Young Justice #52

The Unreal World

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

This month's cover by ... Todd Nauck & Lary Stucker with colors by Tanya & Richard Horie. We've got the whole team on TV, and everybody's personality is coming through beautifully. Most are rather indifferent or unsure of the whole thing. Robin seems to be hating the whole experience. And, fittingly, Superboy and Impulse absolutely love it. But while Kon is capable of acting cool, Bart can't restrain his excitement.

Our story begins with a bit of a sales pitch from Superboy and Impulse for a side team called Young Justice Strike Force. Impulse has prepared a drawing of Damage, Supergirl, the Wonder Twins, Lagoon Boy, Wonder Girl, CM3 and the Star-Spangled Kid coming together with their special rings that alert them of emergencies, enable them to fly or teleport to Young Justice headquarters and call in reinforcements from the main YJ team. Kon claims this plan could make them the most organized young hero group in the world, and Bart can't help but brag about his artistic skills (he says he was too modest to put himself or Superboy in the drawing).

Wonder Girl is happy that Superboy is showing some initiative as the team's Deputy Leader, but she can't seem to find the right words to turn down this plan. So Robin steps in, bluntly asking where the money is coming from to finance this project. Cassie picks up on this, pointing out that flying rings and transport devices alone would cost a bundle, not to mention the necessary upgrades their current resort headquarters would need. Bart says not to worry about that, showing off blueprints he's drawn for the Young Justice Strike Force satellite headquarters. Kon excitedly says that's the perfect answer to their problems, before realizing that a satellite headquarters would also cost a lot of money.

So Kon turns to Snapper Carr, who set up the team's current monitor system. But Snapper says he's already called in a bunch of favors he's been stocking up for 10 years just to get the team to where it is now, and he does not have the necessary cash to finance Superboy's proposal. Ray says that the technology does exist, but he estimates the rings alone would cost $2 million. Slo-Bo says Y.J.S.F. is a lousy name, but Superboy says it's better than Impulse's suggestion: Super Heroes in Training.

One of Snapper's alarms goes off, indicating an unauthorized, but unarmed, presence approaching. Wonder Girl orders everyone to the monitor room to see what they're dealing with, but Impulse just zooms out to find their favorite reporter, Ace Atchinson, whom he promptly brings inside. Cassie asks Robin how he resisted the temptation to pound the snot out of Bart, and Robin says Bart's always too fast to hit, so it's kind of a moot point. Still being held in Bart's arms, Ace tells the team he's offering them a chance to participate in a new reality TV series. When he says he's willing to pay them $2 million, Kon knocks Bart down and holds Ace in his arms, prepared to discuss business.

We then cut to the jail cell of Secret's father, Burt Hayes, who has just learned that he is going to be executed in two days for killing his adopted son, Billy, aka Harm. Burt tells his lawyer that Billy was evil and if he let him live, then Billy would have killed hundreds, maybe thousands of people. Burt says he knows Billy was responsible for the death of his daughter, Greta, so he did what he believed he had to do, even knowing he'd face the electric chair. Burt admits that since he's been in prison, some days are a total blank to him, passing by without him remembering what happened. He once dreamed his daughter came to him in a fog, but he wasn't able to make out what she said. Fearing he's losing his mind, Burt hopes that death will bring him some clarity.

Secret was floating outside the window, listening in on this whole conversation. She's distraught that her dad doesn't remember the time she visited him and tried to tell him that she's an evil monster. Secret debates whether she should tell the authorities that her dad was right to kill her brother, who was a crazed killer, but she worries that even if people did believe her, it wouldn't matter since her dad was tried and convicted for murder. Secret acknowledges that if she broke her dad out of jail, then he'd live, but that would make her no better than some criminal. Weighed down with such a choice, Greta longs for the days when her toughest decision was choosing which cereal to have at breakfast.

