I do love a good multiversal romp. It seems Brian Bendis does too, because that’s what we get in the latest Young Justice.
Tossed into the inter dimensional ether by uppity Gemworld aristos, Robin, Wonder Girl, Teen Lantern, Superboy, Impulse, Jinny Hex and Amethyst flit from Earth to Earth, hoping each time that their next leap will be the leap home.
So they go from Earth 42…
To Earth C (also known as Earth 26)…
… and Earth 22 (aka Earth 96).
That’s quite the ride. And it’s only the start, with the cliffhanger promising the next Earth won’t be one to which the ever-enthusiastic Impulse wants to emigrate. As for the issue at hand, while the chubby chibi Little League are cute, they don’t excite me as much as do the Zoo Crew – they’ve made a few cameos over the past few years, but I’d really love to see them in their own story again, even if just for one issue (creators Roy Thomas and Scott Shaw! could do a lot in one issue). What a shame we didn’t see a race between Bart and super-turtle Fastback. I don’t recall the Multiverse Mallet previously, but with Pig Iron around, it really is a case of ‘he who smelt it, dealt it’.
The first page set on the Kingdom Come world has me scratching my head – anyone understand the random kids’ dialogue?
Once the senior Justice League and Justice Society show up, things get really intense, and super fun.
Dr Fate tries to send the members of Young Justice home, but it seems his spelling is a lot better than his maths.
Bendis does a terrific job of showing the reactions of the kids to their rollercoaster ride of realities, from the aforementioned overexcited Bart Allen to Jinny and Teen Lantern’s hysteria. Particularly interesting is Conner’s refusal to engage with Captain Carrot and co, given he spent several issues of his Nineties book traversing Hypertime. (And will he recall that he met another female descendant of Jonah Hex, a supermodel gunslinger possessed by the Old West bounty hunter, in his Hawaii days?)
And I love Tim Drake’s method of working out what Earth they’re on.
As an Old Fart Fanboy, this issue is a joy, having fun with the Multiverse as we get closer to learning the secrets of Young Justice – why the original team members forgot one another. Was it Dr Manhattan’s multiversal meddling – see Doomsday Clock – or someone else?
The big surprise is Dr Fate – who knew he graduated from Vaudeville?
The art is a treat. John Timms draws most of the book, especially shining on the Kingdom Come pages, such as the Dr Fate one above, with its panel-to-panel progression from hope to horror, and I adore the infinite earths background. He gives us echoes of Kingdom Come artist Alex Ross but doesn’t go so ultra-realistic that Alan Scott and friends jar when set beside Bart and team. Also lending their talent are Teen Titans Go! art director Dan Hipp, on the Little League pages, and David Lafuente on the Zoo Crew vignette. Hipp colours his pages but the rest of the issue is handled by the ever-excellent Gabe Eltaeb, while letterer Wes Abbott does his typically fine job on every page. The only blip comes in this panel…
Purple? Presumably it was meant to tone with Pig Iron. Well, that’s my comic reading experience ruined!
Kidding. Obviously. Please tell me it’s obvious…
Another standout page is the recap, fashioned by Timm, Eltaeb and Abbott in storybook style – the did something similar last time and I love it – I’ve never been a fan of superhero prose (>ahem< Fury of Firestorm Annual #2) but I’d happily read a whole issue that looked like this.
But my favourite sequence in the whole issue?
Now that’s the super-spirit.
Timms and Eltaeb’s cover is also seriously attractive – I hope this team sticks around.
So, which Earth would you like to see Young Justice visit?
Too Dangerous For a Girl 2 
Pretty sure the youthspeak means “You’ve got some balls.” or something like that — basically impressed and scared that these kids are appearing out in the open in costume. At least, that’s how this oldster interprets it.
Loved this issue, but I wanted more Zoo Crew, too!
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Thanks for the translation – I don’t actually remember there being trouble like this in the KC future. All I remember is superheroes fighting, and a ruddy great bomb!
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This series continues to bat it out of the park with every issue! So much fun!
Loved the character work that Bendis did with Dr. Fate! I wish we would get the same depth for some of the Young Justice members. If I have any complaint if the series, it’s that I want to see more character interaction between the team. The original YJ personalities are pretty solid, but some of the new characters are still sketched pretty slight and I want to know more!
I have no clue which earth they’ve ended up on now, but I’m along for the ride.
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That’s a very fair point. Maybe things will slow down after this arc and we’ll get a bit more interaction.
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This was two tons of fun! The Gem World issues went on too long so a flash card trip through some of the multiverse was a treat. Teen Lantern even got a sweet moment, even if her character is still surprisingly puddle deep after seven issues. I know Teen Lantern has been a joke all over fandom and with certain pros for years and years but I’m not loving what’s been done with it. Maybe whatever her real name is (does she have one?) could cycle through the JLA roster a la Joker’s Daughter with Batman’s rogues…
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I never knew the idea of Teen Lantern was a joke, I just always thought it was a splendid, surprisingly unused name. Fascinating!
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Great issue.
Love the ‘smelt it’ line you toss in there. Perfect.
As you say, as a child of a multiverse, I loved this issue. So much fun with so many nods to other continuities. Wonderful.
Pretty sure there is an ‘Earth Chaykin’ with Ironwolf, Thrillkiller, etc. That would be a fun one to visit.
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Earth Chaykin would be an exciting one. Invest in swords!
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Oh, man — that smelt it line went right over my head until Anj pointed it out again. Nice one!
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I was wary of using that one – I wasn’t sure the ‘she/he who smelt it, dealt it’ wind blame-game was used outside of the UK!
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Oh, it absolutely is! I’ve known those rules since I was a kid!
It always makes me think of a line from “Harvey Richards: Lawyer for Children” from Ruben Bolling’s Tom the Dancing Bug strip. At one point, a strip opens with Harvey telling a client, “I’m sorry, Timmy, but under the statues of He Who Smelt It, Dealt It, you ARE guilty!”
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I must look for this strip, I don’t know it.
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I think it’s still out there — it was published in American alt-weeklies (like my late, lamented Village Voice) since the 90s. I first found it in this trade paperback collection in the humor section of my local Borders bookseller (another late, lamented institution!). It was a catch-all strip, with recurring characters like Harvey Richards, Charlie the Australopithecine, and more. Lots of fun!
https://www.amazon.com/Tom-Dancing-Bug-Collection-Cartoons/dp/0060969490/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=tom+the+dancing+bug&qid=1562957597&s=gateway&sr=8-1
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I loved this one. Seemed to me Bendis is really getting their individual personalities and voices down. This was totally fun from cover to cover, and I also really appreciated it was 24 pages long. Seems only Bendis is getting consistently high page counts for no additional cost. I’ve seen the occasional story longer than 20 pages, but not consistently.
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I thought all DC comics were going up to 23 pages as they upped the price to $3.99 but apparently not. This week’s Jimmy Olsen is 22 pages,which is something!
And you’re right, great comic.
Thanks for the comment, I really appreciate it!
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