Young Justice: Targets #5

“Metallic Aftertaste”

Writer: Greg Weisman

Artist: Christopher Jones

Colorist: Jason Wright

Letterer: Wes Abbott

Cover: Jones & Wright

Variant Cover: Meghan Hetrick

Editor: Ben Meares

Senior Editor: Katie Kubert

Superman created by Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster

Superboy created by Jerry Siegel

By special arrangement with the Jerry Siegel family

Our cover is a rather bland and boring image of Superboy fighting Metallo. I’m a little disappointed that Weisman is focusing so much on Superboy right after Young Justice: Phantoms featured him so prominently. I’d prefer to see some love thrown to some of the other characters who are often overlooked in this bloated universe. But that’s just me. Also, to no one’s surprise, Kid Flash is not included on the variant cover, so I’ll skip it.

We pick up with Kid Flash at Madinat Altharwati on November 11 at 22:42 UTC+2, in the tenth year since the formation of the Team. Static is apparently the leader of Mongoose Squad, which is tasked with the boring job of battling an endless army of Lex-bots, while Gorilla Squad does all the interesting stuff. Kid Flash tied up some robots with a whirlwind, but then he inexplicably took a hit from behind.

And that’s all we see of him this issue. As I mentioned previously, I consider this series to be a huge missed opportunity for Weisman. He created a massive, sprawling world with dozens of characters. But instead of exploring some of those untold stories, he stuck with the same old, same old.

Next time, we’ll return to Dark Crisis: Young Justice #5.

Dark Crisis: Young Justice #4

Listen Up!

Meghan Fitzmartin Writer

Laura Braga Artist

Luis Guerrero & Hi-Fi Colors

Pat Brosseau Letters

Max Dunbar & Luis Guerrero Cover

Serg Acuña Variant Cover

Dave Wielgosz Editor

Ben Abernathy Group Editor

Superman created by Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster.

Superboy created by Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster.

By special arrangement with the Jerry Siegel family.

Our cover makes a pretty decent attempt at showing Young Justice fighting E-V-E-R-Y-O-N-E. We have the full roster of the late-’90s JLA, plus several members of the Titans and Lobo for good measure. Lobo, of course, was briefly a member of Young Justice, not that I’d expect any of these creators to realize that. Anyway, I find this to be a rather mediocre cover. Dunbar gives everyone a stretched, squished face. At least he gives Impulse fingerless gloves — something that Braga failed to do.

The variant cover is much better. I’m not the biggest fan of the angry Wonder Girl flying right toward us, but I really enjoy the background images. It reminded me of how exciting Patrick Gleason’s art was when the Young Justice series was first revived.

Superboy is the narrator for this issue, beginning by referring to Impulse and Robin as his “frustrating best friends.” He wonders exactly why they’re fighting the JLA and Titans right now, but he’s confident that whoever’s behind this is no match for him. Robin tries to say something, but Superboy suddenly can’t hear him. Bizarrely, he reasons that this world is just as frustrated with Robin as he is. Robin’s voice eventually does come through, though, and he says that something is messing with the sound waves.

Robin tries to get his teammates to regroup, while Impulse calls this his nightmare. Superboy, meanwhile, laments that his friends don’t remember that this was the time when they were at their best — kings of the era. He tells Robin and Impulse that they can’t win this fight, so they should just stop fighting and accept this world. Superboy reasons that they were beaten, bruised and battered in the real world, but they can make a new start here. Impulse reports that Superboy’s tantrum somehow fixed the sound waves, but Robin simply wonders if Superboy’s lost his mind.

We then return to the real world, where Cassie, Cissie and Red Tornado have arrived at the abandoned Titans Tower in San Francisco, where Cassie hopes they can find some sort of transport to outer space. Cissie asks why they don’t go to Happy Harbor, but Cassie coldly says it was destroyed while Cissie was away. (This is news to me, because Brian Michael Bendis’ run ended with the entire team hanging out at Happy Harbor.) Luckily, our heroes have no troubles entering the base, but they oddly decide to visit the hall of fallen heroes, which oddly still has statues of some who have since come back to life, like Donna Troy and Conner. (Bart and Conner originally had massive golden statues in front of the tower, which they both gleefully destroyed after coming back to life. Apparently Conner had a second smaller one below.)

Cassie darkly says this room always felt like an inevitability, and Cissie stupidly asks why Cassie never told her about any of this. Cassie’s reaction is pretty appropriate. She tried to talk to Cissie — a bunch of times — but Cissie refused her. Cassie says that Cissie thought she was just shutting out the boys, but she was also shutting her out. Even though Cassie tried to respect Cissie’s request for distance, she couldn’t help but feeling like her old friend was treating her as though she were invisible. In her anger, Cassie destroys the Superboy statue, as Red Tornado reports that — unsurprisingly — he was unable to find a spaceship. But Cissie was prompted by the word “invisible” and asks Cassie whatever happened to Wonder Woman’s invisible jet.

Twelve hours and a trip to Themyscira later, Cassie, Cissie and Red Tornado are cruising through space in Wonder Woman’s famed jet. Apparently, Hippolyta owed Cassie a favor, even though Cassie acknowledged Hippolyta’s death in the first issue of this very series. In another stroke of convenient luck, Red Tornado just happens to possess “biometric schematics” of Bart, Conner and Tim, and has the jet scanning for their signatures. The android narrow-mindedly assumes the boys must be somewhere in this universe. 

Cissie awkwardly tries to apologize to Cassie, but is harshly rejected. Cassie says that if she wanted to be friends, she would have reached out earlier. Thankfully, Red Tornado steps in, pointing out that the two of them are friends and have been through too much to not be honest with each other. He begins to lecture Cassie on finding the balance between bottling up her anger and lashing out too much, but he’s interrupted by a swarm of bug-like aliens attacking the jet. Cassie says she’s heard of these space mites before, but she wonders what they’re doing here — as if we the audience were supposed to know where “here” was and where space mites were normally supposed to be.

We check back in on the boys, who are still locked in their battle against the JLA. Fortunately, Bart is doing some serious multitasking. The distortion with the sound waves earlier made him wonder if whoever is behind this world is doing it with vibrational frequencies. Superboy is frustrated that Impulse isn’t listening to him, which earns him a coy, “Sucks, doesn’t it?” As Superboy continues his repetitive appeal to his friends about this world being better than reality, Impulse quietly says one of the strangest things I’ve ever seen: “C=\SQRT{\FRAC{K_S}{\RHO}}” It took me a long time to figure this out, but I think Bart is reciting an equation related to the speed of light and letterer Pat Brosseau was trying to type in a fraction underneath a square root. But I think he messed up a little bit of the coding, and it came out as gibberish. I know from my experience of editing at dc.fandom.com that if you miss just one bracket, you mess the whole thing up. I assume Brosseau’s lettering program operates under similar principles. Unfortunately, if this is the mistake I think it is, then it’s a real shame that both editors overlooked what could have been a pretty neat moment of foreshadowing.

Anyway, despite Superboy’s plea that they stop fighting, he himself has continued to throw punches at the old JLA. Robin flat out asks Superboy if he’s taken too many hits to the head, saying it should be pretty obvious that this world isn’t better and it’s not even their real past. Impulse, meanwhile, keeps muttering to himself very quickly, talking about vibrating at just the right speed. Superboy ties up Wonder Woman with her own lasso and baselessly accuses Robin of having had a better life after he died. Robin is so stunned by that insane comment, that he freezes on the battlefield and has to be saved by Impulse from being pulverized by Big Barda. 

Once he recovers, Robin steals a stake of kryptonite from Batman’s utility belt and viciously stabs it through Superman’s heart. (At least, I’m pretty sure it was Superman — he was drawn so skinny, I could have sworn it was another version of Superboy.) Robin opens up about how awful it was after Superboy died, even admitting that he tried to find a way to clone him and changed his costume to honor him. Robin explains that he actually found more inspiration in the hero Superboy grew to become than the hero he was at the beginning of his career. And Robin closes his speech rather profoundly: “We aren’t our past. It’s who become after everything else falls apart. That’s what matters.” 

Superboy hates to admit that Robin is right, but he doesn’t believe he’s worth of being an inspiring figure anymore. Impulse, meanwhile, stupidly holds the Atom in his hands, repeatedly begging him not to grow. The Atom does grow, but then … does absolutely nothing. I guess Braga got tired of drawing him? Anyway, Superboy asks Robin what he’s supposed to say now, and Robin says he doesn’t need to say anything — just understand that it wasn’t easy when he was gone. 

