As season two kicks off one week after season one ends, the Young Justice roster expands to include, at the very least, Wonder Girl, Blue Beetle, and Lagoon Boy!
Here’s how “Happy New Year!” is described:
The team takes on the intergalactic bounty hunter Lobo… as a precursor to an alien INVASION!
I look forward to your thoughts, opinions, gripes, live-blogging, etc.
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Hey, Lobo was kind of fun in Superman:TAS! Don’t knock it till you try it.
Brad Garrett voiced him too and he was a lot of fun on that show. One of my favorite moments from the series was the end of an episode where Superman was kidnapped by some Queen who wanted to marry him. She’s depressed that he doesn’t want to marry her at the end of the episode but then, out of no where, Lobo comes flying wondering where Superman is. She’s then happy because it’s the classic “here we go again!” ending.
They really need to put Superman and Batman TAS on Netflix instant.
Are you thinking that I haven’t tried SUPERMAN: THE ANIMATED SERIES?
Yes LOBO!! The main man is making an appearance in the DCU again, that really should be awesome!!
K
That was a great start to a new season, and the new additions are awesome! I would like to know what happened to Artemis and Kaldur though.
I was just starting to like Artemis. I hope we see what Wally is up to now, also.
It was good. Did not realize they were going to leap forward 5 years. Looks like we’ll be getting a lot of flashbacks this season.
I’m kinda hoping the flashforward is permanent. Though worried about Kaldurr, Wally and Artemis.
fantastic, wonderful, and amazing rolled into one cartoon.
Argh. The name of this season’s show is Young Justice: Invasion. For that reason, my DVR didn’t record it because it was set to record the show Young Justice. Now I have to wait until tomorrow and see the rerun.
Ditto!
I work late, so i usually sleep in Saturdays and wake up around 11:30, 12 noon. Get some grub and sit and watch Thundercats, GL & Young Justice. That is until the CN CHANGED THE FRICKIIN’ NAME OF THE SHOW SO MY BLOODY DVR DIDN’T RECORD THIS EPISODE!!!!! I AM SO TIGHT RIGHT NOW!!!! AAAAARRRRRRGGGGG!!!!!!! Sorry for over sharing. I’m just really mad that i can’t watch this right now. I hate waiting.
My DVR didn’t record also. The reason, they changed the name of the program. Very irksome! Time to watch it online.
When Dick said, “Don’t Die” to Tim, is it safe to say that Jason Todd died in those 5 years?
I totally thought the same thing. It would be nice to actually have some mention of Jason Todd in these animated series.
But wouldn’t it be douchey to sarcastically allude to that?
@Rah-UniQue: Not at all. I take it as shorthand for the “Don’t follow the ‘What Would Jason Do’ rule.
Next week: Adam Strange!
@ netforce it replays at 2, thanks to your heads up I checked my DVR and it was not set up to record either.
I didn’t catch the name change in time, but thank go for Direct TV’s east coast/west coast feeds…
All I have to say is nightwing woooo. Also batgirl the batfamily is half the team. What happen with Miss M and superboy,
Also I bet wally is flash thats why they havent showen him. But where is Auqalad??
with his dad.
Hmmmmm. Is it too much to ask for a little continuity? I wasn’t through with Aqualad yet and what the hell happened with Megan and Connor? And where is Wally?
I will watch because I still love the art and am interested in the characters. But finding out about the 16 hour gap five years after the incident, well, I just can’t see yet how they tie that together. (Yeah, yeah I know…if I could, I would be writing on the show-pretentious but just askin)
I’m not sure what you’re asking.
basically you didn’t want the jump? i don’t see why we cannot discover how things got the way they did as we go.
This show is so deep with DCU stuff it might be better than Avengers EMH, but that’s coming from a guy whose read these books since ’97. I wonder how this plays with people who don’t know the universe as well.
Who was the deep voiced black guy commanding the team by the way? Was that maybe aqua-lad?
I thought it was pre-Cyborg Vic.
