Young Justice, Vol. 1: Gemworld

Young Justice (2019)

by Brian Michael Bendis, Patrick Gleason (Illustrator), John Timms (Illustrator)

Superboy! Wonder Girl! Robin! Impulse! Amethyst! All united in Young Justice! The hottest new super-team, written by award winning author Brian Michael Bendis for his new imprint Wonder Comics!

When the nightmare dimension known as Gemworld invades Metropolis, teen heroes will unite to deal with the situation--but they're quickly shocked to discover the battle may be the key to the return of Conner Kent, a.k.a. Superboy!

This mix of fan favorites and new legacy heroes will be the center point for some of the biggest goings-on at DC! As if that weren't enough, Brian Michael Bendis (Superman, Action Comics, Pearl) reunites with all-star artist Patrick Gleason (Superman, Action Comics, Green Lantern Corps) to bring the new heroes of DC's Wonder Comics to life!

Aimed at providing readers with honest and innovative reading experiences, Brian Michael Bendis' Wonder Comics is a celebration of the moments of in life when discoveries are made - when purpose and meaning are revealed and destinies are defined. Featuring the young heroes of the DC Universe as penned by all-star creative teams in exciting new adventures that will celebrate the wonders of life, love and comics.

Collects issues #1-6

Genres: Comics, Graphic Novels, Dc Comics, Superheroes, Comic Book, Graphic Novels Comics, Young Adult

160 pages, Hardcover

First published October 1, 2019

About the author

A comic book writer and erstwhile artist. He has won critical acclaim (including five Eisner Awards) and is one of the most successful writers working in mainstream comics. For over eight years Bendis’s books have consistently sat in the top five best sellers on the nationwide comic and graphic novel sales charts.

Though he started as a writer and artist of independent noir fiction series, he shot to stardom as a writer of Marvel Comics' superhero books, particularly Ultimate Spider-Man.

Bendis first entered the comic world with the "Jinx" line of crime comics in 1995. This line has spawned the graphic novels Goldfish, Fire, Jinx, Torso (with Marc Andreyko), and Total Sell Out. Bendis is writing the film version of Jinx for Universal Pictures with Oscar-winner Charlize Theron attached to star and produce.

Bendis’s other projects include the Harvey, Eisner, and Eagle Award-nominated Powers (with Michael Avon Oeming) originally from Image Comics, now published by Marvel's new creator-owned imprint Icon Comics, and the Hollywood tell-all Fortune and Glory from Oni Press, both of which received an "A" from Entertainment Weekly.

Bendis is one of the premiere architects of Marvel's "Ultimate" line: comics specifically created for the new generation of comic readers. He has written every issue of Ultimate Spider-Man since its best-selling launch, and has also written for Ultimate Fantastic Four and Ultimate X-Men, as well as every issue of Ultimate Marvel Team-Up, Ultimate Origin and Ultimate Six.

Brian is currently helming a renaissance for Marvel’s AVENGERS franchise by writing both New Avengers and Mighty Avengers along with the successful ‘event’ projects House Of M, Secret War, and this summer’s Secret Invasion.

He has also previously done work on Daredevil, Alias, and The Pulse.

Reviews

[Anne · Rating 3 out of 5]

I know next to nothing about the original Young Justice, and I guess that's why I wasn't offended by Bendis' take on it.



And I don't know anything about Gemworld or Amethyst. Kind of reminded me of that new She-Ra cartoon my kid is really into on Netflix.



This is part of the Wonder Imprint, right? So I'm assuming this and the other titles will be a little more kiddie and targeted toward younger readers. Maybe a little less serious and a little more silly. Which is fine. I had the hardest time finding kid's comics when my kids were younger. If they're trying to market this to teenagers, that means that the actual age group that will be interested will be the 8-14 crowd. Teenagers will be gravitating toward the adult stuff.
I'm assuming marketing already knows this, and that's probably why it's getting some hate from the older fans. <--hang in there, guys! They'll bring it back around in a bit.



