The Appeal Of Young Justice

One of the TV shows that inspired me to try my hand at novel writing was Young Justice, a series about the teenage superheroes in the DC Universe.

The show, created by Greg Weisman and Brandon Vietti, revolves mainly around six characters and gives the spotlight to some characters that people not as familiar with the DC Universe won't know as well, with one instance of the show's creators introducing a new character. The six characters the show centered on are:

• Robin, aka Dick Grayson, who most everyone will recognize as Batman's sidekick. He's eager at first to lead the group of teenage superheroes known as The Team, but learns over time he has a lot to learn about what leadership means.
• Aqualad, aka Kaldur'ahm, the character Weisman and Vietti created. He is calm and serene most of the time, but finds himself thrust into the leadership role and must learn how to handle it, along with struggling with his thoughts about what he left behind in Atlantis.
• Kid Flash, aka Wally West, a protege of The Flash. He is cocky, lighthearted and anxious to prove himself, but must learn what it means to take on greater responsibility and thus mature -- but as he does, he shows he can pass on good advice.
• Miss Martian, aka M'gann M'orzz, one of Martian Manhunter's nieces. She is friendly but sometimes too eager to please her friends, but keeps her true Martian form a secret.
• Superboy, aka Connor Kent, a teenaged clone of Superman. He struggles with the fact that Superman seems unwilling to accept him and lets his anger issues get the best of him at times.
• Artemis, aka Artemis Crock, who becomes the new protege of Green Arrow. She has a quick wit but struggles with her own secrets about the family ties she wants hidden from the rest of The Team.

A couple other characters are rolled out into the series and each gets their own arc, too. That Weisman and Vietti are able to balance multiple characters and give each an arc throughout the series is a testament to why the series works so well.

Unlike many animated superhero shows, Young Justice features an ongoing storyline throughout its first season, one that evolves into something bigger in the second series. It's different from other series in which there might be a storyline taking place during the course of the season, but it fades into the background at times, while taking a larger role at other times.

What I also enjoy about Young Justice is how there are important plot points dropped in during the season that, upon first glance, may not seem key to the larger storyline, but are later revealed to carry a greater importance.

That Weisman and Vietti are able to balance so much character development and weave together a storyline with bits of information that appear to be throwaway at one point, but are revealed to be key moments, explains a lot of its appeal. Another plus is that the show's creators took some characters that fewer people know about and gave them bigger roles -- in some cases, the creators came up with different interpretations of a character that makes the character more interesting.

The show aired 46 episodes on Cartoon Network and wasn't renewed, but will be revived on a planned DC digital service later this year. In the weeks to come, I will sit down and review the Young Justice episodes -- my plan is to do the reviews as my weekly Sunday blog post, though I may switch to another topic on a given week depending on how my own schedule works and my plans to talk about my second novel.

And even if I do one episode per week, I won't get to them all before the planned third season starts on the DC digital service. But I hope you'll enjoy learning more about the series and perhaps it will convince you to check it out for yourself on Netflix or track down the DVDs that are out there.