Greg Bishansky writes...

Agendas

Damn it, Greg! Please don't make me like Lex Luthor. You've already made me like Venom, stop doing this. Stop taking character that I consider to be lame and making them work for me! Okay, with that tangent out of the way, let's segue into my review.

It's been twenty episodes, and sixteen months since we last saw Project Cadmus. Ideally, we wouldn't have had the delays between episodes that we did, but that is hardly the fault of the show. Still, it was nice to see Superboy "return home" and face his past. This is the third episode in a row to focus on a specific member of The Team. Kid Flash got his episode, Miss Martian got her's. This week, it was Superboy's turn. As with the previous two episodes, this was one the character needed.

I know next to nothing about the DC Universe, but through pop cultural osmosis, I knew who Superboy's other dad was since shortly after the series got started. I thought Luthor was very effective in this episode, and I loved seeing him play the good dad. If I step back and pretend I don't know anything about Lex, his words near the end were frighteningly agreeable.

"Big Boy Blue lives in a world of black and white. You were created by the bad guys, so there must be something wrong with you. But we both know life isn't that clear cut, the real world is full of grays."

And he's right. Lex Luthor is right. I'm sure some Superfans are going to be disgusted with this, but it's true. Now, granted we all know Luthor is a very dark shade of gray, and he is using the truth for his own ends, but that doesn't make him wrong.

I also enjoyed Luthor's Xanatos Gambit. He used Superboy to discover the genomes, and bring them back under control. Smart. Practical. Smarter and practical than the DCAU version of Lex Luthor who threw a fit when something didn't go his way and always got his ass handed to him at the end. But what should I expect when you put Lex in the hands of the man who created David Xanatos. Luckily for all involved, I don't think Superboy is going to turn out to be like Thailog.

Loved finally seeing the Watchtower, and I loved this design. It was built into an asteroid, instead of just being an orbiting hunk of metal. Pretty cool. It was great seeing the Justice League get together and really seeing how they operate, and the disagreements among the team. Maggie Q is a great Wonder Woman, and I loved when she needled Batman for training Dick Grayson to be Robin at nine years old, and I loved it even more when Batman said he did it so Dick wouldn't end up like him.

Four home runs in a row, keep them coming.

Allan calderini writes...

Which is Artemis best friend Miss Martian or Zatanna? thanks for creating this amazing show Mr weisman.

JSA Fan writes...

Hi Greg.
Loved Agendas. It was interesting to see the JLA's voting process regarding
new membership.
I have some questions related to that:
With the remarks about the importance of the membership decisions and that the JLA doesn't want to encourage the creation of another Injustice League, does the JLA
have a maximum amount of members? If so, is part of the reasoning to keep League decisions from becoming too unwieldy?
Wonder Woman's suggestion of expelling Captain Marvel took me by surprise. Is a
unanimous decision required to expel a member?
You mentioned in a response to a past question that Zatanna was previously deemed an authorized guest. Does this status have to be voted on as well?
Finally, it was good to see a glimpse of the Atom. Is Ray Palmer well-known by the general public to be a renowned scientist? Does the League factor into their decision his scientific knowledge?

Thanks for another great episode!

longbowhunter writes...

Not really a question,but I did want to take this opportunity to thank you for the work you're doing with the YOUNG JUSTICE cartoon and comic. As an....older fan,there's not a lot going on in the other DC comics or other cartoons that interest me,but the YOUNG JUSTICE universe feels like coming home. Thanks again to you and your team for all the great work-can't wait to see whats next!

AJC writes...

So where did the shape of the watchtower come from in YJ? In previous forms, we've seen the hall of justice in space (the batman) and on earth(YJ) as well a small and large watchtower (DCAU). Quite an interesting shape, like a water droplet, but is there some kind of symbolic meaning to it?

Luke writes...

Just want to say thanks for answering questions.
1. Why was Artemis chosen to be the team member who died first on Failsafe?

B writes...

When Lex says to Superboy in "Agendas", the episode that just aired, that half his DNA is human, I assume he's being figurative and it's actually less than half, since he spoke merely of filling in missing sequences and Superboy looks just like Superman; much like one could say "Delilah is half Demona and half Elisa" but it wouldn't be technically accurate. Is my assumption correct?

Anonymous writes...

Just watched Agendas. Maggie Q was exceptional as Wonder Woman. For the first time I got a real feeling that she is a real respected member of the Trinity. In other JL cartoons she always feels outside the boysclub of Superman and Batman. Thank you for that. I loved seeing how close she and Superman appear to be and how she supports his choice of nominee when Green Arrow was kind of mocking him and how she lays into Batman too. The superboy and match encounter wow. And Lex reveal. Oooohhh boy. You amped up the drama even more. It's bad enough they took Superman's dna without his consent but they mixed it with Lex's??? How will Clark deal with that one I wonder? Anyway brilliant job on this one. 10 out of 10.

J writes...

A few questions about Hawkman
1. how old is he in thangarian years?
2. where he and Hawkwoman ever reincarnated?(or is that a just the comics thing)
3. Are his wings real?,if so does he use Nth metal weapons?, if so that would explain how his mace chopped that plant vine in episode 14, by "cutting through" the magic energy Wotan empowered the plant with.

J writes...

a few more questions
1.Was Nathan really introduced to his children at the end of issue 10?
2. has he been wearing his air force uniform everday since he was transformed?(i mean it's kinda hard for a guy who's supposed to be dead to go to the mall for clothes,plus would'nt it have been taken away in prison)
and 3. If Captain Marvel stays in the league will they make a transport designation for Billy? in fact how did he transport before misplaced, i mean you think someone would notice their local hero regularly flying into a small alley and disapering?
and 4. who is older Orm, or Aquaman, (in most continuities Orm became Ocean-master out of jeleousy his YOUNGER,half-breed brother became king instead of him)speaking of is this Aquaman pure atlantean(i personally don't care but it seems worth knowing based on the current comic arc)