Impulse’s frustration finally boils over and he reminds his two friends that Superboy wasn’t the only one who died. He points out that they don’t take him seriously, don’t ask how he’s doing, and don’t listen when he tells them something’s wrong. Impulse recounts how he was initially thrown back in time a thousand years but he didn’t care because Superboy and Robin became his best friends. And they had fun … until they started treated Impulse like a sidekick. 

At this point in his diatribe, Impulse is randomly choked by Donna Troy, but he easily escapes. Impulse continues his speech, saying he was used to being a sidekick with the Flashes, but not with Superboy and Robin. Bart then quietly says, “Okay, here goes. Hope you’re out there.” A strange little flickering of energy forms around Impulse, as he concludes his remarks by saying Superboy and Robin only care about each other.

We then cut back to the real world, where Red Tornado has flown out of the jet to battle the space mites, but there’s too many of them. Since Cassie is the only one who knows how to fly the jet, she sends Cissie out to help Red. Conveniently, Wonder Woman’s invisible jet came equipped with a space suit that fits Cissie. Even more conveniently, Cissie decided to bring her bow and arrows on this mission. However, Cissie doesn’t even get a chance to shoot an arrow, as a space mite immediately severs her line, sending the poor girl drifting off into space. Red Tornado takes off after her, and as soon as he catches Cissie, a mysterious red light suddenly appears right in front of the relieved Cassie still in the jet.

Returning to our emotionally distraught boys, Impulse steers the conversation back to the strangeness of this world, and Superboy and Robin actually participate in this discussion. Impulse points out that this place is filled with loads of memories, and Superboy and Robin put together that the memories are different — definitely not theirs. Superboy concedes that this version of the Mighty Endowed felt intentionally sexist. And Robin says he barely even remembered Tora from the first time around. Impulse asks which of their old villains could create a world like this, and we are treated to one of the most bizarre panels of this entire series.

True Young Justice fans will recognize Fite ‘n Maad, Harm and Empress. And they’ll also know that only Harm is a villain of those four. The large ominous face looming in the background was teased in an earlier issue (and we’ll soon learn who he is). But the man in red, front and center, is quite perplexing. I will freely admit that I had to do a reverse image search to figure out who he is. Turns out he’s Baron Bedlam, an old Outsiders villain. And while he was adapted for the animated Young Justice: Outsiders series, he never appeared in the original Young Justice comics. 

So what is he doing here? Simple. Fitzmartin told Braga to draw Bedlam. So Braga did a quick Google search and drew the wrong Bedlam. She was supposed to draw the imposing evil purple genie behind World Without Grown-Ups and World Without Young Justice. Not this guy. Sadly, this error got past the colorist and two editors. Not to mention the bizarre inclusion of three genuine heroes in this group. And this one is all on Fitzmartin. I’m now convinced that she only read the first handful of Young Justice issues — you know, the ones with the Mighty Endowed and Tora, and Fite ‘n Maad were slightly antagonistic toward the boys, and Empress was slowly being introduced from the shadows. Fitzmartin probably assumed that Empress was a villain, which led to the strange rant she gave Cissie in issue #2. Anyway, this single panel is a perfect representation of this miniseries. It displays an embarrassing lack of knowledge of Young Justice.

Now let’s return to the story. Impulse suddenly claims to know who it is, thinking it’s Mr. Mxyzptlk. (Although Bedlam would have been a good guess. He basically did the exact same thing to heroes. Twice.) Before Bart can elaborate, a young man suddenly appears, wearing orange and purple. He says he’s excited to finally meet our heroes. Conner is shocked to see the mastermind behind this world is a kid their age (how old, exactly are they?). Also, the Watchtower, JLA and Titans have suddenly vanished, leaving our heroes surrounded by strange, swirling colors and ribbons of light. Bart realizes this isn’t actually Mr. Mxyzptlk, and the young man confirms that to be so. He’s actually Mxyzptlk’s son, Mickey. He introduces himself as Young Justice’s biggest fan and says they have to stay here to save their childhood.

I’m not happy that a new villain was created for this miniseries. Forget the fact that this has absolutely nothing to do with the main Dark Crisis storyline. Fitzmartin had the perfect foil right under her nose the whole time — the original Mr. Mxyzptlk! Did she skip the issue where Impulse, Robin and Superboy taught a young Mxy to be the fun-loving goofster he is today? It makes perfect sense to me: Mxy, who has always had a fond spot for the heroes who taught him how to have fun, is horrified at how they’ve been forgotten and neglected by the universe. He tries to create the perfect world for them, but messes it up. It’s a much cleaner and, dare I say, more satisfying story. But one that robs Fitzmartin’s ability to have someone scream, “You’re ruining my childhood!” I’ll save my thoughts on that for later.

For an issue that promised a fight between Young Justice and EVERYONE, that fight turned out to be the most boring, inconsequential part of this issue. Our heroes were never in any real danger, and the JLA members never even said a single word — missing an opportunity for some fun psychological warfare. It was just a bland background for our very redundant argument. The boys have literally been saying the exact same things for three issues now. Seriously, how many times does Superboy have to learn the same lesson? And why does he like this fake world, anyway? They keep saying that it’s better because he never died in this world, but they never show what that means.

Mostly, I’m just depressed by the overall sloppiness of this comic. There’s the unforgivable Bedlam error and the confusion of Impulse’s equation. But there was also a great deal of inconsequential moments that instantly resolved themselves. Like the sound waves problem at the beginning. Nothing bad happened because of it, but that didn’t matter because it was gone as soon as we acknowledged it. Just like Cissie drifting off into space. In fact, every single thing about the Cassie/Cissie subplot was a ridiculous waste of time. This has been an incredibly frustrating read. I do like how Impulse is the most responsible one here, and the only person actually doing something. But on the whole, I’m quite depressed with how substandard this miniseries is.

Next time, we’ll take a very brief look at Young Justice: Targets #5.

Young Justice: Targets #4

“Foreign Affairs”

Writer: Greg Weisman

Artist: Christopher Jones

Colorist: Jason Wright

Letterer: Wes Abbott

Cover: Jones & Wright

Variant Cover: Meghan Hetrick

Editor: Ben Meares

Senior Editor: Katie Kubert

Superboy created by Jerry Siegel

By special arrangement with the Jerry Siegel family

Our cover is a rather generic image of Wonder Girl, Superboy, Beast Boy, Stargirl and Terra fighting a horde of faceless goons in green armor. It’s … perfectly fine. But rather bland and boring. Much like this series. The variant cover doesn’t have Kid Flash on it, so I won’t worry about it.

This mini series essentially serves as a fifth season of the Young Justice animated series. We join the story on Nov. 11, almost two months after Superboy’s wedding. Beast Boy still likes to carry his therapy dog around with him everywhere, but he’s finally back doing missions, which is convenient because his ex-girlfriend, Queen Perdita, has just been kidnapped. Believing she’s being held in Bialya, Beast Boy gathers up the group of heroes we see on the cover, bizarrely dubbing them Gorilla Squad. Cyborg is now a member of the Justice League, so he can’t legally enter Bialya, but he sees nothing wrong with opening a boom tube to Madinat Altharwati for the Outsiders.

Even though the cover clearly showed that there were people wearing these green armor suits, in the story, these are Lex-Bots that our heroes can brutally rip apart with reckless abandon. However, there are too many of these robots for Terra to handle while the others rush inside a warehouse. So she calls for backup. Led by Kid Flash, the insanely named Mongoose Squad arrives via Boom Tube to help battle the endless swarms of robots.

And that’s all we see of Kid Flash in this issue. Much like in Young Justice: Phantoms, Bart is merely a background character with nothing interesting to do or say. Oh well. At least he was remembered. There’s also a backup story, but, unsurprisingly, Kid Flash isn’t involved in that, either. I don’t know. There’s nothing terribly wrong with this comic. But it just feels like another forgettable, redundant episode of the show. I don’t think this mini series will improve Weisman’s chances of making a fifth season.

Next time, we’ll return to Dark Crisis: Young Justice #4.

Dark Crisis: Young Justice #3

 The Trinity of Trauma

Meghan Fitzmartin Writer

Laura Braga Artist

Luis Guerrero Colors

Pat Brosseau Letters

Max Dunbar & Luis Guerrero Cover

Jorge Corona & Sarah Stern Variant Cover

Dave Wielgosz Editor

Ben Abernathy Group Editor

Superman created by Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster.

Superboy created by Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster.

By special arrangement with the Jerry Siegel family.

Our cover is a fairly intimidating image of three massive villains looming over three tiny heroes. And everybody looks pretty decent — except for Superboy, poor kid. And this is good portrayal of what this issue will be about without spoiling anything. We saw all these villains at the end of last issue, so it only made sense that this issue would focus on our heroes fighting them. Unfortunately, Dunbar seems to have made an understandable mistake here. Even though Captain Boomerang is traditionally a Flash villain, he is actually here to fight Robin. Deathstroke is for Impulse. But we’ll get more into that later.

