Young, Just Us! Podcast

[INTRO]

Hello, and welcome back to the Young, Just Us! Podcast! My name is Roman and I’m doing an issue-by-issue deep-dive into the 1998 run of DC Comics’ Young Justice.

[HOUSEKEEPING]

Just so you know, this is going to be kind of a long intro, but you can check the show notes or description for time codes so you can jump into the episode proper if you’d like. Okay, so, as you can see, I had to divert from the original plan of doing Young Justice: Secret Files this week, because although that does come next chronologically after issue four, I completely missed this comic, Secret Origins 80-Page Giant, as in, did not even know it existed, until Tumblr user @/flippin--out very kindly replied to my post and let me know about it. So, thank you so much, @/flippin--out, I seriously appreciate it. But! In my defense! This comic was not on the reading guide I’ve been using, probably for the same reason that I never found and read it during my initial read of Young Justice, which is that “Young Justice” is not in the name of the comic. I am so annoyed about this. And also, as you all probably know, there are two separate issues named, respectively, Young Justice: Secret Files [and Origins], and Young Justice 80-Page Giant. Which, by the way, both do have “Young Justice” in the title, so naturally, they come up when you search “Young Justice” in any comic database including DC Universe Infinite! So, yeah I would just like to know who the psycho was that was in charge of naming those three issues but mostly Secret Origins 80-Page Giant. I just wanna talk! Really!

However! I am now determined to never again be bamboozled by a crossover tie-in event, as happened with Young Justice #1000000 or with a secret comic I did not know about, as happened with this, or a wacky unintuitive reading order or anything else confusing and sanity-sucking about the way that comics are published and organized, or should I say, disorganized. And so I have made another spreadsheet—I already have one, actually several, that I use to log comics I read regularly, like, not for the podcast, and I’ve been doing that for a couple of years, so I figured I could just use my main one for the podcast since I already had logged all of Young Justice on there. But, I have now made a separate spreadsheet just for the podcast. I cross-referenced three different reading guides to do it, and shout out particularly to @/wlwspoiler on Twitter, because his reading guide was by far the most detailed and organized. (I’m actually thinking about asking her to come on the pod to talk about her archival work and Young Justice in general, but we’ll see, like fingers crossed!) But yeah, would recommend that reading guide. But anyway, I now have a highly tightened-up reference guide for this podcast, which should prevent any and all confusion on my part about reading order and any one-shot issues, or special issues. Hopefully. God-willing. 

So, yes, this is why this episode is a couple days late, because I had to change my plan and because this issue is an 80-page giant which means, you know, it has eighty pages, which is about three to four times the length of a regular issue, as you know, and this is my first time reading it, so I had to like, read it for the first time, absorb it, summarize it, break that summary down into podcast-friendly chunks. So, yeah, that’s what I’ve been doing this week. It's just been a really long, tedious, and frustrating process, but I’m actually kind of glad that this happened because now I can course-correct and move forward in the podcast with a lot more confidence, I hope. But, yeah, thank you so much to everyone who has been listening and sending me messages and helping me out with this stuff! I’m honestly amazed at how quickly this little like, community is building and I’m really grateful to you all! Every time I get a message it makes me so incandescently happy, and I’m so glad that people are getting something out of this podcast, whether it’s just something you just put on in the background or you’re actively reading along with me, I’m super happy to be here, doing this! And you know, it can be really intimidating because I did only recently, like within the last four years, get back into comics in a big way, and I had the idea for this podcast a while ago, but I always felt like, you know, “Am I really the best person to do this? Surely there are more knowledgeable people with more charisma and more experience making a show, and with comics themselves, that would be better suited,” but—I’ve always wanted to do a podcast, and I didn’t want this to become another project that I just sat on forever and never did anything about, so I just took the leap and so far it’s been really rewarding, and I’m so glad I did it.

So yeah, I am issuing a formal apology for not knowing ball, I’m still learning and, like I said, very grateful for everyone’s patience and help. Thank you again, to everyone listening! And as you can see, this episode is also called something different than normal—this is the first episode of something I’m calling “Make-Up Work.” Basically this is where I’m putting stuff that I missed or failed to release in chronological publishing order, as well as side things, like, maybe other comic series where Young Justice members appear, team-ups, etcetera. It also frees me up to take suggestions and requests—like, if you’d like me to recap and review any YJ-related comic, including issues of solo series like Robin, Superboy, and Impulse, then I can just release a quick episode of Make-Up Work between regular episodes if my schedule permits! So hopefully that’s kind of exciting or at least makes sense, but yeah. My askbox on Tumblr or the email will always be open for that. And I always forget to say, but if you do send me an email, you can say, like, “I’m okay with this being read on the podcast,” or, “Don’t read this on the podcast, I’m just saying something,” you know what I mean? So, either way is fine.

[SCHEDULE UPDATE]

So, all that all being said, the new schedule—and I am still going to make a visual schedule and post in on the Tumblr, I just obviously had to adjust some things first—but the new schedule will be: today, obviously, is the Secret Origins 80-Page Giant, which chronologically comes right before issue four of Young Justice, and I have to take a week off next week ‘cause I have a medical thing so I’ll be out of town for a few days, but the week after that I’ll be back, and we’ll go right into Secret Files, which comes right after issue four in continuity. So maybe you can reread issue four or relisten to the podcast during that skip week! And then we’ll be perfectly in tune for Secret Files! After that, I’m debating whether to do issue one million, or just go back to regular issues for a bit—I think I’m gonna post a little poll on the Tumblr so you guys can help me decide! You can also send an ask or an email, of course, letting me know what your preference is! I’d also love for your guys’s thoughts on covering, like, non-essential stuff? Like the JLA/Titans crossover, where YJ is featured, but like, not main characters necessarily. But if I don’t cover that in release order—which would actually be right after Secret Files, before issue five—I can always just come back to stuff like that with Make-Up-Work! 

[CORRECTIONS]

Alright believe it or not we’re not done with the intro because I have a few corrections from last week, aside from the obvious. But, regarding Harm’s mother’s name, which is Ellen, I said “Eileen” a couple of times by mistake, but I went back and checked and it was definitely Ellen. So, sorry about that, Ellen. 

I also said that the Fiesta de San Fermin was being established in the early nineteen hundreds which is definitely not true; it goes back way farther than that. It has origins dating back to the twelfth century, although the bullfighting wasn’t added until later, and the festival wasn’t actually in Pamplona at first, either, which I thought was interesting. It was moved there because Pamplona has like, very good weather. The bull runs were established semi-officially in the seventeenth century, but what I was thinking of last week was the building of the first official bullring, which was in 1844. So. Hopefully that’s all right this time. I don’t want to spread misinformation.

And now, finally we can get into the actual content of the episode, thank you very much for sitting through all of that if you did.

[LAST WEEK RECAP]

Last week, we discussed issue four, where the gang finally got together for the first time, including the original boys—Robin, Superboy, and Impulse—as well as Secret, Wonder Girl, and Arrowette, who was in Harm’s Way last week and got an arrow through the shoulder for her trouble. But this week, we’re actually going to rewind to before all of that, and answer some of the questions that I very dumbly asked last week, like, why Secret decided to approach the team now with her proposition. Though, I will say that my other questions like, how the Super-Cycle knew where Arrowette was and also why the DEO are back on Secret’s trail so hard, were not answered by this comic, so. I retain some dignity, I suppose. Anyway, this week we’ll see some origins, though I don’t know how secret they are exactly, and despite her name, we do not get Secret’s secret origin in this comic. Not yet, at least.

[SECRET ORIGINS 80-PAGE GIANT]

The Secret Origins 80-Page Giant contains seven different stories: “Decisions,” “Actual Reality,” “Superboy! Secrets! Origin! This One’s Got ‘Em All!,” “Little Wing,” “Daddy’s Little Vigilante,” “Truth is Stranger,” and “Shafted.” One for each Young Justice member, plus Spoiler, which is interesting, always love to see my girl Steph, though. 

This issue has a different creative team for each story, so I’m gonna read them out as we go, though I will say now that Eddie Berganza and Maureen McTigue are credited as editors on the whole book. Tanya Horie, Jeff Matsuda, and Jon Sibal contributed to the cover art which I will be displaying on-screen now in the YouTube version of this episode, but if you’re just listening don’t worry because I will describe it: Superboy, Robin, and Impulse are all on the cover in action poses, while Spoiler, Wonder Girl, and Arrowette feature on the left side of the cover in bust character portraits. The Secret Origins title is in large yellow font with blue shadowing, and “80-Page Giant” is below that in a different yellow font. Below that is the subtitle: “Sssh! Don’t tell anyone the real deal on: Superboy! Robin! Impulse!” At the bottom is another subtitle that reads: “Plus: a little secret,” all of this against a white background.

Yeah, not much to say here; it’s pretty utilitarian in terms of like, cover art. Though I suppose if the title’s not going to tell you that it’s about Young Justice, it’s good that the cover does, at least. It does suck that Secret’s not featured but I get it—she’s an original character for YJ and readers wouldn’t know who she is if they hadn’t already read Young Justice: The Secret, so, yeah, understandable that they wouldn’t put her on there. Although, she is like, kind of the main character of this issue, so, still kind of doing her dirty, in my opinion. I do like the little “Plus: a little secret” subtitle, though, like who doesn’t love a good pun? It’s not, “Plus, we’ll tell you a little secret!” but rather, “Plus a little bit of the character Secret.” Very funny. I also love Robin’s huge nineties feet. Always a joy.

So, if you don’t know, the “Secret Origins” thing originated as a 1986 series of comics, titled Secret Origins, that basically retold different heroes’ origin stories, updated them or summarized them for new readers. There was a relaunch of this series for the Prime Earth universe in 2014. But after the eighties series DC started doing “Secret Files and Origins,” which were one-shots that started coming out in the late nineties, which is sort of the same premise but these generally functioned more as advertising tools for then-currently running books; they included side-stories, teasers for upcoming arcs, character profiles, pin-ups, stuff like that. Young Justice also has one of these, which we’ll be covering next episode, as I said, so you’d be forgiven for not knowing that they had another “Secret Origins” issue, I hope I am. Anyway, this issue is more of the eighties series format, with mostly just updated or condensed versions of each character’s origin story. Let’s get into it, shall we?

The synopsis for this issue on DC Universe Infinite reads:

The Secret comes to the Young Justice hideout and meets Red Tornado. 

Someone was getting lazy with these synopses, guys, ‘cause let me tell you, there’s a little more to it than that. I’m going to get into the comic proper now so feel free to read along, just listen, or watch the YouTube version where you can see select panels that I’ve pulled from this issue. I also want to say that there’s a mistake in the formatting of this comic on DC Universe Infinite—they accidentally display the tenth page as page one, so if you have that problem just know it’s not you and you can just skip to the next page, and that should be page one, and the rest of the issue is fine; page ten is where it should be, there’s just a random copy of it at the beginning. 

[DECISIONS]

Okay, so our first story is “Decisions,” featuring Secret and Red Tornado. Decisions was written by Dan Curtis Johnson, pencilled by Angel Unzueta, inked by Jaime Mendoza, colored by Joe Rosas, and lettered by Clem Robins. And I actually really love this lettering style, so shoutout to Clem Robins. Great job.

We open on Secret, in the Young Justice hideout. Captions tell us: [On the fringes of society, you’ll find there are people who devote themselves to understanding secrets. But sometimes, in some places—such as the underground headquarters of Young Justice—there are secrets trying to understand people.] Red Tornado catches her looking around and asks who she is. She says she’s a friend of the boys and Red Tornado offers himself for advice if she needs something to talk—Wow, Freudian slip, there, “something to talk to,” I don’t see Red Tornado as human, subconsciously! Sorry, sorry Mr. Smith!--offers himself for advice if she needs someone to talk to. Secret explains her situation to him, including the DEO, and the basic events of Young Justice: The Secret. Apparently she’s been secretly following the boys ever since then in order to observe how they live, in an attempt to learn how to lead a normal life in the outside world herself. Red Tornado says that she definitely picked the wrong people to study if she wants to be a normal teenager, and she agrees, noting that Impulse in particular seems to get himself into an inordinate amount of trouble. 

So, basically this story is going to function as the framing device for the rest of this issue, like each character will naturally come up in this conversation between Secret and Red Tornado, and we’ll see that character’s origin story told in a way that’s like, somehow relevant to what Secret and Red Tornado are thinking or talking about. So, like, since she just brought up Impulse at the end of this section, we’ll go into Impulse’s story next, and between each story is a scene of Decisions, leading us out of and into each one. It’s a pretty good framing device, and it’s great to see more of Secret’s like, inner thoughts since we’re really still getting to know this character and don’t even have her origin story yet.

I will say Red Tornado is, like, unbelievably jacked, like, in these first pages especially, it’s really scary. Just the way Angel Unzueta draws him is just a lot less robot and a lot more human? Like, it’s like he has red skin rather than a metal shell, is the effect of the style. Like, why does he have veins? But anyway, Red Tornado’s line about being an advice vending machine is really funny but like, kind of out of character I feel like? Like, I don’t know, I just can’t see him saying that in a regular issue of Young Justice, it seems more like something that one of the boys would call him rather than something he’d call himself. But, regardless, Red Tornado is really sweet to Secret here, and you get the sense that he’s like, “Thank god I get a break from talking to insane people and can just give this sweet ghost girl some advice instead!” 

