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Make-Up Work #1 Transcript (Secret Origins 80-Page Giant)!

Hey guys, just getting things back up and running. Can't wait to get the new episode up on Saturday! Hope you're all doing well <3

[INTRO]

Hello, and welcome back to the Young, Just Us! Podcast! My name is Roman and I’m doing an issue-by-issue deep-dive into the 1998 run of DC Comics’ Young Justice.

[HOUSEKEEPING]

Just so you know, this is going to be kind of a long intro, but you can check the show notes or description for time codes so you can jump into the episode proper if you’d like. Okay, so, as you can see, I had to divert from the original plan of doing Young Justice: Secret Files this week, because although that does come next chronologically after issue four, I completely missed this comic, Secret Origins 80-Page Giant, as in, did not even know it existed, until Tumblr user @/flippin--out very kindly replied to my post and let me know about it. So, thank you so much, @/flippin--out, I seriously appreciate it. But! In my defense! This comic was not on the reading guide I’ve been using, probably for the same reason that I never found and read it during my initial read of Young Justice, which is that “Young Justice” is not in the name of the comic. I am so annoyed about this. And also, as you all probably know, there are two separate issues named, respectively, Young Justice: Secret Files [and Origins], and Young Justice 80-Page Giant. Which, by the way, both do have “Young Justice” in the title, so naturally, they come up when you search “Young Justice” in any comic database including DC Universe Infinite! So, yeah I would just like to know who the psycho was that was in charge of naming those three issues but mostly Secret Origins 80-Page Giant. I just wanna talk! Really!

However! I am now determined to never again be bamboozled by a crossover tie-in event, as happened with Young Justice #1000000 or with a secret comic I did not know about, as happened with this, or a wacky unintuitive reading order or anything else confusing and sanity-sucking about the way that comics are published and organized, or should I say, disorganized. And so I have made another spreadsheet—I already have one, actually several, that I use to log comics I read regularly, like, not for the podcast, and I’ve been doing that for a couple of years, so I figured I could just use my main one for the podcast since I already had logged all of Young Justice on there. But, I have now made a separate spreadsheet just for the podcast. I cross-referenced three different reading guides to do it, and shout out particularly to @/wlwspoiler on Twitter, because his reading guide was by far the most detailed and organized. (I’m actually thinking about asking her to come on the pod to talk about her archival work and Young Justice in general, but we’ll see, like fingers crossed!) But yeah, would recommend that reading guide. But anyway, I now have a highly tightened-up reference guide for this podcast, which should prevent any and all confusion on my part about reading order and any one-shot issues, or special issues. Hopefully. God-willing.

So, yes, this is why this episode is a couple days late, because I had to change my plan and because this issue is an 80-page giant which means, you know, it has eighty pages, which is about three to four times the length of a regular issue, as you know, and this is my first time reading it, so I had to like, read it for the first time, absorb it, summarize it, break that summary down into podcast-friendly chunks. So, yeah, that’s what I’ve been doing this week. It's just been a really long, tedious, and frustrating process, but I’m actually kind of glad that this happened because now I can course-correct and move forward in the podcast with a lot more confidence, I hope. But, yeah, thank you so much to everyone who has been listening and sending me messages and helping me out with this stuff! I’m honestly amazed at how quickly this little like, community is building and I’m really grateful to you all! Every time I get a message it makes me so incandescently happy, and I’m so glad that people are getting something out of this podcast, whether it’s just something you just put on in the background or you’re actively reading along with me, I’m super happy to be here, doing this! And you know, it can be really intimidating because I did only recently, like within the last four years, get back into comics in a big way, and I had the idea for this podcast a while ago, but I always felt like, you know, “Am I really the best person to do this? Surely there are more knowledgeable people with more charisma and more experience making a show, and with comics themselves, that would be better suited,” but—I’ve always wanted to do a podcast, and I didn’t want this to become another project that I just sat on forever and never did anything about, so I just took the leap and so far it’s been really rewarding, and I’m so glad I did it.

So yeah, I am issuing a formal apology for not knowing ball, I’m still learning and, like I said, very grateful for everyone’s patience and help. Thank you again, to everyone listening! And as you can see, this episode is also called something different than normal—this is the first episode of something I’m calling “Make-Up Work.” Basically this is where I’m putting stuff that I missed or failed to release in chronological publishing order, as well as side things, like, maybe other comic series where Young Justice members appear, team-ups, etcetera. It also frees me up to take suggestions and requests—like, if you’d like me to recap and review any YJ-related comic, including issues of solo series like Robin, Superboy, and Impulse, then I can just release a quick episode of Make-Up Work between regular episodes if my schedule permits! So hopefully that’s kind of exciting or at least makes sense, but yeah. My askbox on Tumblr or the email will always be open for that. And I always forget to say, but if you do send me an email, you can say, like, “I’m okay with this being read on the podcast,” or, “Don’t read this on the podcast, I’m just saying something,” you know what I mean? So, either way is fine.

[SCHEDULE UPDATE]

So, all that all being said, the new schedule—and I am still going to make a visual schedule and post in on the Tumblr, I just obviously had to adjust some things first—but the new schedule will be: today, obviously, is the Secret Origins 80-Page Giant, which chronologically comes right before issue four of Young Justice, and I have to take a week off next week ‘cause I have a medical thing so I’ll be out of town for a few days, but the week after that I’ll be back, and we’ll go right into Secret Files, which comes right after issue four in continuity. So maybe you can reread issue four or relisten to the podcast during that skip week! And then we’ll be perfectly in tune for Secret Files! After that, I’m debating whether to do issue one million, or just go back to regular issues for a bit—I think I’m gonna post a little poll on the Tumblr so you guys can help me decide! You can also send an ask or an email, of course, letting me know what your preference is! I’d also love for your guys’s thoughts on covering, like, non-essential stuff? Like the JLA/Titans crossover, where YJ is featured, but like, not main characters necessarily. But if I don’t cover that in release order—which would actually be right after Secret Files, before issue five—I can always just come back to stuff like that with Make-Up-Work!