Our variant cover is one of my favorite homages to Impulse I’ve seen in years. So much so, I actually went out and bought a physical copy of it. It’s bold, brash and in-your-face, perfectly capturing the feeling of fun and excitement I associate with Impulse. The side characters are kind of interesting. On the bottom, we have three of Bart’s biggest villains of all time: Superboy-Prime, Inertia and Deathstroke. Above them, it appears to be three different iterations of Bart through history: him grown up as the Flash, as Kid Flash, and I think that’s supposed to be one of the adult Impulses we’ve seen from time to time, most prominently in Sins of Youth. Anyway, I absolutely love this cover, even if it did give Bart green eyes instead of yellow.

Our story picks right up where last issue left off, with Deathstroke, Captain Boomerang and Lex Luthor standing over the unconscious Wonder Girl in front of the Young Justice cave. The villains taunt our heroes for a bit, and Deathstroke even puts a gun to Wonder Girl’s head to try to provoke a reaction. But Conner, Bart and Tim initially keep their distance behind a large rock. Tim doesn’t remember these three hanging out together and Bart is shocked that Tim’s focusing on that trivial detail. Conner agrees with Bart, saying they need to rush in and save Wonder Girl. But Bart clarifies, saying it feels like these three villains were chosen to hurt each of them specifically.

Bart reminds his friends that Deathstroke blew his kneecap off (actually it was Jericho in Deathstroke’s body, but we’ve already established that these creators only have a tenuous grasp on comics history), Captain Boomerang killed Tim’s dad, and, according to Bart, Conner has never gotten over the fact that he has some of Lex Luthor’s DNA. Superboy, however, just sees this as an opportunity to change how their lives turned out, so he repeats his call to take down the villains. Bart turns to the usually level-headed Tim, but Robin is still worried about Wonder Girl. Bart wisely points out that this whole thing may be a trick to stop them from investigating this strange world, and he admonishes his teammates to stop doing what they always do — react.

Despite all this sound logic and reasoning, Robin says they need to save Wonder Girl first, then promises they’ll investigate afterward. Robin and Superboy charge into battle, with Impulse reluctantly trailing behind. Wonder Girl oddly begins acting like grateful damsel in distress, as Superboy gets in a good punch on Luthor and Robin begins pummeling Boomerang. Impulse becomes this issue’s narrator as he heads for Deathstroke, admitting to himself that this fight does feel rather cathartic. Bart apparently has imagine the moment he got shot in the knee many times and has imagined exactly what he would have done differently to not let himself get hurt like that again or let Deathstroke hurt anyone else.

Impulse easily steals Deathstroke’s gun and darkly points it at his head. Luckily, Bart immediately stops himself, wondering who else knew he always secretly wanted to have another shot at Deathstroke. Creepily, Wonder Girl cheers on Impulse and encourages him to pull the trigger. Stunned, Bart takes a closer look at Wonder Girl and the world around him. By speeding up or slowing down, he can recognize that this world resembles an old computer program, oddly with “tracking lines” that lead straight to Wonder Girl, who is now acting like a ditzy cheerleader. Bart asks aloud if she is the one controlling this place.

Deathstroke mocks Impulse for not being man enough to take his revenge, so Bart throws down the gun and tells the villain he underestimated him, both then and now. Declaring himself not just a speedster or a goofy sidekick, Bart maturely says that even though Deathstroke hurt him, he didn’t destroy him. He then decides that if Robin and Superboy won’t help him, he’ll start the investigation himself. He confronts Wonder Girl, saying he knows she’s part of whatever is controlling this world. Wonder Girl, however, is still shocked that he didn’t kill Deathstroke, saying he could have stopped all of Deathstroke’s actions from here on out.

Superboy noticed what was happening and decides to suspend his battle, too, and join this conversation. But to Bart’s dismay, Conner agrees with Wonder Girl. Bart points out that Wonder Girl’s been egging them on all day, not just in this fight, but against Tora and “Boobs McGee,” as well. Conner says they decided to not investigate this world, so Bart (rather childishly) tells Conner he’s not the leader anymore because he died. Conner responds by pointing out he’s not the only one who died, and he even threatens to “knock some sense” into Bart’s “thick, dumb skull.” 

Bart loses all control and actually lunges at Conner, prompting Wonder Girl to idiotically call out, “Boys, stop! I’m not worth fighting over!” Robin finally notices what’s going on and he suddenly becomes our narrator. (Cassie and Tim each had full issues, but Bart only gets a couple of pages. I see how it is.) Tim wisely realizes he doesn’t have time to keep messing around with Captain Boomerang, but then oddly notes how he’ll have to “process this with Babs later.” (Is he referring to Barbara Gordon? Has Tim ever called her Babs?) Sadly, Tim refers to the act of dispatching of one idiot to stop two other idiots as “a day in the life of Young Justice.” Robin easily pins Captain Boomerang to a large stalactite, and nobody notices how Wonder Girl, Deathstroke and Lex Luthor are just standing around idly, while Superboy and Impulse fight.

Tim steps between Bart and Conner, ordering them to stop fighting. Bart says that Conner started it and Conner (correctly) calls Bart’s comment immature. Suddenly, Robin notices that their three villains have disappeared without a trace. Bart angrily confronts the fake Cassie once more, saying this stupid game isn’t fun. Conner calls Bart a twerp and pulls him away from Wonder Girl. Bart seems like he wants to keep fighting, but he manages to calm down … a little bit. Conner protectively wraps his arms around Wonder Girl, calling Bart a bully. Bart points out he’s just trying to get answers and asks since when does Wonder Girl need to be protected.

Conner appeals to Tim, who concedes that Bart is right that something odd is going on in this world. But Tim insanely refuses to believe Wonder Girl has anything to do with it, saying they need more data. Bart flips out at this comment, saying he’s been trying to tell them what he’s seeing, but they won’t listen to him. Bart sadly says that Tim and Conner will listen to each other, but not to him because they never have. And with that, Bart suddenly zooms away before anyone can say anything else. 

Conner tells Tim not to bother with Bart, since he’s just making everything worse. Tim is stunned by this comment, pointing out that Conner is not himself. Conner says he’s just sad about Superman’s recent death, but Tim says this is different. However, Tim struggles to get the words out, so Conner supplies his own. He believes Tim was trying to say that he’s been acting weird since he was alone for years on another planet before anyone decided to try to find him. Tim (accurately) points out that this isn’t fair, since everyone thought he was dead. Tim adds that he and Cassie went through hell without Conner. Wonder Girl finally speaks up, saying Conner doesn’t remember what happened after he died. Not wanting to rehash how he hooked up with Cassie after Conner’s death, Tim abruptly decides to take off, leaving a perplexed Conner to question Wonder Girl.

We catch up to Bart running aimlessly around the world, with some really depressing thoughts in his head. He tells himself that he doesn’t need Tim and Conner because he knew they always thought he was dumb — like everyone else — despite him surviving an encounter with Deathstroke, despite him saving the world. Bart believes everyone will only ever see him as a useless goof. In his grief, he heads to the Flash Museum, which is oddly in black-and-white. What’s more, the building seemed to be just half-built when Bart approached it at super speed, but everything’s fine when he slows down. Bart’s reminded of the virtual reality program he grew up in, which sometimes took a minute to load everything.

Suddenly, Wonder Girl shows up in the museum (which is still black-and-white, presumably because Bart is still moving at super speed). She tells Bart he has a chance to live in a world where he’s next in line to take over for the Flash and has so many fans. Right on cue, Bart suddenly notices a bunch of people wearing Impulse T-shirts (including one with a nice Todd Nauck image). Bart admits to himself that all he’s ever wanted was for people to notice him and give a crap about him and all the stuff he’s done. Bart justifiably feels a bit under appreciated for all the sacrifices he’s made. However, he knows there’s got to be a cost to living in a world like this. He tells Wonder Girl that whoever’s running this world does know a lot about him, but they’ve underestimated. He refuses to sacrifice whatever they want for this life. Wonder Girl coldly says, “So be it,” and ominously snaps her fingers.

Tim, meanwhile, has somehow reached Gotham City, which he finds nostalgically peaceful. Wonder Girl, naturally, is with him, and Tim admits to her that it’s weird to remember what it felt like to belong. But rather than speaking about his relationship with the Bat family, he voluntarily brings up Conner, saying he had no idea what it was like after he died. And the only one who understood Tim was Cassie. Cassie changes the topic back to Gotham, waxing poetically about the city’s resilience and comparing it to Tim. She tells him he doesn’t have to be so resilient, though, since this is a world where he and his friends are in line for the mantles of the next generation of heroes. She coldly adds that this is a world without Damian Wayne. Tim jumps up at that, telling Wonder Girl he’s got him wrong. He doesn’t always agree with Damian, but he’s still his brother. And even though he doesn’t know what the future holds, he’s not going to give up. Wonder Girl makes one final appeal, saying that in the real world, Tim will never become Batman. Tim asks what if he wants to go back anyway. Wonder Girl responds by snapping her fingers.