It’s also really cool to see panels from other issues redone in a different artist’s style! I know this is kind of like, one of the main points of a Secret Origins book, but yeah, just because you can tell the new artists really studied and like properly reinterpreted the original panels, like this one here from Young Justice: The Secret, with Secret and the boys on page four. There are a lot of these throughout the issue, so keep an eye out!

And the reveal that she’s been following around the boys ever since they helped her escape is really funny and sweet and also a little sad. But I think realistic! Like, if you just got out of captivity, which you’d spent your entire known life in, wouldn’t you also latch onto the first people who showed you any kindness whatsoever? Especially because she doesn’t remember her life before DEO, like, it makes sense that she wouldn’t have known where else to go. Red Tornado’s probably right that Secret picked the wrong people to observe in order to understand how to lead a normal life, but I don’t think Secret really actually wants a normal life, and besides, it’s not something that’s actually really obtainable for her at this stage—she’s on the run from a government agency and generally basically incorporeal. It’s probably fine if she observes other people her age with atypical lives, even if she doesn’t end up wanting to be a full-time vigilante. Her line about it being a wonder that Impulse even finds time to acquire enemies is really funny, too. And let’s check in with that troublemaker, shall we?

[ACTUAL REALITY]

Our second story is “Actual Reality,” featuring Bart Allen as Impulse, and it was written by Mark Waid, pencilled by Humberto Ramos, inked by Wayne Faucher, colored by Jason Wright, and lettered by Chris Eliopoulos.

Over in Manchester Alabama, we get the secret origin of Impulse! Carol Bucklen, Bart’s best friend, is rescued from some bullies by Bart, though he fails to read some “fresh pavement” construction signs and ends up getting tar all over himself. He only makes it worse trying to get it off and ends up stuck in the barrel of tar. Carol is freaking out, worried about the road crew coming back, but Bart tells her to relax; the bullies will catch up to them first! Carol, frustrated, asks Bart why he’s like this. “Like what?” He asks. “Like from another planet!” Bart explains to her, apparently not for the first time, that he’s not from another planet, just the thirtieth century, where his grandparents, Barry and Iris Allen, lived for a while. He inherited the superspeed gene, but it manifested by aging him quickly, in what was called “hyperacceleration.” His body aged, but his mind didn’t. Carol asks how old he is now, and he says, “Three. Fifteen. Depends.” The EarthGov scientists could only teach him by keeping him in constant virtual reality—basically he grew up in video games. Carol impresses upon him that this is the real world, and not everything comes with a reset button, for example getting stuck in a barrel of tar. Bart continues to explain that his grandmother Iris took him back to this century and the new Flash, his cousin Wally, helped reset his powers by pushing him past his limit, and after that he could run at any speed he wanted and even vibrate through things; recounting this gives Bart the idea to try vibrating through the tar, but it doesn’t work and just heats up the tar so that it starts burning him. Carol continues to try to pull him out and asks who gave him the name Impulse. Bart tells her that Batman did, and wonders if he was being funny—Carol thinks he was. She gives up and tries to go get Max Mercury, but Bart protests and sticks her in the barrel of tar next to him to stop her. He says Max doesn’t understand him and explains that Wally said he needed supervision, so stuck him with the alleged “zen master of speed,” so now Bart has to pretend to be Max’s nephew and live with him and his daughter Helen. Carol says that Max is just trying to help Bart by training him and teaching him to protect his secret identity. Bart points out that she figured it out, but Carol says that probably only made Max even more paranoid. Then the bullies catch up with them, Bart antagonizes them a little, but thanks to Carol’s quick thinking the bullies are tricked into throwing the tar barrel with Bart and Carol in it down the hill, which breaks the barrel and finally separates the tar from them. Bart puts on the Impulse suit and gets some quick revenge on the bullies, which involves knocking them down the hill and sticking traffic cones on their heads with the remaining tar. He calls for Carol now that the coast is clear, but she has yet to forgive him for getting them into so much trouble.

So, as soon as I started this story I was like, “Omg I love this art, I wonder who did the pencils,” and I looked at the credits and of course… it was my GOAT Humberto Ramos. I just really love his style so much, especially combined with Jason Wright’s like really vibrant colors. But anyway, I really like this story, though maybe I’m biased as a Bart-lover, but Mark Waid, the madman, has done it again… I just find the back-and-forth dialogue between Bart and Carol to be really natural and funny. Especially that part where Bart is trying to vibrate out of the tar and it’s burning him and he’s like, “Ow,” and she’s like, “Stop,” and he’s like, “Ow,” and she’s like “Stop!” and they just go back and forth.

In terms of the actual origin story, I do just find Bart to be the most interesting character out of all the speedsters, and part of it definitely has to do with him genetically inheriting the speedster gene and the unique powerset that comes with that. His altered development is also a great character detail which allows writers to do a lot of different things with him and have him make decisions and do things that other characters wouldn’t do. I also like highlighting the idea that Bart has trouble with, like, consequences of actions, which would probably be hard for any speedster—like, being able to instantly fix most physical mistakes—and much less one raised in a virtual reality. As Carol says, this is actual reality and as clumsily as Bart does it, I really do think he does his best to understand and adapt to that. 

But yeah, not too much to say other than that; I have been through all of these origins pretty much in my first episode, Episode 0 of this podcast, besides Spoiler’s obviously, so I’ll try not to repeat myself too much, but I think it’s a good retelling and summation of those events, and I do think it lends some good insight into Bart’s character, especially if you don’t have that context before. I love how they did clarify that the bully that Bart compared to a gorilla was not the black one. Good call, guys. It is also crazy that getting the bullies to throw the barrel with them in it actually works in letting them escape the tar and doesn’t, like, seriously injure or kill them, but I’m glad they’re okay. I guess it’s not that big of a hill. But yeah I don’t blame Carol for still being mad at Bart; kinda deserved for this one. 

[DECISIONS]

Going back to Decisions with Secret and Red Tornado, we’re still in the Young Justice headquarters, and Red Tornado agrees that Bart gets into a lot of trouble but admires his determination to keep trying until he gets it right—or at least done. Secret says that all of the boys seem to share that kind of drive, and she wishes she were that strong. Red Tornado assures her that, having been through what she has also takes an incredible will, and it’s impressive that she’s survived. But she argues that it doesn’t feel the same—she spent her time with the DEO being patient and evasive, rather than fighting back. Red Tornado says that patience is also a kind of strength, but Secret thinks of Superboy, who always seems to be pushing himself to and past his limits.

I think that Secret’s struggle is actually really relatable here—being surrounded by people who seem like they have it figured out, or at least seem passionate about whatever they’re doing—it can make trying to find your own sense of purpose even more difficult. And again, it’s nice that Red Tornado is being so sweet to her. Kind of acting as therapist in this moment.

[SUPERBOY! SECRETS! ORIGIN! THIS ONE’S GOT ‘EM ALL!]

Moving on, our third story is titled “Superboy! Secrets! Origin! This One’s Got ‘Em All!” and features Superboy, as you might have guessed. This story was written by Karl Kesel, pencilled by Joe Phillips, inked by Jasen Rodriguez, colored by Tom McCraw, and lettered by lettering studio Comicraft, and Frank Berrios is credited as assistant editor, just on this story.

We catch up with Superboy just as some deadly titanium shells are headed right for him! …But of course they bounce right off of him. He is apparently fighting aliens who are intent on enslaving mankind, and he avidly narrates his own super-heroing as he fights. It turns out that it’s only a training session with Cadmus, though, and Dubbilex, Guardian, and Dr. Serling Roquette are observing Superboy. Mickey Cannon, the director of Cadmus, joins them a moment later, and since he’s new to the project he hasn’t gotten a chance to look at Superboy’s file, so Guardian gives him and us a refresher on Superboy’s powers. He goes over TTK, his invulnerability to solid objects, though he says that Superboy is not invulnerable to energy—electricity, extreme heat and cold, etcetera. Mickey protests that his powers seem very different to Superman’s, and Guardian explains that Project Cadmus originally wanted to produce a clone of Superman after he died at the hands of Doomsday, but the original directors couldn’t replicate Kryptonian DNA, so then Director Westfield created a modified clone of himself, genetically engineered to be as close to Superman as possibly in terms of appearance and powers. Superboy was grown at an accelerated rate (much like Bart, actually), and implanted with knowledge appropriate to what he’d be learning as a normally developing human. This went on until the Newsboy Legion found out about this illegal experiment and freed Superboy, which was probably good since Director Westfield was so freaking evil. Guardian pointedly says they all hope Cadmus never has to deal with that kind of Director again. Superboy, meanwhile, has continued to narrate his training session in typical creative and self-aggrandizing manner. Dubbilex comments on his imagination, and Guardian goes in to help Superboy with his training—i.e., give him one last challenge before he succeeds in the session. Mickey still wonders why Director PAul Westfield didn’t give Superboy more superpowers, like x-ray and heat-vision, elevated senses, etcetera, since those things should have been easy to add genetically, and Dr. Roquette says that she recently got a genetic scan of Superboy, which happened in Superboy #1000000, and it appears that those kinds of modifications—that is, different types of vision and super-senses—are genetically coded into him, but specifically to activate as he grows older, much like how Superman’s powers naturally developed under a yellow sun. Dr. Roquette doesn’t know exactly what powers he’ll develop—or rather, would develop, as Dubbliex points out; the procedure that Dr. Amanda Spence performed to save him from the virus he contracted circa Superboy #40 had the side-effect of permanently stopping his aging—meaning he’ll remain sixteen forever, theoretically. Mickey is displeased by this. Meanwhile, Superboy and Guardian continue to duke it out, each gaining the upper hand on the other, and just when it appears Superboy’s won, Guardian points out that he’s actually back where he started, and will have to get across the room with all new traps. Superboy says that at least he has Guardian by his side, this time, and they both start pretending that they’re being attacked by Intergang, having a great time fighting their way out together. 

Boy I wish I could tell the me of a couple months ago trying to figure out Superboy’s exact powerset and origin story for Episode 0 about this comic. Alas. But yeah, I’ll be honest, I probably find this story to be the least riveting of all the stories in this book? Like, I just don’t find the framing device of the Cadmus crew having to explain Superboy’s origin to Mickey Cannon to be very compelling at all—like, half the fun of these stories is getting to hear these heroes tell their origins in their own words, and sort of glean what they themselves think of those events. I also just really don’t find Dubbilex and Guardian to be very interesting characters in a vacuum, and this story kind of does exactly that to them. Shoutout to Dr. Roquette, though, I love her. But yeah I did make this connection for the first time about Bart and Kon sharing a kind of stunted or misshapen development—their natural growth being somehow interfered with, or in Superboy’s case, halted completely. I’m not really sure what I think that connection means yet, but I suppose that, if Young Justice as a series is being framed as a sort of companion piece to adolescence, it makes sense for the characters to also come to this phase of their lives needing to learn how to adapt to it—all of the characters in YJ have this to a certain extent—Secret’s talking about it in her story in this issue as well. Tim is kind of the only one who’s like, “Yeah being a teenager is weird but I have a job so I can’t really worry about that right now.” And it also presents the question of like, is superhero-ing taking their youth away from them by forcing them to take on more than the average responsibility, or does it enhance that period of youth? 

You can tell I don’t have much to say about this story because I’ve veered into working on my unified theory of Young Justice, but here are the things I actually did like… I like the art, it’s very clean, and the colors are bright, which I like. I think it’s very funny when Guardian is like, “Yeah, that Paul Westfield guy was so evil, I sure hope our CURRENT director ISN’T EVIL,” like, directly into Mickey Cannon’s face. Like, damn that whole Westfield thing really traumatized Guardian. And I also like Dr. Roquette revealing that Superboy was in fact engineered to develop super senses and other powers as he matured. I can’t remember if we already knew this from a different issue or if we didn’t, but it’s cool to know, and makes the Cadmus scientists seem like, less stupid for nerfing Superboy so severely. I also like, I was just very confused about the geography of this room that Superboy’s training in or like, what the goal was? Like, I know he’s trying to get out of the room, but at the end when Guardian’s like, “But look where you’ve ended up!” I’m like, “Where is he…?” I don’t know, it just, maybe I have to read it again, we’ll see. But let’s move on!

[DECISIONS]

Back in Decisions, Secret voices the idea that it’s sad to think Superboy will never reach his full potential due to being stuck at sixteen, but Red Tornado argues that he’s fulfilling his potential in lots of other ways, and he’s doing his best with what he has. Tornado goes on to say that it’s counterproductive to compare yourself to others, and it’s better to determine your own standards of success. Secret says she sees what he means; the DEO had set all her goals for her, but now she can set her own. She understands the pressure that the YJ boys are under, with their superhero counterparts to live up to, and she thinks it must be hard for Robin to have not just one, but two, referencing Batman and Nightwing. 

Girl, that’s how I felt when I graduated from college. I was like, “What do you mean no one will ever give me an A in something ever again in my life? How am I supposed to know if I did a good job?” But yeah Secret’s struggles here speak to something really true about leaving an institution, whether that’s the DEO, academia, or something else—that instant loss of identity is pretty universal; I really feel for her. And I think in terms of Robin, I think that Dick actually serves as a good counterbalance to Batman for Tim, like it’s an example of like, “Here’s how to grow up and keep doing the Batman thing without literally becoming Batman.” And I think that’s supported by the story, so let’s get into it. 