[CORRECTIONS]

Alright believe it or not we’re not done with the intro because I have a few corrections from last week, aside from the obvious. But, regarding Harm’s mother’s name, which is Ellen, I said “Eileen” a couple of times by mistake, but I went back and checked and it was definitely Ellen. So, sorry about that, Ellen.

I also said that the Fiesta de San Fermin was being established in the early nineteen hundreds which is definitely not true; it goes back way farther than that. It has origins dating back to the twelfth century, although the bullfighting wasn’t added until later, and the festival wasn’t actually in Pamplona at first, either, which I thought was interesting. It was moved there because Pamplona has like, very good weather. The bull runs were established semi-officially in the seventeenth century, but what I was thinking of last week was the building of the first official bullring, which was in 1844. So. Hopefully that’s all right this time. I don’t want to spread misinformation.

And now, finally we can get into the actual content of the episode, thank you very much for sitting through all of that if you did.

[LAST WEEK RECAP]

Last week, we discussed issue four, where the gang finally got together for the first time, including the original boys—Robin, Superboy, and Impulse—as well as Secret, Wonder Girl, and Arrowette, who was in Harm’s Way last week and got an arrow through the shoulder for her trouble. But this week, we’re actually going to rewind to before all of that, and answer some of the questions that I very dumbly asked last week, like, why Secret decided to approach the team now with her proposition. Though, I will say that my other questions like, how the Super-Cycle knew where Arrowette was and also why the DEO are back on Secret’s trail so hard, were not answered by this comic, so. I retain some dignity, I suppose. Anyway, this week we’ll see some origins, though I don’t know how secret they are exactly, and despite her name, we do not get Secret’s secret origin in this comic. Not yet, at least.

[SECRET ORIGINS 80-PAGE GIANT]

The Secret Origins 80-Page Giant contains seven different stories: “Decisions,” “Actual Reality,” “Superboy! Secrets! Origin! This One’s Got ‘Em All!,” “Little Wing,” “Daddy’s Little Vigilante,” “Truth is Stranger,” and “Shafted.” One for each Young Justice member, plus Spoiler, which is interesting, always love to see my girl Steph, though.

This issue has a different creative team for each story, so I’m gonna read them out as we go, though I will say now that Eddie Berganza and Maureen McTigue are credited as editors on the whole book. Tanya Horie, Jeff Matsuda, and Jon Sibal contributed to the cover art which I will be displaying on-screen now in the YouTube version of this episode, but if you’re just listening don’t worry because I will describe it: Superboy, Robin, and Impulse are all on the cover in action poses, while Spoiler, Wonder Girl, and Arrowette feature on the left side of the cover in bust character portraits. The Secret Origins title is in large yellow font with blue shadowing, and “80-Page Giant” is below that in a different yellow font. Below that is the subtitle: “Sssh! Don’t tell anyone the real deal on: Superboy! Robin! Impulse!” At the bottom is another subtitle that reads: “Plus: a little secret,” all of this against a white background.

Yeah, not much to say here; it’s pretty utilitarian in terms of like, cover art. Though I suppose if the title’s not going to tell you that it’s about Young Justice, it’s good that the cover does, at least. It does suck that Secret’s not featured but I get it—she’s an original character for YJ and readers wouldn’t know who she is if they hadn’t already read Young Justice: The Secret, so, yeah, understandable that they wouldn’t put her on there. Although, she is like, kind of the main character of this issue, so, still kind of doing her dirty, in my opinion. I do like the little “Plus: a little secret” subtitle, though, like who doesn’t love a good pun? It’s not, “Plus, we’ll tell you a little secret!” but rather, “Plus a little bit of the character Secret.” Very funny. I also love Robin’s huge nineties feet. Always a joy.

So, if you don’t know, the “Secret Origins” thing originated as a 1986 series of comics, titled Secret Origins, that basically retold different heroes’ origin stories, updated them or summarized them for new readers. There was a relaunch of this series for the Prime Earth universe in 2014. But after the eighties series DC started doing “Secret Files and Origins,” which were one-shots that started coming out in the late nineties, which is sort of the same premise but these generally functioned more as advertising tools for then-currently running books; they included side-stories, teasers for upcoming arcs, character profiles, pin-ups, stuff like that. Young Justice also has one of these, which we’ll be covering next episode, as I said, so you’d be forgiven for not knowing that they had another “Secret Origins” issue, I hope I am. Anyway, this issue is more of the eighties series format, with mostly just updated or condensed versions of each character’s origin story. Let’s get into it, shall we?

The synopsis for this issue on DC Universe Infinite reads:

The Secret comes to the Young Justice hideout and meets Red Tornado.

Someone was getting lazy with these synopses, guys, ‘cause let me tell you, there’s a little more to it than that. I’m going to get into the comic proper now so feel free to read along, just listen, or watch the YouTube version where you can see select panels that I’ve pulled from this issue. I also want to say that there’s a mistake in the formatting of this comic on DC Universe Infinite—they accidentally display the tenth page as page one, so if you have that problem just know it’s not you and you can just skip to the next page, and that should be page one, and the rest of the issue is fine; page ten is where it should be, there’s just a random copy of it at the beginning.

[DECISIONS]

Okay, so our first story is “Decisions,” featuring Secret and Red Tornado. Decisions was written by Dan Curtis Johnson, pencilled by Angel Unzueta, inked by Jaime Mendoza, colored by Joe Rosas, and lettered by Clem Robins. And I actually really love this lettering style, so shoutout to Clem Robins. Great job.

We open on Secret, in the Young Justice hideout. Captions tell us: [On the fringes of society, you’ll find there are people who devote themselves to understanding secrets. But sometimes, in some places—such as the underground headquarters of Young Justice—there are secrets trying to understand people.] Red Tornado catches her looking around and asks who she is. She says she’s a friend of the boys and Red Tornado offers himself for advice if she needs something to talk—Wow, Freudian slip, there, “something to talk to,” I don’t see Red Tornado as human, subconsciously! Sorry, sorry Mr. Smith!--offers himself for advice if she needs someone to talk to. Secret explains her situation to him, including the DEO, and the basic events of Young Justice: The Secret. Apparently she’s been secretly following the boys ever since then in order to observe how they live, in an attempt to learn how to lead a normal life in the outside world herself. Red Tornado says that she definitely picked the wrong people to study if she wants to be a normal teenager, and she agrees, noting that Impulse in particular seems to get himself into an inordinate amount of trouble.

