Psycho-Pirate

I think it apropos don’t you? The Psycho-Pirate Plundering Plutonium!

July 25th – Kid Flash, Aqualad, Robin, Superboy, and Miss Martian are dispatched by the Batman and the Red Tornado to stop a plutonium theft from Salt Flats, Colorado. They find that the Psycho-Pirate has used his emotion controlling Medusa Mask to steal the plutonium and is attempting to make his getaway. He turns the enthralled laboratory staff against the Team and then turns the Mask’s emotion controlling powers against them. Kid Flash faces his feelings of inadequacy, Robin faces his fear on not being needed, Superboy faces low self-confidence, Aqualad faces his the burdens placed upon him, Miss Martian faces her secrets.

Kid Flash’s speeds pulls him through the emotional trance quickest and he comes to as the Psycho-Pirate’s ride arrives. He first disposes of the Medusa Mask, robbing the Pirate of his powers, and then grabs the plutonium. However, the Atomic Skull is on the Pirate’s ride and grabs the plutonium. He almost escapes with it, but Kid Flash’s confrontation has allowed the rest of the Team time to recover and rally. The Skull still escapes, but the Team manages to recover the plutonium.

• This story is set on July 25th.

The Young Justice sequence in DC Nation Super Spectacular was first published as part of a 2011 Free Comic Book Day title. It is written by Art Baltazar and Franco and drawn by Mike Norton who produced the first seven issues (#0 – 6) of the regular Young Justice series.

Page 2. The Psycho-Pirate was designed by Mike Norton with input from Greg Weisman, Brandon Vietti, and Phil Bourassa. The Psycho-Pirate who uses the Medusa Masks is the second incarnation of a character with that name. This one first appeared in Showcase #56 (May-June 1965). His weapon is the golden Medusa Mask it allows the wearer to project emotions into other people – fear, shame, anger, even blind loyalty.

Page 3. Earlier the Kid Flash said that he did not know what the Psycho-Pirate would do with the plutonium and her Robin has to remind him of the safety problems. Yet Wally is the Team’s science geek, he’s the one who knew how the turn the Cave’s x-ray scanner into an EMP weapon in “Homefront”.

Page 4 (above) shows us the fears of Kid Flash and Robin including details not alluded to elsewhere. The detail of the Flash not originally wanting him as a partner was covered in Young Justice (vol. 2) #5 (Aug 2011) and we’ve seen Wally eating something at sometime during most of this early appearances. However, the line about “never be satisfied” is new. It gives a new spin on his metabolism and the sort of inpatient hunger that drives his character.

Robin’s feelings of inadequacy is picked up in several episodes of the cartoon. In “Drop-Zone” we see Robin come to terms with not being the group’s leader, later in “Downtime” we see Robin become uneasy that Batman was talking more to Aqualad than to him. He’s finally forced to deal-with his Batman issues in “Disordered” when he admits to Black Canary that he doesn’t have it in him to be the all consuming thing that is the Batman.

Page 5 (above). Superboy’s emotional development runs through most of Season 1 and it takes quite a while for him to get over the rage and awkwardness. Its really his relationships with Miss Martian, with Wolf, and even with the Super-Cycle which cause him to mature as a character. We also get to see subtle instances in later episodes where he begins to accept the Superman heritage.

I think it is that Aqualad sequence which gives us to most insight into these characters. We rarely get into his head – he’s such a reserved and measured character that it is sometimes difficult to read his emotions. This sense that he’s constantly in a foreign , even alien, environment is intriguing. Although I’d take issue with the drowning metaphor, it’s be more like us being in a vacuum or low pressure environment.

Page 6 (above). Miss Martian’s trouble with telepathy was a feature of her first appearance in “Welcome to Happy Harbor”. It has also been hinted at several times that she may be a White Martian. This, the television, and the significance of the “Hey Megan” catchphrase are paid off late in season 1.

The final Kid Flash panel is significant for the very last image showing Robin revealing his secret identity to Kid Flash. So far Wally is the only person who knows that Robin is Dick Grayson, as mentioned in “Welcome to Happy Harbor”. Batman’s forbidden him from telling anybody else. Which is why Robin always appears in dark sunglasses whenever the Team is in civilian clothing.

Page 9. The Atomic Skull that appears here is decidedly more chatty than when he appears in the episode “Revelations” as part of the Injustice League.