When we return to Conner, he has just been told by Wonder Girl about Tim’s “fling” with Cassie. Even though this topic was thoroughly hashed out in the comics, Wonder Girl explains that Conner lost a lot of memories when he was erased from existence. (I guess that falls in line with Brian Michael Bendis’ work. But it sure seems convenient when it comes to deciding which memories stayed and which were lost.) We see that Conner and Wonder Girl are now suddenly standing on top of the Daily Planet building in Metropolis, and Conner can only stare at Wonder Girl in stunned silence as she tries to explain to him that this world is better because he never died in it. Conner finally realizes that Bart was right and this Wonder Girl is not real. She tells him she was just trying to give him everything he deserves, but Conner says using that word feels a bit too much like Lex Luthor. As he rejects Wonder Girl, she regretfully says, “He’s going to be so mad.” Conner asks who she’s talking about, but instead of answering, Wonder Girl just snaps her fingers.

The boys wake up back on the JLA Watchtower, all complaining of killer headaches. Wonder Girl is standing over them, apologizing for knocking them out, but “he” has been very clear about what will happen if they don’t accept this world. Bart explains to his friends that he’s finally proven this world is a construct that’s constantly building itself like a computer program. But for whatever reason, Tim believes they’re not actually in a computer program — just an alternate world that behaves like one. Wonder Girl interrupts their deducing by telling the boys they had their chance to accept the world on their own terms. But now that they’ve rejected it, the unnamed “he” will make them accept it by force. She then opens the doors to the entire JLA (plus extras) charging in to attack.

Well, I’m not as mad as last time, so I might actually talk more about the issue. Let’s start with the three villains, who weren’t brought in to challenge our heroes, but just to provide a cathartic release by being easily defeated. They were rather odd choices. For starters, I thought this series was supposed to return us to the days of Young Justice. But Superboy didn’t learn that he had Luthor’s DNA until he became a Teen Titan. Bart wasn’t shot by Jericho (controlling Deathstroke) until after Young Justice had already disbanded. And Captain Boomerang was hired by Jean Loring to kill Jack Drake well after both of those things happened. These villains had nothing to do with the dissolution of Young Justice or the decreased prominence of our heroes in the DC Universe. 

And, frankly, none of those villains were that detrimental to our heroes. Superboy learned how to deal with the Luthor inside of him. Tim was adopted by Bruce Wayne and learned how to move on with a new family. And Bart miraculously had an artificial knee installed, which never gave him any problems whatsoever. I honestly can’t find any actual lingering grief from these specific villains. If the purpose of this story was to examine the pain of the original Young Justice series being canceled, then we should have talked about undoing that awful Graduation Day story. Or if we just wanted to pit our heroes against the villains that pushed them into obscurity, then we should have brought in Superboy-Prime and Inertia. This series has spent a lot of time talking about how awful it was that Superboy died (and it mentioned Impulse’s death a little bit, too). Superboy-Prime killed Conner. And Inertia killed Bart. They would have made much more sense than Luthor and Deathstroke here. Sadly, I can’t think of a better villain for Robin off the top of my head, so maybe instead of three tailor-made villains, just pick Prime. He ruined all three of our heroes’ lives more than just about anyone else.

It didn’t feel natural for Impulse to obsess over Deathstroke so much, let alone even consider shooting him. I’m glad he quickly threw the gun down, but pointing it at his head to begin with was way out of character for him. But this series is chock-full of out-of-character moments for our three boys. Robin the detective wouldn’t have needed that long to realize this wasn’t the real Cassie. Superboy had long shed this ridiculous immaturity — he didn’t display even a shred of it during the Bendis run, which, I assume, is still in continuity. Maybe this world itself has been subtly affecting their minds. That might explain Bart’s seemingly involuntary sexist comment from last issue. I just wish we had some dialogue about cloudy minds or maybe some sort of visual cue of purple energy hitting our heroes whenever they do something out-of-character. Because here’s the thing: I don’t know for certain that Meghan Fitzmartin realizes she’s writing these heroes out of character. I desperately need to see some indication from her that she knows they’re telling lies or doing something completely contrary to their nature. Without that, I am forced to conclude that she doesn’t know these characters.

I do really like how Bart has been the most level-headed one of the group. And his feeling of being under appreciated was the most true moment of this issue. Even Laura Braga shined brightest at this part, giving Bart a heartbreakingly sad face as he ran away from his friends and an entire universe that doesn’t care about him. I only wish that Bart had been the sole narrator of this book so we could have spent even more time on these beautifully painful thoughts.

I also must say I’m quite underwhelmed by the “temptations” being presented to our heroes. Much of this was a repeat of last issue. “You’ll get to inherit the mantle of your mentors!” Yeah … and? I mean, Bart WAS the Flash once. Issue #1 even mentioned that. Why would he get excited about taking over for Wally again? All this felt quite repetitive. Even the boys’ arguments were just circular repeats of what had started last issue. So much of this book felt like treading water. And that’s a shame because we didn’t get any updates on the real Cassie’s quest to rescue the boys.

Next time, we’ll take a quick break from this series to look at Young Justice: Targets, the comic book tie-in to the animated series.

Dark Crisis: Young Justice #2

A Tale of Two Cassies

Meghan Fitzmartin Writer

Laura Braga Artist

Luis Guerrero Colors

Pat Brosseau Letters

Max Dunbar and Luis Guerrero Cover

Nikola Čižmešija Variant Cover

Dave Wielgosz Editor

Ben Abernathy Group Editor

Superman created by Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster.

Superboy created by Jerry Siegel.

By special arrangement with the Jerry Siegel family.

Our cover is a nice improvement over last issue. It’s bold and dynamic and three of the four characters on it look halfway decent. (Superboy looks like he’s 60 years old for some reason.) Yes, I am annoyed that even the digital version of this cover is forced to perpetually advertise a lame kids movie — ironically right next to the box that says this comic is for ages 13+. And I always have problems with covers that are misleading and/or spoils. This one manages to do both. It’s instantly revealed that this Wonder Girl is a bad guy, although a fight like this doesn’t occur anywhere in this issue, or this whole series, for that matter.

The variant cover is a very nice homage to Superboy and several of the big moments in his career. I’m a little surprised by the choice of using Tim, Bart and Cassie in their Teen Titans gear, but I’m glad they’re here all the same.

This issue is narrated by Robin, who is surprised to see that the Mighty Endowed has easily thrown Wonder Girl off her. Tim’s glad to see Cassie again, but he wonders why she didn’t show up at Happy Harbor like the rest of them. He orders Impulse to keep his eyes up to avoid being hypnotized (I’m not sure if he meant that in a literal or metaphorical sense), and Tim admits it’s fun being the leader again.

Wonder Girl claims to have been in this world for a while now and is glad the boys have finally shown up. She says it’s a fun place and can’t wait to show them around. But first she needs to take care of the Mighty Endowed, which she does by lifting her high into the sky. The boys gape up at the two female figures, and Bart says he’s “loving the view.” Conner and Tim stare at Bart, who can’t believe he just said that. Surprisingly, Conner says, “The old Bart is back!” Bart correctly insists he was never like that and says they really need to figure out what’s going on. But Conner rushes back into the battle and Tim just tells Bart to not worry and try to have a little fun for a change.

So Bart reluctantly joins in the battle, and everybody gets a hit in. Finally, Wonder Girl puts down the Mighty Endowed for good, triumphantly stating that “Young Justice prevails!” Superboy asks if they’ve ever said that before, and Impulse insists they never say it again. Robin says they now need to figure out what they’re doing here, much to Impulse’s relief. Bart also points out that they didn’t see anyone actually in trouble from the Mighty Endowed — she was just waiting for them. He also asks where exactly they’re supposed to take her. Tim suggests they question her, but Wonder Girl distracts everybody with a ride in the Super-Cycle.

Bart is annoyed to be reunited with this vehicle, but Conner declares it to be the best and Tim admits he missed it. (Laura Braga, meanwhile, forgot to draw room for Bart’s and Tim’s legs, which I guess is hard when their pecs take up so much space.) Conner urges Bart to lighten up, but Bart oddly says he still has nightmares about the Super-Cycle. I only remember him hating the name of it, not the machine itself, but whatever. Tim realizes he hasn’t felt this light in a long time, and he’s happy to see Conner be filled with life once again. He’s also happy to see that Cassie is less angry than she’s been in years, but he does admit he barely remembers her being this clueless.