It’s Mal Duncan aka Herald/Vox. We saw him and Bumblebee in Superboy and Miss Martian’s school before.
it has the same voice as aqualad from what i could hear, i hope it is aqualad. so has this brought it in line with modern stories because im really going to miss kid flash. the swamp thing creature who i never caught the name of it just didnt do it for me
@lordpaulballey: Besides the fact that Mal looked nothing like Aqualad, they call him “Mal,” and as SDucky25 mentioned, he’s a character that briefly appeared in season one.
The “Swamp Thing creature” is Lagoon Boy.
SIGH, I do not like the sudden 5 year gap. I wanted to see the original members grow more and more, and have others join the team slowly. I wanted to see the relationship flourish. I wanted to see Dick’s growth and transformation into Nightwing. Disappointing. I was just hoping the team would get some costume changes and some new members, not a time jump.
But, I do like the new members. I like Blue Beetle and Beast Boy. I liked the reference to the first 2 parter with the League showing up to find Robin, Kid Flash, Aqualad, and Superboy, but this time it was Robin, Lagoon Boy, and Blue Beetle.
I hope we get some more backstory as to what happened during the 5 years, more Nightwing, and I want to know if Nightwing/Zatanna are still a thing.
I’ll keep watching, it’s still a really great show, I just wanted to see the original team slowly grow and whatnot.
Though their interaction was not nearly as icy as Superboy and Miss Martian, Nightwing and Zatanna didn’t seem like they were still a thing. Not to me anyway.
That’s kind of what I thought too. Damn. Well, guess I’ll root for Dick/Barbra
Yea but dick is what 18 and barbra looks mabie 13ish kinda weird
I think they’re close in age. We saw Dick and Barbara both attending the same school on the day Artemis started her first day at hers. Remember? Dick took a picture of her and him and then a jealous Barbara stormed off with Dick chasing after her.
yeah your 13 is weird considering she looked older then him last season.
I forgot about that, but how come he looks his age 18 but she dosent look any older?
This episode makes me want to play Arkham city!
great episode!
In my haste to set the “new” series to record before it started I accidentally set the SD version to record so it looked like shit, which was disappointing. That having been said…
THIS WAS (MOSTLY) AWESOME!
Things I Loved…
– The 5 year time jump. It allows for so many dramatic possibilities and new, fun, and interesting dynamics.
– Batgirl!
– Lobo’s appearance was brief.
– G. Gordon Godfrey. Which means that Darkseid is can’t be far behind.
– Adam Strange! Rann!
– “Teen Titanic” was pretty funny.
– The dynamic between Dick and Tim.
Things I Didn’t Love…
– Dick Grayson not being Robin anymore, which was a super bummer.
– Any time Lobo talked. Any time Lobo was on screen.
Things To Consider…
– Rocket’s tenure on the team sure was short!
– I wonder where Kid Flash, Artemis, and Aqualad are.
– The team is pretty large now and verging on dramatically unwieldy. That was part of my problem with JUSTICE LEAGUE UNLIMITED, there were so many people that it was hard to focus on anybody. We’ll see how this progresses.
I believe I read an interview with one of the writers or creators that said that because they only have 20 episodes this season, we spend more time on the overarching story than on individual time with characters. So we get to know each one “on the go” while we see the story progress, probably along the lines of JLU.
I wasn’t thrilled about Lobo either. 😛
Time jump could be good. Like I said earlier, expecting a lot of flashbacks as to what occurred during the gap. Similar to what is going on in the JL comic book right now. Don’t think it is working that great in the book – too slow. However, might work better on a 1/2 hr show. DC sure seems to like the time leaps right now – JL book and this show (5 years) and DK Rises (8 years).
Always happy to see Nightwing.
Did not mind this version of Lobo as much as past versions. He did not seem as much like comic relief as on Superman and Justice League.
i got a feeling there will be a huge focus on aliens invading from outer space only to find out darkseid and company have been invading from the inside the whole time.
