Young Justice: Invasion – “Happy New Year” Review

I was never a fan of the continuous halting of season one of Young Justice.  One positive that came from this is that after season one ended last week, the fans were quickly greeted to season two a week later.  No waiting months and months for the new season to begin.

**WARNING – This review will include spoilers.  If you have not watched “Happy New Year” and do not want to be spoiled, stop reading now.  But make sure to come back after you’re all caught up!**

Season two of Young Justice kicks off with the titled episode “Happy New Year”.  If you remember, season one ended on New Year’s day.  So from the beginning we’re lead to believe that this picks up right after the previous season ends.  But after seeing Robin in a new outfit and never-before seen characters Lagoon Boy, Beast Boy and Bumblebee help take down Clayface, the timestamp reveals that it is indeed January 1st, except it’s five years later.

Other new cast members Wonder Girl and Batgirl confront intergalactic bounty hunter Lobo.  Already we’re up to six new team members (seven if you count Tim Drake taking over the mantle of Robin).  With all the new recruits, we also find out some former teammates are now the newest additions to the Justice League (Zatanna and Rocket).  They even remind Nightwing (Dick Grayson), Superboy and Miss Martian that the open invitation to the Justice League is still there for them.  However, they are content to stay behind.  I wonder if we’ll ever know their reasoning for not joining the Justice League.  In this interview with IGN, the producers state that unlike season one, season two will not deal much with getting to know new cast members.  They are hitting the ground running, and the fans will have to get to know each new person as the show rolls along.

From the looks of it, Nightwing is the new team leader.  So what happened to Aqualad?  And for that matter, where are Kid Flash and Artemis?  They are nowhere to be found, and they make no reference to them.  There was a new black member who was referred to as “Mal”.  At first I thought it may be Cyborg, until I remembered his first name was Victor.  After doing some research I found out that he is Mal Duncan, who was actually introduced during season one.  He is one of the students enrolled in Happy Harbor High School with Superboy and Miss Martian.  Wikipedia says he’s gone by a couple of different codenames in the DC Comics (Vox, the Guardian, Hornblower, the Herald).

After defeating Clayface, I liked Beast Boy’s callback to Kid Flash collecting souvenirs in this quote, “Aw man is it over already?  I didn’t even get a souvenir for the trophy room.”

Along with Aqualad, Kid Flash and Artemis missing, I want to know what has transpired in the five years as far as Roy Harper/Red Arrow/his clone is concerned.  Have they found the real Roy Harper?  Is the clone still operating solo as Red Arrow?  Hopefully it will not take long to get these answers.

Finally, just as the two-part pilot to season one ended with the former sidekicks Aqualad, Robin and Kid Flash being greeted by the Justice League after rescuing Superboy, season two’s opener ends with Robin, Lagoon Boy and Blue Beetle in the exact same manner.  Only difference is in season one the Justice League wasn’t pleased with what the team had done.  This time Nightwing joyously yells out to Robin, “Dude, way to get your feet wet!”

So that’s it for the kickoff to season two of Young Justice:  Invasion.  The way this show is written and animated, I still say it’s the best animated comic book show on TV today.

Timdogg

#ComicBookChronicles @CBChron founder. Editor-in-Chief of @thekliqnation. Comic book reviewer, podcaster #RABBLERABBLE