YJ ANIMATED SERIES vs COMIC CONTINUITY

[Triniking1234]

The show is more consistent than what the comics became after the Nu52, what with juggling multiple contradictory takes at the same time. YJ is far more consistent and clearly defined with a clear set vision. There is a lot of thought given to world building and I particularly like the fact that they took the time to give Atlanteans their own language.

That said, I find the show to be far from perfect. The world building is far too homogenous; every villain is connected to the Light and Vandal Savage planned everything. Characters bend towards the plot rather than the other way around leading to dialogue that's often stilted. The constant time skips plus the need to focus on a huge cast of characters often lead the show to lose sight of their core cast with many of their important developments happening off screen.

Some of their decisions regarding their characters I find to be either bizarre, frustrating or not my thing. Dick Grayson becoming Nightwing represents him moving away from Batman's shadow. On the show, the Team is very much under the League's purview. Dick talks about not wanting to be dark like Bruce but this Bruce is probably the nicest, most sociable person on this DCU Earth. Personally, I prefer a Batman who sticks to the streets and not chairing JL meetings but that's my preference. Then there is Artemis Crock who is a villain in the comics, I don't mind the re invention into a hero but then they jumped extra hoops by making her and Cheshire sisters (which divorces Cheshire from her comic book family) and also makes Linda Park obsolete by pairing her with Wally West. Speaking of, I don't mind Wally being a little jerk when he starts, that's part of his character, but not only does he die in the show without achieving anything relevant, he is also shown to fall behind both Barry and Impulse. Aqualad/Kaldur; I love the character and his arc, I just wish he wasn't slotted into Dick's generation. He would have worked fine in Tim's generation (which is the generation his comic counterpart is going to be in in the comics anyway). Having him in Dick's generation leads to clash with him and Garth. Speaking of clashing generations; I very much would have preferred Conner and Miss Martian to be in Tim's generation (in fact, why not start with Tim in the first place?) with Zatanna in the JL's generation and Zachary on the Team. It also would have been nice to see some interaction between WW and her side kicks before being shipped off to be paired with the Bat Kids.


And I know many people love the YJ origin of Beast Boy. I'm partial to it but I also think there is something to be mined in his original origin of being a sick kid given an experimental vaccine by his parents who then perish saving him.

Kaldur being the same generation as Dick and Wally makes sense. Garth exists but he doesn't become Aqualad because Kaldur was better and he becomes buddies with Dick, Wally and Roy. There hasn't been legit Aquaman sidekick representation until Damian becomes Robin.

Wally and Linda come together when Wally has a couple years under his belt as the Flash so him having a girlfriend when he's still Kid Flash is fair.

Thank God Zachary wasn't there. We were approaching dude overload. Thank you for your sacrifice, Mr. Harper. They could've made Kara Zor-El work. Sucks Cyborg showed up as a post-Tim generation character.

[Drako]

I understand the issues regarding Linda and prefer her as a love interest to Wally over Artemis. However, Cheshire's family in the comics has rarely ever been relevant and was already retconned in Gail Simone's Birds of Prey (it's not even clear if her mother is alive in the present since all we know is Cheshire was sold into slavery as a child). Making Jade and Artemis sisters not only gives Jade a family that is important but one that also provides an interesting dynamic for her outside of whomever she's sleeping with.

If there is one thing I can say this show did perfectly, it's the Crock-Nguyen family.

Yeah, i agree. Jade and Artemis being sisters was a great addition to the show and made both characters more interesting in the cartoon. I'm not sure if it would work in the comics since Artemis is essentially a different character, tho.

My problem with the show started in season 3 and completely lost me in season 4. In my opinion, the show was losing its magic with every season.

[Dred]

Wally and Linda come together when Wally has a couple years under his belt as the Flash so him having a girlfriend when he's still Kid Flash is fair.

This doesn't really work if he's dead, and only dead because he's largely irrelevant and only used to cause grief for the other, more important characters like Artemis.

[DragonsChi]

I think YJ plays best as an else worlds tale that will never crossover to the main DCU.

There are TONS of changes an updates that they did with the characters and the overall world which were cool and unique. But at the end of the day…it plays best where it is.

[James Cameron]

Greg has said there will never be a conclusion. It'll just continue to on cliffhanger after cliffhanger.

That makes sense. I still want to see what they were planning to do with Kara at the very least

[Frontier]

I like Artemis in YJ but then I read the comics and realized they just basically wrote her as Arrowette (with the actual Arrowette barely getting any screentime).

Also they did Wally dirty.

[Bruce Wayne]

I like Artemis in YJ but then I read the comics and realized they just basically wrote her as Arrowette (with the actual Arrowette barely getting any screentime).

Arrowette never had a supervillain family with Tigress and Sportsmasters (and Cheshire), which was Artemis's biggest thing in both the cartoon and the comics.

If anything things like Artemis, the stuff with the Lords of Order/Chaos and the metagene/metahumans are probably concepts that Weisman took from his time working at DC as an assistant editor in the 80s. For examle he edited the Infinity Inc book that Artemis appeared in almost exclusively. And several of these concepts like metagenes and the Lords of Order/Chaos were all but abandoned during by the 2000s Didio era (iirc Willingham killed off of all Lords of Order/Chaos for Infinity Crisis) and in the case of Artemis, Johns took a different direction from her.