[LITTLE WING]

The fourth story features Tim Drake as Robin and is titled “Little Wing.” It was written by Chuck Dixon, pencilled [and inked] by Cully Hamner, colored by Roberto Tewes, and lettered by Tim Harkins.

Tim Drake has come to Dick Grayson’s apartment in Blüdhaven to get away from everything for a while. Dick bothers him in typical older brother fashion, but eventually asks if Tim ever thinks about giving up vigilantism and leading a normal life. Tim says that he doesn’t think his life’s been normal ever since that fateful day he met Dick at Haly’s Circus and saw the Graysons die. He recounts the tragic events of that night, including Batman showing up. Dick still finds it amazing that Tim figured out his and Bruce’s secret identities at only nine years old. Tim explains that Dick’s signature quadruple somersault gave him away, and says he followed Batman and Robin very closely after that, and witnessed Dick’s graduation from the Robin mantle. Together they reminisce about Tim becoming Robin because Dick couldn’t, and saving Batman and Nightwing from Two-Face, which led him to officially becoming Robin and filling the void that Jason Todd, the second Robin, left unwillingly when he died. Dick asks about Tim’s training and apologizes for not being very involved with it. Tim explains that Batman trained him very thoroughly, but was extremely reluctant to let him actually wear the Robin suit and go out with him at night. That is, until Tim snuck out anyway to save Bruce from one of Scarecrow’s schemes, and Bruce finally gave him his own Robin suit, then sent him for further training with Henri Ducard, Lady Shiva, and the like. Tim talks about all the rogues he’s fought, and Dick asks why he keeps doing it rather than trying to get out. Tim says maybe one day he’ll realize how insane this life is, but for now he needs to keep being Robin, both for himself and for Bruce and the greater good. Dick says that’s fair enough, and then Barbara calls in with some information on a drug shipment. Dick and Tim head out together as Nightwing and Robin, and Tim says in narration that while he did come here to get away from it all, perhaps it’s alright that you can never really get away from who you’re meant to be.

Yeah this story basically just makes me really wish that DC knew what to do with Tim in current comics… like, he’s such a natural vigilante it really feels like he should’ve stepped into and established his own identity unattached to the Robin mantle a hundred times over by now. But yeah, anyway, I like this story, I love Tim and Dick as brothers, I think that dynamic really works, and it’s incredibly weird to me that Jack and Janet Drake are both blonde. Like I just do not picture them blonde ever. And yeah, going back to what I was saying in the last Decisions section, I think having Dick-as-Nightwing to look up to is really quite healthy for Tim, and if it was just him and Bruce I think he might struggle a lot more and hold himself to even higher expectations than he already does. 

[DECISIONS]

In Decisions, Secret wonders if Tim knew how much responsibility he was taking on at the time, or if any of the boys did for that matter, and Red Tornado responds that he doesn’t think so, and is fairly sure Impulse still doesn’t know, though they have all certainly risen to the occasion. Secret wonders how they knew what they were meant for; she doesn’t think she should necessarily be a hero like them, but it feels like she should. Just then, someone begins calling for help outside the cave. Secret and Red Tornado rush out and find a girl hanging by her sweater from a tree branch. Secret catches her when she falls, and scolds her for being reckless. The girl explains she was having a picnic with her family over the ridge and decided to go exploring. She admires Secret’s superheroing, and Secret tells her to keep that on the downlow for now, and the girl agrees. Red Tornado points out that Secret didn’t seem to have any doubt about what to do in that situation, and Secret agrees, and says it was a split-second of clarity, and she thinks that that’s what it must have been like for the boys, too.

Girl how’d you even get up in the tree like that, like, what the hell? Like she’s literally hanging from her sweater, off of the ground. This “hero save” for Secret is really kind of lame. Like I wish it connected more to her unique abilities like it wouldn’t have just been like—anyone can catch a girl falling from a tree, you know what I mean? But I’m happy she’s happy. And I do like how her somewhat naive view of “just knowing what was right” is kind of immediately gonna be challenged by Stephanie’s more complicated journey to vigilantism.

[DADDY’S LITTLE VIGILANTE]

Speaking of, the fifth story is called “Daddy’s Little Vigilante,” featuring Stephanie Brown as Spoiler, and it was written by Chuck Dixon, pencilled by Amanda Conner, inked by Jimmy Palmiotti, colored by Pam Rambo, and lettered by Clem Robins once again.

Stephanie Brown, otherwise known as Spoiler, narrates that yes, she is a vigilante, of the Bat-adjacent variety, but hasn’t been crimefighting as of late. She says that perhaps she was always destined to be a superhero due to the negative role-modeling of her father, Arthur Brown. We see a flashback to Stephanie as a toddler, and see that her father was abusive to both her and her mother, Crystal Brown. It turns out he was and is the villain, Cluemaster, though he was apparently never very good at villainy, and spent years in and out of Blackgate Prison. Arthur largely blamed Batman for his failings, which made Stephanie like Batman. She says her father aspired to the likes of the Joker or the Riddler, but he wasn’t very good at leaving his titular “clues,” which just ended up getting him caught more often than not. Even when Stephanie’s father was away for longer periods of time, her mother still struggled with addiction and the trauma of her abusive marriage. Arthur got out of prison when Steph was fifteen, although all his apparent rehabilitation accomplished was curing his affinity for clues—he was still a criminal, and now planning an actually competent crime at that. Stephanie felt she had no other choice but to become a vigilante herself in order to stop him; she made her own costume and followed her father. She began leaving her own clues in order to tip off Batman, though he and Robin got the mistaken impression that Stephanie was actually working with her father by leaving the clues. Despite getting off on the wrong foot, she quickly developed affection for Robin, who also introduced her to Batman. The dynamic duo told her to let them handle the situation, but she wanted to make sure Arthur didn’t get away—and get some catharsis while she was at it; she revealed her identity to her father, who was shocked. Batman did convince her not to kill him, which she supposes was for the best, and though she obeyed him, he still told her to hang up the cape and tights, which she did not. She’s had a great run so far as Spoiler since then, but she’s not a vigilante anymore, though she thinks she might go back to it someday. It turns out she’s been telling all of this to her pregnant belly, and she says she hopes the baby’s adoptive parents will do better than hers did. 

Literal pregnancy jumpscare at the end there—I had completely forgotten that this storyline was happening at this point in the continuity, and just when I was getting to the end of this story, being like, “Damn, why wasn’t Steph in Young Justice?” I was hit with this panel like, “Ohhh right. That.” I really do wonder if having Steph in YJ was the plan at some point, because she does make a cameo in JLA: World Without Grown-Ups like in the same context as Arrowette and Wonder Girl, and it’s also interesting that she was included here in this issue… if anyone knows anything about that situation please hit me up—I mean, I know Chuck Dixon was pretty… like, he really wanted to do the teen pregnancy storyline. But I wonder if he like, didn’t communicate that to the rest of like, DC writers and, like maybe Peter David was under the impression… or Todd Dezago, because I guess he wrote JLA: World Without Grown-Ups, but, anyway, yeah, if anyone has any info, please hit me up, I’m really curious.

Anyway, this week’s no-context-panel teaser was from this story; #KillYourDadSaturday. Yeah I just love Steph and I actually really like this story. First of all I just love when women draw women, you can kind of… tell, and a lot of details in here are great, so definite shout out to Amanda Conner on pencils here. Steph’s story in general is really tragic, which makes her character all the cooler honestly, I’ve always loved Spoiler. Like, her thing is basically “My dad was such a loser that I had to become a superhero just to make him stop embarrassing me.” Like, character of all time, honestly. This story is also really well-told, as in the actual dialogue of Steph explaining everything is pretty straightforward but entertaining. Like I said before, a lot of the fun of these stories is getting a peek into how the character themself feels about the events of their origin, with a little hindsight to look back on it. Again, I wish DC gave Steph a lot more to do (even another solo series as Spoiler rather than Batgirl), but I’m enjoying the Batgirls team-up book and I’m glad she’s a fixture of modern Bat-comics. Oh, and I also wanted to mention there’s also a cool panel in here of Arthur hitting Crystal—that’s not cool, but—in the background of the panel there’s a mirrored pose on the TV, and for some reason that just really hit me as like, poignant? Like, the way that violence is made into entertainment and enjoyed lightly, versus, like, the contrast of a real-life example of violence that isn’t funny or cool at all, it’s just sort of shocking and gross. I also really enjoy that in the last panel there’s a box on Steph’s bed in her room labeled “skinny clothes,” like, that’s just so realistic, that a pregnant teenage girl would like, you know, obviously make that box and keep all her clothes, I mean why wouldn’t she keep her clothes, but you know what I mean. I like the box it’s a really good detail. Let’s move on.

[DECISIONS]

Back to Decisions, Secret and Red Tornado are still outside from when Secret saved the girl in the tree. Secret is glad that Spoiler seems to be doing alright, despite her father, and Red Tornado says that she managed to find a better role model for herself, meaning Batman. Secret wishes she had her own role model, and asks Red Tornado if there’s ever been a hero like her before. Red Tornado says not that he knows of, but Secret doesn’t need a role model; she can just be herself. She asks if there was a Red Tornado before him and he says yes, but that she doesn’t even want to know. Secret still thinks it’d make things much easier for her if she could be someone’s sidekick and then inherit their name and legacy, the way her friends in Young Justice will. Red Tornado tells her that it would make some things easier but others more difficult; there’s always baggage attached to a hero’s legacy that you also inherit along with the good things.

I believe Red Tornado is referencing the Ma Hunkel version of his character here, which is a funny kind of meta reference. And I completely sympathize with Secret! I mean she doesn’t even know what she is, really, or the full extent of her powers, so it’s completely reasonable to want a mentor like the other members of YJ do. I also really love this panel of them, like, the reflection in the pond or lake. I love when they do like Secret with no pupils or irises, like, just blank eyes like it’s really creepy and cool.

[TRUTH IS STRANGER]

The sixth story of this book is titled “Truth is Stranger” and features Cassie Sandsmark as Wonder Girl. This story was written by Jay Faerber, pencilled and inked by Ethan Van Sciver, colored by Felix Serrano, and lettered by Janice Chiang. 

We catch up with Cassie in school, as she tells her friend, Georgia, that she noticed the new kid in their class is drawing superheroes. She considers herself to be a superhero expert so she introduces herself to the new kid, whose name is Cole Rorchek. She says she knows the superhero Wonder Girl and offers to tell him her secret origin, though Cole seems more interested in a more famous hero like Superman or Flash, but Cassie assures him that those guys are old news and Wonder Girl is much cooler, and she begins to tell him the story. She says Wonder Girl first met Wonder Woman when they teamed up to fight an Ancient Greek robot, which was foiled thanks to Cassie’s plan. Wonder Woman, impressed, asked Cassie to be her partner and began training her. Cassie explains that Wonder Woman gifted her the Sandals of Hermes, but told her not to use them without her permission, though Cassie had to break that rule when she saw Wonder Woman fighting Doomsday. She used the Sandals and also the Gauntlet of Atlas to help in the fight and aided Wonder Woman in the defeat of Doomsday, which Cole is pretty impressed by. Cassie goes on to say that her mother didn’t want her to become a superhero and though Wonder Woman disagreed, she ultimately conceded to Helena. Luckily, Wonder Girl managed to sneak into Olympus with Wonder Woman and company, and got the chance to ask Zeus for actual superpowers, who granted her wish—with a caveat that Cassie’s mother, Helena Sandsmark, could depower her with just a touch. Morgaine le Fay later exploited this when she possessed Helena, teaming up with Merlin to strike Cassie down. Wonder Woman intervened in time, however, and saved Cassie and her mom. Cassie also recounts how the previous Wonder Girl, Donna Troy, gave her her old costume, as a rite of passage. Cassie now asks Cole if she’s changed his mind about Wonder Girl, and Cole says she has, and he thinks Wonder Girl is pretty cool now, though when Cassie asks if he’d believe she was Wonder Girl, he scoffs, leaving Cassie disappointed.

So, this was pretty interesting to read for me because I haven’t read Cassie’s original introduction in Wonder Woman, though I knew, like, the gist of it, obviously. I will say the whole set up of this and the last panels where Cassie asks Cole like, “What would you say if I told you I was Wonder Girl?” and she’s like sad when he doesn’t believe her… I mean, it’s just a little silly like, Cassie, as far as we know, leads a very charmed life with a mother that loves her and a mentor that trains and protects her, and obviously no one would believe that like, their random middle school classmate is an actual superhero. I’m just saying like, don’t take it personally, Cassie. And you shouldn’t have been telling random people your secret identity anyway?! When you specifically wear a wig to conceal it! I’m just like, why did she do that. I mean I get that she’s like, kind of insecure, but, ugh, I don’t know. I just like Cassie a lot more later, in Young Justice. I do really like some of the art here, and the drawing of Zeus on page fifty-six is very cool and like really interesting to look at. But yeah I think that’s it for this one, sorry guys I just don’t have much to say!

