Young Justice #50

Fighting Maad Part Four: MUBAR (Messed Up Beyond All Recognition)

Peter David Writer
Todd Nauck Penciller
Lary Stucker Inker
Ken Lopez Letterer
Tom McCraw Colors
Digital Chameleon Separations
Tom Palmer, Jr. Assoc. Editor
Eddie Berganza Editor

Nauck and Stucker went all out for this special 50th issue cover. Against a clean white background, we have Young Justice charging into battle with most of their "league" they've assembled. I'm not going to try to name everyone we see here, but I will just say I think it's a great cover, and I love that Impulse is front and center.

Our story begins in Baron Sin Gaaz's Zandia home, where the leader of Zandia, Lady Zand, is paying a visit. Lady Zand has heard how Sin Gaaz has goaded Young Justice into invading their country, and she is not happy with it. In fact, Lady Zand even grabs the Baron by the throat to remind him who's boss. In the end, though, she does allow Sin Gaaz to recruit any forces of Zandia who are willing to fight.

We then cut to the Young Justice headquarters at the Catskills resort, where Wonder Girl is shocked that the Point Men's Serpenteen has invited a date, Snake Girl, to their invasion. Cassie questions Snake Girl's credentials, who promptly demonstrates them by transforming into a giant snake and swallowing Cassie. Snake Girl spits Cassie out before too long, and Cassie agrees to let her join the mission, then heads off to take a shower.

Everyone else is enjoying a barbecue out on the lawn. Empress is still amazed to see so many people be willing to help her, and Superboy and the Ray assure her she's part of the Young Justice family, which is a pretty extended family. Spoiler approaches Secret and asks if they're cool, but Secret acts like she doesn't know what she's talking about. Robin steps in to help smooth things out, reminding Secret that she nearly killed Spoiler when they last met. So Secret reluctantly tells Spoiler that she doesn't have to worry about being attacked by her.

Empress spots Arrowette off to herself, getting in some last-minute archery practice. Anita thanks Cissie for joining them, especially since she knows how hard it must be for her to be Arrowette again. But Anita points out how Cissie has barely said two words to anyone since showing up, which Anita knows is hurting Cassie's feelings. She starts to suggest that if Cissie really doesn't want to be here, then she shouldn't be, but Arrowette cuts her off, simply saying, "I'm here. Okay?" Empress accepts that response, saying if Arrowette's satisfied, then she is, too. As Anita walks away, Robin and Arrowette stare at each other for a moment, but he walks away without saying anything.

Wonder Girl then checks on the progress of Impulse's spaceship, the Max. Slo-Bo is finishing up the last bit of repairs and patches, while Impulse and some of his scouts are loading it up. Cassie asks Bart how his systems check is going, and he shows her he's brought in tons of CDs for the ship's sound system, games for the video game system, and junk food for their digestive systems. Cassie asks about the weapons systems and the guidance systems, to which Bart plays dumb. This makes Cassie quite frustrated, so Bart quickly assures her he's kidding. He reminds Cassie that they were able to take on the whole planet Myrg with a much smaller team, and he asks if becoming leader has cost Cassie her sense of humor. She tells Bart he's making her crazy, to which Bart says, "Cool beans."

With the ship prepped, Superboy calls out to the crowd that they're moving out. Damage jokingly starts mooing. Feeling like Noah, Wonder Girl tells everybody to find a seat. No less than six of them want to ride shotgun, but Cassie explains that Slo-Bo gets to fly the ship because he's the best pilot and Impulse gets to sit up front next to him since it's his ship. Cassie then calls Robin aside to make sure everything is OK between them. Robin says she's earned the leadership role, and he gives her an encouraging hug.

Cassie then addresses the troops, telling them their objective is to bring Agua Sin Gaaz to justice for the murder of Donald Fite. Damage asks why the A.P.E.S. organization isn't handling. Ishido Maad says it's complicated, so Damage asks them to simplify it. Empress tells everyone that Donald was her father, and that Sin Gaaz also killed her mother ten years ago. This satisfies everyone's curiosity, so Wonder Girl gives Slo-Bo the order to take off, saying they're not getting any younger. Slo-Bo notes that not even he can say that every day. Impulse happily cries out, "Road trip!!!" And as The Max blasts off, Slo-Bo teases Cassie for hugging Robin.

During the flight, CM3 (Captain Marvel Jr.) asks Wonder Girl if he should change his name to The Marvel. Cassie's not a fan. She's then horrified to see the Wonder Twins eating her favorite Flood CD. Ray explains that the twins are Jan and Zayna, shape-changing aliens from the planet Exor. Slo-Bo, who is fluent in Exor, hears the twins talking bad about Cassie, so he chews them out and smacks them in the back of the head. Kid Devil jokes that if they're from Exor they must be Exorcists.

One hour later, the ship arrives at Zandia. Snapper Carr is a bit worried, but Robin tells him this isn't their first rodeo. Slo-Bo then picks up a visual of Zandia's "welcoming committee" — Devastation leading a large horde of the Baron's antibodies and Kite Man acting as lookout. As our heroes approach the harbor, they unleash their secret weapon — Lagoon Boy leading a pod of whales to create an enormous tidal wave. The mermaid villain Siren swims up alongside Lagoon Boy and tries to hypnotize him, but the Wonder Twin Jayna leaps out of the ship, transforms into a purple sea serpent and attacks Siren.

