DCU Reboot: Young Justice: A Joke Right?

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DCU Reboot: Young Justice: A Joke Right?
By Andy Frisk
June 8, 2011 - 15:07

The announcements keep coming. This time DC Comics (again via The Source) is giving its potentially dwindling readers a look at what their plans for the Teen Titans, The Legion of Superheroes, Static Shock, and Hawk and Dove are. Again, it is a mixed bag of promise at the very least and a huge misstep at the very worst.

Let's begin with the bad and get it out of the way. The image of the new Teen Titans is simply preposterous. The blurb underneath is nearly as bad:

"Tim Drake is forced to step out from behind his keyboard when an international organization seeks to capture or kill super-powered teenagers. As Red Robin, he must team up with the mysterious and belligerent powerhouse thief known as Wonder Girl and a hyperactive speedster calling himself Kid Flash in TEEN TITANS #1, by Scott Lobdell and artists Brett Booth and Norm Rapmund."

Oh. My. God. Paging the 1990s.

"Step out from behind his keyboard?" Does this mean he was never a Robin? Hopefully not. Tim Drake, by far, was the best ever character to wear the mantle of Robin. At least Drake will get to remain Red Robin, but his updated outfit is simply horrible. He looks like a bad combination of Marvel Comics' The Falcon and DC Comics' Black Condor (by the way...what is going to happen to the superb Freedom Fighters series that is currently running, of which Black Condor is a member?). "International organization seeks to capture or kill super-powered teenagers?" Can anyone out there say "Sentinels" or "anti-mutant hysteria?" Wonder Girl, who is now being recast as "a thief" (is she the now the teenage version of Catwoman?), looks like a bad amalgamation of Donna Troy and...well...I'm not exactly sure what...Zealot of Wild C.A.T.S. fame maybe? The red lasso does nothing to make her look better. I don't know exactly who the Lady Deathstrike/Marc Silvestri knock off clone is who's crawling on the ground, but she looks like a Marc Silvestri/Lady Deathstrike knockoff. Kid Flash looks like nearly every Jim Lee inspired 1990s X-Men-like hero or villain. In fact, the whole image smacks of being 20 years outdated. These Teen Titans look like they would be at home on the stands circa 1991-93. In other words, "Been there-seen that." The absolute worst though is Superboy, who sadly doesn't even get mentioned in the blurb...

As I've stated repeatedly, what DC Comics does with Superman, and his family of characters, will be the hinge on which way I swing as to whether I will continue reading DC Comics' books or abandon my favorite publisher entirely. The only thing I can say that is positive about this "Superboy" is that the S-Shield looks better than it did on Superman's chest in the initial Justice League #1 image. Beyond that, I am completely at a loss. Gloves and a muscle shirt? An S-Shield TAPED to his back! An S-Shield tattoo? How in the world does Superboy get a tattoo? Kryptonite needles? Red Kryptonite ink? Send this one back to the drawing board and don't let Jim Lee near it. Honestly, I would rather see the sunglasses and earring decked Superboy from the 1990s than this mess. DC Comics is taking a step back on the Superman front here...it's not looking good.

I wish my biceps were as big as my head. Maybe I'd be a superhero...or just a freak.

Speaking of the 1990s, Rob Liefeld will be handling the artistic chores on the new Hawk and Dove. Liefeld was a flash in the pan in the 1990s. No doubt, he's creative, but the man still cannot draw a properly proportioned human being. Just look at his image of Hawk and Dove. When Liefeld jumped ship at Marvel Comics and helped his pal Jim Lee form Image Comics, his titles were not only bad, they were funny (in the way that something isn't supposed to be funny but is anyway...). Youngblood, his flagship, being the silliest of all. At least Liefeld isn't writing Hawk and Dove. The only good thing about this new Hawk and Dove series is that Sterling Gates is the writer. He and Jamal Igle combined to craft the absolute best run of stories ever about Superman's cousin.

Lost in space...

Now for the good...what little there is... The Legion of Superheroes and Legion Lost both look promising. The art looks good and the concept could be just what The Legion needs. It gives the characters and storytelling a solid direction. Something that The Legion has needed for some time. It seems like DC Comics is potentially fixing one problem while creating a whole host of others. Again, why the across the board reboot? Why not just fix what's wrong.

Great artwork.

Static Shock looks promising on the diversity front, but beyond his short lived tenure as a WB Kids! series, I know nothing about him. It would be nice to he him succeed though.

Don't know much about him...looks promising though.

My worries about the future of Superman remain as we still haven't seen anything else about him yet, but from the looks of Superboy, the future of the Superman Family is looking grim.