Young Justice (and Green Lantern: The Animated Series) both ended their too-short runs on Cartoon Network last weekend. The cancellations of the series left many fans befuddled. Highly regarded (even adored in some cases) by critics and viewers alike, the shows also did well in the ratings department. And yet, today marks the first new Saturday with no new episodes of either series.
Cartoon Network has kept quiet as to why the shows ended, though some of the folks involved with the programs have indicated that the cancellations were at least partially the result of poor toy sales. Whatever the case, let's celebrate the show I reviewed for almost its entire run -- Young Justice -- with a look back at some of our favorite things about the series. Prepare to be whelmed!
Superheroes. Sidekicks. Saturday mornings. Kid's stuff, right?
Not so fast there, speedy. While Young Justice was, of course, suitable for younger viewers (I watched it weekly with my five-year-old), it wasn't designed just for the young'uns. Take Speedy himself, in fact. A.k.a. Roy Harper, the former sidekick of Green Arrow grew restless with his sidekick status and strived for recognition as an adult as the show began. In time, he got it… only to learn that he was a mind-controlled clone of the real Speedy! Which sounds like typical comic-book shenanigans, but it was the depiction of Red Arrow and his subsequent obsessive search for his genetic forbearer that was the really interesting part -- particularly as the storyline took on parallels to the comics version of Roy from the 1970s which saw him become a heroin addict! Of course, Young Justice didn't have Red Arrow shooting H, but there were subtle nods that could not be ignored to how an obsession -- or addiction -- could become life-destroying.
And Roy is just one example. Miss Martian took on a nasty habit in Season 2 of using her mind powers to lobotomize people and shape their will to her own. The Big Boy Scout Superman was totally skeeved out by the idea of a clone of himself… even if that clone was Superboy. Arsenal (unsuccessfully) opted for suicide over being captured. Romantic relationships formed and evolved between characters -- and sometimes ended. And once in a while, folks died.
I commented in my Young Justice Season 2 review that this show had the best animated action scenes on TV, and some readers took issue with that, citing The Legend of Korra as being even better. I don't know Korra very well, but I won't argue the point. Let's just say that Young Justice was among the best animated series on the air in terms of action, shall we?
It's standard for any superhero team that you want your group to be well-rounded so you can show off lots of different powers and abilities. And Young Justice did quite well in this regard, giving us speedsters, martial artists, archers, shapeshifters and on and on. But it's not just that. The action direction, complemented by the smart, detailed and slick design of the characters, their costumes and gear, really sold how kick-ass these guys could be. Pretty much every episode had at least one memorably kinetic scene, be it Superboy going medieval on some sorry bad guys in his Season 1 fits of rage, any number of Flashes outrunning and outthinking their opponents, or non-core cast members getting their chance to shine, like Captain Marvel's "one last trick up his sleeve" or Arsenal taking on a host of bad guys all by himself while trapped on Warworld for days.
Source : feeds[dot]ign[dot]com
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