All secrets revealed, all cards on the table… but will there be time to save Superboy? Your Major Spoilers review of Young Justice #12 from DC Comics awaits!
YOUNG JUSTICE #12
Writer: Brian Michael Bendis
Artist: John Timms
Colorist: Gabe Eltaeb
Letterer: Wes Abbott
Editor: Mike Cotton
Publisher: DC Comics/Wonder Comics
Cover Price: $3.99
Release Date: January 8, 2020
Previously in Young Justice: It’s an epic Wonder Comics crossover: Naomi, the Wonder Twins, and Young Justice all come together for the first time to confront the secrets behind the entire first year of the teen team’s series. Where did Connor Kent come from? Why does Bart Allen remember everyone but no one else does? How does it all connect to Jinny Hex’s trunk?
THE TEAM IS HOME, BUT SUPERBOY IS GONE
We open AT THE HALL OF JUSTICE (/TedKnightVoice), as Teen Lantern and Wonder Girl arrive looking for backup. All the find is an automated system that reads Lantern’s gauntlet as dangerous alien technology and The Wonder Twins, who aren’t interested in hearing their story. While the rest of Young Justice awaits their return and Superboy encounters The Warlord in Skartaris, we get three different back-and-forth conversations, with Drake insisting Superboy didn’t run off, Superboy cries and punches a dinosaur and Wonder Girl fails to break through the bureaucracy of the League. Fortunately, Impulse returns from his donut run (Yes, really), races to the Hall and deactivates security with The Flash’s security code, which brings everyone together just in time for Miguel, the current wielder of the Dial H For Hero H-Dial, thanks to the dimensional rift. With no adult to help, everyone agrees its time to join forces and figure out what’s going down at STAR Labs and bring it to an end.
KINDA… TALKY?
So here’s the thing about pacing: One man’s slow-and-boring is another man’s wonderful-character-moments, so I don’t want to complain too much about this issue’s lack of action. But even taking into account that this is intentionally meant to be the point where all the Wonder Comics protagonists meet and unite for the first time, this issue feels like a LOT of talking and not enough happening. Superboy’s exile accounts for only two pages of the book and while moments like Impulse using Grandpa’s codes are cute, they don’t seem to be in support of the story so much as distracting from it. (It’s also really lukcy that, in this altered reality, the codes still work.) Timms’ art is much more successful for me, although it still has some unusual eye placements that can make the characters look bizarre in certain panels. The depiction of technology is excellent, though, as is Skartaris and the Hall of Justice, so I can overlook the occasional shot of Robin squinting through eyes nine inches wide.
BOTTOM LINE: A LOT OF SETUP FOR NEXT TIME ‘ROUND
Even though all the solicitations promised secrets revealed, Young Justice #12 only namechecks those, focusing mostly on assembling our large cast and letting them bump into each other, but there’s not enough focus to make it all seem motivated, making the issue feel a bit slight, earning 3 out of 5 stars overall. I’m absolutely interested in coming back next time, but if we get another all-conversation issue, I’ll be more than little disappointed.
Also: Miguel dials up a spider-powered web-slinging hero for the final big team splash page, a cute in-joke that some readers seem to be flipping out about, for reasons I can’t fathom.
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YOUNG JUSTICE #12
It's a Bendis book, so extended conversations are expected, but this issue is nothing but, and no one really gets their moment to shine. The art is a lot of fun, though.
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Writing5
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Art7
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Coloring7
Once upon a time, there was a young nerd from the Midwest, who loved Matter-Eater Lad and the McKenzie Brothers... If pop culture were a maze, Matthew would be the Minotaur at its center. Were it a mall, he'd be the Food Court. Were it a parking lot, he’d be the distant Cart Corral where the weird kids gather to smoke, but that’s not important right now... Matthew enjoys body surfing (so long as the bodies are fresh), writing in the third person, and dark-eyed women. Amongst his weaponry are such diverse elements as: Fear! Surprise! Ruthless efficiency! An almost fanatical devotion to pop culture! And a nice red uniform.