Suddenly, Oracle calls Young Justice over the Super-Cycle radio (something that never happened in the original series). She orders them to head to Metropolis to stop Tora — another minor villain from Young Justice’s early days. Tim suggests they call in some backup, like Jon Kent, Damian Wayne or even Wallace West. Wonder Girl insists they can handle Tora by themselves, adding that she hasn’t even heard of any of the people Tim just mentioned. The boys are all pretty spooked by this comment, but whereas Conner says this means they have more responsibility now, Tim seriously begins to wonder where they are.

Once our team reaches Metropolis, Impulse recognizes Tora and immediately charges into battle with Superboy. Conner asks Tora if she’s ready for a real bullfight, but Bart suggests he rethink that. Robin, however, pulls Wonder Girl aside, saying they need some answers before they keep getting distracted by fights. He asks if they’re in an alternate dimension and why they’re fighting their old villains. Wonder Girl concedes that something strange is going on, but says that she can’t figure it out — only that she’s been waiting for the rest of the team to show up. Tim feels they’re finally getting somewhere, just as Impulse and Superboy finish up with Tora. Conner is surprised that Wonder Girl and Robin didn’t want to join in on the fight, and Bart asks if Tora was always this cartoonish. Wonder Girl says that although she doesn’t have any answers, she knows someone who might.

We then return to the real Cassie Sandsmark, who is hunting down Cissie King-Jones at Cardy Boarding School (which Cassie describes as a hoity-toity place that sends its students to the Ivy League. Cissie is not thrilled when she spots Cassie, but nevertheless politely introduces her to her nonbinary friend, Liz, who says nothing, does nothing and will promptly disappear only to never be seen or mentioned again. Really makes me wonder why the creators of this book made such a big deal to introduce a character that has nothing to do with the plot whatsoever.

A little while later, Cassie continues her plea with Cissie at the archery range. Cassie insensitively says that Cissie is only practicing because that means she wants to be Arrowette again. Cissie patiently explains that she is using archery to earn a college scholarship. This angers Cassie, who can’t believe that Cissie is more concerned with college than helping her oldest friends. Cissie says she’s more worried about a world without a Justice League than a world without Conner, Bart and Tim, adding that she doesn’t have the same fond memories that Cassie does. She oddly says she only remembers fighting people the Justice League didn’t understand, like women and people from other countries who were just doing their best. (I have no idea where this comment came from, but it isn’t remotely true.)

Cassie admits they all made mistakes when they were kids, but says the world needs Tim, Bart and Conner now more than ever with the Justice League missing. Cissie says that Cassie only visits her when something’s wrong with the boys — an accusation that Cassie rejects. Cissie then insanely says she stopped being a superhero because of the toxicity. (Again, this is a flat-out lie!) She says Cassie’s life revolves around the boys and she asks who she is without them. Cissie says she didn’t want her life to end up like Cassie’s — overshadowed by three privileged idiots who had the whole world handed to them on a platter. Ultimately, though, Cissie does agree to help Cassie, but says this is the last thing she’ll ever do for Young Justice. Cassie tries to apologize, saying she didn’t realize Cissie felt this way, but Cissie coldly tells her it’s too late and slaps her hand away.

We then cut back to Bart, Conner and Tim, who appear to be riding in Impulse’s old, forgotten spaceship, The Max, to the JLA Watchtower on the Moon. The boys are greeted by the entire Justice League, and Superman even says it’s good to have them home. Tim is shocked to see the League look like it did back when they started out, and Wonder Girl coldly says it’s because it is the League. But Tim feels like he’s remembering two different truths. Before the stunned boys can even exit their ship, Wally West zooms inside and wraps his arm around Bart, saying how happy he is to see him. A confused Bart points out that Wally just saw him not too long ago, and the Wally he remembers never liked him this much.

Superman invites them all inside, and he, Wonder Girl and Superboy have a private little meeting. Superman and Wonder Girl present Superboy with a red cape, saying the world needs him and he deserves this mantle, completely ignoring Conner’s comments about Jon filling in his father’s footsteps.

Wonder Girl also seems to be simultaneously meeting with Flash and Impulse privately in a room that looks like an ordinary gym, but Wally and Wonder Girl insist is full of fun trophies, such as boomerangs and cosmic treadmills. Bart asks Wally what’s going on, saying this feels like a memory, but he doesn’t remember this part. Wally brushes off that comment as “Impulse always joking,” but Bart sternly says that Barry would know he’s not joking. He tells Wally that he thinks he’s seen cracks in this world and a total lack of awareness when it comes to other people. Bart’s having trouble fully articulating the problems he’s noticing, even asking if it was always like this. But he is certain he isn’t home, so now he has to figure out what brought him and his friends here and why. Wonder Girl says it’s obvious. As she presents Bart with Wally’s mask, she tells Bart he was brought here to become the next Flash.

Naturally, Wonder Girl is also giving Robin a Batman mask at the very same time. She insists that Tim always wanted to be Batman, but Tim isn’t quite sure about that. He’s wrestled with this very problem since he became Robin, but when Damian showed up, Tim always assumed he’d get the cowl. However, Tim is now wondering what he’ll be if he’s not going to be Batman. Wonder Girl says she’s sure Spoiler would love to get back together with Tim once he becomes Batman, but Tim points out that he’s currently dating Bernard. Batman, however, insists that Stephanie Brown is Tim’s destiny, and he’ll start dating her again once he’s out of “this phase.” Tim is not at all pleased about that comment, but he keeps his thoughts  to himself in a censored swear word.

Tim, Bart and Conner meet up at the JLA table to have cheeseburgers and fries and swap notes while the three of them are alone. Bart is shocked that Batman said Tim was going through a phase, but Conner doesn’t understand what he was referring to. Tim doesn’t want to talk about it, simply saying that the real Batman would never say that. Bart says he misses Barry, explaining that he forgot how impossible it is to talk to Wally without Barry around. He starts to ask what they should do, but Conner angrily throws his hamburger down on the table. Tim tries to calm him down, pointing out that something is clearly wrong. Bart agrees, but Conner cuts him off, saying he doesn’t think anything is wrong and maybe they shouldn’t even try to go back.

Tim insists they need to go back and Bart elaborates: This isn’t their past. This world got the design wrong, seemingly going out of its way to be sexist, racist and homophobic. Bart says this is a place for immature boys — not them. But Conner persists on asking if this is the world they belong in. Frustrated, Bart turns to Tim, saying, “I said words out loud, right? You all hear me?” Tim tries a different approach: asking Conner if he actually thinks this place is real. Conner responds by throwing doubt into all reality and all memories. He says they might be in heaven, or this is the real world and their old memories were something like the Matrix. Conner concludes by saying it’s better for them here because he never died in this world. Bart then abruptly changes the subject by asking where Cassie is.

The real Cassie, meanwhile, is rather randomly battling Red Volcano. Apparently she and Cissie were unable to find Red Tornado, so they went to his evil “brother” instead. Cassie is quickly encased in molten lava, while Cissie watches helplessly from afar, knowing her arrows are completely ineffective in this situation. Luckily, Red Tornado conveniently arrives in the nick of time and deactivates Red Volcano with a single stroke. Cassie asks for Red Tornado’s help, and he readily agrees, surprisingly giving the two girls big, rib-crushing hugs.

We cut back to Bart, Tim and Conner, who were unable to find Wonder Girl anywhere on the Watchtower. So they return to Earth to cruise around in the Super-Cycle, wondering where Cassie likes to go when she’s upset. Bart coldly assumes they hurt her feeling by being bad friends, and all of them feel a bit guilty. Tim suggests they split up. He says he last saw Cassie with him and Batman, so he offers to head to Gotham City to look for her. But Conner says she couldn’t have been with Robin and Batman, because she was last with him and Superman. Bart says she was actually with him and the Flash. As Robin wonders how she could have been in three places at once, we see a fleeting image of what looks like a young Mr. Mxyzptlk on the hood of the Super-Cycle.

Suddenly, the Super-Cycle crashes on a rock that seemed to appear out of thin air. Bart asks if the cycle tried to kill them, but Conner and Tim point out that the very Earth seems to be trying to kill them. The ground splits open, revealing an army of zombies. Impulse tries to take them out, but find he’s lost his speed. Superboy tries to blast them with his heat vision, but it won’t hit the zombies. Robin surmises that this world won’t let them fight the zombies, so they have to go back to Happy Harbor. Superboy agrees and he picks up his two friends to fly them over himself. Bart says he’d prefer to run, but then suddenly notice that the ground beneath them has mysteriously become a large body of water.

