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Comments for the week ending November 22, 2020

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MATTHEW - Thanks for your latest review. It's been some years since I read the "Young Justice" comics, but I remembered the part about Selena's assassination when you mentioned it; that's definitely not the kind of thing you usually expect to find in a super-hero story (unless it's taking a "darker and grimmer than normal" tone, which "Young Justice" wasn't using).
Todd Jensen

Before the week ends I thought I'd cover Young Justice issues #3 and 4.
Once more we get some more appearances from villains before they appear on the show, in this case the League of Shadows. This group has gone through more than a few names depending on adaptation but thanks to Batman Begins the League of Shadows has become the more well known one. And I actually like it better than their canon name the League of Assassins, Shadows implies more clandestine work.

The comics are mostly action but they do continue a few big issues that showed up in the pilot, despite the fact that Robin, Kid Flash and Aqualad have known each other the longest they still aren't a proper team. And even when they have a three against two lead they still have get their butts handed to them fairly easily, mostly because they repeat the same mistakes of KF rushing ahead and Robin leaving the others behind. Still, we get to see some of the traits that would eventually lead to Aqualad's place as leader.

But the big shock at the end is the revelation that our heroes ultimately failed to save Selena Gonzalez. This will be explored further into the series, but here it sets up the harsh truth that just because our heroes are on the side of right and good, that doesn't guarantee that they'll win at the end of the issue or episode. As Connor will later spell out, not everything is going to be wrapped up in twenty-two minutes.

Some Final Thoughts: You know it's funny, at the end of the pilot the League spells it out to the Team that they'll be the ones handling the big threats, making comparison to the bright costumes that they wear, while the team operates on the sly. Here the villains do something similar, Black Spider and Hook wear the obvious look and draw the heroes' attention while the unseen members pull off the assassination.
Since it's become clear that not everyone is as knowledgeable about DC's cast of characters, I thought I'd lend a hand with some of the more obscure ones. Black Spider is an identity used by multiple characters and has been a vigilante, hitman and supervillain. Obviously here he's become a villainous version of Spider-Man. Hook is a member of the Seven Men of Death, supposedly the most dangerous killers in The League of Assassins. He was also the one responsible for the death of Boston Brand, who would later become the hero Deadman.

Favorite Lines:
Wally: What? You've never heard of The League of Shadows? Have you been living in a cave or something?
Kaldur: More like underwater.

Matthew
Insert Inspirational Quote Here:________

May I recommend a show that Greg and gargoyles fans can take inspiration from. "Trollhunters" has a lot of what "Gargoyles" has with Arthurian Legends and references to dark magic in a world that has forgotten it all. It's a good kids show. Also the followup show to it is called "Wizards," and it's screen play is by Guillermo Del Toro of the Hellboy franchise. If Mr. Weismen would like to make a show that would take in a new art form and be CGI. I would recommend the studio that made Trollhunter. :3
Roberto Rivera - [Pugmancer at gmail dot com]

Ah right, forgot you don't know DC that well. Richard Dragon was a character created during the kung fu craze of the 1970's and is generally regarded as being one of the best hand-to-hand fighters in the DC Universe. Usually he's far better than Batman himself with only Lady Shiva being his equal.
Matthew
Insert Inspirational Quote Here:________

Who is Richard Dragon?

One bit of dialogue from the first issue (#0) I remember went something like this. Wally's describing the Cadmus Labs adventure to his parents:

WALLY: Aqualad, Robin, and me...

WALLY'S MOTHER: Aqualad, Robin, and I.

SUPERBOY: You weren't there.

Todd Jensen

Thanks Todd, I forgot to mention that Wally has a Richard Dragon poster in his room which is a nice shout out.
Matthew
Insert Inspirational Quote Here:________

Thanks for the comics review, Matthew.

I bought the trade paperback versions of the "Young Justice" comics when they came out, but gave them away when I moved a few years ago. I still recall a few parts of them, if vaguely. One was the first names of the Terror Twins: Tommy and Tuppence. Greg Weisman mentioned that Tuppence was named after Tuppence McIntyre (I hope I got the spelling of her last name right); the "Tommy" part was most likely an Agatha Christie reference. (Agatha Christie created a husband-and-wife detective team named Tommy and Tuppence in a few of her works, though they're not as famous as Hercule Poirot or Miss Marple.)