Great espisode, and I have no problem with the bigger cast. Pack as many superheroes as you can into the the show. JLU is one of my all-time favorites.
OMFG! NOT what I expected. This shoe is so goddamn good.
Didn’t see the “jump” coming at all. I wonder if they’ll fill in the blanks, go back, or is this permanent? Not a big Blue Beetle or Lagoon Boy fan, but nice to see Beast Boy. Still love this show.
This show is so badass. I was totally surprised at the time jump. I get why they did it though. It’s easier to explain how there are like 10 new members on the team and stuff. I know it’s just the first episode of the season but I feel like they need to go back and fill in the blanks for somethings.
My theories on the missing members:
-Aqualad is with Clone Roy trying to track down the real Roy.
-Wally West has been devastated by the loss of Barry Allen and has in turn become the Flash
-Artemis is training with Green Arrow more and becoming a better archer. I have no doubt she’ll come back soon though.
Now on what happened between Superboy and Miss Martian. Connor looked almost the exact same as he did 5 years ago. M’gann even though much older has still noticeably changed. Connor may not be able to age as naturally due to his Kryptonian heritage and genetic cloning. M’gann may want to be with someone who can at some level still age with her.
Plus this sets up for Cass and Conor 😀
I like your idea for Aqualad and Roy, but I’m thinking Wally and Artemis are with them. We saw the team break into mission squads a few times in this episode (Alpha, Beta, Gamma, Zeta — maybe a Delta too? I can’t remember), maybe they’re all Omega Squad or something like that.
Ooh, or what if Dick suspects those six leaguers who went missing for 16 hours might still be sleeper agents for Vandal Savage, so Aqualad, Wally, Artemis and Roy were dismissed in disgrace as a ruse to allow them the freedom to investigate without so much attention from the compromised league members?
This show is awesome.
but miss m is 40ish earth years old and it’s not like she has to worry about how he looks when she is a shape sifter. depending on how look kryptonians live she might out live him.
Seems like if Dick were going to dismiss them under the guise of being moles, he’d have to send Superboy with them since he was on the take from Lex. I do see the possibility of another covert team made up of the missing members off on some related long mission, though. We’ll see!
I was a late-comer to last season, and even then I found it hard to really get attached to it, but I immediately liked this episode. I really liked the time jump and the new members. I’m sure that whatever questions I have will be answered eventually.
And I just want to say that the MAD shorts are BY FAR my favorite of ALL the shorts!!!
i like how the voice actor playing G Gordan Godfrey is playing the exact same role he had in V For Vendetta
And you just gotta know that he’s probably one of the aliens.
Tim Curry was in V for Vendetta? oh and Godfrey is a new god working for darkseid.
@Mark_S: he’s part of darkseid’s gang
@Endlessw: http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0019885/
G. Gorden Godfrey is voiced by the great Tim Curry! V was acted by Matrix and Red Skull actor Hugo Weaving.
barbara gordon batgirl glad shes back
I wonder if he’ll end up getting turned into Kid Lobo at some point and become a part of the team kinda like he did in the comic…
Could it be significant that the six leaguers who went missing for 16 hours are the Justice League characters from the old animated show? MM, Supes, Bats, Hawkgirl, Wonder Woman, and John Stewart GL…Only one missing was kid flash.
Did they go and start the Justice League of the Timm-Verse under Vandall Savage’s control?
If they tie the two animated universes together I may issue an audible squeel of joy, and my kids will wonder wtf is wrong with their dad.
I’m not sure how that would work. The continuities don’t match up at all. Where would they go and start the Timmverse JUSTICE LEAGUE? On another multiverse Earth?
Besides which, it was shown in this episode that Vandal Savage used those six members for nefarious purposes in space. And they were only gone for 16 hours.
savage talked about place in the cosmos and they are implied to be allies with darkseid (or pawns as he calls them) So i think it’s more likely that they stole something or set off a war for darkseid.