So, basically this story is going to function as the framing device for the rest of this issue, like each character will naturally come up in this conversation between Secret and Red Tornado, and we’ll see that character’s origin story told in a way that’s like, somehow relevant to what Secret and Red Tornado are thinking or talking about. So, like, since she just brought up Impulse at the end of this section, we’ll go into Impulse’s story next, and between each story is a scene of Decisions, leading us out of and into each one. It’s a pretty good framing device, and it’s great to see more of Secret’s like, inner thoughts since we’re really still getting to know this character and don’t even have her origin story yet.

I will say Red Tornado is, like, unbelievably jacked, like, in these first pages especially, it’s really scary. Just the way Angel Unzueta draws him is just a lot less robot and a lot more human? Like, it’s like he has red skin rather than a metal shell, is the effect of the style. Like, why does he have veins? But anyway, Red Tornado’s line about being an advice vending machine is really funny but like, kind of out of character I feel like? Like, I don’t know, I just can’t see him saying that in a regular issue of Young Justice, it seems more like something that one of the boys would call him rather than something he’d call himself. But, regardless, Red Tornado is really sweet to Secret here, and you get the sense that he’s like, “Thank god I get a break from talking to insane people and can just give this sweet ghost girl some advice instead!”

It’s also really cool to see panels from other issues redone in a different artist’s style! I know this is kind of like, one of the main points of a Secret Origins book, but yeah, just because you can tell the new artists really studied and like properly reinterpreted the original panels, like this one here from Young Justice: The Secret, with Secret and the boys on page four. There are a lot of these throughout the issue, so keep an eye out!

And the reveal that she’s been following around the boys ever since they helped her escape is really funny and sweet and also a little sad. But I think realistic! Like, if you just got out of captivity, which you’d spent your entire known life in, wouldn’t you also latch onto the first people who showed you any kindness whatsoever? Especially because she doesn’t remember her life before DEO, like, it makes sense that she wouldn’t have known where else to go. Red Tornado’s probably right that Secret picked the wrong people to observe in order to understand how to lead a normal life, but I don’t think Secret really actually wants a normal life, and besides, it’s not something that’s actually really obtainable for her at this stage—she’s on the run from a government agency and generally basically incorporeal. It’s probably fine if she observes other people her age with atypical lives, even if she doesn’t end up wanting to be a full-time vigilante. Her line about it being a wonder that Impulse even finds time to acquire enemies is really funny, too. And let’s check in with that troublemaker, shall we?

[ACTUAL REALITY]

Our second story is “Actual Reality,” featuring Bart Allen as Impulse, and it was written by Mark Waid, pencilled by Humberto Ramos, inked by Wayne Faucher, colored by Jason Wright, and lettered by Chris Eliopoulos.

Over in Manchester Alabama, we get the secret origin of Impulse! Carol Bucklen, Bart’s best friend, is rescued from some bullies by Bart, though he fails to read some “fresh pavement” construction signs and ends up getting tar all over himself. He only makes it worse trying to get it off and ends up stuck in the barrel of tar. Carol is freaking out, worried about the road crew coming back, but Bart tells her to relax; the bullies will catch up to them first! Carol, frustrated, asks Bart why he’s like this. “Like what?” He asks. “Like from another planet!” Bart explains to her, apparently not for the first time, that he’s not from another planet, just the thirtieth century, where his grandparents, Barry and Iris Allen, lived for a while. He inherited the superspeed gene, but it manifested by aging him quickly, in what was called “hyperacceleration.” His body aged, but his mind didn’t. Carol asks how old he is now, and he says, “Three. Fifteen. Depends.” The EarthGov scientists could only teach him by keeping him in constant virtual reality—basically he grew up in video games. Carol impresses upon him that this is the real world, and not everything comes with a reset button, for example getting stuck in a barrel of tar. Bart continues to explain that his grandmother Iris took him back to this century and the new Flash, his cousin Wally, helped reset his powers by pushing him past his limit, and after that he could run at any speed he wanted and even vibrate through things; recounting this gives Bart the idea to try vibrating through the tar, but it doesn’t work and just heats up the tar so that it starts burning him. Carol continues to try to pull him out and asks who gave him the name Impulse. Bart tells her that Batman did, and wonders if he was being funny—Carol thinks he was. She gives up and tries to go get Max Mercury, but Bart protests and sticks her in the barrel of tar next to him to stop her. He says Max doesn’t understand him and explains that Wally said he needed supervision, so stuck him with the alleged “zen master of speed,” so now Bart has to pretend to be Max’s nephew and live with him and his daughter Helen. Carol says that Max is just trying to help Bart by training him and teaching him to protect his secret identity. Bart points out that she figured it out, but Carol says that probably only made Max even more paranoid. Then the bullies catch up with them, Bart antagonizes them a little, but thanks to Carol’s quick thinking the bullies are tricked into throwing the tar barrel with Bart and Carol in it down the hill, which breaks the barrel and finally separates the tar from them. Bart puts on the Impulse suit and gets some quick revenge on the bullies, which involves knocking them down the hill and sticking traffic cones on their heads with the remaining tar. He calls for Carol now that the coast is clear, but she has yet to forgive him for getting them into so much trouble.

So, as soon as I started this story I was like, “Omg I love this art, I wonder who did the pencils,” and I looked at the credits and of course… it was my GOAT Humberto Ramos. I just really love his style so much, especially combined with Jason Wright’s like really vibrant colors. But anyway, I really like this story, though maybe I’m biased as a Bart-lover, but Mark Waid, the madman, has done it again… I just find the back-and-forth dialogue between Bart and Carol to be really natural and funny. Especially that part where Bart is trying to vibrate out of the tar and it’s burning him and he’s like, “Ow,” and she’s like, “Stop,” and he’s like, “Ow,” and she’s like “Stop!” and they just go back and forth.