[SHAFTED]

Our seventh and final story of this comic is called “Shafted” and features Cissie King-Jones as Arrowette. This story was written by Tom Peyer, penciled by Marty Egeland, inked by Norm Rapmund, colored by Scott Baumann, and lettered by Kurt Hathaway. 

Arrowette, Cissie King-Jones, is having a therapy session with her psychiatrist, Dr. Marcy Money. Marcy is trying to get Cissie to explain why she became a vigilante, and though Cissie seems reluctant, she ultimately obliges. She explains that this all begins with her mother’s mother, Millie King, who trained Bonnie in archery relentlessly; eventually Bonnie won the bronze medal at the Olympics in archery, but this was dissatisfying to her mother, Millie, so Bonnie moved out and never spoke to her mother again. Despite swearing off archery, when she discovered Green Arrow and Speedy, she decided to follow in their footsteps and became Miss Arrowette. Though she wasn’t successful in crimefighting, she met Bernell “Bowstring” Jones through it, a reporter. He knew her from the Olympics, and they flirted a little before she got him to agree to be assistant to Miss Arrowette, though by day Bonnie was still a struggling temp worker. Marcy Money interrupts Cissie here, pointing out how much Cissie is having to talk about her mother’s life in order to talk about her own. Cissie agrees; Bonnie made sure that Cissie’s life has been an almost exact mirror of her own. Bonnie’s vigilante career was further hindered by her developing carpal tunnel, so she had to quit archery. She married Bowstring and had Cissie, though Bowstring dropped dead when Cissie was five thanks to some bad shellfish. Cissie says that she was old enough, though, to be ashamed at how ecstatic Bonnie was to receive the insurance check from Hal Jordan. Bonnie, determined to live her dreams vicariously through Cissie, trained her even harder than Millie trained Bonnie, getting her lessons in every skill money could buy. Cissie says, “By the time I’d graduated from Camp Bonnie, I’d turned into my mother, and she’d turned into hers.” Cissie explains that she was then crimefighting in her mother’s old costume, not because she had any personal desire for vengeance or justice, but because her mother told her to. Because Superman’s death coincided with Cissie’s debut as the new Miss Arrowette, Bonnie put even more pressure on Cissie to get noticed by the media as a vigilante. This resulted in the plan to capture the hot new villain, the Spazz, which led Cissie and Bonnie into the paths of Max Mercury and Impulse; Bonnie didn’t want to share the spotlight with them, but she had bigger problems when Max turned her in to Child Welfare Services, who removed Cissie from Bonnie’s custody despite best efforts of Bonnie and her lawyer. Bonnie was then put under psychiatric observation. Cissie says she expected to be scared or sad, but all she felt was relief. In the present, Dr. Money validates Cissie’s feelings and prompts her to figure out what to do with those feelings. Cissie says she wants to go public, but Marcy discourages her, saying that the court sealed Cisse’s file in order to protect her identity from the criminals she fought as Arrowette. Cissie protests that she’s worried if she doesn’t go public, she’ll let her mother force her into being Arrowette again, and she doesn’t want that to happen. Marcy says that what she’s feeling is completely normal, and any number of extreme reactions on Cissie’s behalf could be expected, including never being Arrowette again, cutting contact with her mother, or even trying to be an even better Arrowette in her mother’s absence, to spite her. Cissie seems very interested in that last option, and we cut to some time later, where Cissie is back being Arrowette, and Dr. Marcy Money watches this on TV with dismay. She’s convinced that she’s ruined Cissie’s life and put her in grave danger, though she’s hesitant to go to the authorities and possibly make things worse for Cissie by exposing her identity.

So, I already talked about this origin quite a bit in Episode 0, but yeah basically, I think this story of like, generational trauma passed down maternally is very interesting and poignant and makes Cissie one of the most interesting members of the team on a character level. It is great to see more of Marcy Money, because the only time you really see her again in Young Justice is when she, well, dies—sorry spoilers—around issue eighteen. So, yeah it’s really good to see what her and Cissie’s relationship actually was like a bit more. Couple of notes here—it is kind of insane that Bowstring like, drops dead from presumably defective shrimp? Like, it doesn’t say he has an allergy, and why would he be eating shellfish voluntarily if he did, but it specifically says he dies from quote-unquote “bad shellfish” which like, I’m pretty sure even the worst contractable parasite or virus would take at least a few hours to kill someone after ingestion. Unless he choked on it, but it didn’t say that. But yeah, I’m very curious about this piece of instant death shrimp, Bonnie should’ve reported it to the CDC probably. Also very fun to have a Hal Jordan cameo, I forgot that he has like, this stint as an insurance guy, but yeah and his disapproving look at Bonnie as he leaves is really funny.

Once again I just really love the characters telling their stories in their own words, and that line where Cissie says, “By the time I’d graduated from Camp Bonnie, I’d turned into my mother, and she’d turned into hers.” Like, really chilling honestly. It’s very sad to see this kind of like doomed line of Kings and King-Joneses who just can’t seem to get it right, you know? Very like, the cycle of abuse and the cycle of trauma. I do find it a little hard to believe that Marcy’s comment about being Arrowette to spite her mother wouldn’t have already occurred to Cissie organically, but perhaps it was just Marcy’s phrasing that sparked it for Cissie. I also think in terms of Marcy despairing over like, feeling guilty about being responsible for Cissie’s backslide into vigilantism… if she’s really that worried then surely there’s a way for her to contact the original people or law enforcement that already dealt with Cissie’s custody case? Like, they could continue to keep her identity a secret and her file kept to only those who already know… I think? I don’t know, maybe there are more bureaucratic problems with that but it just seems like, Marcy girl, like get it together and help that child if you want to! Anyway, yeah, this is definitely another one of my favorite stories, I just love Cissie. Cissie and Bart are my babies.

[DECISIONS]

Lastly we check back with Secret and Red Tornado one last time, and Secret says she sees what he means about inheriting trouble along with a legacy. Red Tornado says it’s not enough just to know what to do; you also have to know why you’re doing it. Secret says that all of the heroes they’ve discussed have that—that reason, and they also know who to go after, and she doesn’t know if she has that yet. Red Tornado points that even so she seems to have made up her mind about something. She says she has, and the thing she wants to change is the fact that the DEO still has other kids like her trapped in their facility—she wants to show them the outside world so they can also decide for themselves what kind of life they want to lead. Red Tornado approves, and says the other heroes would, too. Secret is glad, and says that that’s really what she’d come to the headquarters to ask Young Justice about, if she hadn’t run into Red Tornado first. Red Tornado invites her to wait in the cave to talk to the team, and they should be back soon. She says she’ll take the invitation, but needs to check on a few things first, and asks Tornado to let the boys know she’ll be back.

Okay, so yes, very good to get the background on issue four, I’m very glad I got this particular blank filled, and yes I’m still mad at whoever named this comic. It should’ve just been Secret Files and Origins parts one and two, in my opinion. But whatever. But yeah, it was a really fun read and I think very useful to understand the characters on a little bit of a deeper level, individually. I was also thinking about how all of them mostly have like, some problem or some sort of like turmoil that they’re dealing with surrounding their nightlives, but Tim is just like, “Yup love being Robin, always have always will, don’t really have any negative feelings about it right now! Just chilling with my cool older bro!” Like, good for you Tim, you absurdly well-adjusted child. I also just wanna mention that all three of the male characters—four if you include Red Tornado—had or have their own long-running solo series, and none of the female characters do. Which really sucks. I mean, Steph does, if you count Batgirl, but that’s post-reboot so… I don’t count it. Cissie never gets her own book, which I mean—for obvious reasons that I shall not name now. And Cassie doesn’t get her own book until 2007 which is pretty egregious if you ask me. Obviously Secret is made just for Young Justice, so… Sucks, guys. The misogyny. It’s everywhere, unfortunately.

[INTRO]

Hello, and welcome back to the Young, Just Us! Podcast! My name is Roman and I’m doing an issue-by-issue deep-dive into the 1998 run of DC Comics’ Young Justice.

Apologies for missing last week; I was kind of weirdly busy and didn’t plan my time well, but going forward I’m going to try and plan everything better and really commit to staying on schedule! And if I do need to take a week off I’ll definitely make a post in advance letting you guys know. We’re picking up where we left off last week and will be discussing issue four of Young Justice, which is our first issue with the girls of YJ, so I hope you’re excited! 

A couple things before we begin; I answered a couple of asks on the Tumblr, so first of all thank you for interacting and please don’t be shy; I’d love to chat over there or through email—that’s [email protected] once again. Second of all, one of the asks very helpfully let me know that Young Justice didn’t actually skip the month of September in 1998, rather they released a tie-in issue for the DC One Million event, so the Young Justice #1000000 issue did in fact come out on September 2nd, 1998. I did actually know that this issue existed, as well as the fact that lots of other DC series had an issue one million, but I just somehow didn’t connect it to the actual DC One Million event, so I had planned on covering it at some later date. But, thank you to that anon for the information, and I will be covering Young Justice #1000000 between issues 5 and 6. Next week will actually be Secret Files, because that’s what chronologically follows here, and I feel so dumb that I skipped 1000000 but you know, hopefully this will still be okay. I’ll be posting a schedule on the Tumblr of what issues I’ll cover in the next month, so hopefully that’ll be helpful if you’re reading along with me or if you’d just like to know ahead of time where the podcast will be. 

Anyway, last week we covered issue three of Young Justice, where we met a college-aged Mr. Mxyzptlk, stopped him from becoming Superman’s tormentor in his future, and then frantically made him reverse that decision, because apparently it was important to the balance of the New Earth timestream. In other words, there was this load-bearing beam that they shouldn’t have removed… Meanwhile, Red Tornado reunited with his adopted daughter Traya, and chased off some bullies for her before apparently recommitting to fatherhood. Robin and Superboy had another argument, Bart had a great time, and they saved the world with the power of the Three Stooges. This week we’ll be discussing issue four, which I will begin doing now. 

[YOUNG JUSTICE #4]

Issue four of Young Justice is titled Harm’s Way and was released on November 4, 1998. It was written by Peter David, pencilled by Todd Nauck, inked by Lary Stucker, colored by Jason Wright, and lettered by Ken Lopez. Panel separations were done by art studio Digital Chameleon, and Eddie Berganza is credited as editor with Frank Berrios as assistant editor. The usual suspects, plus Frank, everyone say “Hi, Frank.” Todd Nauck and Lary Stucker contributed to the cover art which I will be displaying on-screen in the YouTube version of this episode right now, but if you’re just listening don’t worry because I will describe it: The cover depicts Wonder Girl, Secret, and Arrowette at what is presumably Young Justice’s base in the old JLA headquarters cave, the entrance to which has been boarded up. Impulse, Robin, and Superboy are in shadow behind the boards, with only their eyes and mouths visible, plus Superboy’s straight earring and Impulse’s hands peeking over one of the boards. A few things are written on the boards in red paint, including: He-Man Woman Haters, Keep Out, No Girls, and Danger! Danger! No Trespassing. Some of Arrowette’s arrows are also embedded in the wood, and she has another one nocked, while Wonder Girl has a tough expression and a clenched fist, and Secret is trying to get inside the cave. Below the main Young Justice title is the subtitle: Now With Added Girl Power!?! 

This is a really cute cover, though I do feel it kind of leads the reader astray in terms of the actual content of this issue—the cover sort of implies that the boys will have an objection to letting girls join Young Justice, perhaps even on the basis of them being girls, but no such thing really happens in the issue; everyone’s pretty chill. But, you know, they want to put something on the shelves that’s eye-catching, something that sells, I get it. I do kind of wish the idea of YJ being a sort of boys’ club was explored a little more in the actual series, though, like if the boys did actually have any feelings about letting girls or even just other teen heroes in general join the team, or if the girls felt a little out-of-place or unwelcomed. But then I guess you might have to address the obvious and rampant sexism in comics in general, which I suppose I’m glad an all-male creative team did not take it upon themselves to get into in the year of 1998. So, perhaps for the best. Although, that being said, I do think the addition of the girls is handled with relative care and it’s like not as… like, “Whoa! A girl in our team!” Like it could also very easily have gone in that direction, which would have been worse than what we get, which is like, a relative like, “Yeah! You know, they’re also heroes… it’s fine.” So, I think that that it is also another way to go about it that is totally valid and I do appreciate the way that the female heroes are treated by the boys, like, maybe with the exception of Superboy but, you know, to be expected I guess. Um, but yeah, they could have like, made a big like, thing about it like, “But she had boobs! How can she join our team?!” You know what I mean? So I’m glad it didn’t go that direction, and uh, it all feels pretty realistic to like, they still feel like teenagers? But they handle the situation with the maturity you would hope that teen superheroes would have. So, gotta give credit where it’s due.

The synopsis for this issue on DC Universe Infinite reads:

New members join the team: Wonder Girl, Secret and Arrowette! After discovering an injured Arrowette, the team heads down a path that puts them directly in Harm's way! Can they stop the villain before he strikes again? 

Great synopsis, can’t blame them for using the "Harm's way” pun so much; it’s a great pun.

I’m going to get into the comic now so feel free to read along, just listen, or watch the YouTube version where you can see select panels I’ve pulled from this issue.

