Episode Review: Young Justice "Schooled" : Episode 1.05

'If dislike is the opposite of like, is disaster the opposite of aster?' - Robin

Well, to paraphrase Superboy in this weeks episode, 'I am totally feeling the 'aster'.

I think it's safe to say that Young Justice has already done things with the team superhero format that neither Teen Titans or Justice League ever did. There's a richness to the character dynamics between Super Heroes that usually plays out solely in the realm of the costumed escapades. Unless your name is Smallville, in which case the costumes are an afterthought. My memory of Justice League may be a little hazy, but I don't recall them ever exploring what these people are like out of costume. That sort of stuff was kept for shows about the individuals. You didn't want to see Bruce Wayne hanging out at Watchtower, you want to see Batman. Teen Titans always had our heroes 'in character' and in costume, whether they were in the field or watching movies in their ridiculous T shaped headquarters.

Young Justice says, 'we've written that before and you guys have seen it before'. So by episode five, a series centred around the teenage heroes indulges in a quiet moment between Bruce Wayne and Clark Kent in a diner (in civvies), discussing the complex paternal relationship that needs to form between Kent and his clone, Superboy. In another show, this conversation would have happened on a rooftop, and in costume. For the first time I realise how absurd it is for these Gods amongst men to make every little conversation more melodramatic than it needs to be; in outer space, or in a hollowed out mountain, or a Bat-cave. It makes so much more sense for this intimate moment to take place between the two real people, as opposed to their public personas. They're all friends after all right? The exchange itself is superb, succinctly defining the two characters and their differing approach to the dilemma of a perpetually pissed off Superboy (with a cute gag involving Clark and Bruce ordering Apple Pie and Devils Food Cake, respectively) The banner at the top of the review may say Young Justice but I'm certain this series will encompass as much (maybe more) of the DC Universe as any one series before it.

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.

Episode Review: Young Justice "Independence Day" (Pilot)

Friday saw the premiere of the new DC animated series 'Young Justice' and while we wont be seeing it again till January, you'll want to add this to your must-watch list for 2011. That is, if you love your super heroics-in-animated-form as much as I do... and doubly so if you are as disappointed in the Avengers series as I am.

I'm still figuring out a format for how I'm going to write these, and exactly how much detail I'll go into, but here we go....

--RECAP

'Young Justice' hits the ground running, introducing our young heroes (teen titans, if you will) in a series of fun, and very well animated action scenes. In the space of 5 minutes we've seen Robin (Jesse McCartney), Speedy (Crispin Freeman), Kid Flash (Jason Spisak), Aqualad (Khary Payton) as well as Justice Leaguers; Batman (Bruce Greenwood), Superman (Nolan North), Green Arrow (Alan Tudyk), Aquaman (Phil LaMarr), Martian Manhunter (Kevin Michael Richardson), Flash (George Eads), Zatarra  and Red Tornado. Phew! Then there's the quartet of ice-based villains the Sidekicks all take down; Freeze, Icicle, Captain Cold and .... some other one (c'mon, DC just have so many ice villains!).