Laura 'ad astra' Sack writes...

Another happy review: Usual Suspects-

First the shorts-
Green Care Bear-not a bad parody. Odd it seems it wouldn't be my thing, but I liked it better than the Ardman one, and that would ordinarily be my thing.

On to the show.
Rocket has nice line that needed saying, "Since when is being a sidekick a bad thing?" (So here too she convinced Icon to be a hero? For now I am assuming her original back story.)

Icon- "You don't know Raquel...though I thought she'd at least stick around." Nice beat. Icon has a strangely stilted form of speech, like someone new to the language and not, presumably, here for 150 years already.

Old times for Artimas and Jade = "Dad pitting us against each other." No, that's not at all dysfunctional....

Great voice acting "OK Fine. We're sisters, I don't actually want you dead." Sheepish- like a bad guy has to apologize for not always being the absolute worst.

Zatanna & Rocket walk off together here... and are inducted together the JL 5 years later.

Super Boy coming clean is a rare instance of someone choosing that moment to NOT dig deeper.

Didn't notice the first time I saw the episodes, but when Conner inspired Artimas to come clean Cheshire was already on the way to pick her up. She was actually past the time to not dig deeper and was probably in the hoping something unexpected saves her stage. M'gann too, even deeper, since Artimas has said no to her father's face before. Queen Bee was exerting power over M'gann. (It also has a slight parallel to Superboy handing the arrow back to Arrowette in the original Young Justice- trying to give her a chance to unmake a bad decision.)

"Who's next?" "I am." "I swear I was kidding." Great timing and image.

mmm... Robin knew Artimas's secret, Conner knew M'gann's (wish I could recheck his reaction to bald M'gann.) Nice that they took the involuntary step back. Accepting is not the same as not being startled.

Q1{All that recent Martian info!! I wish we knew what magic trigger gets you in the mood to share that much info. Was that something that would have been in the comics if they had longer to hold off the time skip?"

Q2 The Martians have War of the Worlds' looking alien hands-despite two fingers? Do their mouths move and do they talk?

Conner standing still as ruse till Queen Bee was down was great strategy.

Lex's reserve is lovely

"This has been a good day." Meanwhile at the Watchtower... Irony

Q3 "RECOGNIZE VANDAL SAVAGE A04" Vandal has a low number League designation? Is that a real indication of former membership?

Laura 'ad astra' Sack writes...

I've finally read all the answers and questions in the queues. (Wow!) Now, before the queue is closed I can post...really old reviews. (All positive ;)

Performance- very nice...

...But first a very quick review of the DC Nation shorts:
"Animal Man...!" bwahahaha SBFF...happy happy.

Question 1- apropos of very little, what do you think of the new DC logo? Personally, I like it fine on tv, especially when they can fill the bottom image with moving images. Although it still strikes me as a good logo for a different product when I see it still, mostly I don't notice it any more.

Haly's Circus...you can go home again!

Question 2 (a little long) - Haly's always seemed to me a bit of a golden childhood that Dick can revisit at any time and has a lot to do with why he is nowhere near as dark a character as Bruce. They couldn't raise him after his parents' death, but they were still family. They saved money to support him. They always welcome him to visit and step right back into his old life.

I'm working on the assumption that you are too busy to keep up with the current main universe comics, but are you aware of the current Court of Owls storyline? In it it turns out that the circus and the Graysons were part of a centuries old kabal that controls all but only rises to the knowledge of the public as nursery rhyme references. The circus exists to provide enforcers who are made somewhat dead somewhat immortal and unquestioningly loyal. Dick would have been next had it not been for the accident that killed his parents and took him away.

Divorced from Batman and Dick it is an interesting story, but I find it galling that they have so changed the circumstances of Dick's life- it has made monsters of his circus family, of his own parents; they all knew what was in store for him. It seems too far a departure from the basic truths of a character.