With the harbor flooded and Zandia's forces scattered, Kite Man flies back to Lady Zand's mansion to give her an update. Lady Zand essentially shrugs off this news, admitting to Kite Man that she actually hopes Sin Gaaz is defeated, as it would serve him right. Young Justice makes a very muddy landing, and Wonder Girl tries to organize the forces, telling Alpha Team to follow her, Beta Team with Robin and Charlie Team with Superboy. Unfortunately, many of the teenage heroes can't remember which team they're supposed to be on, and others wish they could change teams. Before they can sort any of this out, they're met by Zandia's second line of defense — a large group of super villains (I'm not going to try to name them all). So Wonder Girl comes up with a new plan: "Hit anything that's moving that's not us!!!"

The Fisherman gets his line around Robin's neck, but Kid Devil manages to free him. The Flash villain Angle Man then makes all the heroes feel like the Earth is tilting upside down. Jakeem Thunder sends out his Thunderbolt to take out Angle Man, but Devastation is actually able to harm the genie, with what I can only assume is a magic sword. Wonder Girl then manages to get some of her biggest hitters — Superboy, CM3, Hardrock and Blockade — to come in front to form a wedge driving straight toward Sin Gaaz's mansion. Wonder Girl, meanwhile, takes on Devastation herself.

Baron Sin Gaaz is watching the battle from his balcony, when Empress suddenly teleports right next to him with Agent Maad. But teleporting someone else with her over such a long distance has made her weak. Maad pulls a gun on Sin Gaaz, telling him he's under arrest. Sin Gaaz teleports behind Maad, knocks him down, and prepares to shoot Maad with his own gun. Empress manages to recover enough in time and slices the gun in half.

Back to the battle, the new Trickster, Axel Walker, has ensnared several heroes in a big bubble of special chewing gum. He turns to launch some springs at other heroes, but Impulse and Ray quickly hit him from behind and tie Trickster up in his own springs. Impulse calls this "trick and treat," and Ray dubs it "another case of spring forward, fall back."

The fight at the Baron's mansion has now reached his laboratory, filled with large tubes of bubbling pink liquid. Empress is no match for the Baron, who grabs her wrists and shoves her against one of his big vats. He tells her the pink liquid is the pure essence of distilled life, which he uses not to clone, but to redefine nature itself. Empress finally manages to push the Baron off her, and she tells her grandfather that she'd never be able to love or understand someone as twisted as him. The Baron says she might not love him in this life, but she might in the next. He stabs her in the side and hangs her over a big vat. He says the truly tragic thing about him having to kill her was that he had prepared a gift for Anita, had she freely given him her love.

Before Sin Gaaz can drop Empress into the liquid, though, an arrow suddenly strikes him in the heart. Arrowette reveals herself, saying, "You deprived a child of her parents, Monster. No one does that on my watch and lives. No one." She shoots another arrow into the same spot, splitting the first. Agua Sin Gaaz falls into the vat, where Secret is waiting for him, demonically saying, "Well well ... we meet again." Anita tells Cissie she owes her life to her, but Arrowette takes off her hood, revealing herself to be Bonnie. She says she feels responsible for creating Arrowette, who then inspired Anita into taking up this "insane line of work." But most importantly, Bonnie insists that Anita never tell Cissie what happened, saying this is one of those situations where mother knows best.



Now that's how you do a 50th issue! A 48-page adventure bringing together the entire Young Justice team, along with every character anybody ever wanted to be on Young Justice. Impulse came back just in time for this adventure, and Arrowette came back, too, but with a neat twist! And once again, Todd Nauck has found another way to amaze me. Not only did he have twice as many pages to draw, but between all the heroes and villains, he had more than 100 characters to draw. And as usual, Peter David perfectly balanced humor with action and emotion. I really don't have anything else to say. This was just an incredible issue, perfectly representing everything Young Justice is about.

With this month, DC replaced the letters to the editor page with a feature called DC in Demand. It's a very busy page, filled with tiny pictures of a whole bunch of different comics they're promoting. It's quite a shame, because from a historical perspective, I loved looking back at how readers reacted to the stories and how their opinions shaped future stories. I think half the heroes in this issue wouldn't have been here if readers hadn't been asking for them to join Young Justice. Now for the new ads:

Make a killing. MechWarrior: Mercenaries.

Be an action figure. Verbnow.com.

Godzilla: Destroy All Monsters for GameCube.

PlayStation 2. Now online. Introducing the Network Adaptor for PlayStation 2. Reach out and smoke someone. (Nowadays, it's hard to find a game that doesn't require an Internet connection.)

Catch major air. Big Air Freestyle for GameCube.

One cunning devious thievius raccoonus. Sly Cooper for PlayStation 2.

The hunt begins. Star Wars Bounty Hunter.

Justice League: Injustice for All. For Game Boy Advance.

Do you have what it takes? Sneakers for Xbox.

Not surprisingly, Tom likes his milk on ice. Got milk? with New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady.

Next time, our Year in Review for 2002!