When they reach Happy Harbor, our heroes are shocked to see Deathstroke, Captain Boomerang and Lex Luthor standing at the entrance of the cave. With an unconscious Wonder Girl beneath them.

I thought that Meghan Fitzmartin understood Young Justice. I was wrong. True, she knows a bit more about their history than Brian Michael Bendis, but not that much. Or perhaps what I’m seeing here is even worse. Perhaps Fitzmartin is willfully engaging in revisionist history to suit her agenda. Look, I understand that her thesis is that nostalgia isn’t all it’s cracked up to be. There are lots of examples of things we loved as kids that are kind of problematic today. But does that really apply to Peter David’s and Todd Nauck’s Young Justice? I don’t think so.

Let’s break it down. First, the Mighty Endowed. A crude joke, for sure. A little sexist? Perhaps. But let’s roll back the tape and look at what actually happened way back in 1998. Mighty Endowed was only seen on two pages of Young Justice #1. And she didn’t even fight our heroes. She challenged them to a battle — which only the horny Superboy was interested in — and then she promptly collapsed due to the weight of her enormous breasts. Yes, I’ll concede that was likely Peter David’s clumsy attempt at appealing to teenage boy humor. But mostly, I look at it as commentary on the trend of so many comics of that day to give every female hero and villain impossibly large cleavage.

Tora was also a quick, throwaway villain that only showed up on a couple of pages. Fitzmartin (through Cissie) seems to be implying that Young Justice was somehow … unfair? … to fight her because she was a woman and from another country? I don’t fully understand the criticism. What seems unfair to me is to put so much stock into such a quick little gag. Tora robbed Wall Street and a china shop just because they were related to bulls. Then she tried to crash a plan onto a crowd of people watching the running of the bulls in Spain. Was it wrong of Peter David to create jokey villains like Mighty Endowed and Tora? I really don’t think so.

I do think it’s wrong to have Cissie complaining about Young Justice only fighting women and people from other countries. Both Mighty Endowed and Tora happened before Arrowette joined the team. And once she did join, they mostly fought an evil genie that warped reality, a bunch of different demons (some of which brainwashed toddlers into killing their parents), and Harm, a psychotic murderer who threw an arrow through Cissie’s shoulder. So I really have no idea what Cissie is referring to, or why Fitzmartin is choosing to say these things through Cissie.

Should we talk about why Cissie actually quite being a hero? Because Meghan Fitzmartin somehow missed reading one of the most emotional and significant issues in Peter David’s run. Cissie’s therapist and friend, Marcey Money, was tortured and killed by her ex-fiancé. Cissie retaliated by hunting down and attempting to kill that man, only being stopped by Superboy at the last possible second. Cissie stopped being Arrowette because she never wanted to risk returning to that dark place ever again. But she didn’t stop helping out her friends as a civilian — notably taking part in a high-stakes intergalactic baseball game and signing up as a medic during Our Worlds at War. She didn’t quit the team because of the male toxicity  exhibited by Impulse, Robin and Superboy. Heck, it was Superboy who stopped her from becoming a murderer! And Cissie knows the boys well enough to understand that none of them had an easy life or “had the whole world handed to them on a platter.” I mean, two of them were killed, for crying out loud!

I don’t know which would be worse: Fitzmartin simply not knowing any of the things I just said, or knowing all that and choosing to ignore it because it didn’t line up with the story she wanted to tell. But either way, it makes for a very frustrating and distracting experience. I’m trying to get into the mystery and enjoy the moments of Impulse having the most level head of the group. But I can’t get past how angry Fitzmartin is making me. And Laura Braga, too. This is unacceptably bad art. In this day and age, with characters this iconic and revered, we should have more consistent artwork.

Next: The Trinity of Trauma!

The Flash – “Negative, Part 2”

Director: Marcus Stokes

Writer: Eric Wallace

We pick up right where last episode left off, with the shocking rebirth of Eobard Thawne, apparently at the expense of Iris’ life. Eobard gloats for a bit, baiting Barry into … blasting him with lightning? … because that’s totally a thing he can do now. When suddenly, to my complete surprise, Impulse and XS arrive to try to convince their dad not to commit murder. I don’t know why they didn’t come back just a few minutes earlier to save their mom (since they are traveling through time, after all), but I am happy to see they’ve disobeyed Barry’s ridiculous order to not get involved. And they actually bring up a pretty good point. They tell Barry that the fact they still exist proves that Iris isn’t dead yet. So Barry relents and then Eobard mysteriously disappears.

They all regroup at S.T.A.R. Labs, where the actors can all stand perfectly still in a carefully spaced-out line to deliver their lines, I mean, where the team can plot their next move. Barry says he wants to go into the Negative Speed Force, which Bart says is insane. But Barry believes that’s where Eobard is, because Chester conveniently ran an infallible satellite search off screen and determined that Eobard is nowhere on Earth. Barry also still believes Iris is dead, reasoning that the changes in the timeline just haven’t caught up with them yet. And Bart begins to cry when he realizes his dad still wants to kill Eobard.

Eventually, Chester hooks up Barry, Bart and Nora with harnesses designed to take them to the Negative Speed Force. But they don’t do anything other than cause pain to our heroes. However, Barry is able to easily enter the Negative Speed Force thanks to the help of yet another speedster named Meena. She has a long, complicated backstory that I don’t feel like getting into right now. But suffice it to say, she has a natural connection with the Negative. Of course, she only helps Barry go there, much against the wishes of Bart and Nora. However, Barry is almost immediately ejected from the Negative Speed Force. He was there just long enough to learn that the other forces were transforming Eobard, before he got teleported back to S.T.A.R. Labs.

Suddenly, the “new and improved” Reverse-Flash appears in Central City with a black suit that Bart stupidly says was designed by Satan. Even though Eobard is causing quite a bit of mayhem in the streets, all our heroes choose to spend some time observing him from the safety of their monitors, which somehow reveal that Eobard now has the powers of all the Negative Forces.

Barry, Bart, Nora and Meena eventually do confront Eobard, opening with another “thrown lightning” attack (I hate that concept so much). They knock him down, but he suddenly transforms into Bart, suggesting that he somehow swapped places with Impulse right before the lightning hit him. Eobard then snaps his fingers, teleporting Bart, Nora and Meena back in time one billion years.

Even though this show has established how Bart and Nora can easily travel through time without any consequences whatsoever, they are unable to come back on their own. Maybe it was because of the Negative Still Force power that sent them back or something. Anyway, they miss the entire fight, wherein Barry is super-charged by the Positive Forces and he learns that Iris is alive. She was stuck in some weird limbo land and was able to escape through the power of self confidence. Seriously. There was a dumb time stone involved that Jay Garrick got to talk about, but it was mainly self confidence.

The Barry-Eobard fight was enormously dumb, until the ending. Inspired by Iris, Barry decided to stop fighting and go into a meditative state, where Eobard could no longer hurt him. And then Eobard kind of just … fizzled out, I guess. Or maybe his big energy blast rebounded on him? I don’t know. But he disappeared and Barry finally decided to bring Bart, Nora and Meena back.

Everybody heads back to … I don’t know, is this Barry’s house? But Bart and Nora suddenly have stylish civilian clothes on, perfect for lounging on couches. Joan shines a blue light on Iris’ face, which tells her that her “time sickness” is completely gone, and Nora’s wrist computer says there’s no Eobard anywhere in the timeline. Barry starts to apologize to his kids for briefly feeling a bit murderous, but they brush it off, saying he did the right thing at the end of the day. They all share big hugs and Bart stupidly quotes the Young Justice show by saying this was all “aster” and none of the “dis.” And then they all run back to 2049, where I can only hope they’ll stay far, far away from Season 9 of this accursed show. Unfortunately, I may not get my wish, as the episode ends with a strong tease to Cobalt Blue.

In case you can’t tell, I absolutely hate this show. Everything about it reeks of laziness, from the writing to the production values. And even though Jordan Fisher did throw on that horrible Impulse outfit, his character was once again completely inconsequential. He cried for two seconds when he thought Daddy was getting too dark, he failed to journey to the Negative Speed Force, and then he threw one little bolt of lightning at the bad guy before being zapped away a billion years. The writer of this episode, just like the two writers of the previous episode, really had no idea what to do with what I can only assume were contract-mandated cameos. But it’s not like they had a really solid plan on what to do with the main characters, either. This was an absolutely bizarre, stupid story that didn’t make a lick of sense. Everything just … happened … because a character on screen said so. Truly awful stuff.

However, I will allow myself the faintest glimmer of hope. I heard the next season will be the last of this show. Maybe, just maybe, the forces that be will pull out all the stops to ensure that this former hit of a show will go out on a high note. I have serious doubts, but it’s still fun to dream, right?

