Thursday, July 06, 2017

80-Page Thursday: Young Justice 80-Page Giant #1!


We haven't had an 80-page Thursday all year? Really? Last one was back in December, and wasn't very good. And neither is this one! From 1999, Young Justice 80-Page Giant #1, featuring stories by Peter David, Beau Smith, Chuck Dixon, and more; and art by Tommy Lee Edwards, Keron Grant, Sergio Cariello, and more.

I had thought Peter David's Young Justice had an 80-pager before, but that was a Secret Origins issue; and actually pretty good. That one had some insights to the characters; this one is almost entirely nonsense. A magic force, from the days of Arion, and responsible for the World Without Adults; had been hiding out inside Red Tornado. This had caused the android to behave uncharacteristically distant, leading the YJ team to hold an intervention, with the Tornado's former wife and adopted daughter. The magic manifests, and most of the rest of the issue is tangential dream sequences, like a western, a noir detective story, or silent 'vampir' movie.

The magic manifests itself in the end, intent on wiping out humanity, since it was both drawn to and repulsed by humanity's imagination. Red Tornado begs it to turn him into a human, so he can die with his family; and that triggers the magic's own imagination. Instead of destroying the world, it turns itself into a baby, and that's that. Red Tornado's turned back into an android, too.

Not great; but we have one more 80-pager for later. Spoiler alert: not great, but that one has a moment or two.

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