 This is the part 1 of a 3 part series discussing the history of the show Young Justice, its critical acclaim amid cancellation, and its new life provided by DC’s new streaming service DC Universe. Part 1 this week will discuss the moves that lead to the series creation, and its fan base growing love before cancellation. Next week part 2 will discuss its cancellation, and the move to DC’s streaming service DC Universe. Finally, part 3 we give a review of season 3 and our hopes for Young Justice’s future.  Original OG comic book lineup: Superboy (Connor Kent), Impulse (Bart Allen), and Robin (Tim Drake) Spoilers Ahead Batman: The Animated Series. Superman: The Animated Series. Justice League Unlimited. Teen Titans. Fam, there was a solid 10-15 years where the DCAU ran point on all things amazing and animated. Marvel honestly could not catch up on the animated front (let’s be real they still can’t, but they trying lol), and no one really cared because the DC Animated Universe was so trill! This was still a bit before the huge Comic Movie Universes that boomed from 2008 with Iron Man and kept running till this day, that now has Marvel in the clear spotlight. So for us comic book geeks and all things Marvel or DC back then, our attentions were focused on these shows as kids and young adults. Even as an adult rewatching, let me tell you they stand the test of time. They may have moments of corny, because let’s be real, these were shows made for the Saturday morning cartoon crowd, but the overall gangsta can not be denied. Then in 2010, several years after its similar theme predecessor “Teen Titans” was cancelled, DC showed us once again why they reign King in the animated land with the drop of “Young Justice.” “Young Justice” was based on the comic book series of the same name created in 1998. that usually involves the characters of Robin, Superboy, Impulse, Arrowette, and others who were either permanent or temporary members throughout its first few volumes.. It was DC’s way of having a Teen Titans during the late 90s and early 2000s, but without needing all of the backlog of the actual Teen Titans mythology. It was meant to have the freedom to try fresh new stories with at the time new iterations of Robin ( Tim Drake ) Impulse/Kid Flash ( Bart Allen), and Superboy (Connor Kent). It was a really fun series, that started off light hearted, but delved into really deep stories of identity, legacy, and carving your own path when your not the first or even second version of your public hero image. The show included new iterations of Aqualad Kaldur'ahm (who’s super black boy magic fyi), and a “niece” of John Jones the Martian Manhunter in Miss Martian. It came at a perfect time too since it was a few years after the Teen Titans highly acclaimed show was cancelled in 2006 on a cliffhanger, so fans were ready for what promised to be another great series, and my guy did they deliver.  HAIC *Head Aquaman In Charge* From the first few episodes involving the initial team lineup rescuing Superboy and their interactions with their adult counterparts, fans knew we were in for a treat. In fact it was loved so much that even after 2 seasons it was in a lot of circles being compared to the gold standards of Batman with the overarching stories and new origin mythos being given for heroes and villains alike. While also doing an amazing job of having an ensemble cast with some amazing action set pieces just like in the JLU series. The cadmus escape, and the attack in Atlantis are perfect examples of the use of multiple characters done well in action scenes, and there are so many more throughout the series. It is ridiculous honestly. Strong building blocks like this in the superb action scenes, intense story, and seeing new versions of loved characters that for fans Young Justice seemed like a damn sure thing. We all thought it was another solid investment from DC, a new series to love and make a classic. If we only knew. To be continued with part 2 next week…. JayRemembers when he thought Superboy's leather jacket was amazing. He is totally not looking to buy one online.
