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It’s official. DC Comics and Cartoon Network have announced that they are producing a Young Justice cartoon. The full announcement was rather brief:
YOUNG JUSTICE is an all-new series produced by Warner Bros. Animation and based upon the characters from DC Comics. In YOUNG JUSTICE, being a teenager means proving yourself over and over – to peers, parents, teachers, mentors and, ultimately, to yourself. But what if you’re not just a normal teenager? What if you’re a teenage super hero? How much harder will it be to prove yourself in a world of super powers, super villains and super secrets? Are you ready to come of age in such a world? Are you ready for life or death rites of passage? Are you ready to join the ranks of the great heroes and prove you’re worthy of the Justice League? The members of Young Justice—Robin, Aqualad, Kid Flash, Superboy, Miss Martian and Artemis—are about to find out.
This all-new series is produced by Warner Bros. Animation and based upon characters from DC Comics. Sam Register (Teen Titans, Ben 10, Batman: The Brave and the Bold) is the executive producer. Brandon Vietti (Batman: Under the Red Hood, Superman Doomsday, The Batman) and Greg Weisman (Gargoyles, The Spectacular Spider-Man, W.I.T.C.H.) are the producers.
The above poster shows the line-up mentioned in the announcement. In the background are the three original Young Justice characters from Peter David’s series – Robin, Kid Flash (originally Impulse), and Superboy – along with Miss Martian from Geoff Johns post-Infinite Crisis Teen Titans. The two foreground characters are an archer called Artemis and Aqualad. Artemis is the character who was leaked after Stephanie Lemelin blogged that she landed the role of a character called “Arrowette” in a cartoon called Young Justice League. Obviously the names have changed slightly, but the designs she showed the her character are the same as for Artemis. The Aqualad character was leaked after T-Rich tweeted that he’d read for the part.
I applaud their attempt at diversity, but wouldn’t Lorena as Aquagirl have been a more viable choice than forcing in an Aqualad that heretofore has never existed?
All said, I’m still looking forward to this.
how about Wonder Girl?
I’m still reserving judgement on this show. What made the original Young Justice sing for me was Peter David’s wonderful scripts and Todd Nauck’s energetic drawings. That style was probably best taken up by the Teen Titans cartoon. This show, at least from the scant details we know, appears to be based on Geoff Johns Teen Titans. Not in itself a bad thing, but its more squarely aimed at the Ben 10 / Wolverine and the X-Men niche than those of us who can still remember the start of Bruce Timm’s DCAU (almost 20 years now).
Something implicit in this is that there is an adult Justice League running around – somewhere off stage Superman, Aquaman, Batman, the Flash, Green Arrow, and co are having adventures. It’ll be interesting to see how much of them we’ll see and how much – if any – heritage from other cartoons will be carried over.
The need to balance appearances is always problematic when creating a cartoon roster from an existing comic book. Lorena as Aquagirl would have hit the Latino box, but it would still have left them without an African American (African Atlantean?) member. Arrowette is at least similar to the current Speedy and Arrowette characters, but Aqualad looks to be a completely new take. Regardless of ethnicity, he’ll be the character the comic book fans will probably be most sceptical about. There are other black characters they could have brought in – Empress would have been fantastic – but, they don’t have a direct link to a core JLA member as each of these characters does.
As for Wonder Girl, I’d like to have seen her included as well, but there is going to be ample opportunity for guest-stars and new members.
(Anybody else hope that they’ll hire in Peter David to write some of the scripts?)
dear justice league home page web site , hi my name is david b conway , and my comments to the new the young justice league cartoon , is that , just after this new cartoon animated series why not add them just along with the justice league unlimted roundster as well , and make the spinoff just from the justice league unlimted , and call it the young justice unlimted just after the second season / and just for now here is my new heros just to add on the the new young justice tv animated series as well and one of them i have in mind is to have the crimson avgerer just add to the the young justice and how about the shining knight just from the justice league unlimted and about the captain marvel as well , and how about the stargirl / and how about the batman beyond hero , or to have batboy and how about the new green lanter hero quesar just from the the same planet just where the frist of green lanter came from and lets not forget about the batgirl and the last one is to have the green arrow joing the team and to have super girl , and the red robin / love david b conway
You know what I like about comics? The episodic value. Continuation. And the big Epic Battles.
Instead of building upon any preexisting continuity, you are just starting all over again, creating new characters and putting your own spin on the story. Basically, an alternate reality in which nothing already written or animated connects.
So why bother calling it Young Justice? It wont be the same stories, characters, or heart. You are just ripping off the title.
But the thing that bothers me the most? You are probably going to dumb the whole thing down. Because you don’t think your audience can get the deep stuff.
Characters should have relationships, face major issues, and die. Because even kids in puberty are dealing with all sorts of crap. While you guys just continue to water it all down and pretend the world is a beautiful, cartoony place. Learn to connect with your audience, For God’s sake.
Robin is not tIm Drake – and yet Superboy is Connor – What kind of crappy concept is this?? Come on! Alot of kids grew up reading Drake as Robin, Let’s retire Dick as Robin! He already stole Drake’s costume in Teen Titans, let’s give Drake a break!