Writer: Peter David Artists: Todd Nauck (p), Lary Stucker (I)
Publisher: DC
Plot: The book opens with Jason Todd arriving at the offices of Young Justice to ask for their help in exposing his parent, who are working for the criminal Killer Croc. However, we see that Wonder Girl's short temper, and the mysterious appearance of a ghostly figure, has Jason Todd coming to the conclusion that he'll seek help elsewhere. We then look in on Jason parents, who are aware of their son's efforts to expose them, and we see his mother pays a visit to the Empress, who we see uses her voodoo to attack Jason. However, we see Secret has caught up with Jason, and is on hand when the voodoo attack is launched. However the Empress' attack proves to be too powerful for Secret to handle, and Jason Todd dies a painful looking death. In the interests of petty vengeance, we then see Young Justice attacks the circus that Jason's parents & Empress work for, and the murderous parents are trampled underfoot by the panicked animals that Wonder Girl set loose. We then see Empress is made an offer to join Young Justice, which she accepts.
Comments: The messed up timeline is a favorite comic plot device, and most times it's also a pretty solid one, as it's always fun to see the impact one little change would make on the life of characters we're all familiar with. I'm also quite pleased to see that it does look like Impulse is set to play the role of the character who remembers how the world is supposed to be, and has to struggle to set things right again. Add to this the simple fact that Peter David has some fun with the world he's created, as the changes are quite sweeping, so one is left having to rediscover these characters all over again. I mean we have Wonder Girl getting her powers from Dionysus instead of Zeus, Arrowette embracing her violent tendencies thanks to her mother's suicide, and Harm becoming Secret instead of his younger sister. Oh and of course there's Jason Todd who's running around in this issue very much alive, and Empress also shows up as a thoroughly evil voodoo practitioner. Now we all know that everything will be set right when the story wraps up, but Peter David makes some drastic changes that certainly capture one's attention.
A couple details that I did want to comment on. First, this crossover doesn't get me all that worked up, as it does look like the important elements of the story are being handled in the Young Justice chapters, while the Superboy, Impulse & Robin chapters will deal primarily with how the new world has impacted those characters. In fact, upon reading the previews in the letter page, the only chapter that looks like it might be important to the main story would be Impulse, as it likely gives one the story of how the world got this way. Second, while this may just be an unintentional choice of words on Peter David's part I did notice the word "crisis" was used by Bart to describe the problem he's facing, and I also couldn't help but notice crisis was the only word highlighted in that word balloon. It would certainly be a bold move on Peter David's part is he was drawing upon elements from one of DC's most earth-shattering stories. Bart versus the Anti-Monitor! Then again maybe I'm reading too much into what may not have even been a clue.
Before I comment on the art, I do have to make mention of Humberto Ramos' cover, as it's really not that good. First of all it displays a complete disregard for even trying to deliver plausible looking figure-work, and poor Wonder Girl looks like her head is being deflated. Second, I hope that this is suppose to be a misleading visual, but it does seem to show us the identity of the mystery villain who manipulating Young Justice. Moving on to the interior art, Todd Nauck & the rest of the creative team do their usual solid job, as on this issue they are called upon to come up with new character designs for the book's cast, with some of the new looks being quite shocking, from Wonder Girl's rather impressive physique, to the delight that flashes in Empress' eyes when she is called upon to murder Jason Todd. The sequence where Empress carries out this murder is also nicely handled by the art, as the struggle to save the doomed Jason Todd is quite visually striking. Young Justice's attack on the circus is also well delivered, with the stampeding animals being the highlight.
Final Word: A pretty enjoyable issue, in that Peter David has made pretty good use of the idea that his altered Young Justice can be radically different from the ones the reader is familiar with. Now given the fact that she is a teenager, I must confess I was a bit offput by the seductress angle that is used on the Empress character, but I did rather enjoy the evil streak that she makes full use of in this issue. In fact, the entire team has a rather evil quality to them that makes the story quite interesting, as one can imagine that this evil team is going to crossover in a future story, and encounter their kinder, gentler DCU counterparts, and the one thing Young Justice is in dire need of is a team of villains they can be pitted against. This issue also boost some nice bits of humor, such as the clue that reveals Jason Todd's parents criminal connection, and the means at which Jason Todd survived his fall from the big top.