I'm not sure of any of the backstory, but these kids all end up in the same city, fight a bad guy, fall into a portal, find Connor, meet a warrior princess, band together to fight another bad guy, and end up getting tossed into more adventures.



I think it's a good start for younger kids who want to get into comics. AND it wasn't super-hokey like those weird titles they brought out a while back by authors who had never even heard of the characters they were writing about. Remember Super Sons?
This isn't for everyone. <--I get that. But if you have younger kids and are looking for something they might like? I'd say this would fit the bill.

[Sam Quixote · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not familiar with Young Justice or whatever the hell “Gemworld” is? Me neither - nor is it a problem as Brian Bendis’ 8725th new DC title (this month - there’s gotta be like 5000 clones of this guy in a giant underground bunker somewhere writing all these comics!) is surprisingly accessible for newcomers given that its premise seems aimed at established fans.

I remember seeing a title years ago called something like Amethyst that was one of the final titles to appear in DC’s doomed New 52 lineup (I expect it sucked like most of that line) so I’m familiar with Gemworld from name only. But it appears to be a jewel-themed Dune-esque kinda place with warring houses in a fantasy setting with futuristic elements. And it turns out some of the rulers of these houses are dicks, like Lord Opal who decides to invade Earth to have a word with Superman - who isn’t there. But you know who is? Young Justice!

They are: Superboy/Conner Kent (a clone of Superman and Lex Luthor), Robin/Tim Drake, Impulse/Bart Allen (Flash from the future), Wonder Girl/Cassie Sandsmark, and Princess Amethyst, she of a glowing purple sword. The new additions are Jonah Hex’s descendant Jinny Hex (who’s apparently also a fixture in Bendis’ 3857th DC title Batman: Universe which I still need to check out) and the very cornily-named Teen Lantern, a young black girl genius who’s somehow managed to hack into a Green Lantern power battery and harness its powers. She’s totally not at all like Ironheart/Riri Williams because she’s a few years younger.

I’m wary of Bendis’ team books because they’re usually his weakest so I was pleasantly taken aback to find the first half of the book to be really enjoyable. The team comes together in an entertaining, energetic way, reflective of young people, the action is fun, and, perhaps most impressively, Bendis is able to create a nostalgia for these characters reuniting even in someone like me who’s never read Young Justice before.

Some of the characters’ backstories are handled well like Cassie and Conner’s, and Tim Drake and Stephanie Brown make such a sweet couple. Splitting up the team initially was a good choice as they feel more vulnerable but things stagnate once they’re all together and therefore unstoppable. Mostly because they all need to catch each other up on what’s been going on so things grind to a complete halt towards the end as they literally stand around expositing. All of which comes off as rushed, clumsy and boring too.

Gemworld politics is not interesting, not to mention convoluted, and, like too many Bendis books, this one suffers from a wafer-thin plot to begin with which then gets abandoned and replaced with endless go-nowhere dialogue. The book closes out with the uninspired and cliched “punch the big bad together” - come on, really, still?

Young Justice, Volume 1: Gemworld isn’t bad - it’s certainly not as dull as Bendis’ Superman books, though his non-superhero DC stuff over at his creator-owned imprint Jinxworld remains the place to find the guy’s best work. And speaking of imprints, Young Justice is the flagship title for DC’s latest imprint Wonder Comics, which has other Bendis-curated titles like Naomi, Wonder Twins and Dial H for Hero in the lineup. After this decent start, I’m intrigued to try the rest.

It’s ok. Bendis may fall back on stereotypical plot elements and bad habits (voluminous dialogue) but he’s so experienced at this point that he can even make them feel less stale and somewhat exciting with his skill. I really liked the energy and characters and the book definitely has its moments. Fun at times, dreary at others, I’m still glad to have picked up Young Justice and I’ll probably be back for the second book!