{Oddly I'm enjoying the heck out of the current Wonder Woman storyline which does the same to Thymiscara - now there are no men because they go out on ocean raids, take over ships, get pregnant, kill the men and give away the male babies. They would have killed the boys, but instead they trade them for armor and weapons because Hephaestus insists upon it. His own history making him particularly empathetic to unwanted children. I should object to the change on the same grounds, but the new mythological based series is so different my mind has simply been treating it as a fantastic elseworld run.}

If you are familiar with the City of Owls story, what do you think of it? In general, what do you think are the limits to how far you can push a story while remaining true to its essence? You've done several adaptations, what are the guideposts you use to what is and what is not acceptable?

Personally I reference the movie The Iron Giant when, er...spoiler free version...when the Giant makes a momentous decision at potential great cost to himself, he remembers a previous discussion with the boy, "You are who you choose to be". He smiles and says, "I am Superman". Any none elseworld depiction of Superman must be one in which that thought make sense. To my mind, Dick is always an orphan of a loving family, not someone who narrowly escaped the family job of unkillable assassin. If you want to have a Batman protégé who was created to be a killer make a new one. (I guess a new new one besides Cass and Damian.)

Back to commenting on the episode. (mostly just listing what caught my eye.)
mmm...Flying Grayson poster is reminiscent of Nightwing's costume...not the high collar version. Clever. Of course now I wonder what Dead Man's costume looks like on Earth 16.

Love:
Q;"Who knew a Martian could be vulnerable to a human virus?"
A;"Uh...HG Wells"
(Also, nice body language with Conner on edge of M'gann's bed in that scene.)

Question 3 No one questions them staying in costume and mask on the train?

"Does this circus have an elephant I don't know about?" "Not on foreign tours."
2 pts - one for actually show how their observation skills would work and another probably being realistic for a traveling circus.

Chuckle: "Uh guys, I found Ray"- mask

It is interesting how in sync Artimas and Roy are. They actually work in concert as well as Bat Family members work with each other.

Robin spy camera tube is more or less real world spy tech.

"There is no mole." The irony!

Question 4 I love that the closing credits are for the Danger family- It ups the fun of them generally being listed according to whether or not they are in costume. Was the series idea to credit characters as they appear in a particular ep just for fun, or was it humor borne of necessity?

thanks and more to come...

Anonymous writes...

What are Shimmer and Mammoth's real names?

Batwing Forever writes...

I'm glad to see that the comics will be addressing another major family in the DC Comics continuity. So now we have the Flash Fam and the Arrow Fam getting some love.

But what about the BAT FAMILY??? They've been practically ignored for most of the series, with the focus being so much on building the romance and shining some light on the Light (no other way to phrase that, sorry). I can't help but feel that they're not getting the attention they deserve, especially since we got cheated out (AGAIN) of the all important evolution of Dick Grayson from Robin to Nightwing. I do hope that at least the comics or the upcoming Legacy game will give these amazing characters the love they deserve.

Anonymous writes...

Do you/did you like Barbara Gordon better as Batgirl or Oracle in the comics?
Did you like Dick Grayson better with Batgirl or Starfire?
I'm just curious.

Jazzy Jazz Aqualad Fan writes...

Hi , I just forgot to ask about Rocket and Aqualad.. I mean i would like to know what happened because i have a feeling that it will not be mentioned in the show.. Poor Kaldur never gets any love but i trust you have something planned for him and i love the show!!

Anonymous writes...

regarding your post about not owning a smartphone... i saw you playing on your phone one year at sdcc. i think it was way old school, with the green screen and all. haha. :)

anyway, my question is: are the yj stories in the dc nation magazine new stories, and are they canon? (trying to decide whether i need to pick it up.)

Femi writes...

I have a rather odd question. First is it true that the final episodes of Roughnecks were read during a Gargoyle Gathering? If so do you have any idea where i could get my hands on that? I hope this does not violate the spoiler rule

Anonymous writes...

Why do you love to troll us?
Greg, if I didn't like you so much, I would hate you! Bye and good job Master of Trolldom!

Lorisa214 writes...

Was that Lois Lane in the first episode of season 2 around the end? She was the first the swim to the surface after the explosion?