Episode Review: Young Justice "Drop Zone" : Episode 1.04

It may be early in the show's run, but I'm going to go ahead and make it official anyway.

Young Justice is my favourite DC animated series.

I'll explain why shortly, but I'll start by saying that I absolutely loved "Drop Zone". It had the best version of Bane I've ever seen in any of the Batman media (voiced by Trejo no less!), it had one of the coolest 'Men on a Mission' scenarios I've seen in a while, it had compelling character moments wrapped up in a cocoon of exceedingly well animated action scenes and tied in bow of mythology. This is only episode four; I can only imagine what the show runners have in store for us.

The series continues its use of the timestamps to give the show a traceable continuity, which I like. It gives the show a timeline that character development needs to realistically adhere to. I'll digress for a moment by comparing it to the ridiculous timeline of Ben 10. That show had four seasons, which all took place over one really long summer, so it shouldn't be much of a surprise when Ben hasn't had a chance to grow out of being obnoxious.

Well, for our Young Justice team, a month has passed between the beginning of the Pilot and the end of Drop Zone, and it show. The camaraderie displayed between the team is already quite endearing, but it is also honest in that it shows the rifts in those dynamics. Robin and Kid Flash have a bit of a rivalry going on (regardless of the topic, it seems), Superboy is still struggling with his origins, M'Gann is now a lot less confident after last weeks encounters and Aqualad is still stoic.

In Drop Zone, Batman has finally given the team a mission. They're to infiltrate the island prison of Isla Santa Prisca, the very same prison where Bane grew up. They're to determine why the flow of Venom (Bane's steroid-like formula) has stopped. It was great to see Batman and I really like his character design, voice and the way he's been written. He's stern, but not the total dick that he and Superman so often are. His delegation of Team Leader selection felt very true to form as well as a natural storyline given this show's adherence to a timeline.

The 'Men on a Mission' aspect of the episode was outstanding, reminding me of the Navy SEALS getting into Alcatraz in The Rock. We've all seen this before, and I know the X-Men have done more than a few stealth missions in their time, but I'm not sure i've ever seen it done this well in an animated show.

As I mentioned, Bane's appearance was handled superbly. The subdued design fits in nicely with the rest of the world, still allowing for other characters to become grotesque giants without simply duplicating Bane. Danny Trejo does some fantastic work, delivering his dialogue with a collected cool that contrasts nicely with his gravelly voice. It also did wonders to suggest that Bane is a more considered and intelligent individual than looks suggest. I really hope he comes back into the series, and that shocks me, because I think that Bane is usually an absurd character.

I could go on and on about every detail of this episode, from the four awesome action scenes (four! count em!) to the fact that they balanced perfectly with the character and story beats. I could rave endlessly about how much I like the character designs and how fluidly they've been animated. The HD feed of this show gives me even more reason to rewatch the episode, just so I can take in all the beautiful background art. Even that will take a few tries, because the story and action itself is too hard not to get caught up in.

I love Batman: The Animated Series, and Justice League: Unlimited is amazing, but i really do honestly believe that Young Justice will be better than them all.