In terms of the actual origin story, I do just find Bart to be the most interesting character out of all the speedsters, and part of it definitely has to do with him genetically inheriting the speedster gene and the unique powerset that comes with that. His altered development is also a great character detail which allows writers to do a lot of different things with him and have him make decisions and do things that other characters wouldn’t do. I also like highlighting the idea that Bart has trouble with, like, consequences of actions, which would probably be hard for any speedster—like, being able to instantly fix most physical mistakes—and much less one raised in a virtual reality. As Carol says, this is actual reality and as clumsily as Bart does it, I really do think he does his best to understand and adapt to that.

But yeah, not too much to say other than that; I have been through all of these origins pretty much in my first episode, Episode 0 of this podcast, besides Spoiler’s obviously, so I’ll try not to repeat myself too much, but I think it’s a good retelling and summation of those events, and I do think it lends some good insight into Bart’s character, especially if you don’t have that context before. I love how they did clarify that the bully that Bart compared to a gorilla was not the black one. Good call, guys. It is also crazy that getting the bullies to throw the barrel with them in it actually works in letting them escape the tar and doesn’t, like, seriously injure or kill them, but I’m glad they’re okay. I guess it’s not that big of a hill. But yeah I don’t blame Carol for still being mad at Bart; kinda deserved for this one.

[DECISIONS]

Going back to Decisions with Secret and Red Tornado, we’re still in the Young Justice headquarters, and Red Tornado agrees that Bart gets into a lot of trouble but admires his determination to keep trying until he gets it right—or at least done. Secret says that all of the boys seem to share that kind of drive, and she wishes she were that strong. Red Tornado assures her that, having been through what she has also takes an incredible will, and it’s impressive that she’s survived. But she argues that it doesn’t feel the same—she spent her time with the DEO being patient and evasive, rather than fighting back. Red Tornado says that patience is also a kind of strength, but Secret thinks of Superboy, who always seems to be pushing himself to and past his limits.

I think that Secret’s struggle is actually really relatable here—being surrounded by people who seem like they have it figured out, or at least seem passionate about whatever they’re doing—it can make trying to find your own sense of purpose even more difficult. And again, it’s nice that Red Tornado is being so sweet to her. Kind of acting as therapist in this moment.

[SUPERBOY! SECRETS! ORIGIN! THIS ONE’S GOT ‘EM ALL!]

Moving on, our third story is titled “Superboy! Secrets! Origin! This One’s Got ‘Em All!” and features Superboy, as you might have guessed. This story was written by Karl Kesel, pencilled by Joe Phillips, inked by Jasen Rodriguez, colored by Tom McCraw, and lettered by lettering studio Comicraft, and Frank Berrios is credited as assistant editor, just on this story.

We catch up with Superboy just as some deadly titanium shells are headed right for him! …But of course they bounce right off of him. He is apparently fighting aliens who are intent on enslaving mankind, and he avidly narrates his own super-heroing as he fights. It turns out that it’s only a training session with Cadmus, though, and Dubbilex, Guardian, and Dr. Serling Roquette are observing Superboy. Mickey Cannon, the director of Cadmus, joins them a moment later, and since he’s new to the project he hasn’t gotten a chance to look at Superboy’s file, so Guardian gives him and us a refresher on Superboy’s powers. He goes over TTK, his invulnerability to solid objects, though he says that Superboy is not invulnerable to energy—electricity, extreme heat and cold, etcetera. Mickey protests that his powers seem very different to Superman’s, and Guardian explains that Project Cadmus originally wanted to produce a clone of Superman after he died at the hands of Doomsday, but the original directors couldn’t replicate Kryptonian DNA, so then Director Westfield created a modified clone of himself, genetically engineered to be as close to Superman as possibly in terms of appearance and powers. Superboy was grown at an accelerated rate (much like Bart, actually), and implanted with knowledge appropriate to what he’d be learning as a normally developing human. This went on until the Newsboy Legion found out about this illegal experiment and freed Superboy, which was probably good since Director Westfield was so freaking evil. Guardian pointedly says they all hope Cadmus never has to deal with that kind of Director again. Superboy, meanwhile, has continued to narrate his training session in typical creative and self-aggrandizing manner. Dubbilex comments on his imagination, and Guardian goes in to help Superboy with his training—i.e., give him one last challenge before he succeeds in the session. Mickey still wonders why Director PAul Westfield didn’t give Superboy more superpowers, like x-ray and heat-vision, elevated senses, etcetera, since those things should have been easy to add genetically, and Dr. Roquette says that she recently got a genetic scan of Superboy, which happened in Superboy #1000000, and it appears that those kinds of modifications—that is, different types of vision and super-senses—are genetically coded into him, but specifically to activate as he grows older, much like how Superman’s powers naturally developed under a yellow sun. Dr. Roquette doesn’t know exactly what powers he’ll develop—or rather, would develop, as Dubbliex points out; the procedure that Dr. Amanda Spence performed to save him from the virus he contracted circa Superboy #40 had the side-effect of permanently stopping his aging—meaning he’ll remain sixteen forever, theoretically. Mickey is displeased by this. Meanwhile, Superboy and Guardian continue to duke it out, each gaining the upper hand on the other, and just when it appears Superboy’s won, Guardian points out that he’s actually back where he started, and will have to get across the room with all new traps. Superboy says that at least he has Guardian by his side, this time, and they both start pretending that they’re being attacked by Intergang, having a great time fighting their way out together.

Boy I wish I could tell the me of a couple months ago trying to figure out Superboy’s exact powerset and origin story for Episode 0 about this comic. Alas. But yeah, I’ll be honest, I probably find this story to be the least riveting of all the stories in this book? Like, I just don’t find the framing device of the Cadmus crew having to explain Superboy’s origin to Mickey Cannon to be very compelling at all—like, half the fun of these stories is getting to hear these heroes tell their origins in their own words, and sort of glean what they themselves think of those events. I also just really don’t find Dubbilex and Guardian to be very interesting characters in a vacuum, and this story kind of does exactly that to them. Shoutout to Dr. Roquette, though, I love her. But yeah I did make this connection for the first time about Bart and Kon sharing a kind of stunted or misshapen development—their natural growth being somehow interfered with, or in Superboy’s case, halted completely. I’m not really sure what I think that connection means yet, but I suppose that, if Young Justice as a series is being framed as a sort of companion piece to adolescence, it makes sense for the characters to also come to this phase of their lives needing to learn how to adapt to it—all of the characters in YJ have this to a certain extent—Secret’s talking about it in her story in this issue as well. Tim is kind of the only one who’s like, “Yeah being a teenager is weird but I have a job so I can’t really worry about that right now.” And it also presents the question of like, is superhero-ing taking their youth away from them by forcing them to take on more than the average responsibility, or does it enhance that period of youth?