We then head over to the Fite household, which now consists of teenager Anita and her parents, who have been turned into babies. (I'm not sure if Ishido Maad is helping Anita out or what.) Bonnie and Cissie King-Jones have stopped by, and Anita talks to Cissie about how odd this whole situation is — especially having to change her dad's diaper. But while the girls are upstairs, Bonnie and Ishido have a glass of wine and start making out. Anita and Cissie catch them in the act, and Bonnie pretends that she was asking Ishido to demonstrate resuscitation techniques. But Anita and Cissie aren't fooled by this lame excuse for a second, and they wonder what could be more humiliating than this.

Back at the Catskill resort, pizza has been ordered, and everyone is sitting around the kitchen table, listening to Ace's pitch. The show will be called "Super Vision," featuring cameras all over the headquarters and some on their uniforms for a first-person view. Ace promises to not show any exterior shots of their headquarters and to keep cameras out of the bathroom. Cassie asks why stop there, saying they should put cameras in the girls' showers to really put on a show. Ace considers this, saying they could "fuzz out" the naughty parts. Cassie says she was being sarcastic, and Ace tries to recover quickly, saying he's Mr. Sarcastic.

Needless to say, Cassie finds the whole idea rather intrusive. Slo-Bo says they have nothing to hide. Kon points out that it wasn't too long ago that people wanted to get rid of teen superheroes for good, and this show could be a positive way to show kids hanging out, having fun and saving the world. Ace agrees that this is the main objective of the show, adding that the network will happily donate $2 million to a charity of the team's choice. Superboy, however, makes it clear to Ace that they want the money to spend themselves.

Robin insists on never appearing on camera — not even if they fuzz out his face. Slo-Bo's confident Robin can find a way around that. On the whole, he's supportive of the idea, saying it'll liven things up for them, not to mention provide them with a big pile of cash. Cassie asks for the final "security" cut of the program, which Snapper explains as making sure no secret identities are compromised, visitors' faces are blurred, civilian names are bleeped out, etc. Ace says that shouldn't be a problem, then asks the final question: "Have we got a deal?" Cassie considers this a moment longer, then begrudgingly agrees, hoping she won't regret this. Bart calls this outstanding and wonders who's going to play him. Everybody looks at Bart, and he wonders what he's said this time.

With everything wrapped up, Robin boards the Super-Cycle to head home for the night. Secret catches him before he takes off, telling him about a boy she knows who's really sad because his mom was convicted of murder and is set to be executed. She asks Robin if it'd be right to break the mom out of jail, but Robin says even though he feels bad for her "friend," they need to respect the rule of the law as much as they can. He explains that this is a different situation from when A.P.E.S. took her prisoner. This person committed a crime, was tried and convicted. And that's pretty much that.

So Secret asks everybody else individually. Cassie, taking a swim, says it's out of the question. Ray, playing pool, "Definitely not." Snapper, working on a car, "It'd be wrong." Bart, playing with a paddle ball, says "We put guys in jail, not break 'em out." Superboy, watching TV, says it doesn't feel right. But Slo-Bo, lifting weights, says "Abso-fraggin'-lutely. Let's do it." Slo-Bo has seen right through Secret's story, knowing the "boy" is Secret and the "mother" is her dad. He confirms that the person her dad killed deserved to die, then agrees that he should be awarded for that action instead of being punished. Slo-Bo says he wants to remind his teammates that he's not really a good person, and he believes that those with power to break the law should use that power sometimes — a belief that Secret agrees with.

To avoid the awkward situation in the house, Bonnie and Ishido have gone out for a cup of coffee. Unfortunately, Ishido makes things more awkward by revealing he used his detective skills to learn Bonnie killed Agua Sin Gaaz. He asks if she's told her daughter yet, and Bonnie says Cissie doesn't even know she took her place as Arrowette. Ishido says he won't tell Cissie, but he suggests Bonnie does, otherwise it'll eat at her. He says he doesn't judge her for killing Sin Gaaz, since he would have done it himself had he been able to. But, Ishido points out, it is his job to kill people — not Bonnie's. Bonnie coldly says it's just apparently her hobby, then excuses herself.

