Young Justice Review

So, since I have no idea what to write about in this blog, I guess I'll do a review of Young Justice every Friday, at least until I figure out what I want to use this blog for. I'll try to update daily in-between, too, but at least I've got Fridays figured out.


Since, so far, everyone I've talked to about Young Justice has said, "Except it's supposed to be Tim Drake." I'll start by saying now that I am setting the comic book canon aside while reviewing this show. There are several deviations and several modifications as always from comic to cartoon, so I will not review this show by comparng it to the comic book. That would be a waste of time. I will review it solely as its own cartoon.



So, I'll run through what I think of the show so far as a whole, and then briefly review the third episode, rather than review the premiere and today's episode in one blog.

I'm in love with the art of this show, its simplicity and detail, and I'm a big fan of the voice over cast as well as the writing staff. I did some digging, and there are names I know from others shows I have watched and loved involved in the production of this one. That gives me high hopes, and some sort of nostalgic affection for this show, even though it's new.

The personalities of each character on Young Justice so far appear to be well-developed.

Wally West is filling the role of a quick-footed, slow-witted Kid Flash. I hope to see development of this character and perhaps some tension between being a child and being a hero.

Dick Grayson is a much more jokester version of Robin than I've seen before. I love the design for his costume, and I'm excited to see Jesse McCartney do a role with such history to it. I've been a fan of his voice acting career since he started work on video games, and I like the twist he and the writers have put on the personality of Robin. He's a child, young, with a signature laugh as he goes into battle, and yet he has the "work alone" personality akin to that of Batman. He clearly doesn't know how to operate on a team, often being the first one to jump into a fight without consulting his teammates.

Aqualad is also an interesting personality. I like the way he has been reinvented to make him a more versatile fighter. He's not bound entirely bound to a water source like previous Aqualads. He's being written as the most mature of the characters. If the team has a leader, it would be him. His aloofness and nearly adult-like attitude makes it hard to gauge what his personality is, however. I look forward to seeing more development with him, and hopefully some more peer-like interaction between him and the rest of the team, rather than what they have now.

Superboy's personality is interesting. Between him and Miss Martian, there are lots of awkward social interactions, because the two don't know how to properly communicate with humans yet. It's frequent for Teen-super hero cartoons to use aliens as plot devices for helping teenage watchers to understand that it's okay to have socially awkward situations and to learn and grow from them. For Young Justice to use two I initially saw as overkill, but the personalities of Miss Martian and Superboy differ so drastically that it so far is working well. Miss Martian just wants to fit in and is trying so hard to make friends with the guys, while Superboy doesn't seem to want anything of the sort, yet struggles with it as well. He expresses this struggle with more anger and frustration while Miss Marian expresses it in a more quiet, sullen way. The two extreme reactions present two sides of how many teenagers think and feel. After only one episode of seeing the whole team operate together, I see a lot of potential and I hope to see it develop more as the show goes on.

And, finally, Speedy, the last character to really talk about. He has been a favorite of mine for years, so I was excited to see him introduced as a headstrong young man with potential leadership skills, however I was disappointed after the premiere tha the was not brought back. They did not drop him completely, which I am grateful for, and gave him a few minutes of episode three to make the point that he is now a vigilante hero operating alone and he will not be joining the Young Justice. If they leave him at that, I will again be disappointed. I look forward to seeing how the incorporate him as the show goes on. I don't expect him to be in every episode (though I wish he was a more key character, I will set my own preferences aside), I do expect them to not leave his character hanging. They have proven that they know how to bring characters in and out for slow development by opening up his personlity in the beginning of the show, and continuing to use it in the third episode.

The third epiosde has eased some doubts I had about the show after the pemiere. By this episode, it was clear that these 5 teenagers are still learning to function as a team and failing miserably at it. The characters are staying true to the personalities that were put together in episode one. Miss Martian and Aqualad are trying desperately to be a functional team, but none of the characters know how to operate as a unit, or at least they are still learning.

I was also worried about what it would be like to have a Justice League overseer for the team, but the third episode proved that Red Tornado is not planning on babysitting the team and that they are operating on their own for the most part.

I was also glad to see they did not introduce Artemis without first making it clear that Speedy would not join Young Justice. I look forward to seeing what she does to the dynamics of the team, as well as how the team develops from this awkward collection of teenage superheroes who are clearly more teeange than superheroes into a functional team.