@ Connor, yes I was assuming another multiverse…not the YJ verse (Earth 16 I think the creators call it) . Another multiverse, back in time. Hell, maybe they were the Justice Lords! Just fun to think about…I wonder why the creators would pick those six leaguers specifically. It just seems coincidental. Or maybe an homage.
Something tells me that the jump ahead wasn’t permanent…. I’m not sure why.
Time jump took me by surprise as well, but it was good to see Batgirl and Wondergirl. A good episode but they left a lot of stories hanging and I can’t see a reason for it. In a way though this is like JL to JLU, but that happened a bit more organically. Marvel may have life actions movies but they can’t match DC animated right now.
Ok with rocket and aqualad last seaon and bumble bee and that other guy from megan and connors school is it just me or is the show kind of racistly putting all the black characters in couples?
they also put the green characters and alien characters together. honestly wasn’t Aqualad just getting over his not-black ex-girlfriend from Atlantis that same episode? both of Mal and Bumblebee were together last season right? Artemis is half Caucasian, so i don’t think race mattered.
In all fairness, I do believe Bumblebee and Mal were dating in the comics.
And in fairness, intra-racial couples of all races are still more prevalent than inter-racial couples out there in the real world, so I don’t think there’s much evidence for racism here.
Mal/Karen are a classic comics couple. They ended up getting married eventually.
I loved how Blue Beetle interacts with the scarab! My one complaint has to do with the over use of Spanglish. It honestly made me cringe and it reminded me of why I dropped the current run of the comic series. I really miss the Batman Brave and the Bold Jaime after this episode.
The Brave and the Bold Jaime was actually cool. This Jaime is just…well…Spanish.
Why do they have to hit us over the head with it! Who talks like that! To me, it borders on offensive. Just write him as a normal teenager. *sigh* At least White Tiger on USM doesn’t go around hablando spanglish. lol *sigh*
Even in the “Booster” episode of Smallville, Jaime was written like a normal kid and not a Cholo. My six year old cousin was watching with me and he even asked, “Why is Blue Beetle talking funny?”
Give me nightwing and im happy
The time jump seems unnecessary, except for a way to introduce a lot of new characters quickly. This seems against the show’s previous MO, so I think there is something else going on.
This show has always been about the misdirection. I believe PhillyLawer96 is correct that this season will have a lot of flashbacks. We’ll see what happened between Conor and Megan. We’ll see what happened to Aqualad, Wally and Artemis. We’ll likely see how Robin became Nightwing. Maybe all of those stories will be related! Hopefully, the flashbacks will be woven into the story and slowly revealed to add more tension and drama.
The show runners must have known that the jump forward would disappoint a lot of fans. They must have felt that the show / story would be better by using this as a device. I still have faith that it will all payoff.
Still no Mary Marvel?
After watching the episode again, I know we’re all wondering where Aqualad, Artemis, and Kid Flash are, but I think we’re really not asking the big question here: WHERE ARE WENDY AND MARVIN!?
As a big comic book fan I appreciated the 5 year jump. I know almost every character origin and I had to sit down and see the same story unfold over and over. I like that they also added more to the team to shed light on other non famous character. One of my favorite DC character is Dick Grayson. I was upset that they started the series with him as Robin. But now they made him into Nightwing and as team leader with Tim as the newbie. That was awesome(I would of accepted Damien) . I would like also like to know what happen to Aqualad and I am happy to see Batgirl and Wonder Girl. I can’t wait to see what happens next.
they called lobo clown-face. If they called him ‘juggalo’ I would have tolerated his appearance. seriously, why oh why does he keep getting used?
other than that, very intrigued. can see both sides of the time-jump argument. it would have been cool to flesh out what’s come before and lots of new characters always makes me smell toy-company. However, lots of new mystery and potential. And the last time-jump i remember on tv led to probably the most radical Iraq metaphor in media history. I think that’s a cool precedent. I’m excited to see where it goes.
