he only makes him angrier.
Superboy's SD climbs down his shirt and begins biting his back. So Superboy decides to ram into the ground to squish the SD, but the little guy slips out at the last second, causing Superboy to not only hurt himself, but also weaken the barrier on the Hell-Hole.
Harm rejoices in the chaos the battle is causing, explaining that he is drawing power from the Hell-Hole, and the more people panic and trample the ground, the stronger he becomes. Annie Mae does not agree with Harm's scheme, so she sends her henchman, Slackjaw, after Rip Roar again. This time, Slackjaw is a bit more prepared, and he manages to draw blood. This sends the shark-man into an unstoppable frenzy, and he apparently kills Rip Roar off screen. Harm draws his sword on Annie Mae, saying he doesn't really want to fight her since her scientific resources helped him use his Hell-born magiks and psychological profiles of Young Justice to create the SDs. But Annie Mae has no hesitation in fighting Harm. She uses her psychic powers to freeze him in place and scan his mind for a weakness.
Back at the fight in Tokyo, Arrowette sees the Impulse SD running away from the real Impulse, so she trips him up with an oil slick arrow. Robin has also defeated his SD, but once again is an open target for the SpyBoy SD. The real SpyBoy, shaken by the SD's words, have reverted to his nervous, unsure Alex self. SpyGirl saves Robin this time, but she's unable to stop the Wonder Girl SD from releasing a large quantity of cyanide gas. The panic reaches a climax, with the Hell-Hole beginning to open and shoot out blue flames.
But our heroes quickly discover the gas is actually harmless. Secret suddenly seems to fall under a trance, and Alex is angrily trying to prove to Superboy and Impulse that he can be just as brave as his SpyBoy alter ego. As the blue flames grow, the Young Justice instantly recognize this as an apocalyptic earthquake from the bowels of Hell. Team SpyBoy has never encountered anything like this before, and Superboy and Impulse take a quick moment to laugh at their ignorance. They then round up the rest of the SDs, and Superboy takes delight in juggling them like a bunch of balls.
Secret suddenly snaps out of her trance and has all the answers. She explains that something terrible beneath them is feeding off raw emotion and terror, and she knows where the source is. Secret can't explain how she has this knowledge, but she assures her teammates she can take them all to the person behind this if they step into her cloak. All the members of Young Justice have traveled with Secret like this before, and none of them are too keen about doing it again. Impulse says it makes you go nuts, Wonder Girl says it makes you feel like being pureed in a blender, and Robin thinks Secret's "vision" could be another trap. Secret's dismayed that none of her friends trust her, but Alex is eager to prove himself, so he dives right in, instructing the others to get all the bystanders to stop panicking.
Secret teleports to the shark-sub, and Annie Mae tells Harm that she summoned Secret, since she's the only one who can stop him. Secret lifts up her cloak and tries to get SpyBoy to help her fight the villains, but he's still Alex and is reduced to a shaking, terrified boy after traveling with Secret. Slackjaw, finished with Rip Roar, decides to help Harm fight his sister before taking him down. Harm also prepares for attack, but suddenly feels weakened as the panic above the Hell-Hole has subsided. Young Justice and SpyBoy's friends have calmed the crowd down and is entertaining them with feats of acrobatics, juggling the SDs, and having Arrowette shoot apples of Butch's head.
Harm fights through this feeling of weakness, and takes a swipe at helpless Alex. Right in the nick of time, the SpyBoy persona takes over, catches Harm's sword and begins to battle the villain. Secret is busy with Slackjaw, and during their fight, a hole is punched in the side of the submarine. As water rushes in, Slackjaw runs away in pure terror, causing Secret to wonder how a "shark guy" could be hydrophobic. SpyBoy easily gets the upper hand over the weakened Harm, taking his sword and ramming it through his chest. Harm becomes surrounded by flames and disappears.
The water is now waist deep, and Annie Mae has mysteriously disappeared. So Secret teleports SpyBoy back to the others, who have discovered the SDs have suddenly turned to stone. Secret explains that the sorcerous energies Harm used to create them must have vanished when he did. She tells everyone that SpyBoy realized that Harm wasn't really alive, so he felt free to stab him with his own hellspawned blade, which sent him back to wherever his soul currently resides. SpyBoy admits he didn't know Harm wasn't really alive, and everyone stares in shock at his casual attitude toward killing someone.
Well, that was an abrupt ending. It felt like Peter David had too much story for just three issues. And I'm still left with a bunch of questions. Why did Annie Mae make the SDs with Harm, then turn on him when he revealed his plan to kill Young Justice and SpyBoy? Why were the SDs so small that they became utterly useless once they actually started fighting? Why wasn't there a Secret SD? I could go on, but I'll just leave it there.
As a whole, this three-part crossover was fairly average. I would say it was nice to put Young Justice in a new situation, but that wasn't really the case. Everything the SpyBoy crew brought to the table wasn't anything different from what Young Justice had previously dealt with. Team SpyBoy, however, did face something new with Harm and his Hell-Hole. I also can't really say Team SpyBoy and Young Justice had good chemistry together. David tried to give Robin a budding romance with SpyGirl, but that felt forced and it conveniently ignored Secret's deep jealously toward Robin's perspective girlfriends. This was something that could have been developed, had there been enough space for this story to properly breathe.
My favorite part of this story had nothing to do with SpyBoy. It was the great interactions between Impulse and Superboy — something I'm dearly missing now that Impulse is off the team. Their prank with Arrowette was nonsensical and unnecessary, but it was funny. And they had tons of great asides sprinkled throughout this otherwise weird and dull story. Sadly, the main purpose of this crossover — to inspire Young Justice readers to pick up SpyBoy, and vic e versa — failed for me. I feel like I got a good enough idea of what SpyBoy is all about, and it never felt interesting enough for me to track it down. Well, let's wrap this up with a look at the new ads:
Who's pulling the strings to create A World Without Young Justice? Find out this May in a 5-part epic starting in Young Justice #44, Impulse #85, Robin #101 and Superboy #99, and concluding in June with Young Justice #45.
He was the greatest hero of the Green Lantern Corps ... and its greatest tragedy. Green Lantern Legacy.
His people call him warrior. Destiny will name him The Scorpion King.
Check out these SpyBoy collections, full of action, adventure, and intrigue by Peter David and Pop Mhan!
Smallville action figures.
1st encounters! 1st battles! 1st adventures! DC 1st.
A Dark Horse comics preview, focusing on Star Wars: Episode II.
Horsepower focuses on a Mace Windu bust.
Free Comic Book Day, showing a Star Wars comic, Justice League Adventures, Tomb Raider and Ultimate Spider-Man.
Next time, before we begin A World Without Young Justice, we need to wrap up the Double Visions story in Impulse #83.
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