You can tell I don’t have much to say about this story because I’ve veered into working on my unified theory of Young Justice, but here are the things I actually did like… I like the art, it’s very clean, and the colors are bright, which I like. I think it’s very funny when Guardian is like, “Yeah, that Paul Westfield guy was so evil, I sure hope our CURRENT director ISN’T EVIL,” like, directly into Mickey Cannon’s face. Like, damn that whole Westfield thing really traumatized Guardian. And I also like Dr. Roquette revealing that Superboy was in fact engineered to develop super senses and other powers as he matured. I can’t remember if we already knew this from a different issue or if we didn’t, but it’s cool to know, and makes the Cadmus scientists seem like, less stupid for nerfing Superboy so severely. I also like, I was just very confused about the geography of this room that Superboy’s training in or like, what the goal was? Like, I know he’s trying to get out of the room, but at the end when Guardian’s like, “But look where you’ve ended up!” I’m like, “Where is he…?” I don’t know, it just, maybe I have to read it again, we’ll see. But let’s move on!

[DECISIONS]

Back in Decisions, Secret voices the idea that it’s sad to think Superboy will never reach his full potential due to being stuck at sixteen, but Red Tornado argues that he’s fulfilling his potential in lots of other ways, and he’s doing his best with what he has. Tornado goes on to say that it’s counterproductive to compare yourself to others, and it’s better to determine your own standards of success. Secret says she sees what he means; the DEO had set all her goals for her, but now she can set her own. She understands the pressure that the YJ boys are under, with their superhero counterparts to live up to, and she thinks it must be hard for Robin to have not just one, but two, referencing Batman and Nightwing.

Girl, that’s how I felt when I graduated from college. I was like, “What do you mean no one will ever give me an A in something ever again in my life? How am I supposed to know if I did a good job?” But yeah Secret’s struggles here speak to something really true about leaving an institution, whether that’s the DEO, academia, or something else—that instant loss of identity is pretty universal; I really feel for her. And I think in terms of Robin, I think that Dick actually serves as a good counterbalance to Batman for Tim, like it’s an example of like, “Here’s how to grow up and keep doing the Batman thing without literally becoming Batman.” And I think that’s supported by the story, so let’s get into it.

[LITTLE WING]

The fourth story features Tim Drake as Robin and is titled “Little Wing.” It was written by Chuck Dixon, pencilled [and inked] by Cully Hamner, colored by Roberto Tewes, and lettered by Tim Harkins.

Tim Drake has come to Dick Grayson’s apartment in Blüdhaven to get away from everything for a while. Dick bothers him in typical older brother fashion, but eventually asks if Tim ever thinks about giving up vigilantism and leading a normal life. Tim says that he doesn’t think his life’s been normal ever since that fateful day he met Dick at Haly’s Circus and saw the Graysons die. He recounts the tragic events of that night, including Batman showing up. Dick still finds it amazing that Tim figured out his and Bruce’s secret identities at only nine years old. Tim explains that Dick’s signature quadruple somersault gave him away, and says he followed Batman and Robin very closely after that, and witnessed Dick’s graduation from the Robin mantle. Together they reminisce about Tim becoming Robin because Dick couldn’t, and saving Batman and Nightwing from Two-Face, which led him to officially becoming Robin and filling the void that Jason Todd, the second Robin, left unwillingly when he died. Dick asks about Tim’s training and apologizes for not being very involved with it. Tim explains that Batman trained him very thoroughly, but was extremely reluctant to let him actually wear the Robin suit and go out with him at night. That is, until Tim snuck out anyway to save Bruce from one of Scarecrow’s schemes, and Bruce finally gave him his own Robin suit, then sent him for further training with Henri Ducard, Lady Shiva, and the like. Tim talks about all the rogues he’s fought, and Dick asks why he keeps doing it rather than trying to get out. Tim says maybe one day he’ll realize how insane this life is, but for now he needs to keep being Robin, both for himself and for Bruce and the greater good. Dick says that’s fair enough, and then Barbara calls in with some information on a drug shipment. Dick and Tim head out together as Nightwing and Robin, and Tim says in narration that while he did come here to get away from it all, perhaps it’s alright that you can never really get away from who you’re meant to be.

Yeah this story basically just makes me really wish that DC knew what to do with Tim in current comics… like, he’s such a natural vigilante it really feels like he should’ve stepped into and established his own identity unattached to the Robin mantle a hundred times over by now. But yeah, anyway, I like this story, I love Tim and Dick as brothers, I think that dynamic really works, and it’s incredibly weird to me that Jack and Janet Drake are both blonde. Like I just do not picture them blonde ever. And yeah, going back to what I was saying in the last Decisions section, I think having Dick-as-Nightwing to look up to is really quite healthy for Tim, and if it was just him and Bruce I think he might struggle a lot more and hold himself to even higher expectations than he already does.

[DECISIONS]

In Decisions, Secret wonders if Tim knew how much responsibility he was taking on at the time, or if any of the boys did for that matter, and Red Tornado responds that he doesn’t think so, and is fairly sure Impulse still doesn’t know, though they have all certainly risen to the occasion. Secret wonders how they knew what they were meant for; she doesn’t think she should necessarily be a hero like them, but it feels like she should. Just then, someone begins calling for help outside the cave. Secret and Red Tornado rush out and find a girl hanging by her sweater from a tree branch. Secret catches her when she falls, and scolds her for being reckless. The girl explains she was having a picnic with her family over the ridge and decided to go exploring. She admires Secret’s superheroing, and Secret tells her to keep that on the downlow for now, and the girl agrees. Red Tornado points out that Secret didn’t seem to have any doubt about what to do in that situation, and Secret agrees, and says it was a split-second of clarity, and she thinks that that’s what it must have been like for the boys, too.

