The Rise, Fall, and Rise Again of Young Justice pt.1

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​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.”
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“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….

Jay

Remembers when he thought Superboy's leather jacket was amazing.  He is totally not looking to buy one online.