Artemis: Superboy… My white rabbit’s called Superboy. [...] Superboy, Robin, Kid Flash, Aqualad… and I that girl must be a Martian… they’re a team. And I want on! I so want on!

Artemis Crock is the daughter of the husband-and-wife duo of Paula and Lawrence Crock. Her father raised her to follow in their footsteps, but her mother has other ideas. The wheelchair bound Paula has just finished a prison term and now wants to dedicate her life to raising Artemis. However, the strong willed teen has her own opinions and strikes out on her own as a vigilante – a hero not a villain. A few days into her new life she comes upon the Team fighting the android Amazo (“Infiltrator”).

August 3rd — Artemis followed Superboy (her cute “white rabbit”) to Gotham Academy where Professor Ivo (who she recognised as a friend of her father) was watching Amazo (an android with the powers of the Jusitce League) fight Superboy, Kid Flash, and Robin. Dozens of chattering M.O.N.Q.U.I. robots flock around her treetop hiding place forcing Artemis to defend herself with her longbow and crossbow. She smashes several robots, but there always seem to be more of them. In a brief moment of calm she sees Amazo about to squeezing Kid Flash and distracts it by firing an arrow at it through an open window. Artemis finally defeats the MONQUIs by turning their own lazer beams against them. She is victorious in time to see Superboy punch out Amazo (as seen in “Schooled”).

Artemis is impressed that “kids.. my age..” took down a robot with the powers of the Justice League and realises that they are a team. She wants to join them, but returns home dejected when she believes that they’d never allow somebody with her family background to be a member.

August 7th — Four nights later, Artemis returns home to discover the Batman and Green Arrow waiting for her. Their youth Team had assumed it was Speedy’s arrow who saved Kid Flash, but Batman and Green Arrow weren’t so sure and tracked Artemis down. She thinks she’s busted, but is surprised when Batman offers her a position on the Team. She accepts on the condition that they do not disclose her parentage (which silently upsets her mother). Green Arrow agrees and tells her that as far as the Team are concerned she is his new protege and niece. Artemis is introduced to most of the Team the next day – all of them except for Kid Flash who makes his own blundering introduction (as seen in “Infiltrator”).

• It takes place on August 3rd, 7th, and 8th.
• The issue takes place between the events shown at the end of “Schooled” and the start of “Infiltrator”.

• Artist Commentary: Penciller Christopher Jones delivers his own commentary on his issue at The World’s Finest website. On the shear number of MONQUIs he comments “I enjoyed drawing the big MONQI fight sequence, but by the end of the issue I was more than ready to be done with them!”

Last issue delivered some of the details behind Artemis’s origin beyond what had been implicit on screen and really helped flesh out the backstory behind her running subplot – and potentially the Sportsmaster / Cheshire subplots. This issue is a lot more action orientated and lets Artemis cut loose a bit more as she takes down an entire troop (or should that be flock) of MONQUI robots.

I though the Comixology rating for this issue was pretty hash until I realised that it was only a single rating. I mean, why does the Young Justice comic get so little attention. The cartoon is a massive hit, but the comic – which enlarges and enriches the ongoing plotline – seems left out in the cold in terms of attention. Maybe it’s because the New 52 launch is overshadowing everything else, but I really felt this issue deserved more attention.

The Verdict

Page 1. The Alice in Wonderland theme is carried over from the last issue which hinted that Cheshire was Artemis’s sister. The motif of Superboy being her “White Rabbit”, i.e. the figure she’d follow down the rabbit hole into wonderland, is also carried over.

Page 3. Most of this issue and the last part of the last issue take place simultaneously with the Young Justice episode “Schooled”. After a long fight the Justice League had defeated and dismantled the android Amazo. Its parts were to be escorted by the Team to two separate STAR Labs facilities, but Professor Ivo (Amazo’s creator) used his MONQUI robots to steal the pieces back again. He then reassembled Amazo and set it against Superboy. In Young Justice (vol. 2) #7 (Oct 2011) Artemis saw the unconscious Superboy crash into the Gotham City Academy and went to investigate. That’s how she came to be surrounded by Ivo’s robots.

Page 8. This is all we see of Artemis in “Schooled”, a single arrow that distracts Amazo. We don’t even see the archer, just the arrow strike.

Page 18. The sidekick/niece angle is the line Green Arrow gives the Team in “Infiltrator”, but Red Arrow recognises that it’s a lie and privately warns Artemis about hurting his friends.

Page 19-20. These two pages take place simultaneously with the ends at the beginning of “Infiltrator”.