Girl how’d you even get up in the tree like that, like, what the hell? Like she’s literally hanging from her sweater, off of the ground. This “hero save” for Secret is really kind of lame. Like I wish it connected more to her unique abilities like it wouldn’t have just been like—anyone can catch a girl falling from a tree, you know what I mean? But I’m happy she’s happy. And I do like how her somewhat naive view of “just knowing what was right” is kind of immediately gonna be challenged by Stephanie’s more complicated journey to vigilantism.

[DADDY’S LITTLE VIGILANTE]

Speaking of, the fifth story is called “Daddy’s Little Vigilante,” featuring Stephanie Brown as Spoiler, and it was written by Chuck Dixon, pencilled by Amanda Conner, inked by Jimmy Palmiotti, colored by Pam Rambo, and lettered by Clem Robins once again.

Stephanie Brown, otherwise known as Spoiler, narrates that yes, she is a vigilante, of the Bat-adjacent variety, but hasn’t been crimefighting as of late. She says that perhaps she was always destined to be a superhero due to the negative role-modeling of her father, Arthur Brown. We see a flashback to Stephanie as a toddler, and see that her father was abusive to both her and her mother, Crystal Brown. It turns out he was and is the villain, Cluemaster, though he was apparently never very good at villainy, and spent years in and out of Blackgate Prison. Arthur largely blamed Batman for his failings, which made Stephanie like Batman. She says her father aspired to the likes of the Joker or the Riddler, but he wasn’t very good at leaving his titular “clues,” which just ended up getting him caught more often than not. Even when Stephanie’s father was away for longer periods of time, her mother still struggled with addiction and the trauma of her abusive marriage. Arthur got out of prison when Steph was fifteen, although all his apparent rehabilitation accomplished was curing his affinity for clues—he was still a criminal, and now planning an actually competent crime at that. Stephanie felt she had no other choice but to become a vigilante herself in order to stop him; she made her own costume and followed her father. She began leaving her own clues in order to tip off Batman, though he and Robin got the mistaken impression that Stephanie was actually working with her father by leaving the clues. Despite getting off on the wrong foot, she quickly developed affection for Robin, who also introduced her to Batman. The dynamic duo told her to let them handle the situation, but she wanted to make sure Arthur didn’t get away—and get some catharsis while she was at it; she revealed her identity to her father, who was shocked. Batman did convince her not to kill him, which she supposes was for the best, and though she obeyed him, he still told her to hang up the cape and tights, which she did not. She’s had a great run so far as Spoiler since then, but she’s not a vigilante anymore, though she thinks she might go back to it someday. It turns out she’s been telling all of this to her pregnant belly, and she says she hopes the baby’s adoptive parents will do better than hers did.

Literal pregnancy jumpscare at the end there—I had completely forgotten that this storyline was happening at this point in the continuity, and just when I was getting to the end of this story, being like, “Damn, why wasn’t Steph in Young Justice?” I was hit with this panel like, “Ohhh right. That.” I really do wonder if having Steph in YJ was the plan at some point, because she does make a cameo in JLA: World Without Grown-Ups like in the same context as Arrowette and Wonder Girl, and it’s also interesting that she was included here in this issue… if anyone knows anything about that situation please hit me up—I mean, I know Chuck Dixon was pretty… like, he really wanted to do the teen pregnancy storyline. But I wonder if he like, didn’t communicate that to the rest of like, DC writers and, like maybe Peter David was under the impression… or Todd Dezago, because I guess he wrote JLA: World Without Grown-Ups, but, anyway, yeah, if anyone has any info, please hit me up, I’m really curious.

Anyway, this week’s no-context-panel teaser was from this story; #KillYourDadSaturday. Yeah I just love Steph and I actually really like this story. First of all I just love when women draw women, you can kind of… tell, and a lot of details in here are great, so definite shout out to Amanda Conner on pencils here. Steph’s story in general is really tragic, which makes her character all the cooler honestly, I’ve always loved Spoiler. Like, her thing is basically “My dad was such a loser that I had to become a superhero just to make him stop embarrassing me.” Like, character of all time, honestly. This story is also really well-told, as in the actual dialogue of Steph explaining everything is pretty straightforward but entertaining. Like I said before, a lot of the fun of these stories is getting a peek into how the character themself feels about the events of their origin, with a little hindsight to look back on it. Again, I wish DC gave Steph a lot more to do (even another solo series as Spoiler rather than Batgirl), but I’m enjoying the Batgirls team-up book and I’m glad she’s a fixture of modern Bat-comics. Oh, and I also wanted to mention there’s also a cool panel in here of Arthur hitting Crystal—that’s not cool, but—in the background of the panel there’s a mirrored pose on the TV, and for some reason that just really hit me as like, poignant? Like, the way that violence is made into entertainment and enjoyed lightly, versus, like, the contrast of a real-life example of violence that isn’t funny or cool at all, it’s just sort of shocking and gross. I also really enjoy that in the last panel there’s a box on Steph’s bed in her room labeled “skinny clothes,” like, that’s just so realistic, that a pregnant teenage girl would like, you know, obviously make that box and keep all her clothes, I mean why wouldn’t she keep her clothes, but you know what I mean. I like the box it’s a really good detail. Let’s move on.

[DECISIONS]

Back to Decisions, Secret and Red Tornado are still outside from when Secret saved the girl in the tree. Secret is glad that Spoiler seems to be doing alright, despite her father, and Red Tornado says that she managed to find a better role model for herself, meaning Batman. Secret wishes she had her own role model, and asks Red Tornado if there’s ever been a hero like her before. Red Tornado says not that he knows of, but Secret doesn’t need a role model; she can just be herself. She asks if there was a Red Tornado before him and he says yes, but that she doesn’t even want to know. Secret still thinks it’d make things much easier for her if she could be someone’s sidekick and then inherit their name and legacy, the way her friends in Young Justice will. Red Tornado tells her that it would make some things easier but others more difficult; there’s always baggage attached to a hero’s legacy that you also inherit along with the good things.