We open on the title page, which is something of a rarity—usually we have a couple pages before the title page, so, pretty cool—Arrowette appears to be beaten up with an arrow in her shoulder, and she’s saying “Wait a minute… This… This isn’t funny.” A shadow falls over her as she falls to the ground, commenting on her non-sequitor and saying that it indeed is not funny at all. Arrowette’s attacker drags a blade along her chin and tells her she wasn’t worth his time, even with all her training. He lets her live, though, and tells her to tell Impulse and all teen heroes to, quote, “Stay out of Harm’s way.” She tries to get up and face him again, but he just laughs her off and walks away. She starts calling for help, and then remembers no one comes when you say that, so she starts yelling “Fire!” and the silhouette of the Super-Cycle appears above her.

I suppose that Arrowette’s line about, “This isn’t funny!” is sort of lampshading the darker tone of this first page—like, having read all or most of Young Justice, I haven’t thought of it as an exclusively comedic series in a long time, but I do suppose that that’s the main tone of the first few issues, definitely. And a lot of the series is, like, quite funny; there’s a big focus on jokes and comedy. The Arrowette costume is… look, I wish she could wear pants. It’s a step up from her mother’s old costume, I suppose, but, you know. I just never buy that female superheroes wouldn’t wear their hair up. Wonder Woman gets a pass, I guess, like—she’s a demigod, whatever, but if I have long blonde hair and I’m shooting arrows like… That’s a slick-back bun type situation, you know what I mean? But anyway, her line about the fact that no one comes if you call for help is actually really funny, I like it a lot. I think I’ll talk more about Harm later on, but he certainly seems frightening in this scene, and we do get the very first drop of “stay out of Harm’s way,” which we’ll be hearing quite a few more times, so. Great stuff. 

Meanwhile, in Pamplona, Spain, it’s the Fiesta de San Fermin where citizens race against bulls through the town’s narrow streets. The caption urges the reader to forgive the fact that the festival takes place in summer and last issue was Halloween. A thief named Tora has stolen jewels from a courier. The editor’s note on this page reads: “And yes, we also know that ‘tora’ is a Japanese war cry and has zip to do with Spain, matadors, or cattle. But it was either that or ‘Lotta Bull’ so count your blessings.” Tora plans on riding the bulls to her getaway plane, but Impulse catches up with her. Apparently, she’s been on a tear of bull-related crimes, including china shop and Wall Street robberies. They engage in bull-related punning before she tries to get away with her bullwhip, but Superboy catches it. She seems to be defeated, but then she points out that Superboy might want to stop a plane from crashing into the crowd. He swears, which is marked by an asterisk which leads to an editor’s note that says, “Insert current popular but unprintable teen profanity here,” and Superboy takes off, Tora once again getting away, but then a Batarang hits her in the jaw, letting Impulse capture her once again.

So, I felt compelled to do quite a bit of fact-checking here, just in case. The Fiesta de San Fermin or the Festival of Saint Fermin is a week-long festival held in July, specifically July seventh to July fourteenth every year, in Pamplona, Navarre, Spain. There are a ton of events during this festival, but the running of the bulls happens every day at eight AM, and it’s kind of the most famous event. I’ve only done basic research on this so please correct me if I’m wrong, but I wouldn’t really characterize this as a “race” against the bulls? It’s more of like, “running amongst the bulls?” Basically this was a way to just actually physically move the bulls from outside of the city which is where they were bred and raised, into the bullring in the city which is where the afternoon bullfighting, another event of the festival, would take place. So originally the bull run wasn’t even an event, it was just like, “This is how we get the bulls into the city." But citizens basically ran in front of or beside the bulls for fun or to show their bravery or courage; this was in the early 1900s when the festival was being established. You could do it to impress your girlfriend, basically. Then it just kind of became tradition. So, yeah, not really a race, I wouldn’t say?

Moving onto the thief herself, Tora, here. “Tora” being a Japanese warcry is… not correct. Or, it’s a lot more complicated than that. The idea comes from the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, where Japanese pilot Mitsuo Fuchida supposedly yelled “Tora! Tora! Tora!” as he led the assault, and this idea was then popularized by the 1970 war film called “Tora! Tora! Tora!” which was a dramatization and reenactment of Pearl Harbor. So… in Japanese the word “tora” literally means “tiger,” but from my research—and I could not find any primary sources for this so definitely take it with a grain of salt—but apparently Japanese commander Tadakazu Yoshioka pre-arranged codes because the Japanese pilots were outfitted with telegraphs rather than microphones, so he chose easily recognizable morse code signals which were “to,” which was to signal the attack, and “ra,” which would signal that the attack was successful/that the US soldiers had not caught on, therefore the attack had unfolded as planned, as a surprise. So, to signal the attack, Fuchida instructed his radio operator to send the coded signal “to, to, to,” meaning “start attack.” And once sure the bombs had dropped, Fuchida sent along the infamous “to ra” message, indicating like, “attack complete/attack was a surprise/all good.” “Tora” being the word for tiger in Japanese was pure coincidence, and that phrase has not been used in basically any other context, anywhere, at all. So, it’s really not accurate to call it a “Japanese warcry.” It was a product of the specific environment and circumstances of Pearl Harbor, and this idea that it’s a Japanese warcry has been popularized and spread, but, this is not correct, from my research. 

What I believe they were actually going for was a feminine version of the Spanish word for bull, which is toro, though the actual form presented here, tora, is not a word in Spanish. It’s the same way that we have a different name for female bulls in English—which is “cows”—Spanish calls female bulls, or cows, vacas. I’m not saying this is a mistake, they clearly knew a lot of this stuff was silly or inaccurate as indicated by the editor’s notes, and “Lotta Bull” is a way worse name than Tora, so, fair. But all of this—the timeline discrepancy of the last issue having been Halloween and this one ostensibly taking place during this festival in the summer, the name (I mean like, they couldn’t have just made it a male villain named Toro?), it all just seems like a lot to finagle and set up just for like, five bull puns. Like, the fact that all of this happens during this festival is inconsequential, and this whole side plot with Tora is… first of all her only appearance, ever in any comic, ever. And second of all, this isn’t even like, the main plot of the comic? We get back to Happy Harbor pretty quickly. I guess it’s just to show that Fite ‘n’ Maad are like, still tracking them, and they followed them to Spain, I guess. But, I wonder why they were so set on this storyline, like, it seems like they could’ve just done like a way easier version of it. Maybe they were really attached to Tora’s design or something. 

I do think all the bull jokes are really funny, though, and the china shop and Wall Street robbery jokes are really funny—if you don’t know, there’s an English idiom to express indelicacy, to say something or someone is “like a bull in a china shop,” and on Wall Street there’s a large bronze bull statue which symbolizes financial prosperity; the stock market is also called the “bullmarket” sometimes. So, lots of bull stuff, and then Impulse telling her she’s going to the bullpen… that got a snort out of me, not gonna lie.

Just a note about a portion of dialogue here… it’s marked with angle brackets to indicate it’s being translated from another language, in this case Spanish, and in the translated dialogue, there are Spanish words, like, Tora says, “Sorry, señor jewel courier…” Now, this isn’t wrong, per se; in translation there are two different strategies called domestication and foreignization. You might also know domestication as localization—that’s basically trying to naturalize translated text in the target language; this includes coming up with comparable idioms, like, for example in Korean there’s an idiom for an easy or simple task: “누워서 떡먹기” which means, “It’s like eating rice cake lying down.” So that would probably be domesticated or localized as “A piece of cake.” Foreignization aims to keep elements of the original language, sometimes foreign words or… like, a foreignized translation of the previous example would probably keep the original idiom of “eating rice cake lying down,” just written in English rather than Korean. I tend to generally lean toward foreignization, but it really depends on the specific origin text and the purpose of the translation… Like, I would usually go with domesticated translation for children’s media, over foreignized. Anyway, you could say that the translations here are foreignized, but I tend to be of the opinion that if a word has a direct analogue in the target language, that word should be used… if I had translated Tora’s line, for example, I would’ve just had her say “Sorry, mister jewel courier…” rather than  “Señor jewel courier,” but also the target audience for YJ is quite young, so, you know. It’s good to be exposed to other languages and cultures. Just a fun translation note I thought would be interesting since, you know, I got my Bachelor’s degree in linguistics and I occasionally need to blow some dust off of that thang. 

Okay, moving on, I love the panel of Superboy catching Tora’s bullwhip (I’ll put it on screen)—it’s just very dynamic and nice to look at… Superboy’s costume was so good and I cannot believe that they replaced it with that T-shirt! Like, what the heck? But, guys… have you seen the concept art for season three of My Adventures with Superman? I would know those sunglasses anywhere, our boy might be back! But I am worried about production on season three, ‘cause, those pictures came out like, two years ago, in 2024. I’m like, “Guys… where’s season three, I wonder! Getting kind of nervous here!” But, anyway! The “insert current popular but unprintable teen profanity here” gag with Superboy is really funny, I wonder what he said. Please leave your guesses in the comments or shoot me an ask on Tumblr with your best “90s teen profanity that would also be in-character for Superboy to say” guess. They should’ve just taken a shot at it, honestly, in my opinion, like, get Karl Kesel in here with his slang dictionary! Be brave!

It is kind of silly to me how committed Tim is to the whole urban legend bit… this’ll become more of an issue later but it’s just funny to like, wait in the shadows with a batarang at the ready. I guess that’s kind of the whole Batman ethos, but still. 

A little later, the police take Tora away and she delivers the classic Scooby-Doo villain line, “And I would’ve gotten away with it, too, if it weren’t for those meddling kids!” The police also congratulate them on a job well done, calling them “young caballeros,” and Impulse says he likes that name better than “Young Justice.” Impulse and Superboy high-five, and just as they wonder where Robin is, he appears above them, on a rooftop. Impulse comments on how quickly the sun set at Robin’s entrance, and Robin asks if either of them have seen the Super-Cycle; apparently he whistled for it earlier, but it didn’t come. Superboy says that Robin is the Cycle’s guiding mind so he should know, but Robin replies that while the Cycle may like him the best, it definitely has a mind of its own. He’s interrupted, however, by Fite ‘n’ Maad, in matching sombreros, asking to have a word with the boys. Robin wonders how they show up everywhere they go, and Fite ‘n’ Maad say it’s just part of the job. Apparently they have a case they want to discuss with the boys—they want to know where the “bottle girl” is. The boys feign ignorance though they’re all, of course, thinking of Secret. Robin whistles for the Super-Cycle to get out of the conversation, which actually shows up this time. Fite ‘n’ Maad try to warn them about how dangerous Secret is and that they may have to take “unpleasant steps” if the boys refuse to cooperate, but they leave anyway. Superboy tries to assure Robin that they have the situation completely under control and Fite ‘n’ Maad were just trying to scare them. When he looks into the backseat of the cycle though, he sees blood!

Alright, Impulse’s beef with the Young Justice name continues! Seriously what is his problem? Okay so I used the panel of Robin on the roof as the episode teaser this week—it’s just really hilarious that in the panel before it’s fully daytime, and also remember the bullrun starts at eight AM during this festival, so it can’t be afternoon yet, much less evening, and as soon as they’re like, “Where’s Rob?” Tim appears on the roof and it’s night time, and Impulse is like, “Boy it gets dark fast around here!” I love jokes like that. 

Yes the Super-Cycle is busy helping Arrowette; I wonder why? I can’t remember if there’s an explanation for this, like, how it knew she was in trouble because it’s not like she’s met the Cycle before… She only knows Impulse and Impulse isn’t the “guiding mind” like Robin is, so… I don’t know! I guess the line about it having a mind of its own is supposed to account for that. 

And, alright, the gag of Fite and Maad in matching cultural costumes according to their location is really growing on me. Like, in isolation it can seem kind of offensive, like in issue two with the… turbans, question mark? But if they’re doing that literally everywhere they go it makes it funny to me. Like, that’s just how they roll. It also plays into the gag of undercover cops being really obvious about being undercover cops, which is great. I do wonder, much like Tim, how they’re tracking the boys… or if they’re tracking the Super-Cycle, more accurately, because I’m assuming the Cycle is how the boys got to Spain, and Fite and Maad did show up first on the digsite where the Cycle was unearthed, so maybe they’re just tracking the Cycle. I also don’t remember if they answer this later—we’ll see! I also wonder why they decided to confront them about Secret now—like, perhaps they just got some evidence that the boys definitely lied about Secret dying in Young Justice: The Secret. I think this might actually be answered next week in Secret Files, we’ll see. But yeah, the panel of all of the boys having the thought bubbles of Secret while they lie to Fite and Maad is really cute, and it’s interesting that she’s in different poses in the three thought-bubbles—like, in Bart's, she’s waving with a big smile, in Superboy’s, she’s like, posed kind of sexily? And in Robin’s she looks quite serious. I think it definitely reflects how the three of them thought or think of her… Bart’s like, “Oh, Secret? She was so nice!” and Superboy’s like, “Secret? She was kinda hot…” and Robin’s like, “Secret… she was scary and powerful.” Very in character, I guess. When I first read this, I hadn’t read Young Justice: The Secret, nor did I know it existed (thank you very much, disorganized DC Universe Infinite), so I was very lost there, like, “Bottle girl? What are they talking about?”