[AJpyro]

Still love YJ but like TT got cancelled before it could be more. Not all the decisions (Wally and the Fate stuff) was good but the action and characters definitely made me a fan.

Wish it coulda gotten s5. I woulda felt better about the cancellation if it had 5 seasons.

[James Cameron]

I'm still holding out hope for one last thing if James Gunn and Zaslav can see that there is still an audience for it. It still hasn't been officially canceled. Even just a movie would be great.

[Frontier]

Arrowette never had a supervillain family with Tigress and Sportsmasters (and Cheshire), which was Artemis's biggest thing in both the cartoon and the comics.

If anything things like Artemis, the stuff with the Lords of Order/Chaos and the metagene/metahumans are probably concepts that Weisman took from his time working at DC as an assistant editor in the 80s. For examle he edited the Infinity Inc book that Artemis appeared in almost exclusively. And several of these concepts like metagenes and the Lords of Order/Chaos were all but abandoned during by the 2000s Didio era (iirc Willingham killed off of all Lords of Order/Chaos for Infinity Crisis) and in the case of Artemis, Johns took a different direction from her.

I was talking more from a characterization (and I guess look standpoint since they made her blonde). Her personality owed a lot to comic Cissie.

[Agent Z]

I was talking more from a characterization (and I guess look standpoint since they made her blonde). Her personality owed a lot to comic Cissie.

Artemis was already blonde in the comics. I also don't see how her personality was anything like Cissie.

[Sterling]

The animation in the last two seasons was crap. The reliance on montages is honestly embarrassing.

[Stanlos]

I love what the YJ series did with Atlantis. The magic school and the way Mera kicked butt! Kaldur of course! And the fact that Aquaman and other Atlanteans were barefoot, had webbings, and wore light looking clothes

[John Venus]

I understand the issues regarding Linda and prefer her as a love interest to Wally over Artemis. However, Cheshire's family in the comics has rarely ever been relevant and was already retconned in Gail Simone's Birds of Prey (it's not even clear if her mother is alive in the present since all we know is Cheshire was sold into slavery as a child). Making Jade and Artemis sisters not only gives Jade a family that is important but one that also provides an interesting dynamic for her outside of whomever she's sleeping with.

If there is one thing I can say this show did perfectly, it's the Crock-Nguyen family.

Characters are only as relevant as they are used. How often was Sportsmaster or Tigress being used before their appearance in YJ? Also really reductive to claim Cheshire's comic stories only focus on who she's sleeping with when we've had story arcs about her seeking revenge on her biological father, on trial for genocide and her somewhat....complicated relationship with her daughter.

The recipe that Marv Wolfman and later Gail Simone cooked up with Cheshire may not be perfect but that doesn't mean entire ingredients need to be thrown out. Chesire aka Jade Nguyen; a young girl rescued from slavery by a Chinese mercenary named Weng Chan, mastered the art of poison and seeks revenge on her father for sexually abusing her mother. Makes a point between separating her working persona 'Cheshire' and 'Jade'. Loves her daughter in her own twisted way but is also willing to push her away.

I guess I come from the pov where I saw Cheshire as the bigger villain, what with blowing up a country for shits and giggles and being an active player during story arcs like Villains United while characters like Sportsmaster and Tigress had largely receded to the background. So the show arbitrarily making Cheshire related to them came off as an attempt to make Sportsmaster/Tigress more relevant.

Kaldur being the same generation as Dick and Wally makes sense. Garth exists but he doesn't become Aqualad because Kaldur was better and he becomes buddies with Dick, Wally and Roy. There hasn't been legit Aquaman sidekick representation until Damian becomes Robin.

Wally and Linda come together when Wally has a couple years under his belt as the Flash so him having a girlfriend when he's still Kid Flash is fair.

Thank God Zachary wasn't there. We were approaching dude overload. Thank you for your sacrifice, Mr. Harper. They could've made Kara Zor-El work. Sucks Cyborg showed up as a post-Tim generation character.

How does new character replacing old character make more sense? YJ's approach renders Garth as a background character. Imagine if Tim Drake was made the leader of the Team and was best friends with Wally, Roy and hooking up with Babs instead of Dick. I like Kaldur but you can have him and Garth around without giving them the same spot just like how the Robins have an order to their appearance. Aquaman has also had multiple side kicks even before Damian; Tula, Lorena Marquez, Dolphin, Koryak. Lorena was a member of the Titans.

Well, he can't hook up with Linda now, since they killed him off and he hasn't come back since.

Artemis was already blonde in the comics. I also don't see how her personality was anything like Cissie.

More reddish. Or strawberry blonde I would say.

Artemis_Crock_001-ezgif.com-webp-to-jpg-converter.jpg

[the illustrious mr. kenway]

The 5 year timeskip was a double edged sword as it skipped over plenty of moments that I wished were showcased better. But I'm fine with shorter timeskips like seasons 3 and 4 had.

Long running coming of age narratives work better with multiple timeskips to me.

Ironically the Light works better seperately than together.