I believe Red Tornado is referencing the Ma Hunkel version of his character here, which is a funny kind of meta reference. And I completely sympathize with Secret! I mean she doesn’t even know what she is, really, or the full extent of her powers, so it’s completely reasonable to want a mentor like the other members of YJ do. I also really love this panel of them, like, the reflection in the pond or lake. I love when they do like Secret with no pupils or irises, like, just blank eyes like it’s really creepy and cool.

[TRUTH IS STRANGER]

The sixth story of this book is titled “Truth is Stranger” and features Cassie Sandsmark as Wonder Girl. This story was written by Jay Faerber, pencilled and inked by Ethan Van Sciver, colored by Felix Serrano, and lettered by Janice Chiang.

We catch up with Cassie in school, as she tells her friend, Georgia, that she noticed the new kid in their class is drawing superheroes. She considers herself to be a superhero expert so she introduces herself to the new kid, whose name is Cole Rorchek. She says she knows the superhero Wonder Girl and offers to tell him her secret origin, though Cole seems more interested in a more famous hero like Superman or Flash, but Cassie assures him that those guys are old news and Wonder Girl is much cooler, and she begins to tell him the story. She says Wonder Girl first met Wonder Woman when they teamed up to fight an Ancient Greek robot, which was foiled thanks to Cassie’s plan. Wonder Woman, impressed, asked Cassie to be her partner and began training her. Cassie explains that Wonder Woman gifted her the Sandals of Hermes, but told her not to use them without her permission, though Cassie had to break that rule when she saw Wonder Woman fighting Doomsday. She used the Sandals and also the Gauntlet of Atlas to help in the fight and aided Wonder Woman in the defeat of Doomsday, which Cole is pretty impressed by. Cassie goes on to say that her mother didn’t want her to become a superhero and though Wonder Woman disagreed, she ultimately conceded to Helena. Luckily, Wonder Girl managed to sneak into Olympus with Wonder Woman and company, and got the chance to ask Zeus for actual superpowers, who granted her wish—with a caveat that Cassie’s mother, Helena Sandsmark, could depower her with just a touch. Morgaine le Fay later exploited this when she possessed Helena, teaming up with Merlin to strike Cassie down. Wonder Woman intervened in time, however, and saved Cassie and her mom. Cassie also recounts how the previous Wonder Girl, Donna Troy, gave her her old costume, as a rite of passage. Cassie now asks Cole if she’s changed his mind about Wonder Girl, and Cole says she has, and he thinks Wonder Girl is pretty cool now, though when Cassie asks if he’d believe she was Wonder Girl, he scoffs, leaving Cassie disappointed.

So, this was pretty interesting to read for me because I haven’t read Cassie’s original introduction in Wonder Woman, though I knew, like, the gist of it, obviously. I will say the whole set up of this and the last panels where Cassie asks Cole like, “What would you say if I told you I was Wonder Girl?” and she’s like sad when he doesn’t believe her… I mean, it’s just a little silly like, Cassie, as far as we know, leads a very charmed life with a mother that loves her and a mentor that trains and protects her, and obviously no one would believe that like, their random middle school classmate is an actual superhero. I’m just saying like, don’t take it personally, Cassie. And you shouldn’t have been telling random people your secret identity anyway?! When you specifically wear a wig to conceal it! I’m just like, why did she do that. I mean I get that she’s like, kind of insecure, but, ugh, I don’t know. I just like Cassie a lot more later, in Young Justice. I do really like some of the art here, and the drawing of Zeus on page fifty-six is very cool and like really interesting to look at. But yeah I think that’s it for this one, sorry guys I just don’t have much to say!

[SHAFTED]

Our seventh and final story of this comic is called “Shafted” and features Cissie King-Jones as Arrowette. This story was written by Tom Peyer, penciled by Marty Egeland, inked by Norm Rapmund, colored by Scott Baumann, and lettered by Kurt Hathaway.

Arrowette, Cissie King-Jones, is having a therapy session with her psychiatrist, Dr. Marcy Money. Marcy is trying to get Cissie to explain why she became a vigilante, and though Cissie seems reluctant, she ultimately obliges. She explains that this all begins with her mother’s mother, Millie King, who trained Bonnie in archery relentlessly; eventually Bonnie won the bronze medal at the Olympics in archery, but this was dissatisfying to her mother, Millie, so Bonnie moved out and never spoke to her mother again. Despite swearing off archery, when she discovered Green Arrow and Speedy, she decided to follow in their footsteps and became Miss Arrowette. Though she wasn’t successful in crimefighting, she met Bernell “Bowstring” Jones through it, a reporter. He knew her from the Olympics, and they flirted a little before she got him to agree to be assistant to Miss Arrowette, though by day Bonnie was still a struggling temp worker. Marcy Money interrupts Cissie here, pointing out how much Cissie is having to talk about her mother’s life in order to talk about her own. Cissie agrees; Bonnie made sure that Cissie’s life has been an almost exact mirror of her own. Bonnie’s vigilante career was further hindered by her developing carpal tunnel, so she had to quit archery. She married Bowstring and had Cissie, though Bowstring dropped dead when Cissie was five thanks to some bad shellfish. Cissie says that she was old enough, though, to be ashamed at how ecstatic Bonnie was to receive the insurance check from Hal Jordan. Bonnie, determined to live her dreams vicariously through Cissie, trained her even harder than Millie trained Bonnie, getting her lessons in every skill money could buy. Cissie says, “By the time I’d graduated from Camp Bonnie, I’d turned into my mother, and she’d turned into hers.” Cissie explains that she was then crimefighting in her mother’s old costume, not because she had any personal desire for vengeance or justice, but because her mother told her to. Because Superman’s death coincided with Cissie’s debut as the new Miss Arrowette, Bonnie put even more pressure on Cissie to get noticed by the media as a vigilante. This resulted in the plan to capture the hot new villain, the Spazz, which led Cissie and Bonnie into the paths of Max Mercury and Impulse; Bonnie didn’t want to share the spotlight with them, but she had bigger problems when Max turned her in to Child Welfare Services, who removed Cissie from Bonnie’s custody despite best efforts of Bonnie and her lawyer. Bonnie was then put under psychiatric observation. Cissie says she expected to be scared or sad, but all she felt was relief. In the present, Dr. Money validates Cissie’s feelings and prompts her to figure out what to do with those feelings. Cissie says she wants to go public, but Marcy discourages her, saying that the court sealed Cisse’s file in order to protect her identity from the criminals she fought as Arrowette. Cissie protests that she’s worried if she doesn’t go public, she’ll let her mother force her into being Arrowette again, and she doesn’t want that to happen. Marcy says that what she’s feeling is completely normal, and any number of extreme reactions on Cissie’s behalf could be expected, including never being Arrowette again, cutting contact with her mother, or even trying to be an even better Arrowette in her mother’s absence, to spite her. Cissie seems very interested in that last option, and we cut to some time later, where Cissie is back being Arrowette, and Dr. Marcy Money watches this on TV with dismay. She’s convinced that she’s ruined Cissie’s life and put her in grave danger, though she’s hesitant to go to the authorities and possibly make things worse for Cissie by exposing her identity.