I do love Impulse’s thought bubble though… not the Secret one, but when Agent Maad says they may have to take “unpleasant steps,” Bart says, “Oh we wouldn’t want that,” and imagines Agent Maad stepping off a cliff… uh, taking an “unpleasant step.” It’s also funny that Superboy is sort of anti-cop here, talking to Robin like, “They’re just trying to psych us out, man!!! We got this under control!!” And then the blood reveal is pretty good. I love how Bart is always doing something random when he’s riding in the front seat of the Cycle, like here he’s going through what look like cassettes? And in issue two he was playing Connect 4, if I remember correctly. Great stuff from our ADHD king. 

Elsewhere, Cassie Sandsmark as Wonder Girl is beating up some idiot jocks who were apparently tormenting a stray cat, which, once saved, proceeds to scratch Cassie for her trouble. Annoyed, she complains to herself that her superhero efforts never seem to lead to anything good, but a voice from a mysterious mist tells her that she’s great. It turns out to be Secret, who tells her that she was hoping they could be friends, and that she could introduce Wonder Girl to some of her other friends. Wonder Girl isn’t interested at first, but at the mention of Superboy she becomes very eager to meet the boys.

So yeah you can imagine having not read The Secret, I was very confused here but basically just rolling with it. Luckily, here at the YJU podcast we are well-informed and up-to-date on our lore for the most part. I will say that the first panel of Wonder Girl here—it’s very cool, but, there’s like, kicked-up dust obscuring her lower legs and I genuinely think it’s because Todd Nauck couldn’t figure out this pose—but her ankles just look so broken as a result of the placement of her feet? It’s almost like he like, did a pose and then didn’t like it and drew the other pose, but ran out of time so had to keep the feet of the first pose for the second pose. Like, just cover up the feet, too, you know what I mean? But yeah, that gets me every time I look at the panel, I can’t unnotice it, I’m just like, “Damn Cassie… your ankles…” She also just looks generally so chopped in these early issues—once she loses the wig later on and gets her amazing red jeans that I want so bad, then we’ll be cooking. Alas, we’ll have to wait. 

The scene with Secret is really cute, I just love our team finally getting together—I love the detail that when Secret introduces herself she says, “I’m called Secret,” not “I am Secret,” alluding to the fact that she does have a name, she just doesn’t know it, and “Secret” is just what the people she knows, and actually likes, call her. And Cassie saying she’s named after a deodorant is quite funny. And then being like, “Your friends, what—?” What is it? “Right Guard, Old Spice, Ban?” I guess only Old Spice has stuck around. Some nineties deodorant brands for you, there. This is also the beginning of Cassie’s crush on Superboy, which I’ll definitely be tracking through the series—it actually doesn’t get on my nerves too much, surprisingly.

In the next scene, in a suburban home, a mother and father worry over their seventeen year old son. Ellen, the mother, wants to get him therapy, but the father, Burt, insists that their son is lost to them and all they can do now is pray that he leaves and doesn’t come back. Ellen* accuses Burt of being too scared to discipline him, and Burt says that he is, and reveals a scar on his throat that his son gave him, apparently nearly killing him. Ellen says he was only eleven when he did it, and Burt says that’s exactly the problem. Their son then comes out of his room, and it’s the villain that hurt Arrowette in the first pages. He tells his parents that he’s going out, and Ellen* quietly encourages Burt, who tries to stand up and tell their son that his curfew is 11:00 PM. Their son, Harm, finds this “droll” and says that he already lets them live; they shouldn’t press their luck. Burt and Ellen* cry together after he leaves. 

Okay, so this is like, one of the funniest scenes ever to me, like… The first time I read this I was hysterical… The reveal that Harm is seventeen years old is just so insane and hilarious to me. Like, the guy? The guy we saw in the beginning? He’s not, like, an assassin from the League of Shadows? He’s literally just some seventeen-year-old edgelord living in the suburbs?! It gets less funny once we learn the backstory later but, god, this reveal just kills me bro… like, me when I learn the word “droll.” “A curfew, how droll,” like shut up bro… Get back in that house Billy, you have an algebra test tomorrow, bro. Put that sword down! I do feel bad for Burt and Ellen* but also you simply must call the cops on him… like you simply must!

The boys get back to the cave in the bloodied Super-Cycle, and Red Tornado meets them, saying they have a situation, and leads them down to the medlab, where the injured Arrowette is laying on a cot. Red Tornado says that the Cycle brought her there and she said she knew Impulse, who indeed recognizes her, and that she requested no one call the police or take her to a hospital. Arrowette explains that she doesn’t want the trouble from her mother and the school she goes to. Red Tornado explains that the arrow went in with near-surgical precision, but it’ll be difficult to remove without hurting her more. Impulse jumps in, though, vibrating the arrow to pass it harmlessly out of Arrowette’s shoulder. She thanks him, and Robin begins wrapping her shoulder while she explains what happened. Apparently she received a letter addressed to her civilian identity, though the sender also knew her superhero identity, and it said the sender wanted to tip her off to a crime ring, and instructed her to meet them. She did, against her better judgment, and that’s when the villain attacked. She instinctively didn’t try to use her trick arrows, so used a standard one to try to pin the villain’s cape to the wall, but he caught it and threw it back at her, with speed comparable to Impulse; it went through her shoulder. She explains that he called himself Harm, and that he asked her to tell other teen heroes to stay out of his way. Superboy immediately takes off to take out Harm, despite Robin’s protests and Impulse’s annoyance, telling Robin that he took down plenty of bad guys as a solo act, and one more won’t hurt. 

So, Bart makes a Boys are Back in Town reference when they get back to the cave which is great… Bart’s taste in music is so funny like, yes to Thin Lizzy but no to Hanson. Actually kind of cultured of him, if you think about it. I also can’t tell if Red Tornado is being sarcastic or not during this interaction where he’s like, “It appears, lads, that we have a situation on our hands,” and Tim says, “Down in the medlab, I’ll bet. There’s blood all over the Super-Cycle.” And then Red Tornado is like, “Well done, young Holmes, clearly you were trained by the world’s greatest detective.” Like, is he being like, “Yeah no DUH Robin,” or is he genuinely like, “Excellent deduction, Tim!” Let me know what you think. I think he’s being genuine, but, just like, the way that, like, some of the words are italicized, you know, the way that comics do, and I was like, “That sounds kind of sarcastic to me.”

It’s really cute that Cissie asked for Bart and he immediately recognizes her and personally helps her get the arrow out. I recently read the Impulse issue where they meet, and, yeah it makes total sense that she wouldn’t want to get the police involved since her custody situation is so complicated, to say the least. It’s also just nice when things carry over from other series. Uh, guys, has anyone thought of this before? You could make an entire interconnected universe… it’s almost like this is the entire concept that the modern comics industry is predicated upon! But yeah, Impulse vibrating the arrow out is so freaking cool like, god, I just love speedster powersets and Bart’s in particular is so sick. Also a little moment of trust here between Timbart, where Superboy is going to stop Bart before he can start with the arrow, but Robin says it’s okay and Bart knows what he’s doing, very sweet!

But yes all of this stuff with Harm is very mysterious… the surgical precision of the arrow entrance and speed with which he threw it points to superstrength, so possibly a metahuman… and him knowing Arrowette’s secret identity is also quite concerning. Just noting all this for the future!

And guys. Look, I know I say this in literally every single episode… but Superboy is the Id. He’s always rushing off to do what he wants to do, and the joke where Impulse is like, “Boy, don’t you hate it when people just take off and do whatever they feel like?” And then everyone just looks at him—it isn’t even that much of a joke, because yes, Bart does that, sort of, but he also 1) Did not do that this time when he has plenty reason to, since he personally knows Arrowette, and 2) He usually does listen quite intently to what Robin tells him to do, and he does it! And look, I’m sure my perspective is a little skewed because I haven’t read a ton of the Impulse series, where I’m sure his no-pun-intended impulsivity is much more obviously an issue, and it’s sort of curbed here in Young Justice where he’s put into contrast with Superboy, so I don’t disagree that Impulse is the Id, like, generally, in his life or in a lot of other situations, but the whole point of Red Tornado’s explanation in issue one was to show how and why they’re a good team, and Freud’s model of the psyche is all about how the Id, Ego, and Superego relate to each other and function in concert with each other. So all I’m really saying is that, in Young Justice, in these early issues especially, Superboy is functionally the Id, in contrast to Robin who is functionally the Superego, in contrast to Impulse who functions as an in-between in this particular team, in these particular circumstances. It’s like how, if you have like, blue-green eyes, if you wear a green shirt they look more green, if you wear a blue shirt they look more blue. So like, Impulse in his life with Max Mercury is way more the Id, but when he’s in Young Justice, he’s the Ego. Like, two things can be true, you know what I mean? Now, things are obviously about to change with the girls joining the team, and that dynamic will shift, so you won’t have to hear me rave about this much more probably, but, that’s my thesis statement for early Young Justice. Jot it down. Thank you for putting up with hearing it multiple times. Moving on!

Wonder Girl and Secret are headed to the cave headquarters, Secret assuring Wonder Girl that the boys won’t mind if they just show up. Suddenly a metal device attaches itself to her leg, dragging her down. It’s from a car below them, and inside it is Harm. In the captions, he speaks to something called the “Book of Blood,” and his newest entry is Wonder Girl; he’s cataloguing her strengths and weaknesses. The metal hook is attached to Harm’s car, and pulls Wonder Girl along with it, slamming her into a bridge that he drives under. Secret goes into the car to confront Harm and tells him to let Wonder Girl go, but Harm electrocutes her and she seeps out of the car. He enters her, also, into the Book of Blood. Then, Harm notices his car being pulled backward by Superboy, and is excited at the prospect of a real challenge. Meanwhile Superboy is helping Wonder Girl, detaching the metal device from her. He introduces himself, and Cassie is lovestruck when she realizes who’s helping her. They have a flirty exchange but Secret interrupts, trying to warn them about Harm, though she’s not fast enough, and Harm throws his sword. Superboy catches it, and wonders aloud how Harm will do when he’s not fighting girls. Harm rightfully calls him a chauvinist and a big-mouth, and the sword that Superboy caught sprays gas into his mouth. Harm kicks Superboy and says, “As I thought. My studies are correct. Your powers stem from concentration. Interrupt that and you’re innocuous enough.” Wonder Girl tries to go after him again, but Harm easily dispatches her, pointing out that she’s already taken a beating and is running on fumes. He looks for Secret but leaves in his car when he hears police sirens. He says, “Oh. Sirens. The constabulary. Fitting, I suppose. The superheroes saved by the mundane police force.” When the police get there, everyone’s gone, and we see that Fite ‘n’ Maad also arrive, convinced that Secret was there.

Okay, so, things we know about Harm, so far, I’d just, uh, like to go down the list. He calls himself “Harm,” unironically, perhaps for the sole purpose of being able to tell people to “Stay out of Harm’s way.” He tried to kill his father at eleven years old. He is seventeen years old currently, and drives a knockoff Batmobile, he has immense disdain for superheroes and talks to something called the “Book of Blood.” Lovely. Just making sure we’re all on the same page. Oh and he uses words like “droll” and calls the police “the constabulary,” also unironically. God I hate him. He does get points for calling Superboy a big-mouthed chauvinist, though, like, yes, he kills people but at least he’s a feminist I guess?

I love Secret’s impression of the boys being like, “Yeah, they’re super chill trust me, they faked my death for me!” Not that that’s wrong, but it’s cute how much trust she puts in them. And it is so awful to see her get electrocuted with the knowledge of her backstory like… Billy, when I get you, bro…!

Okay I also have a question for you guys… do you think Superboy clocked Cassie’s crush here, and do you think he reciprocates her feelings in a genuine way at any point, throughout the series? Just curious what your guys’s takes are on that. It’s also interesting to point out how reliant or connected Superboy’s TTK is to his concentration… like, even when Superman’s unconscious, he’s still invulnerable and, but it’s a lot more complicated for Superboy, which sucks. 

In the last scene, all six of our heroes are safely back at the cave, and Cassie feels a little jealous about Superboy checking up on Arrowette rather than her. Robin scolds Superboy for taking off by himself earlier, but Superboy blows up on him, saying that if he’d waited then Wonder Girl might’ve died. They argue, but Secret interrupts, saying that she brought them all together because she needs their help to free her fellow extra-normal friends from the DEO before it’s too late.

So, this is tough because I usually agree with Robin in these arguments, but Superboy does kind of have a point here? What do you guys think? I love how when they’re fighting, Secret’s like, “Yeah, could you guys, like, stop arguing about useless stuff for two seconds? I'm kind of on a really important mission here.” Like, fair! And yes, can’t wait to do Secret Files, which this story will lead into, and that will be next week, episode 4.5. I love that issue, so definitely look forward to it!

But yeah, that’s the end of this issue! I think I said everything I wanna say, let me know what you guys thought in the comments, via email, or on social media; that’s all yjupodcast all one word across all platforms. All links will always be in the description or show notes below. Make sure to subscribe to the pod wherever you’re listening, stay out of Harm’s way, and I’ll catch you guys next week! Thank you for listening and remember, it’s not Young Justice, it’s Young, Just Us!

[INTRO]

Hello, and welcome back to the Young, Just Us! Podcast! My name is Roman and I’m doing an issue-by-issue deep-dive into the 1998 run of DC Comics’ Young Justice.