[Chad · Rating 4 out of 5]

If there's one thing Bendis does exceptionally well, it's writing teen characters. See Ultimate Spider-Man, both Peter Parker and Miles Morales, and Ironheart. Bendis brings the core of Young Justice back along with some new characters. Bendis smartly jettisons all the garbage and angst saddled on these characters during the Nu52 by Scott Lobdell. They all get sucked into Gemworld from the old Amythest comic book from the mid 80s. He keeps the book light and fun while providing a plot that's just a conveyance for the team to get together and meet Amythest. Bendis's characterization of Impulse is a highlight.

Patrick Gleason and John Timms draw some explosive chaotic scenes, perfect for a teen team. The colors pop off the page. Sign me up for round 2. this was fun.

[James DeSantis · Rating 4 out of 5]

Young Justice is back!

I really dig a lot of Brian's stuff in DC. I actually dug most of it in Marvel too despite the hate he got. Here, he brings back a lot of characters people have been wanting to see return for a long time. They get sent to Gemworld where they all begin to reconnect but they notice things aren't quite right. Things get rowdy, some characters have seem to move on with life, while others were stuck. Questions come and we might get some answers.

I enjoyed the majority of this. Bendis gives each character time to reconnect and enjoy being around each other. It's a little slow at points, but when the emotional beats hit they're good. The art is great, and some awesome freaking fights. The atmosphere is perfect, and I can't wait for me.

Young Justice is back! A 4 out of 5.

[Kadi P · Rating 2 out of 5]

*Mild spoilers, read at your own discretion. Read as single issues. Also, this is a long review.*

Young Justice is back! Or, as I like to call it: bad Bendis writing featuring every flashback possible.

My gosh. This was terrible.
I’ve never read a Young Justice (in continuity) comic before now but I’ve always loved the concept of it. It’s a team up of all your favourite super-powered teens (except Robin, he’s not super-powered) doing what they do best: kicking butts and having fun.

Well, let me tell you, this was NOT fun. This was bad. Really bad. I had high expectations. I’d heard good things about Bendis. I liked the concept of Young Justice. I was fairly familiar with a few of the characters. And then along comes this mess, defying all expectations, and ending up being spectacularly horrendous.

Let me go through the problems because there’s more done wrong than right:
1. The timeline
By far the most confusing aspect of this vol is the timeline.
This is not competent storytelling.
- Issue #2 flashes back several times.
- Issue #3 flashes back to before all the issues.
- Issue #4 flashes back to Issue #2.
- Issue #5 flashes back to before all the issues.
- Issue #6 flashes back to before all the issues.
All the back and forth due to the flashbacks makes it’s very hard to keep it all straight in your head and follow the actual events going on.
Everything becomes a jumbled and incomprehensible mess.

2. The characters
Definitely the most alarming problem of this vol are the characters.
Bendis made a mistake (well, several, really). And each mistake leads to another mistake and another and another, there’s a huge snowball effect here.

a) He made the team too big.
There are the 7 characters on the team: Robin (Tim Drake), Wonder Girl (Cassie Sandsmark), Superboy (Conner Kent), Impulse (Bart Allen), Amethyst (last name...?), Jinny Hex and Teen Lantern (Keli Quintela).

7 characters. Oof that’s heavy. It’s a lot! And it’s a problem. Done right it could be great but it’s done badly, so it’s not.

b) There’s not enough time to flesh everyone out, leading to underdeveloped characters.
I’ll hand it to Bendis, he tried. He spends an issue fleshing out Amethyst, which is a good idea because she’s a new and unknown character. But he does this through quite a few flashback. Which leads back to problem 1.

Then he spends approximately 4 panels explaining who Teen Lantern is and who Jinny Hex is. That’s it.

There’s also a flashback used to explain Robin’s origin but that brings up more questions than it answers.
And then there’s an exchange between Cassie and Zeus regarding a necklace (I know, I don’t get it either) which also brings up a lot of questions.