So, I already talked about this origin quite a bit in Episode 0, but yeah basically, I think this story of like, generational trauma passed down maternally is very interesting and poignant and makes Cissie one of the most interesting members of the team on a character level. It is great to see more of Marcy Money, because the only time you really see her again in Young Justice is when she, well, dies—sorry spoilers—around issue eighteen. So, yeah it’s really good to see what her and Cissie’s relationship actually was like a bit more. Couple of notes here—it is kind of insane that Bowstring like, drops dead from presumably defective shrimp? Like, it doesn’t say he has an allergy, and why would he be eating shellfish voluntarily if he did, but it specifically says he dies from quote-unquote “bad shellfish” which like, I’m pretty sure even the worst contractable parasite or virus would take at least a few hours to kill someone after ingestion. Unless he choked on it, but it didn’t say that. But yeah, I’m very curious about this piece of instant death shrimp, Bonnie should’ve reported it to the CDC probably. Also very fun to have a Hal Jordan cameo, I forgot that he has like, this stint as an insurance guy, but yeah and his disapproving look at Bonnie as he leaves is really funny.

Once again I just really love the characters telling their stories in their own words, and that line where Cissie says, “By the time I’d graduated from Camp Bonnie, I’d turned into my mother, and she’d turned into hers.” Like, really chilling honestly. It’s very sad to see this kind of like doomed line of Kings and King-Joneses who just can’t seem to get it right, you know? Very like, the cycle of abuse and the cycle of trauma. I do find it a little hard to believe that Marcy’s comment about being Arrowette to spite her mother wouldn’t have already occurred to Cissie organically, but perhaps it was just Marcy’s phrasing that sparked it for Cissie. I also think in terms of Marcy despairing over like, feeling guilty about being responsible for Cissie’s backslide into vigilantism… if she’s really that worried then surely there’s a way for her to contact the original people or law enforcement that already dealt with Cissie’s custody case? Like, they could continue to keep her identity a secret and her file kept to only those who already know… I think? I don’t know, maybe there are more bureaucratic problems with that but it just seems like, Marcy girl, like get it together and help that child if you want to! Anyway, yeah, this is definitely another one of my favorite stories, I just love Cissie. Cissie and Bart are my babies.

[DECISIONS]

Lastly we check back with Secret and Red Tornado one last time, and Secret says she sees what he means about inheriting trouble along with a legacy. Red Tornado says it’s not enough just to know what to do; you also have to know why you’re doing it. Secret says that all of the heroes they’ve discussed have that—that reason, and they also know who to go after, and she doesn’t know if she has that yet. Red Tornado points that even so she seems to have made up her mind about something. She says she has, and the thing she wants to change is the fact that the DEO still has other kids like her trapped in their facility—she wants to show them the outside world so they can also decide for themselves what kind of life they want to lead. Red Tornado approves, and says the other heroes would, too. Secret is glad, and says that that’s really what she’d come to the headquarters to ask Young Justice about, if she hadn’t run into Red Tornado first. Red Tornado invites her to wait in the cave to talk to the team, and they should be back soon. She says she’ll take the invitation, but needs to check on a few things first, and asks Tornado to let the boys know she’ll be back.

Okay, so yes, very good to get the background on issue four, I’m very glad I got this particular blank filled, and yes I’m still mad at whoever named this comic. It should’ve just been Secret Files and Origins parts one and two, in my opinion. But whatever. But yeah, it was a really fun read and I think very useful to understand the characters on a little bit of a deeper level, individually. I was also thinking about how all of them mostly have like, some problem or some sort of like turmoil that they’re dealing with surrounding their nightlives, but Tim is just like, “Yup love being Robin, always have always will, don’t really have any negative feelings about it right now! Just chilling with my cool older bro!” Like, good for you Tim, you absurdly well-adjusted child. I also just wanna mention that all three of the male characters—four if you include Red Tornado—had or have their own long-running solo series, and none of the female characters do. Which really sucks. I mean, Steph does, if you count Batgirl, but that’s post-reboot so… I don’t count it. Cissie never gets her own book, which I mean—for obvious reasons that I shall not name now. And Cassie doesn’t get her own book until 2007 which is pretty egregious if you ask me. Obviously Secret is made just for Young Justice, so… Sucks, guys. The misogyny. It’s everywhere, unfortunately.

But yeah so that’s the end of the comic, sorry to end on kind of a sour note, but I did enjoy the read. Thanks again for your patience with me figuring out this podcast thing, and definitely let me know what you guys thought about this issue in the comments, via email, or on social media; that’s all yjupodcast all one word across all platforms. All links will always be in the description or show notes below. Make sure to subscribe to the pod wherever you’re listening, and I’ll catch you guys week after next, remember I’m skipping a week, but I’ll be back then with Secret Files! Thank you for listening and remember, it’s not Young Justice, it’s Young, Just Us!

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