I hope you’re all doing well this week, no housekeeping or updates, really,  so let’s just jump right in! Last week we covered issue two, in which we went to an unspecified Middle Eastern country, met sheik Ali Ben Styn, parody of Ben Stein, while Robin, Superboy, Impulse, and later Red Tornado, were all dragged along by their newly acquired Super-Cycle to complete its last programmed task: free its previous owner, the villain Rip Roar from Apokolips. Turns out Rip Roar stole the Super-Cycle (which also conveniently turns out to be what it’s actually called) from the gods of New Genesis, and they imprisoned him as punishment. Not so, anymore! He wanted the Cycle back, but he wasn’t a very good owner, so the Cycle decided to stick with the boys. The sheik offered the boys anything they wanted in return for saving his life and defeating Rip Roar, and Impulse did ask for something but we don’t know what that is yet. Oh, and special agents Fite and Maad from the DEO were there, also, for some reason.

I just wanted to say that in last week’s episode I was kind of troubling the Ben Stein parody as a possible anti-semitic stereotype, but I wasn’t really thinking about Peter David’s own Jewish heritage (the writer of the comic), and I know that playing into stereotypes in creative settings can be part of the experience of minority identities, and again that was something Ben Stein himself also did quite a bit, and I’m not Jewish myself so—you know, in retrospect I don’t personally think that that was done in anti-semitic spirit or anything, but also my opinion about it isn’t super relevant. I do stand by the islamophobia, though, that was quite troubling, I think.

Anyway, this week we’ll be discussing issue three, which I like a lot more than the first two, so let’s get into it!

[YOUNG JUSTICE #3]

The third issue of Young Justice is titled, quite cheekily, “The Issue Before the One Where the Girls Show Up!” Indeed, Wonder Girl and Arrowette as well as Secret will finally appear in the main series next issue, so definitely look forward to that! But this issue was published on October 7, 1998, so they actually skipped a month because issue two came out in August—I did some research and I believe that this was because DC was releasing DC One Million during the month of September, which was a huge crossover event, so no doubt Young Justice’s can kind of got kicked down the road a bit, but that’s okay; we’re back just in time for a Halloween special! This issue was written by Peter David, pencilled by Todd Nauck, inked by Lary Stucker, colored by Jason Wright, lettered by Ken Lopez, edited by Eddie Berganza, and panel separations were done by art studio Digital Chameleon as usual. Todd Nauck, Lary Stucker, and Patrick Martin contributed to the cover art, which I will be displaying on screen in the YouTube version of this episode right now, but if you’re just listening don’t worry because I will describe it: Robin, Superboy, and Impulse are in ill-fitting Halloween costumes of their JLA analogues—Robin in a Batman costume, Superboy in a Superman costume, and Impulse in a Flash costume. They’re on Mr. Mxyzptlk’s doorstep, and Robin is telling the other two, “You had to say ‘trick or treat!’” Impulse is holding a rock or possibly a lump of coal rather than candy, ostensibly the “trick” that Mr. Mxyzptlk delivered him as punishment for not saying the magic Halloween words. The doorway opens into the open space of the universe, and Mr. Mxyzptlk is holding a bowl of candy and turning to the reader, saying, “And wait until you see what I really do to them inside!” And the cover also has an orange sticker under the main “Young Justice” title that advertises a “Halloween scare with Mr. Mxyzptlk!” 

It’s a cute cover and I really like how it continues the theme of Young Justice being compared to the JLA—the boys in the literal ill-fitting suits of their counterparts is very evocative and of course also fits the Halloween theme really well. Them dealing with a classic Superman villain also plays into that—the idea of them being ill-equipped to deal with a quote-unquote “grown-up” villain (even though they don’t, really, as you’ll see in the comic).

The synopsis for this issue on DC Universe Infinite reads:

Meet Mr. Mxyzptlk, a studious young scholar of the 5th Dimension! Wait, that can't be right. Reality warping and time travel hijinks ensue when a group of magicians accidentally brings a young Mxyzptlk into the real world during Halloween!

Very funny; I love when synopses kind of play into that—they’re like, “Wait, that can’t be right!” I’m going to get into the comic now so feel free to read along, just listen, or watch the YouTube version where you can see select panels I’ve pulled from this issue.

We open on Halloween night, the captions referencing the pagan origins of the holiday, and that some, rather than trick-or-treating, take Halloween much more seriously. Hooded figures chant in Latin, then declaring that they’re tapping into the science-magic core of the multiverse. They’re all on computers which are all connected to a big printer in the middle of a summoning circle. They’re apparently attempting to access techno-magic from another dimension and bring it into this one. The spell-code they’re performing doesn’t work at first but they retry and a bolt of lighting hits the printer through a skylight, frying all of the computers, but making the printer print out an image of Mr. Mxyzptlk, which quickly comes to life. This, however, seems to be a younger version of Mr. Mxy, still in college, evidently; he says that this is a great opportunity to pursue his thesis on three-dimensional primitive life-forms, though he must remember the sound advice of his professors and not have any fun doing it.

Okay, so the Latin that the occultists are chanting is basically four random but commonly used terms, the first being Res ipsa loquitur which translates to: “The thing speaks for itself.” This is a common law doctrine that says a court can basically infer things about a case from the nature of the case itself—for example, in the case of a child suffering starvation, the situation in itself suggests neglect from the child’s parent or guardian, because legally a child cannot starve themself, someone else has to have starved the child. Sorry for that kind of dark example, but moving on. The second Latin phrase is Pax vobiscum which means “Peace be with you,” anyone who is Catholic or familiar with the comedian John Mulaney probably knows this is used in Catholic mass. The answering phrase used to be “And also with you,” but now many churches have adopted “And with your spirit” instead. The third phrase is Pro bono publica which is also a legal term, more commonly transliterated as Pro bono publico, meaning “For the good of the people.” You’ve probably heard of lawyers or other professionals working “pro bono,” just meaning that they’re working without pay, i.e., only for the good of the people. The fourth phrase is Res judicata, also a legal term, meaning “Judged matter,” or “This matter has been judged;” in court judges use this to deny or preclude further appeals or relitigations of a particular case. After that, they start speaking Yiddish, as far as I can tell, and I couldn’t find a good translation—or any translation, for that matter; I mean, part of the problem is that it’s transliterated into the Roman alphabet instead of being written in Hebrew, so I wouldn’t know where to start in looking it up, you know? I did learn that “Zai gesundt” is like a farewell interjection—it literally means be healthy, and that’s one of the things they say, but I’m afraid I’m no help for the rest of it, so I really encourage any Yiddish speakers to shoot me an email; I majored in linguistics in college, so this stuff always interests me quite a bit. Moving on.

A good joke in here is that when the spell doesn’t work the first time, one of the cultists says, “The three horsemen of the computer age plague us once more: abort, retry, or fail!” And one of the others tells them to hit retry, and they’re like, “Oh, like that ever helps.” Pretty good early computer jokes.

But moving to the star of the show here, Mr. Mxyzptlk. Okay, if you’ve never heard of this guy, don’t worry because I hadn’t either when I first read this issue. He is a classic Superman villain created by Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster, you might’ve heard those names before. He was and still is an imp from the fifth dimension, normally depicted as a little old man imp-fairy-goblin-thing. Although, he was recently TWINKIFIED in the My Adventures with Superman animated show. When I saw that episode I was genuinely like, “What is this thing, I don’t know this Superman character,” and then he was like, “I’m Mr. Mxyzptlk,” and I was like, “WHAT?!?!?!?! Why are you a blue twink!!!” I didn’t not like it, I was just shocked! Wild stuff. You know, sometimes the animators on My Adventures with Superman really show their Voltron: Legendary Defender roots… But anyway back to business, Mr. Mxyzptlk—and sometimes people just say “Mr. Mxy,” so I will also do that sometimes because I don’t want to say Mxyzptlk fifty more times on this episode—Mr. Mxy originally discovered our world/the third dimension by reading a book and initially came to take over the world but then he discovered that tormenting Superman was so much fun that he was good with just doing that. He was usually defeated by being tricked into saying his own name backwards, which would send him back to the fifth dimension for 90 days minimum.

These kinds of language-based rules and tricks come up a lot with creatures of Mr. Mxy’s ilk—that is, fairies, imps, goblins, etc. I have a suspicion that Mr. Mxy as a character takes a lot of inspiration from Rumpelstiltskin; I couldn’t find an actual source for this, but I mean. In the original fairy tale Rumpelstiltskin was described as an imp or a dwarf, only his name can be used to defeat him, you get it. Fun fact, I’m mixed, half black and half white, and my mom, who is white, I guess thought that it was really important for me and my sister to see, like, diverse people in our children’s books, so all of my children’s books that my mom would read to me as a kid are like, kind of off-brand retellings, I mean, in a good way, like, they’re all very good and well-illustrated, but my Rumpelstiltskin book has all black characters in it, so for like most of my life, I was like, “Yeah Rumpelstiltskin is black! And it’s the three little javelinas, not the three little pigs!” I don’t know, I think it’s really funny and sweet, I love my mom. But yeah, Mr. Mxy didn’t change much through the years, though the backwards-name rule kind of went out the window at some point. But his appearance here in Young Justice was kind of a big deal in terms of lore for the character because we learn way more about his past than we really ever have—he went to college, he originally thought fun and jokes were stupid, he wanted to be a serious scholar of techno-magic, etc. It’s pretty cool that Peter David got to add this lore in sort of like, a random issue of Young Justice. 

As far as the name goes, it’s been pronounced a million different ways, it’s been spelled a million different ways, but I’m going with the My Adventures with Superman pronunciation, which is also I think the most common one, and the spelling from this particular issue—Myxzptlk. Just so we’re all on the same page. Okay, next scene.

Meanwhile, Robin, Impulse, and Superboy are hosting a “Hallo-Teen Party” as Young Justice. Superboy is showing off to some girls using his TTK of course, Impulse is bobbing for apples, bothering the DJ, commenting on the quality of the dip, and taking pictures with people. A cheerleader flirts with Robin, though he doesn’t seem very interested, but her quarterback boyfriend, Matt, wants to fight Tim about it. Robin, very coolly, tries to brush him off, which seems to work insofar as things don’t further escalate, but Matt’s other football player friends congratulate him and make fun of Robin together. Superboy steps in to defend Robin’s honor, high-fiving Matt extra hard, and Impulse steals all of Matt’s clothes, leaving him naked, thus humiliating him. Outside the gym, Mr. Mxy observes the whole kerfuffle and thinks this party is perfect for his thesis research. 

Guys, this is our first two-page spread in Young Justice! I’ll be putting it up on screen in the YouTube version, but it’s pages four and five of issue three if you want to look it up. It’s very fun; I love the things they can do with Impulse and speed-impressions in a huge spread like this, and there’s a great joke on here where someone is saying to Robin, like, “Is it my imagination or are there, like, twenty guys here dressed like Impulse?” Because Impulse is running around so fast talking to everyone, and Robin is just deadpan like, “I hadn’t noticed.” That’s what I love about comics, there’s so much room for visual gags and you can really look at a page or a panel for a long time just finding easter eggs. This is a great page for that. I love Superboy’s dialogue where he’s lifting the girls up like, “It’s Halloween, ladies… the time to lift spirits! Which is no problem for me, thanks to my…” And the girls interrupt him to say “Tactile telekinesis!” and he’s like “Oh. You, uh, heard about it, huh?” It’s like, yeah, everyone’s heard about it, Kon. I just never get tired of the TTK gag. And I also decided I will start posting a thread of all TTK mentions on the Twitter so look out for that!

Another good easter egg is that a lot of the people at the party are dressed up as werewolves—now, later in the series we discover the joys of “Wendy the Werewolf Stalker,” which is DC’s knockoff of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and also it’s confirmed that werewolves are real in the DC universe, so… are these teens real werewolves? Fans of Wendy? Both? I don’t know, I just think those possibilities are funny.

Bart still hates Hanson and is bothering the DJ to put on something else, and there’s also a joke where he’s taking a picture with some kids and the person taking the picture is like, “Okay, now try not to look right into the flash…” and Bart’s like, “The Flash? Where?!?” Very silly. 

I love Tim being so not interested in the high school drama with the cheerleader and her boyfriend Matt… I was so sure that when the cheerleader was like, “Is that a batarang in your pocket or are you just happy to see me?” Tim would be like, “It’s a batarang.” But whatever. I will label this a tentative Timkon moment, with Superboy sort of defending Tim’s honor here, like I said, though later it’s implied that he’s sort of protecting his own status by making sure that Robin isn’t perceived as uncool, though that can be perceived as him, you know, not being completely honest about his motivations. I’ll talk more about it later. But I will say it’s crazy to escalate immediately to stealing all of Matt’s clothes, like, pretty ruthless of Bart?

Elsewhere, Red Tornado is in Chicago, checking up on his adopted daughter, Traya Sutton. She’s dressed up as a witch for Halloween and is out trick-or-treating with some friends, and Red Tornado cries a single synthetic tear, observing her. 

Poor Reddy, uh, your mileage may vary on the whole Red Tornado plotline throughout the series, I’m not too bothered by it myself, but I think it certainly doesn’t make for the most exciting reading if you’re mostly here for the team. I think it’s all pretty well-written, though, and I do like that they keep Traya more involved as a character throughout the run. I also love how in this scene he’s trying to, like, covertly spy on Traya in these panels, but he’s like literally a huge bright red flying android with a cape. Just like not the most stealth thing ever, you know? And I also wonder what his tears are made of… it looks like basically pink goop, so… I don’t know. 

