Written by Brian Michael Bendis
and David F. Walker
Art by John Timms and Mike Grell
Published by DC Comics
“You ready? They’re ready! We’re all ready!”
This month’s issue feels as if it mostly just moves things further along to all the action of next issue.
Which is odd, given that the (ever-growing) roster of Young Justice has spent maybe three issues now discussing the relative merits of taking the fight directly to S.T.A.R. Labs and the distinctly suspicious activity of its other-dimensional energies expert, Dr. Glory.
Unlike their teammate Conner Kent, aka Superboy, who set off like a shot to confront the Good Doctor the moment he put the pieces together.
And yeah, Conner’s maybe got himself stranded again in yet another DC property splinter-dimension – the fantastic alien dinosaur pulp fantasy world of Skartaris, home to the inimical Warlord naturally – but still, that sort of headstrong response is much more in the style of the old team.
Sorry, the first team. It’s complicated.
To be fair, all this relative down-time helps knock down other alternatives and gets everyone on board with the plan (sort of), but still at this point it seems like it’s all been going on a bit long.
Of course, last issue, we learned that all that exposition not only allowed for the Wonder Twins to join in the adventure, but also Miguel and Summer from Dial H for Hero.
Which might give you some idea of the eventual post-further-exposition pay-off in this issue also. But be prepared for some surprises nonetheless.
In the meantime, Superboy has a new reality to come to grips with.
And a quick backstory introduction for Warlord, who as it happens was also transported without notice from his home-world of Earth to the alien world of Skartaris once upon a sometime ago.
It’s a fine enough explanation, for those young readers who may (probably) need it. But frankly, listening to Warlord give Conner Kent a pep-talk built around the same exact advice that Superboy already followed himself on Gemworld, falls a little flat as a storytelling device.
Maybe Conner’s sudden spike of the feels is just intended to point more metaphorically towards the sort of identity crisis he’ll be facing soon, once the changes currently sweeping across the Superman family become fully clear to him. Wouldn’t mind seeing more of Conner Jr. at some point, if that’s actually the case. But we’ll see.
At any rate then, all in all, a lot of exposition, not much action.
But there’s tons a coming!
And man, you really do not want to be working at S.T.A.R. Labs right now.
Next Issue: Reboot the Jukebox.