Todd Jensen

So covering Young Justice's tie-comics today, issues #0-2.
Picking up immediately after the events at Cadmus we get a look into the life of several young heroes, sort of a preview to "Downtime." I like that despite his initial misgivings, Wally is willing to welcome Superboy into his home, even giving up his bed. We also learn that his parents are not only aware of his activities as a hero but are also just as welcoming as he is. I have to admit despite the uncomfortable nature of Superboy only being comfortable in enclosed spaces, I did kind of find it funny. Mostly because it reminds me of the robots in Futurama preferring to sleep in closets.

Speaking of previews, we get our first look at a few characters before they make an appearance on the show. For starters we get a look at the next characters created for the show, the Terror Twins. The two of them are pretty uncomplicated, big, tough dumb guys that once more show that Superboy can't rely entirely on his strength to win fights.

The other big event in these issues is Superboy reliving the events that caused the Justice League to abandon Mount Justice, namely that Lucas "Snapper" Carr accidently led the Joker in. It's another case of Greg bringing in another lesser-known character; it's often forgotten that Snapper was once an important part of the Justice League, even if it was as their mascot rather than as a member. The big reveal that Superboy is merely living through the psychic memory thanks to the G-gnome brings up two big points. One is the fact that the G-gnome apparently misses Superboy enough to track him down and tries connecting to him again, brings up questions about the sentience of the genomorphs. And two: is the fact that Superboy's "injuries" mirror the ones Snapper got during Joker's incursion. Shows how similar the two of them are at that age.

Some Final Thoughts: We once again see that despite Superboy's designed purpose, there's a longing to meet and interact with the Big Blue Boyscout himself. But Superman, like most of the other Leaguers are still coming to grips with the whole thing and Supes is pretty aloof about this now. Speaking of aloof, we get to see some of Batman's "hands-off" style of parenting as he doesn't even fill Robin in the details until it's time to reactivate the base, and just kinda gives Superboy a credit card for new clothes. You know, the more I read into Batman the more I'm convinced that he's one of the last people in the world who should be responsible for looking after orphans.

Favorite Lines:
Wally: Good job luring them away from the hostages.
Superboy: Is that what I was doing?

Wally: Uh, wow...Guess we scared 'em off.
Superboy: Should we go after them?
Flash: No you shouldn't. And no you didn't.
Wally: Bus-ted

Matthew
Insert Inspirational Quote Here:________

6th!
Matt

So I was trying to think about how I should cover the issues of the tie-in comics for Young Justice. One alone isn't very long and there's a lot of overlap in the chronological order when it comes to the comic and the show.
What I'll probably do is cover the comic's arc for however long that may take. Starting tomorrow.

Matthew
Insert Inspirational Quote Here:________

[SPOILER] HOOTY HOOT!! [/SPOILER]

I mean Fifth d:

Very excited about the pending Darkwing Duck reboot -- but I am curious that none of the names attached are showrunners or writers of the current DuckTales . . . I mean, I know they're all busy, naturally, but I am curious how connected the two shows would be.

Also, as Matthew mentioned -- a belated 91st birthday to Ed Asner! He is most definitely not 'getting too old for this'! :D

Phoenician
"The suspense is terrible, I hope it lasts" -- Willy Wonka

Oh and also Alex Hirsch voices Hooty which of course is funnier when you remember that in Episode 4 that King mentions his voice to be horrific:-).
Antiyonder

Todd Jensen> I'm all 4th the theory too if true. [SPOILER] First a post containing some details compiled: https://www.reddit.com/r/gravityfalls/comments/et5r8y/connection_to_the_owl_house_also_might_have_found/?utm_source=amp&utm_medium=&utm_content=post_body

Also in a Q&A, Dana Terrace mentioned that Eda was in Vegas once and not impressed. [/SPOILER]

Antiyonder

3rd
Demona May - [realdemona at yahoo dot com]
Real Living Insane Gargoyle....

Second.

ANTIYONDER - (Replying from last week's comment room.) Yes, I've seen "Gravity Falls". [SPOILER] The speculation about Stan Pines and Eda is new to me, though it's amusing, given that Alex Hirsch is voicing King in "The Owl House". I wonder if that helped to inspire that fan theory. [/SPOILER]

Todd Jensen

You know yesterday was Ed Asner's ninety-FIRST birthday.
Matthew
Insert Inspirational Quote Here:________