Back at the party, Robin is feeling less than grateful to Superboy and Impulse for defending his honor against Matt, saying that the city fathers asked them to host this party as a safe alternative to trick-or-treating for teens, so they need to be mature and responsible. Superboy and Robin begin to argue about the whole thing while Impulse tries to get their attention, having noticed something they didn’t. Finally he succeeds, showing them that some of the teens have suddenly turned elderly, while others are dancing uncontrollably. Off to the side, Mr. Mxy is studiously taking notes. He observes: “Total panic, roughly 83 percent. Shock bordering on stupor, roughly 11 percent. Interesting, most interesting.” Superboy immediately flies up to confront him, which Mr. Mxy largely ignores in favor of messing with Superboy’s flight-via-TTK, wondering if he’s susceptible to something called “hexnology.” Huge weights and chains appear on Superboy, immediately and effectively grounding him, so Mr. Mxy concludes that he is, in fact, susceptible. Superboy is confused and angry that his TTK has now failed him twice in a row—first with the Super-Cycle, now this—but Robin comes over to help him by picking the lock on the weights and chains. Robin deduces that hexnology is a combination of science and magic, and also notes Mr. Mxy’s mention of the fifth dimension, wondering if this could in fact be the notorious Mr. Mxyzptlk, but he doubts it because he knows Mr. Mxy to be much older than he appears now. Meanwhile, Impulse tries his luck against Mr. Mxy, running him into a wall (while Bart harmlessly vibrates through it). Mr. Mxy appears to be squished flat, though he easily reinflates himself, but then Robin calls the Super-Cycle, which crashes through a wall and runs over Mr. Mxy, flattening him once again, who is getting annoyed with the boys at this point. 

I think when I first read this issue I didn’t really fully process the fact that YJ were literally hosting the party, I was kind of like, “Huh, weird diversion for them but whatever,” but yeah considering that they were literally asked to do this by the city I can see why Tim’s so upset about it. Okay let’s kind of dig into this Timkon moment, just because I feel like it, but when Robin is like, saying he didn’t care about the whole situation with Matt and his girlfriend, and he’s insulted that Superboy and Impulse, like don’t think he can take care of himself… which, I don’t think is really true, like I think Bart, at least, trusts Robin implicitly and kind of really looks up to him—like when they first meet in Robin Plus Impulse, Bart is kind of like, in awe of Robin and feeling like, “Wow he’s so much better at being a superhero than I am.” And though he would never say so, I think Superboy has a similar, if less effusive respect for Tim, so I think first of all Tim is just reading their intentions wrong, but then Superboy’s response is, “Hey, I hang with you! So I don’t want to see anyone dissing you!” and from that Robin sort of extrapolates that Superboy cares about Tim being perceived as uncool because he cares about his own status, which Superboy then sort of plays into to piss off Tim, but he doesn’t actually confirm that that’s what he was thinking, and I don’t know that that’s what that original piece of dialogue really implies? He could also be saying like, “Hey, you’re my friend, so it bothers me when people aren’t nice to you,” in a very basic and empathetic way, or both of those things could be true at once. I also do love how Robin does a quick recap for the reader when Superboy asks if he worries about being cool and he’s like, “I worry about things like where the Mighty Endowed disappeared to. Like how Fite ‘n’ Maad showed up halfway around the world. Like what we’re going to do when that thing that Impulse requested from Ali Ben Styn shows up.” Like, thanks for the recap, bro, I was also wondering those things! I guess it’s pretty necessary because they skipped a month between this and the last issue, but I think it also speaks to Robin’s ability to mentally track a lot of situations at once and perhaps some of his internal anxiety. There was your weekly dose of way too in-depth character analysis.

Oh but we’re not done, because once again I am proven right by the literal text of the series that Impulse is the Ego! If you missed it, in the first issue, the writers by-way-of Red Tornado sort of diagnose the boys as facets of Freud’s model of the psyche with Impulse as Id, Superboy as Ego, and Robin as Superego, and I personally really think, especially in these earlier issues, that Superboy is very Id and Impulse is very ego, because a lot of the fundamental disagreements in the team come from Tim and Superboy! Illustrating the theorized eternal tug-of-war for control between the hedonistic Id and the stalwartly moral Superego, and here once again Impulse plays the peacekeeper Ego, trying to split the difference or at least keep them all working together long enough to notice what he has noticed, which is My. Mxy. There I segued back into the actual comic are you proud of me?

I do really like this version of Mr. Mxy that is just sort of, genuinely curious and doing little experiments while still being arrogant and not too self-aware, and he’s also doing some of his signature reality-altering tricks, just in a scientific capacity this time. Poor Superboy gets hexnology-ed and thinks his TTK is abandoning him. It’s just a rough couple of back-to-back incidents, Kon, don’t worry about it. Impulse’s instinct to run Mxy into the wall is actually really good and kind of works for a second so, great job Bart! I do kind of feel bad for Mr. Mxy at this point, like, he’s literally just trying to do his experiments, guys. I also would love to know what the heck his original name was since it apparently wasn’t always Mr. Mxyzptlk? I would be very interested to know how fifth dimensional linguistics works, Mr. Mxy. And of course Tim would recognize Mxy, and I like how the timestream twist is sort of slowly introduced here. It’s also super cute that the Super-Cycle now comes when called! 

Traya, meanwhile, has been cornered by some mean-looking teens that want her to hand over her candy haul. She runs away as they taunt her witch costume, and she trips, only to start flying like a real witch, leaving the teens baffled. Presumably Red Tornado has helped her out of this sticky situation. 

Dude, these teens are very mean. Like, I don’t know how old Traya is supposed to be, exactly, I think at least twelve to be out trick-or-treating without parental supervision, but I feel like she’s drawn so much younger than that, so I don’t know. But one of these guys is literally like, “Little witch! We’ll stick that broom where the moon don’t shine!” Like oh my god leave her alone! I do love the panel of her flying silhouette in front of the moon like a real witch, though, it’s very cute. 

Back in the gym, the boys are trying to come up with a plan, but Mr. Mxy crushes them with a giant hand, demanding to know why they attacked him; he says that he was only making a scientific inquiry and he was going to put everything back the way it was, and they didn’t even give him a chance to explain. Superboy, having decided that this is in fact Mr. Mxyzptlk, confronts him again and tries to say that they know his game, but Robin interrupts him, pointing out that if they tell this younger version of Mr. Mxy how he turns out then it could interrupt the timestream, impacting the future. Superboy plows ahead, though, thinking this will save Superman some trouble retroactively. He tells Mxy, “Listen, ‘Professor,’ in your future, you torment Superman with all sorts of stupid pranks just to tee him off… you act like some sort of jokester and comedian, usually until Superman tricks you back into your own dimension!” Mr. Mxy is very turned off by the idea of himself being a trickster or having fun generally, and Impulse asks him to put everything back, which he does, officially swearing off pranks and foolishness forever. Mr. Mxyzptlk then promptly begins to return to his own time and dimension, promising to never darken their doorstep again. Robin stops him before he leaves though, needing to check if this is impacting their world, because of the timestream. Indeed, the world outside is a complete hellscape, their present having been completely changed by young Mr. Mxy’s decision. Robin comes to the conclusion that they have to get Mxy to change his mind and become Superman’s tormentor in his future. Mr. Mxy vehemently opposes. 

I suppose that Mr. Mxy is technically right that they didn’t give him a chance to explain, but he also did fail to explain before messing directly with them, so. Of course Robin is aware of the timeline-altering possibilities, and once again Superboy barrels ahead to do what he thinks is best… he’s the Id, guys. Okay I’ll shut up about it. But when Superboy’s explaining his future to Mr. Mxy, he says “Tee-off…?” Which I guess is supposed to be “tick-off,” I just didn’t realize that that would need to be censored? Like, to me “tick off” is already kind of the censored version of “piss off,” but maybe I’m wrong. Maybe Eddie Berganza was like, “You can’t say tick off. That’s as bad as saying the N-word.” That’s another John Mulaney reference, by the way. I do love how Mr. Mxy is annoyed by being called that and he’s like, “It sounds like someone just randomly typed!” Ladies and gentlemen… was Mr. Mxyzptlk the original keysmash? If so we owe so much to Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster, even more than they’re already getting! But yeah and then Mxy’s like, with regard to the future Superboy tells him of, “What the heck that sounds boring I promise never to do that,” and I guess means it completely genuinely, considering the timeline changes so drastically in response—it makes me really curious about what the original inciting incident was to make him start pranking Superman? Or if this is now a closed loop in time, like, this always would happen and the boys would always need to convince a young Mr. Mxyzptlk to become a trickster, so this was always the inciting incident? I think that might be the implication here? Time shenanigans, always very fun.

Meanwhile back in Chicago, Red Tornado has finally revealed himself to Traya, still flying them along on her broom, and Traya is happy but confused, saying that her mom told her that he wasn’t coming back due to his crisis of humanity. He tells her, “To a degree, that is the case… But because it is Halloween, Traya, we can pretend that we are what we are not.” He proceeds to explain that he’s going to try to be there for her and understand what he can and cannot do, but this heartfelt moment is interrupted by them coming across the new and improved hellscape version of the world. Traya asks what’s going on, and Red Tornado says he doesn’t know, but he has a feeling that the boys are mixed up in it.

This is a really sweet scene and I’m sure hits really hard if you’re a Red Tornado fan. We also love a deadbeat dad trying to un-deadbeat himself! Like, obviously the situation is complicated with the humanity question, but I think once you feel human enough to adopt a child, you can’t really take that back? I feel like it’s fundamentally a little selfish to be like, well, I give up! But yes props to Tornado for trying again. And I really adore that piece of dialogue, “Because it is Halloween, Traya, we can pretend that we are what we are not.” Like, what a line, sometimes Peter David just gets one in that really hits. And it’s of course really funny that Red Tornado sees the world completely messed up and is immediately like, “I know who did this. The three teenage boys I’ve been mentoring.” Just like, in a world where aliens and Red Lanterns and Darkseid all canonically exist, he still jumps to YJ without hesitation. Do you really think it’s them, Red Tornado, or do you just want to check on them to make sure they’re okay? Maybe both? Also I think he ostensibly drops Traya off at home here because he shows up alone in the next scene. Speaking of.

In the meantime, the boys are showing Mr. Mxy old three stooges movies to try and activate his trickster gene. It doesn’t seem to be working at first, but when Bart asks what he thinks, he says, “It seems so juvenile, so… so frenetic… I… I’ve never seen anything like it. I’m not sure how to react.” But after a moment he cracks a smile, and then starts laughing uncontrollably. His graduation cap falls off and his hair begins turning grey, and he starts teasing some of the random teenagers still around. Robin says, “My fellow stooges, I think we’ve just saved the world.” Robin stops him from messing with the kids any further, the three of them hauling Mr. Mxy out, who is thanking them profusely for opening his eyes to a whole new world of pointless stupidity. He does the buzzer handshake trick on Bart, and Superboy punches him, but Mr. Mxy continues to express his gratitude, promising to give Superman his best when the time comes. He disappears back to his own dimension, hair now fully white and looking much more like the Mr. Mxyzptlk we know. The boys race outside to check on the world, and run into Red Tornado, who asks if they’ve been up to anything strange. Robin tells him he doesn’t know the half of it, going outside around him, to discover a large Mxyzptlk-themed theme park. Robin asks if the whole world is like this, and thankfully Red Tornado says that it seems to be limited to just this area, much to Robin’s relief. He says, “Then I guess we got off lucky.” Bart, meanwhile, is having a great time, and says he wishes the whole world were like this carnival, and Robin wonders if Bart and Mr. Mxy were separated at birth.

I do enjoy the parallel of the three stooges and the three boys, and having never seen any three stooges media I have no idea if they’re able to be mapped on to Tim Kon and Bart, but please let me know if you have a headcanon about that. I do think there’s something here about like, perhaps the futility of academia or the burden of intelligence regarding Mr. Mxy’s seemingly inevitable switch to a life of pranks and trickery, diverting from his original path of scholarly pursuits, and the idea that the freedom of quote-unquote “pointless stupidity” is something of an antidote to self-seriousness and tireless dedication to study. But the comic doesn’t really go any deeper into it than that so I won’t either because I’m tired. I really love the, “My fellow stooges, I think we’ve just saved the world” line, because it’s really an encapsulation of Young Justice, like, saving the world by doing kind of objectively stupid stuff or averting ridiculous disasters, and what that says about, like, just because some problems seem silly or juvenile or childish, doesn’t mean they’re not important and the world wouldn’t benefit from them being solved. I just love that.  

The slow transformation of Mr. Mxy into the form we know is also interesting, like, implying it’s an uncontrollable effect and not just age? Like perhaps whatever species Mr. Mxy is suffer physical effects from dedicating themselves to lives of trickery. 

The last page is really fun, and I like the idea that the big Mxysptlk carnival is like a “gift” he left them for opening his eyes. Very fun. The joke about Bart and Mxy being separated at birth is really funny but I’m also so traumatized from comics doing secret sibling storylines that I’m like, Don’t even joke, lad.