We then jump ahead to the first day of shooting "Super Vision." Ace starts off the show, telling viewers how he named a scrappy group of teen do-gooders "Young Justice" what feels like a lifetime ago. And now, he's pleased to show the world what these heroes go through every single day for the next month. He turns the camera to Ray, Superboy, Empress, Impulse and Wonder Girl (who's now wearing her old goggles again, but not her old wig). But before they start their introductions, Impulse runs off to see if he can move fast enough to see his own image on the TV in the monitor room. Even though the show is live, one would think there'd be enough of a delay that Bart could pull this off. But he can't, despite attempting the trick multiple times. (Perhaps he was just trying to make Snapper Carr laugh.) But the big surprise of the first episode was the introduction of a new hero, Mr. Sarcastic — who is Robin in a disguise with a shaved head, goatee, green glasses, tattoos and a cape with fur on the top and flames on the bottom.



This feels like getting back to good ol' classic Young Justice, especially the bits of Impulse goofing off with Superboy. It just feels ... right. These two had such ambitious, yet well-meaning plans for satellites and secret rings, and it just was not at all practical (which itself is a pretty good joke, coming in a world of impracticality). To everyone's credit, nobody was too harsh in putting down these plans. But what else would come to Superboy's rescue than the fad of reality TV? I guess reality shows are still going on now, but 15 years ago, they were VERY big. So it makes a lot of sense for Young Justice to be caught up in one themselves, offering plenty of opportunities for more wacky hijinks with these wonderful characters. Sadly, it wasn't meant to last.

DC in Demand confirms the rumors that Young Justice and the Titans will both soon be cancelled, and those teams would have their stories wrapped up in a crossover called "Graduation Day." This crossover will lead to the creation of two new series, the Outsiders and a new Teen Titans (not to be confused with the New Titans, which Impulse was briefly a member of). Here's the exact wording of the solicitation for the series that's going to replace Young Justice:

"Like fireworks? Geoff Johns and Mike McKone light the fuse on pyrotechnic superhero action this July with a new Teen Titans! In this ongoing series, old-school members Cyborg, Raven, Starfire, and Beast Boy mix it up with newbies Superboy, Robin, and ... Kid Flash?!!"

I knew DC had planned for a while to turn Bart Allen into Kid Flash, but I didn't realize they were this open about it this early in the game. I wish they were still printing letters at this point, because I would have loved to see what readers thought of all these changes. I'm not happy about it, and I'm writing about this 15 years in the future! But seriously! Canceling Superboy, Impulse and now Young Justice?! And now Impulse is going to be Kid Flash?! Well, there's no point complaining about it now. Let's check out the new ads:

World Wrestling Entertainment Magazine and ShopZone. This is a very annoying small, fold-out card stock ad that starts at page 8 and reappears at page 17. It's one of those ads that I really want to tear out of the comic book, but I'm too scared to hurt the binding.

Joe Kubert's World of Cartooning Correspondence Courses for Comic Books.

Seven Sonic the Hedgehog games in one bundle for GameCube. I had forgotten it's been so long since Sega surrendered Sonic to Nintendo.

Wild Arms 3 for PlayStation 2.

More than 180 games. What a rush. Nintendo GameCube.

Marijuana. Harmless? Facts. The Anti-Drug.

The ultimate run and gun shooter returns. Contra: Shattered Soldier for GameBoy Advance and PlayStation 2.

Save our species. Exterminate theirs. Defender: Saving the Human Race for PlayStation 2, GameBoy Advance, Xbox and GameCube.

Bring the party home, baby! Austin Powers in Goldmember on VHS and DVD.

Play it again, man. And again. And again. Super Bubble Pop for PlayStation, Xbox and GameCube.

Earth is the battlefield. The Original Transformers Season 2 Part 1 on DVD.

Time Splitters 2 for Xbox, GameCube and PlayStation 2.

Next time, Secret becomes unhappy with her teammates! And things go real bad from there in Young Justice #53.