Superman Fan & Collectors Convention of Hawaii

by Keona Tang

Greetings once again, fellow citizens of space Sector 2814! This month, I'd like to reminisce about one of my all-time favorite comic books. It's a series that is still near and dear to my heart, even three years after its cancellation. I'm talking about Young Justice, a monthly DC Comics series which chronicled the (mis)adventures of a group of young heroes whose ambitions in life were to hang out, have fun, and, of course, kick a little bad guy butt in the process. The primary creative team on the book was Peter David, the writer; Todd Nauck, the penciler; Lary Stucker, the inker; Jason Wright, Digital Chameleon, and Tom McCraw, the colorists; Ken Lopez, the letterer; and Eddie Berganza, the editor. It ran for fifty-five monthly issues, as well as a few specials and one-shots. Overall, a pretty solid run for a series that wasn't considered one of DC's best-selling titles, especially when you consider that now it's tough for a comic to last twelve issues without getting axed. Anyway, let's move on.

I have to be honest here: When this book first came out, I stayed away from it, aside from buying a couple of issues on a whim. At the time, I was more into Marvel Comics' various X-Men titles, and most of the DC universe did not appeal to me outside of Batman. Sure, I'd pick up an issue of Superman here or a copy of the Flash there, but Wolverine and his team-mates were the characters I really enjoyed reading about. Then, as the creative teams on those books shifted around like musical chairs, things changed. The X-Men stories became darker in tone, almost to the point that all the fun was sucked out of them. Why were there suddenly so many mutants appearing in nearly every X-related series? After all, weren't they supposed to be a minority? Where were the colorful costumes and explosive action sequences? Heck, where were the thought balloons and narrative captions?!? Enough's enough, I thought, and I began to search for something different on the comic store racks. I wanted to find something that was similar in tone to the high adventure and soap opera of past X-Men tales. And that's when I (re)discovered Young Justice, which I'll henceforth refer to as "YJ".

I had been vaguely familiar with Peter David's work before; I knew that he had written both the Incredible Hulk and X-Factor for Marvel, as well as Aquaman and Supergirl for DC. What I didn't know was just how good a writer he was. That is, until I read YJ, and discovered his penchant for writing clever dialogue, absolutely spot-on characterization, quirky humor, and meaningful meta-commentary. Indeed, this was the first comic that ever made me laugh out loud. Not just a chuckle, or a chortle, or a giggle. I'm talking "bwa-ha-ha"s here, folks. The kind that get you funny looks from people who probably couldn't understand the humor anyway. Let me tell you, there aren't many comic books that can make me do that.

But silliness certainly wasn't the only concept found in this book. There were love triangles, school shootings, characters struggling with the concept of vengeance versus justice, murder, kidnappings, numerous team member defections, werewolves, jealousy, and Darkseid. Wow, now I've made it sound like a really dark book, but it's actually quite balanced. To prove it, here's a list of some of the funnier things found in YJ: a government organization called A.P.E.S. (the All-Purpose Enforcement Squad, naturally) which is headquartered in Mount Rushmore; Slo-bo, a defective clone of Lobo, the intergalactic bounty hunter (more on him later); Wonder Girl's wig; Impulse, whose carelessness often led to hilarious moments, such as when he literally thought he was Batman, complete with Adam West-style dialogue; Fite 'n' Maad, the two hapless A.P.E.S. agents; a baseball game in space; the Brain (a, uh, brain in a robotic jar) and Monsieur Mallah (a super-intelligent gorilla who speaks with a French accent), two recurring Doom Patrol villains, who appeared briefly in the book and had some funny dialogue together (Mallah: "So tell me, Brain... What are we going to do today?" Brain: "Same thing we do every day, Mallah... Try to take over the world!" Any other fans of Pinky and the Brain out there?); and the greatest parody of them all: Wendy the Werewolf Stalker (and if you don't know what show that's supposed to be... Geez, what kind of fangeek are you, anyway?). And these are just a few examples.

However, an entertaining script is only a piece of the puzzle. I would be remiss if I did not mention the artwork. Todd Nauck was someone I had never heard of before I picked up this series, but he immediately became one of my favorite artists in the industry. His manga-influenced, cartoony style, along with Lary Stucker's masterful inking and Jason Wright and Tom McCraw's sharp colors, perfectly fit the tone of the series and the ages of the heroes. Which brings me to another point of interest: In YJ, the heroes actually looked like teenagers, not just generic superhero bodies with slightly younger faces scribbled on. A rare feat, and one which Nauck and the rest of the art team pulled off with aplomb. (Always did want to use that word in an article.)

Now, let's take a look at some of the characters featured in the book. The founders of the team were Robin (Tim Drake), Batman's sidekick; Superboy (Kon-El), a clone of Superman; and the aforementioned Impulse (Bart Allen), grandson of the Silver Age Flash. These three also happened to be the comedy trifecta on the team: Robin was the straight man, Superboy was the flirtatious and over-confident jock, and Impulse was, well, impulsive, rash, and unpredictable, which led to him attaining fan favorite status, of course. Truth be told, Robin was probably the most stable of all the guys on the team, but in the end, they balanced each other's personalities, as it was pointed out in the first issue of the series (Impulse represented the id, Superboy the ego, and Robin the superego, if you want to get all Freudian about it).

Moving on, the first female members to join the team were Wonder Girl (Cassie Sandsmark), Wonder Woman's proteg�; Arrowette (Cissie King-Jones), expert archer; and Secret (Greta Hayes), a dead girl whose spirit was trapped in a mist-like form. I always was amused at the dichotomy between Wonder Girl and Arrowette: One was just starting out as a superhero, while the other was totally confident in her abilities; and one would go on to lead the team, while the other would retire (I'm not going to say who, though). This was even seen in their mothers' attitudes: Cassie's overprotective mother was against her joining the team, while Cissie's mom (a former sidekick herself) forced her daughter into it just so she could live vicariously through her. Not the best situation for either girl, but they both became great heroines, as well as fan favorites.

Of course, as time went on, more and more young heroes joined the team, including Lil' Lobo, a miniaturized and de-aged version of the psychotic galactic bounty hunter; Slo-bo, who I mentioned above; Empress (Anita Fite), sorceress and daughter of an A.P.E.S. agent; Red Tornado, the android who served as the team's adult supervisor (needless to say, they never listened to him); and the Ray (Ray Terrill), who could generate and manipulate light. There were also many other guest stars in the book, especially towards the final issue. I'll just mention three of them: Spoiler (Stephanie Brown), girlfriend of Robin and a favorite secondary character of mine; and the Wonder Twins. Yep, they're hanging around the DC Universe somewhere. Be afraid. Be very afraid.

So, to wrap up, my main point in writing this article was to bring some attention to a series which hasn't really received a lot over the years, and hopefully make you want to read it for yourselves. There are YJ resources around the internet, and a few online comics retailers still sell the back

issues of the series, so just do a Google search if you're interested in finding out more. If you like funny, adventurous stories that celebrate youth, friendship, and heroism (and can overlook a few groan-inducing puns), give this book a chance. I think you'll find that it's a worthy investment.

_______________________________________

Here's some info on what the main creators on this book are currently doing: Peter David is now writing a newly relaunched X-Factor series and Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man for Marvel. Todd Nauck is currently the artist on Teen Titans Go! (based on the Teen Titans cartoon series which recently ended) for DC, and is penciling a couple of issues of their weekly maxi-series, 52. He is also the creator of an Image Comics series called Wildguard. Check these books out. They're good.

Trust me.

See you next issue!

Return to the Occasional Orb homepage

Top of Page