Now that they’ve figured out what’s going on, Young Justice has once chance to save both Earth and The Gem from Lord Opal. Find out how in Young Justice #6!

YOUNG JUSTICE #6

Writer: Brian Michael Bendis
Artist: John Timms
Colorist: Gabe Eltaeb
Letterer: Wes Abbott
Publisher: DC Comics
Cover Price: $3.99
Release Date: June 5, 2019

Previously in Young Justice: The young heroes who were captured and imprisoned by Lord Opal escape and make their way outside, only to attract the attention of Lord Opal. Not only does he face them down, but he has kryptonite, which keeps Conner Kent at bay. Impulse grabs it and runs off with it, which gives the heroes the upper hand, but something sets off another earthquake. Earthquakes here not only are tremors, but they can change reality itself. We also learn, back on Earth, that strange things are happening in the timeline and with people’s memories.

TYING UP LOOSE ENDS AND WRAPPING THINGS UP

Young Justice #6 closes off an arc, but it leaves plenty of potential story threads open. It covers a lot of ground, because there are still a couple back stories to plow through, and some of the action feels a little abrupt to me. We open with a dramatic double splash of the entire team: Superboy, Robin, Wonder Girl, Jinny Hex, Teen Lantern, Impulse, and Amethyst. Finally they’re all together, and Amethyst understands what’s going on. Lord Opal’s powers are corrupted, and when he uses them, it causes the tremors through reality. They also take time to make final introductions to each other, and Impulse wants to know how Conner Kent ended up here with a baby. You might well imagine the sensation this causes.

Anyway, we get Conner’s story, which is interesting even if it feels odd to have it hitting so late, since it does give us more of a feel of what has been going on in The Gemworld. He randomly gets pulled through, and sees guards harassing a young, pregnant woman. (Long story short, they killed her husband, and now hassle her for being a single mother.) She takes him in; he helps on her farm and this gives him some time to think about things. Then Robin drops his bombshell about his missing memories. He didn’t remember anything at all about Young Justice. Wonder Girl, on the other hand, still does have her memories. We also get Teen Lantern’s back story (hacked into the Green Lantern power battery on her own, and was trying to get an internship at the Hall of Justice). Then, touching base with Jinny Hex, we are reminded that she has a crate of artifacts in her truck.

Amethyst explains how the houses of The Gem each have a prime gem (associated with their name) from which their powers arise. A couple panels later, Impulse is back with the Black Opal from Lord Opal’s castle. It’s undeniably cute, but we have sort of seen this already. I do love Impulse, but it feels like kind of an easy out. On the other hand, it does bring Castle Opal (in an animated, humanoid form) directly to them, which is pretty neat. The ensuing fight with Lord Opal lasts just long enough for him to threaten Amethyst with banishment and taking over her House when she’s gone.

Amethyst meets with the Council to request that they send Young Justice back to Earth, and wishes to accompany them. The Council agrees, and Emerald sends them back, and then announces that she’s actually banished Amethyst for good. Then it comes out that she banished all the young people. Forever. Somewhere.

While it makes for a good cliffhanger ending, overall the book is tying up so many loose ends that it feels like it’s rushing toward that point. Even though the transitions are done well, there are so many of them that it feels a bit choppy. A lot of loose ends were tied up, but there are still a bunch more loose ones floating around, almost too many of them. I feel left with a lot of, “But what about…” questions.

THE PEOPLE AND THE PLACES

The art of Young Justice #6 is good. I think it helps make the story flow as well as it does, and help keep things straight. One of the things I like are the moments when, after a lot of talking, there’s a moment of silence and we see everyone’s expressions.  (Such as when Impulse let’s slip that Conner has a wife and baby.) The reactions are great, as is the timing. We get a similar moment when Impulse steals the Black Opal.

But what I particularly enjoy from this issue is the depiction of Castle Opal as a giant, craggy humanoid incorporating a castle into its build. It’s a fitting foe for our band of heroes, and it adds a nice magical/fantasy element. The fight, first with the castle and then with Lord Opal, is action packed if short, or at least concise.

BOTTOM LINE: MORE OF A BEGINNING THAN AN END

I like Young Justice #6, and it’s been fun how it brought everyone back together again and re-introduced us to Amethyst and the Gemworld. This feels more like the end of an introduction than the resolution of something major though. Even the fact that maybe Lord Opal has been quashed for now is overshadowed by the question of just where is Young Justice now?