An issue is spent through flashbacks explaining Conner’s origin but even that brings up more questions than it answers (and leads back in to problem 1).

c) It’s hard to make a connection with the characters.
It’s extremely hard to care about characters you know nothing about. Hence why I didn’t care at all about Teen Lantern or Jinny Hex because they just hang around for the whole vol without even explaining who they are until the very end.

d) The dialogue suffers. A LOT.
When you have too many characters there isn’t enough time to flesh them all out, yeah, and that means there’s not enough time to figure out everyone’s personalities.
Then you have 3 problems:
1. Characters talking in the same way. (Cassie talking just like Bart)
2. Characters repeating each other. (Teen Lantern/ Jinny Hex/ Cassie repeating each others’ questions)
3. Characters hardly talking at all. (Teen Lantern saying max 3 sentences in each issue)

See? A whole host of problems stemming from bad writing. And it continues...

3. The QUESTIONS (and lack of answers)
There are far too many questions posed by the characters verbally and through the storyline of the vol itself. (This links back to problem 2 where characters keep repeating each other’s questions without anyone providing an answer or, even more infuriatingly, after someone has provided a rare or half-baked answer)

All questions are either answered half-heartedly in a way that doesn’t make complete sense or doesn’t fully answer the question or it’s just not answered at all. Almost as though Bendis a) thought that he could be vague and no one would notice (news flash: I NOTICED) or b) doesn’t actually know the answers to some of the questions because of inadequate planning.

4. The lack of team up in this team up-based comic
Wait. When your team up comic can’t even do the team up right then what can it do??
The “team” get together at the end of issue #4. Even then they fight for one page together in issue #5 then that’s the end of their team up moment. In issue #6 they’re like “wow are we officially a team then?” (not a direct quote) two seconds after learning Teen Lantern’s name for the FIRST TIME.

To put this into perspective: in Teen Titans, Vol. 1: Damian Knows Best, the team team up in issue #1!

It’s like throughout this vol everyone assumes the team are a team. They’re called that in the synopsis of several issues and Bart even says it during issue #1 but the truth is that if the word “team” hadn’t been constantly rammed down the reader’s throat then I would’ve just assumed this is a group of people who just happen to coexist in the same places, or in some cases even in completely different places. There’s nothing to suggest they should be a team at all because they’re lacking the fundamental part of being a team: knowing who each other are. And that links back to problem 2.
——————————————
Ok, it’s not all atrocious. Almost all of it is. But there are a few (what’s smaller than a few?) good bits, I guess.

The few things done right (I know, surprisingly there are some):
1. Bart
Everywhere Bart went was fun. Bart was hilarious, the king of the references, and a painful reminder of everything Young Justice should have been.

He was not just comic appeal, he was a good way to emotionally connect to characters like Conner and Cassie who are otherwise emotionless or unexplained.

2. The cute moments.
The are some cute moments. There are some adorable moments like when characters are hugging each other and are happy to see each other for what seems like the first time in ages. But those moments are few and far between.
——————————————
So, all in all, this is laughably bad. The prime example of a good concept smashed to bits by incompetent writing and the need to cash in big. I would recommend you run away from it whenever you see it. Don’t even bother breathing near it. This one does not deserve your time and effort and it certainly doesn’t deserve the time and effort I put it into it.
——————————————
See my review for each issue:
- Issue #1
- Issue #2
- Issue #3
- Issue #4
- Issue #5
- Issue #6

[Artemy · Rating 4 out of 5]

A lovely new DC series from Bendis, full of joy and excitement. I’ve never encountered Young Justice or most of its members anywhere else before, but the way Bendis writes them they’re a delightful lot, and their interactions are what elevates the entire book from being just another generic superhero comic. Out of the entire Wonder Comics line this book so far is probably my least favorite, but I still enjoy it a lot whenever a new issue drops. Good stuff.