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 As a black geek I was blessed and fortunate enough to grow up around a lot of black geeks. Hell, my dad (R.I.H.) introduced me to all of this. My mom grew up with basic awareness of a lot of super heroes and comics, but she was only into it because of my dad after they got married. I’m married to a woman who didn’t know who the entire f**k Dr. Strange was before we got together, but now she’s trying to figure out how she’s going to make it to next year to find out how the heroes in “Infinity War” are going to deal with Thanos. I said all of that to say black love exists for black geeks who date black non-geeks. Due to my own personal experiences I just couldn’t wrap my head around black geeks still catching some roast over what they love in 2018. So I started asking people to tell me about their experiences.  "The results were certainly interesting. Check these out: “From my experience, I can say that I have had maybe 3 women that have been open to the world of anime and gaming. Ones that I’ve tried to open to it seem interested at first but only because they think it’s one of those things that change after we date for so long. Like I won’t be as into it if she occupies my time. Not going to lie, the past few years my interest in manga and anime has grown tremendously and it’s as though because I lift weights I can’t be into that stuff. I’m into "Harry Potter" and even trading cards, and it seems to be a child’s thing but I’m coming from a place of where it’s a lifestyle. It’s not some random hobby I picked up on the weekends. I have websites I check for new episodes of anime, I get updates for Comic-Con, and I am thinking about joining a LARP group. So it’s like the more I grow into that it’s not a conversation I can always bring up for fear that I’ll be roasted over it. We (black geeks) see a lot of shame and jokes made when stuff like Skyrim and Kingdom Hearts come up. Yeah we’d rather play PC games than get drunk for a night or go listen to jazz music. When I think of ridicule for being a black geeks, one story in particular comes to mind. I have a kilt I wear for the Highland Games. I wore it for Halloween with my Skyrim mask and off-top I got roasted when I showed up at the party. I know that if I would’ve worn something different or recognizable, I wouldn’t have gotten roasted that way. I was specifically because of what I wore that I got the ridicule. And I can take a joke, but these came off as something deeper than just friendly jokes. It just is what it is.”- Ced That’s pretty messed up, but check this next story out: “There was this woman I worked with. She was nice and I tried befriending her. She is into the typical black things lik rap, R&B, urban movies and books, etc. I liked all of those things as well but when I started talking about "Harry Potter", "Dragon Age", and "Game of Thrones" she proceeded to tell me, ‘Oh you’re one of those weird ones. Into that white people stuff.’ After that she barely talked to me. I haven’t had a problem dating but I tend to lean towards men who share my taste or ones who know nothing about my nerdy world and are open to trying some of it out themselves. Trying to make black friends that were women was a nightmare, though. Most of my close friends are white. Once someone calls me ‘strange’ enough times, that’s when it’s done for me and I refuse to hide any parts of my interests for anyone.”- Denise  I didn’t even think that much about cultivating friendships as a geek when I started on this piece. If you’re going to shut down from talking to someone based on the things they find entertaining, you’re kind of an ass***e. Keep in mind that a lot of urban s**t like "Empire" and half of Black Netflix is trash to begin with. I wish somebody would come and tell me that "Game of Thrones" is some weird white people s**t. Man I just got heated… I guess the overarching point of this (besides raising awareness of some sort) is that… Dawg, a geek could be your true match. Stop being basic (closed minded) and embrace that black geek love. We’re smart af, can hold a conversation like a muff***a, and we look at a lot of stuff in more creative ways. Don’t be a c**t and think that someone can’t make you happy because they’re entertained by something that you believe is beneath you. Embrace your differences and give it a shot. And if nothing else works for you, then ponder on this: Black geeks are amazing in bed. If we’re open to watching s**t like “Outlaw Star”, then just imagine what else we’re watching… Thank me later. J2J2’s selection for worst movie ever is “Human Centipede”. DO NOT LOOK THAT ISH UP!!! So a week before we officially got word that Disney buying 21st Century Fox was a thing, it was a really hot rumor. So hot, that my fellow geeks and I couldn’t wait to talk about what the world would look like if Wolverine was sent on a mission to kill a target, only to find out that target was Hulk. If Mr. Fantastic was consulted by Peter Parker on how to stop his mutation into an actual Man-Spider. If the Shi’ar Empire appeared in a Guardians of the Galaxy film. So many awesome suggestions were thrown out there, and with each new or classic story that was brought up, the enthusiasm grew. And then, out of freakin’ nowhere, one guy says: “Man… I sure hope that they don’t mess up Deadpool with all this PG stuff!” Admittedly, I was slightly annoyed. Deadpool is funny character who found real prominence thanks to his 2015 film. A solid film that went on to become the highest grossing X-men film ever, and, with time, also became CRIMINALLY overrated. How overrated? There are people that believe Deadpool is a better choice than Thor for a fight against a group of other super heroes. That’s absolutely absurd, but I digress. I let my annoyance go, and moved on with my day. So later, I’m talking to a separate group of geeks about the then-possible merger, and yet again, someone brings up Deadpool. B, but it was worse this time. This lost soul said: “I don’t care about any of those other properties, Deadpool is going to suck now because they’re going to try and make it PG!!!” #TRIGGERED I’m here to make sure you all understand the gravity of the situation, here. Deadpool is cool, but we had WAY better comic book movies before he came along with crude jokes and body humor. If they don’t make another Deadpool movie, we’ll be fine. I understand your concerns. You want something that’s a hard “R” (gotta be careful with that), has plenty of gore, and will make you laugh. It’s the American way. You know what else is the American way? Sit back because I have a list:
I could really get crazy (Xenomorphs and Predators in Star Wars, The Simpsons appear in a Pixar film) but I don’t think it’s necessary. We live in a world where things look cool and they eventually disappoint, but I’m going to be optimistic about this one. Disney acquiring 21st Century Fox allows what we geeks have been begging for over the course of several years. All we want, all we NEED is all of Marvel’s characters under the same roof so we can get the stories we really want to see on screen. We finally have that. What a time to be alive!!! And for the sake of all things awesome, please… Shut the hell up about Deadpool… J2From Jackson, MS, and is mostly proud of that. Trash will not be tolerated no matter how old it is. Might be a robot, and in a movie could be played by the Tin Man in "The Whiz" |
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