Next time, we will return to Dark Crisis: Young Justice #2.

The Flash – “Negative, Part 1”

Director: Jeff Byrd

Writers: Jonathan Butler & Gabriel Garza

Our story begins in Central City in 2049, where Bart and Nora are happily playing some futuristic video games, when they’re interrupted by a call from their mom. Bart hastily throws on a Central City University sweater and grabs a handful of textbooks in a pathetic attempt to make it appear like he’s been studying. Naturally, this doesn’t fool Iris, who was actually calling to assign Nora another story to write. Suddenly, the video chat is ended with a burst of green light, followed shortly by an identical burst of light in the living room, which brings the Iris from the past into the future.

So the kids sit their younger mom down on the couch with a cup of tea and ask her what’s the last thing she remembers, which is just a rather vague “I got lost in the timestream.” Iris naturally wants to talk to Barry, but Bart informs her that he’s currently off world with Uncle Jay. (It sure is convenient how we always happen to miss seeing the future Barry.) Nora abruptly decides to run Iris back to 2022 by herself — without a cosmic treadmill or anything — and is shocked when she immediately is repulsed by a barrier of green light. Nora reasons that the Still Force is keeping Iris in 2049, although none of them know why. (By the way, the Still Force is the guy in the black-and-white jacket in the image above that I got from arrow.fandom.com.) Iris is suddenly overcome with a painful headache, which apparently is a side effect of her “time sickness,” a disease that Bart and Nora know nothing about.

We return to the present, where a lot of boring, confusing stuff happens. But none of it really pertains to Bart, so I’ll skip over it. Bart and Nora decide to take their mom to a doctor (I assume this is Joan Garrick?), who discovers that Iris’ body is infected with “negative tachyons” that are increasing at an exponential rate. During the checkup, Iris gets another headache, and this time, she sees a glimpse of the other Forces (Strength, Sage and Still). Nora decides that the only way to help Iris is for her to go back to 2022 to enlist Barry’s aid. And Bart chooses to stay behind to look after his mother.

In the past, Nora learned that all the Forces have a negative counterpart, and it’s these Negative Forces that are killing Iris. It’s quite convoluted, but basically the Negative Forces want to use Iris to poison the Positive Forces so they can get back at Barry for destroying the Negative Speed Force during a previous battle against the Reverse-Flash. Or something like that. Anyway, Barry is preparing to fight the Negative Forces, but he refuses to let Nora help him, ordering her to return to 2049.

When Nora returns to the future, she finds Iris’ condition has worsened. Joan suspects she won’t survive another “temporal attack” and says the only thing they can do is pray that their father in the past can find the strength to defeat the Negative Forces.

Later, Iris suddenly wakes up from her comatose state, wildly saying that the Forces are fighting Barry, creating a new moment in time. Joan, Nora and Bart realize that Iris is watching an event happening in 2022, which is somehow changing the future. Iris begins babbling nonsensically about visions and sacrifices and suddenly she’s teleported back to 2022, strategically placed by the Still Force right in front of Barry’s big lightning attack. The blast seemingly kills Iris, who then fades away into green light, which somehow helps resurrect Eobard Thawne. Don’t ask me how or why. It just did.

The writing on this show has gone completely insane. Like on-drugs insane. I don’t know if the writers were high when they wrote it, but it sure seems like the only way for the audience to enjoy this is to be high on something themselves. The more you think about this plot, the less sense it makes. So I’m going to quit while I’m ahead and focus just on Bart.

Bart had no reason being in this episode. He accomplished absolutely nothing and served no real purpose. Iris didn’t even need to go to 2049 in the first place. Everything still could have happened the exact same way with Iris in the present. But by putting her in the future, the show created a situation where Bart and Nora were forced to act out of character. When Joan (or whoever she was) told them the only thing they could do to help their mom was to pray that their dad could win a fight 27 years in the past, those two young adults should have immediately raced back in time. To save their mom’s life, they totally would have defied their dad’s orders and helped defeat the Negative Forces once and for all. But I guess the writers worried that this would rob them of their “dramatic” cliffhanger?

Honestly, it feels like the only reason Jordan Fisher was in this episode was because his contract stipulated that he must appear in three episodes per season. At least he didn’t have to put on that horrible Impulse costume here. And we didn’t get any melodramatic crying, which was a surprisingly nice touch. That’s it. I should focus on the positives.

Next time, we’ll wrap up Season 8 of The Flash with “Negative, Part 2.”

Dark Crisis: Young Justice #1

Save Your Generation

Meghan Fitzmartin Writer

Laura Braga Artist

Luis Guerrero Colors

Pat Brosseau Letters

Luis Guerrero Cover

Todd Nauck & Matt Herms Variant Cover

Dave Wielgosz Editor

Ben Abernathy Group Editor

Superman created by Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster

Superboy created by Jerry Siegel

By special arrangement with the Jerry Siegel family

Our cover shows Wonder Girl passively flying forward in front of images of Impulse, Robin and Superboy, each wearing a bored, disinterested expression. Oh, and there are MIA (Missing In Action) stamps across them, suggesting that the three founders of Young Justice have mysteriously disappeared. But that’s hardly surprising news, as all of these characters have mostly been absent from comics since Brian Michael Bendis ended his Young Justice run back in 2020. Anyway, this is a depressingly underwhelming cover, not reflecting a fraction of the excitement I had when DC announced a Young Justice mini-series tying into their big crossover event.

Todd Nauck’s variant, however, does capture my excitement — and then some! It’s an absolutely glorious compilation of every single major character from Nauck’s run with Peter David. Seriously, they’re ALL here! And they look great! The only thing that could have made this better was if Lary Stucker had inked it. This is one of my favorite comic book covers I’ve ever seen. I hope I can own it soon. In the meantime, I have to enjoy it on dc.fandom.com.

Our story opens at the funeral of the Justice League, held in front of the Hall of Justice. Everybody who’s anybody is there, including Godspeed, who was Bart’s arch enemy on the CW Flash show, but in this continuity I guess he’s some sort of anti-hero? Anyway, our narrator is Wonder Girl, who was already mourning the death of Hippolyta when she heard Wonder Woman had died. So Cassie is not in a good mood at all. She looks at her friends — Superboy, Robin and Impulse — oddly considering the four of them “children of the dead” who “don’t get to grieve like children.”

In her head, Cassie criticizes Conner for never having cared about anything until he died. With Tim, she sees a boy who’s stuck letting his Robin identity be his entire personality. And with Bart, Cassie admits to herself that it’s not fair to call him a screwup, but she thinks the label is still accurate. She petulantly mocks Bart for trailing behind Conner and Tim “like a puppy that hasn’t figured out how to work its legs.” These thoughts are rather dark and unfair, and unfortunately, we’re stuck with that kind of thinking for the whole issue.

In a flashback, we see Superboy, Robin and Impulse helped put the finishing touches on the 50-foot-tall gold statues of Superman, Batman and Flash in front of the Hall of Justice. Cassie recalls how Bart pushed Superboy-Prime into the Speed Force, only to emerge as an adult and be killed just a couple of months after deciding to become the Flash. Cassie also has a rather shallow moment by hoping that Conner never finds out how she hooked up with Tim after Conner died.

Returning to the present, Bart, Tim, Conner and Cassie are now awkwardly wandering around the Hall of Justice, along with a smattering of random heroes. Joining the Young Justice crew is an old friend, Cissie, whom Robin insensitively addresses as Arrowette. She is now officially retired once more, and is lamely apologizing for being really bad at texting. Cissie can’t even remember the last time they were all together in the same room. Bart reminds her it was when they got together to save Conner, and Conner asks who long ago that was. (A question I also would really like to have answered!) Cassie, meanwhile, is brooding in the background, while her inner monologue criticizes Cissie for abandoning her friends and responsibilities for a civilian life.

There’s a moment of awkward silence, where Cassie laments how they barely feel like friends anymore and are too scared to tell each other what they’re really thinking. Bart breaks the silence by wondering if they’ll get the same funeral treatment as the Justice League when they die. Conner darkly (and inaccurately) says they didn’t the last time they died. Tim and Bart sternly chastise Conner for that comment, while Cassie silently wishes she could strangle all of them. Conner apologizes, saying he’s feeling especially bad now because he hadn’t talked to Superman in a really long time. Bart empathizes with him, and starts to mention Wally’s name, but Conner rudely cuts him off, saying he doesn’t need Bart to try and make him feel better.

Cissie can tell Cassie is about to destroy something, so she pulls her aside to talk. Cassie admits she’s frustrated that all of them are pretending like the last few years didn’t happen. She says, “Half of us have died, and I just wish that some of them would have stayed dead.” As soon as she utters those cruel words, there’s a fain “bloop” sound. When Cassie turns around, Robin, Superboy and Impulse are suddenly missing.