Good episode. I hope they add Starfire’s to the team. (The teenage one).I like how they made Beastboy 13. Let’s just hope if they put Starfire’s on the show it will be preNew52 cuz they really need a sexually social heroine on Cartoon Network.
*I love that Nightwing isin’t part of the Justice League. Makes him more independet.
*Blue Beetle has to tone down the Spanglish.
*I hope that Nightwing and Zatanna are still a thing. There could be tension there because Dick does’t want to join JL.
*When the League appears at the end of the episode, the flash design looked different, which leads me to believe that it’s Wally.
*Did anyone else notice that it was mentioned that there were only three Green Lanterns in space? So is there someone taking care of Earth, like Kyle Rayner? Or perhaps there is no Kyle Rayner yet.
But if he didn’t speak in spanglish how would we ever know that he’s Latino, specifically Mexican.
I HATE that trope. HATE. I HATE it when i read it in my comics. I HATE it when it’s on my tv shows. HATE. Every time Jaime spoke i just wanted him to shut…the…HELL UP! It’s not going to stop. And a character who should be pretty cool will just come off as annoying to me. *sigh*
Stupid Directv didn’t record it. WTF?!? Anyone else encounter the same problem?
Yes There’s a lot of talk about it early in the comments.
Thank god Gar is green here, and not the Glob awful orange he is now in the new DC52.
So, I have watched the episode 3 times now. I have a couple more thoughts / comments.
* Zatanna and Rocket were members 25 & 26 of the JL. Red Arrow was number 21. This means that three other members have joined the JL between Red Arrow and Zatanna. This brings me to my next comment…
* Did anyone else see Black Lightening is now a member of the JL? (He’s in one of shot at the end of the episode when the JL shows up in NOLA.)
* I have a feeling Wally is now the Flash.
* There are now (at least) 22 current and former members of the Young Justice team. Considering the team essentially had 9 members at the end of the last season, that’s a lot of growth.
* Tim alludes to the team being short-handed, despite the fact that there are 10 members available to go on the current mission (11 including Mal). This implies that other YJ members are busy doing something else.
* Even still, not all of the current / former members are accounted for. Assuming Batgirl and Cassie take up two spots between 9 – 22, it means 5 YJ team members are as-of-yet unknown. (Until proven otherwise, I am going to assume one of the remaining slots was Jason Todd’s.)
Great observations! Thanks. I love stuff like this.
I just love the animation, all the characters are so well designed. I liked how DIck and Tim didn’t look anything alike and Tim looked a little bit more like Bruce. And the subtle changes that signal big changes in the character over those four years like how Megan’s hair was shorter. You could just equate that to the fact that it’s 5 years later, but the first season made it so clear that her appearance is a huge part of how she perceives herself, so cutting her hair would be a huge step. Lots of things to love about this episode. So excited for the rest of the season.
very good episode, digging it more than Green Lantern. Weird, GL seems to be targeted at a slightly younger audience than Young Justice, but both are in the same block. I don’t like the Avengers cartoon.
Amazon Instant Video is certainly taking it’s sweet time adding season 2…it’s can’t be THAT hard, Amazon….sheesh
I thought the same thing. This timeline might just get reset with a few constants. Beast Boy and Blue Beetle, I’m looking at you.
I totally loved this episode, and I hope the 5 year jump / new direction of YOUNG JUSTICE is permanent! It’s like the showrunner(s) read my mind, making the tone of the series even more adult, adding cool new faces like Tim Drake/Blue Beetle/Lagoon Boy, and also ditching Wally and Kaldurr whom I’ve never liked. (Though, as discussed above, I fear we’ll be seeing them again soon. But maybe if Wally is Flash, I’ll like his new attitude more.) I do wish Jesse McCartney would alter his voice some more as an aged Dick Grayson; he’s still got that youthful obnoxious tone that I disliked from season 1 – but seeing him as Nightwing is grand compensation. Anyway, if anyone from the show happens to read this comment thread… great work, and thanks!
He changed his voice a lot I thought.