Writer: Greg Weisman
Artist: Christopher Jones
Colorist: Jason Wright
Letterer: Wes Abbott
Publisher: DC Comics
Reviewer: StoryBabbler
The Young Justice Team are hot on the heels of Queen Perdita’s captors and unraveling this mystery. But first, they have to get past the supervillains who are standing in their way. On top of that, Superboy has to deal with the surprise appearance of Metallo, who’s wielding weaponized kryptonite against him. See how the Team fare against Metallo and the villains in Young Justice: Targets #5.
Review:
This issue is a bit of a mixed bag. It’s not bad by any stretch of the word and is very enjoyable. Like the last two issues, it has great action, character interaction, and plot progression that this reviewer doesn’t see enough of in mainstream comics whether from publishers like Marvel, DC, or others with a few exceptions. But there are several mistakes or strikes that this comic makes that keep it from being a great issue. Now, on with the review!
It picks up where the last issue left off with Superboy getting a greeting from Metallo with green-glowing kryptonite to the face. Now, this isn’t John Corben that the majority of fans will be familiar with from most stories featuring Metallo. Instead this is Juan Cordero, who seems to be a brand-new version of Metallo created by Greg Weisman for the Young Justice show’s continuity. And don’t worry, the comic really gives you everything you need to know about this new Metallo, sadly this is the first strike against the comic.
When it comes to creating new versions of popular characters from Marvel and DC in adaptations, I tend to judge them on whether or not the changes the creators made were interesting and necessary at all. This version of Metallo is a bit of both as some changes weren’t necessary since it could’ve easily have been John Corben, and the other half were essential to have him serve as a dark parallel to Connor Kent. But the real problem here is that with all of this info-dumping about Metallo and featuring him on the cover, he doesn’t actually do anything in this comic but talk.
It’s not long before the comic transitions to the main Team who are searching for Queen Perdita since she’s still missing. They eventually find her but sueprvillains aren’t far behind and the action starts back up again. As stated before, there are three strikes against this comic that keep it from being great and this half of the comic shows the last two in full view when the real villains enter the scene. But I’ll get into more detail on the last two parts in the SPOILERS section.
The backup story wraps things up with Green Arrow’s rescue of Perdita as he faces off against the supervillain and rival archer Merlyn. The exchange between the two is rather fun and builds a little tension as the story establishes the rivalry and their history in succinct fashion. Things do wrap up a little too quickly but there is still a nice moment in the comic that feels like major payoff for Green Arrow fans and fans of the Young Justice show.
SPOILERS:
I previously mentioned that the ending of the comic has two strikes against it that essentially deflate any tension or intrigue for not only this issue but the series finale. See, the main Team discover Queen Perdita in Bialya in the care of the psychic supervillain Psimon, a recurring villain in the Young Justice show who has a rivalry with Miss Martian. The problem is their “rivalry” is totally one-sided in Miss Martian’s favor in every season after season 1 since Greg Weisman always brings Psimon back but never does anything new with him nor do anything to even the odds between them.
As a result, every engagement between Miss Martian and Psimon lacks any tension or excitement since you know exactly how’s it going to end every time. But the bigger problem is what leads to strike three, and that’s the introduction of Count Vertigo and Queen Bee, ruler of Bialya. Both of them show up right when Miss Martian and the Team find Psimon and the two villains enter in epic fashion with Queen Bee as the one who ends the fight in short order, using her psychic powers on half of the Team to swiftly kill the other members.
Since the heroes are killed in such an over-the-top manner, it’s obvious they didn’t die, especially Miss Martian who’s a skilled white martian shapeshifter. It’s an obvious ruse that’s supposed to artificially up the ante before the big finale since this is the penultimate issue of the series. But all it does is deflate any tension or hype showing that Weisman went a little too big with the ending here. Hopefully he can recapture the excitement in the final issue.
Final Thoughts:
Young Justice Targets #5 is the penultimate issue and throws in a couple of curve balls for the heroes to deal with that work for and against the comic. The issue has Metallo on the cover, but he doesn’t really do much other than monologue. Not to mention the later developments in the comic’s story are interesting, but they also deflate any potential tension the comic could’ve had carry over to the next issue.