Tim wakes up in Wayne Manor, shocked to see that Alfred is still alive. The erstwhile butler believes Master Drake has merely been dreaming, and he informs him that Young Justice is calling for Robin. Superboy wakes up on the floor of his Hawaii bedroom, which is cluttered with a VHS tape, a GameBoy and an original PlayStation. When Superboy sees his old mentor, Dubbilex, standing over him, he asks if he’s dead again. Dubbilex dryly says he isn’t, and that Young Justice needs his help.

Bart is woken up by a punching bag slamming into his face. He’s bewildered to find himself in a gym, training with Wally and Max. Bart quickly grows weary of Wally’s lengthy lecture, saying he doesn’t have to be so hard on him just because they lost Barry. Max is confused by Bart’s wording, pointing out that Bart has never met his grandfather. Bart races off to the Flash Museum in Central City, and he’s shocked to see it’s still like how he remembers it from when he was younger and still thought he had a chance at being the Flash. Even the old statue of Barry is back in front of the museum, causing Bart to ask, “When am I?”

Impulse quickly runs around the country, encountering Kyle Rayner, Artemis, Zauriel and Conner Hawke — all relics of the late ’90s/early ’00s. He eventually returns to the first headquarters of the Justice League in Happy Harbor, Rhode Island, and finds it exactly like it was when Young Justice first took it over. Bart’s also surprised to see Conner and Tim inside. Superboy is putting on his old Superman shirt, while Robin is working on the computer. Bart asks if they know whether they’ve traveled back in time or on a parallel world. Conner strangely — and darkly — suggests they might just be back to “how things should be.”

Bart asks just what Conner meant by that, but before he can answer, Tim says he believes they’ve gone back in time. He’s found evidence of Superman recently dying, Gotham being struck by an earthquake, and Lex Luthor running for president. Tim’s interrupted by an alert on the computer, and he says they’ll figure this out after they help this person in trouble. Superboy admiringly says that’s the Robin he knows, but Impulse wants them to focus on their bizarre problem. But Superboy overrules him, and Impulse eventually gives in, racing out to save the day with the original Young Justice lineup.

Meanwhile, Cassie is beginning to worry about Tim, Conner and Bart. She asked Superman’s son, Jon, to scan for them with his x-ray vision, but he couldn’t find any trace of them. Cassie tells Cissie they should go tell Wally, but Cissie refuses to offer any help whatsoever, rudely suggesting the boys are off “finding horrible coping mechanisms to process their fake dads being dead.” She walks away, saying she’s sure they’re fine because they alway are. But Cassie, who can remember that just 10 minutes ago they were literally talking about how Superboy and Impulse were killed, is still concerned.

We return to our lost boys, who have followed the trouble alert to a mysterious figure at the bottom of a crater. Superboy offers to fly down and check on the person, but Impulse stops him, saying this feels familiar. Both Superboy and Robin experience the feeling of deja vu. And all three boys are shocked to see the figure reveal herself as the Mighty Endowed, whom they encountered way back in the very first issue of Young Justice. Superboy says there’s not enough therapy in the world for this, as the large-chested woman begins charging our heroes.

We cut back to Cassie, who has traveled to Central City’s Flash Museum to speak with Wally, Wallace, Jesse and Max. It’s apparently been a few days since Bart disappeared, and all the other speedsters are busy dealing with the Dark Crisis. And unfortunately, none of them are concerned about Bart’s disappearance, even after Cassie says she believes her friends aren’t even on this planet anymore. Wally impatiently says he has no time for teen angst and believes that if Bart’s with Conner and Tim then that’s probably the best thing for him, anyway.

Wonder Girl then visited Nightwing in Blüdhaven, only to have him tell her that Tim’s just processing Bruce’s death and will “come up for air” when he’s ready. In Metropolis, Jon actually tells Cassie that he wishes he knew where Conner was, saying he’d take all the help he can get right now. Dejected, Cassie mopes on a swing set at an empty playground at night, lamenting how her generation was brought up to handle every crisis on their own like it’s no problem, even when they ask for help.

We jump back to the boys, who are actually having a hard time battling the surprisingly aggressive and powerful Mighty Endowed. She vows to kill Young Justice, to which Impulse boldly urges her on, saying that many have tried. Robin admonishes him for antagonizing the villain, adding that she’s not much of a threat, at least from his memory. Robin’s comment only enraged the Mighty Endowed, which let Impulse turn that “antagonizing” comment back on Robin. After a particularly big hit, Robin says he feels like he’s gone 10 rounds with Damian Wayne. Bart comments on how absolutely nuts this, but Conner brightly says that someone is coming to the rescue.

Cassie is depressingly laying on her bed, still in her Wonder Girl outfit. Her room is littered with junk food, and she is now beginning to wonder if her thoughtless wish for her friends’ deaths somehow caused their disappearance. Despite all the dismissals from everybody she’s talked to, Cassie can feel that Tim, Conner and Bart are in trouble. And she vows to rescue them. Suddenly, a Wonder Girl in an older costume (but not her original) arrives right on top of the Mighty Endowed.

Well, Young Justice is back. Sort of. There’s minimal references to Bendis’ disastrous run — which I’m thankful for — and only slightly more references to the Dark Crisis event. In fact, if you completely removed the funeral for the Justice League, this spin-off series would have absolutely no connection to the main event. And I kind of wish that we didn’t have that sadness weighing everything down. Grief makes people do and say things contrary to their true nature, so in an issue all about grief, almost everybody in it acts out of character. The big problem with that is most of these characters have largely been absent from comics for the past two years, and now that they’re back in their own mini-series, I want to see if this new writer has a good handle on these characters’ voices. And I can’t get a good read on that when everyone is in super-sensitive, saying-things-they-don’t-mean mode.

Fitzmartin clearly does know her history with these characters, which is such a breath of fresh air after Bendis’ ignorance was repeatedly displayed. I was impressed and surprised to see that Bart’s fight against Superboy-Prime was remembered and in continuity. I was thrilled to see that Cissie King-Jones was adamantly not Arrowette again. (Take that, Bendis!) Yes, her lack of concern over the boys’ disappearance was disappointing, but I suppose that could be chalked up to grief? I’m also sad that there wasn’t even a mention of Greta (formerly Secret). Everyone seems to forget about her.

But I did like Fitzmartin’s impulse to return us to 1999 — in a way. This comic was meant for people my age, who are yearning for that bit of nostalgia. Taking us back to Young Justice #1 was a great way to do that. Making Wonder Girl the only person concerned about Young Justice’s disappearance felt rather symbolic. Impulse has been gone/ignored/stashed away for years at a time, and nobody cared. Not even his own speedster family. Granted, I did feel it was completely against Max Mercury’s character to stand idly by with the news of Bart’s disappearance. But story-wise, that was my only real complaint with this issue.

Long-time fans of Young Justice are also in a state of grieving, accustomed to feeling lost and neglected. And even though it’s hard to read a story with such an irrationally angry narrator, Fitzmartin did a good job of speaking to those feelings of grief and neglect. The tragedy isn’t that our heroes disappeared. The tragedy is that they’ve disappeared and no one cares. Fitzmartin seems to understand this perfectly.

Unfortunately, this issue was severely hampered by the art. I’m going to be generous and assume that Braga was rushed on this project, because I sincerely hope this isn’t her best work. The characters don’t look good. At all. And I can’t even tell how old they’re supposed to be. They look more like short adults than teenagers — a complaint I haven’t made since the early ’90s. 

But what really gets me is the missed opportunities. Bart’s run across the country was the laziest, ugliest image in this comic. Just a bland, brown map with a few random red dots representing cities (I guess?) and tiny stock photos of some random ’90s character haphazardly strewn across the whole thing. I really couldn’t tell what was actually supposed to be happening in that panel.

And then there’s the Mighty Endowed. Todd Nauck cleverly used a perpetual cloud of dust to cover her cleavage, leaving us to always wonder exactly how big it was. That choice built the suspense and the humor of the situation, especially when she collapsed due to the weight of her breasts. But Braga didn’t seem to understand the purpose of that cloud of dust. Yes, it was there, but it was so small, it didn’t actually conceal anything. You could clearly see the full size and shape of those massive boobs, and it really let me down. Now, because I’ve been so slow with this review, I know how this series ends, and I can say right up front that Fitzmartin will try to explain away some inconsistencies like this. But I felt her efforts in later issues were more like hasty course corrections instead of a planned plot element.

So, for better or worse, Young Justice is back in the comics. Unfortunately, I won’t be continuing this series next time. Instead, I will return to … shudder … the CW Flash show. Wish me luck.