Throughout their career, the Young Justice team has operated as a covert operations team directed by Batman to uncover threats that the Justice League of America cannot handle due to their high profile reputation. So far, the team has investigated several plots that seem to be interconnected to a larger threat. From their first incursion into STAR Labs, Robin, Aqualad and Kid Flash have had their eyes opened to another deadlier world that lies just beneath the surface of their reality. In this world, power brokers, drug runners and black marketeers operate in secrecy while superheroes battle alien invasions.
Young Justice has been a magnificent animated series, taking up the mantle from the Justice League cartoon of the past. Utilizing a diverse team dynamic and the angst of youth, the program has a stunning main cast and some very cleverly written episodes. It’s hard to pick a favorite, but I have to say that I thoroughly enjoy Robin in this series. A vastly intelligent kid, he’s also socially awkward and a bit too headstrong for his own good. As Kaldur (Aqualad) has risen to the challenge of leadership, he has been faced with steadily increasing dangers to his team. It has been a bumpy ride fret with accusations of betrayal, but it has all been leading to the revelation of the group secretly behind all of these connected crimes, known only as The Light.
When a series of plant-based creatures erupt from the streets of several global metropolitan centers, Batman uses the League’s base strength to deal with the main problem while instructing his secret team to head directly to the source and take out the Injustice Society. A powerful collection of supervillains (Count Vertigo, Poison Ivy, Wotan, Ultra-Humanite, Black Adam, Atomic Skull, and the Joker), the team could give the JLA a run for their money, but Batman trusts the Young Justice team is ready for the challenge.
New to the series are a couple of unusual voice actors such as Alyssa Milano as Poison Ivey and the surprising addition of Star Trek: The Next Generation’s Brent Spiner as the clown prince of crime, the Joker. Spiner has caught some flak for his performance from fans of Mark Hammill’s Joker, but I think that it’s undeserved. For the limited amount of time he had, Spiner’s Joker was quite good. I hope we get more. Of course if I had my druthers, I’d chose John DiMaggio’s Joker from Under the Red Hood… but that’s another story.
Revelation is the half-way mark in the 26 part season and it’s a biggie. The introduction to a Legion of Doom-level foe is a major boost to the program and really sets the bar high as to where the series can go from here. Rumor has it that the second series is already planned and will be re-titled Young Justice: Invasion, hinting at another interconnected string of stories built around a single plot.
As the Young Justice team ably battled the combined might and cunning of the Injustice Society (a nuclear-powered, magically enhanced cybernetic plant-based infection filled with Joker gas), it became clear that Aqualad’s plan B scenario, previously alluded to as being small enough to fit in a gym bag, was needed. Inside was the helmet of Fate, containing the spirit of the ancient sorcerer Nabu. Seeing this, Kid Flash freaked and insisted that it was too dangerous to use, insisting that Nabu would never let go.
That’s when I realized that this series had decided on its audience… the very well-read and devoted comic book fanatic.
This was a really well done adventure, but I have to admit that all of the ‘comic book fan Easter eggs’ thrown in weirded me out. At first it was exciting to see the JLA in action as bearded Aquaman and Martian Manhunter battled a giant plant in Paris. But then Blue Devil showed up and even Green Lantern Guy Gardner flew by. By the end of the episode, it was a challenge to the casual viewer to make sense of it all. I mean, how is anyone unfamiliar with Dr. Fate meant to understand Kid Flash’s reaction or the reference to ‘your friend Kent’?
The true revelation of course arrived in the conclusion which revealed the secret society pulling the strings from the shadows. Vandal Savage, Lex Luthor and Ra’s al Ghul step into the light but who are the others? Get out your decoder rings, everyone!
For all of its drawbacks, this series and this episode really rubbed my fan-boy belly.
The Daily P.O.P. 