[Lashaan Balasingam · Rating 3 out of 5]

You can find my review on my blog by clicking here.

In hopes of extending its reach to a younger audience, DC Entertainment tasks the prolific writer Brian Michael Bendis into launching a brand-new pop-up imprint belonging to DC Comics, allowing him to curate a universe set in the main DC universe, to his taste. With his sight set on teen-oriented content that looks into a specific moment in the life of youngsters where they are in the middle of discovering who they want to be and what they’re willing to fight for, this imprint launched its flagship title Young Justice since January 2019 and adds three more ongoing series, for the time being, including Naomi, Dial H for Hero and Wonder Twins. This imprint thus seeks to both revive existing characters who are currently under-utilized while also introducing all-new content based on existing familiar identities.

What is Young Justice: Gemworld about? When Metropolis is invaded by strange beings from a nightmare dimension known as Gemworld, young heroes find themselves serendipitously united at the heart of the action as they fight off these ill-intentioned villains only to be hurled back into their realm and discover a new reality that might hold the answer to a medley of shocking alternate realities and timelines. As these heroes struggle with their own personal questions about their purpose and destiny in life, they also meet and greet each other, with as many old (Wonder Girl, Impulse, Red Robin and Superboy) and new faces (Amethyst, Teen Lantern and Jinny Hex) amongst them.

Looking to recreate the teen magic he has infused in his past creations with Marvel, notably Miles Morales (Spider-Man) and Riri Williams (Ironheart), Brian Michael Bendis accomplishes something quite special with this exciting new team-up. Although there are far too many heroes to introduce properly in this first volume, they still make a cohesive and entertaining squad with some heroes far more exciting than others, and some who still manage to remain intriguing in their mysterious and shy demeanour. Impulse, the Flash from the future, also particularly steals the show every time he gets the chance with his impulsive—pun very intended—personality and his inability to calm down and take things down a notch. However, some of the villains spawned from the newly-introduced Gemworld universe are a bit unusual and invite a bit of doubt as to their potential, especially the great evil known as Lord Opal.

Although the energy is really fantastic in this new series, especially with the consistent vivid artwork by Patrick Gleason and his colleagues, that allows this first volume to showcase all the colours in the world in a mesmerizing new universe based on gems, it’s the structure of the storytelling that retains this from being closer to perfection. In fact, Brian Michael Bendis utilizes a flashback narrative to tell this story, with each issue jumping back in time—and not even to a particular time period—in order to take a glimpse at some of the dilemmas that each of these young heroes face in their individual lives, from issues with rules and heritage to a desire to embrace a learning curve without any shortcuts and to forget the rules that restrain us to follow what the heart desires. While these sequences are fascinating, an illusion of story progression is conveyed and invites even more confusion as to where things are headed with all the back and forth.

Young Justice: Gemworld is a revitalizing and refreshing new chapter in the youthful and energetic teen squad as they face new forces from unknown dimensions.

Yours truly,

Lashaan | Blogger and Book Reviewer
Official blog: https://bookidote.com/

[Robert · Rating 3 out of 5]

I've been on a big Bendis kick ever since I "discovered" the Powers series so I came into this one really wishing it was going to be great...only to discover it was just good.

I don't regret reading it, and now that all the elaborate stage setting is done I will take a look at vol. 2 at least, but honestly when I think about Young Justice it's still these guys I picture:

[Shannon Appelcline · Rating 4 out of 5]

This comic feels like the deathknell of DC's awful Nu52 era, when they wiped out many of their most interesting and vibrant characters. Conner Kent is back! Impulse is back! Wonder Girl is quietly trying to forget about her character assassination in the early days of the Nu52! Robin is remembering everything! And we even have a few new members, all touching back to great elements of the DC Universe.

Mind you, the explanation of how they're all back is a confusing mess. Maybe Opal joins the League of Memory Wipers who seem to have suddenly infiltrated the DC Universe. Or maybe he just punches reality like Superboy Prime. It's really not clear. Nor is it clear if Cassie actually continuing on from her early Nu52 days. Nor is it clear how Bart Allen coming back from the Speed Force over in The Flash is linked to all of it. In fact, DC's continuity is getting muddier by the minute.

But we have some great characters back! Oh, it's a bit of a shame to see Bart no longer as mature as in his later Teen Titans days. And Conner makes a decision toward the end of the volume that I find entirely out of character. But still.

The plot is a crossover with the old Amethyst stories, and it's a pretty neat intro. Mind you, that's largely just a backdrop to tell the story of these characters finding themselves and each other, and that's where it excels (even if the flashbacks due cause serious problems for the momentum of the story).

So, a deeply flawed comic, with great potential and pretty fun to read. It's 3.5 stars.

[Chris Lemmerman · Rating 2 out of 5]

God fucking damn it, Brian. I trusted you. And this is how you do me?

Bringing back Young Justice was going to be Bendis' saving grace; his other DC work hadn't lit my world on fire at the point this series began, and so I was hoping this one would be his home run. Unfortunately, it's just not. He throws all your favourite YJ characters together, adds in some of his own new creations, then proceeds to do absolutely nothing with them for 6 issues. The plot is a mishmash of coincidence and contrivance, the dialogue is literally incomprehensible at times, and all of the questions you want answered about your favourites are basically thrown to the wind as Bendis says 'we'll get to that once I've finished do what I want to do!' instead.

The art starts well, with Patrick Gleason launching the book, but he then quickly departs for Marvel and leaves the title in the hands of a load of rotating artists. Bendis then uses multiple flashbacks to throw in some more big industry names (including Emanuela Luppachino, Victor Bogdanovic, Kris Anka, and Evan Shaner) instead of moving the plot forward, before John Timms apparently settles in as the series artist but appears to be incapable of drawing more than two issues in a row without needing help. The art is good, I will give it that, but it's all over the place in terms of style.

The characters of Young Justice deserve better than this.

[Georgie Zakka · Rating 3 out of 5]

The first entry into Bendis’ Young Justice title was surprisingly pretty good, the art was flashy and colourful, the story was good and the ending sets up the next arc really well with my down side being the start was pretty confusing and rough.

[Rod Brown · Rating 2 out of 5]

A frenetic mess. I read the original series back in the '90s, so there was a little nostalgic rush to see the core group back together. Impulse tries his best to make things fun and humorous, but the rest of the cast are real drags. And everyone ends up in Gemworld, a corner of the DC Universe that I have always found to be dull and morose. Meh.

If I didn't already have the second volume checked out on Hoopla, I probably wouldn't bother reading it. But here we go . . .

[Guilherme Smee · Rating 5 out of 5]

Descobrimos um outro filão dos quadrinhos de super-heróis em que Brian Michael Bendis se dá bem: os super-heróis adolescentes. É divertido acompanhar como Bendis estabelece a conexão entre os velhos membros da Justiça Jovem e os novos, ou melhor, as novas "membras" da equipe de jovens justiceiros. Um dos personagens mais bem desenvolvidos por Bendis é o Impulso e, não por acaso ele é o mais carismático da Justiça Jovem, neste encadernado ele também é o mais amigão. Como novas membras da equipe estão Ametista, que os leitores bem mais velhos deverão lembrar do começo dos anos 1980 e os leitores bem mais jovens lembrarão de Sword of Sorcery e Liga da Justiça Dark de Os Novos 52, vinda do distante perigoso e bastante blasé Mundo das Joias. É neste mundo em que os jovens justiceiros se encontram e precisam se libertar para continuar suas aventuras. Também temos Jinny Hex, uma descendente do pistoleiro do velho oeste Jonah Hex, que possui uma arma secreta. E a Lanterna Nerd, uma hacker boliviana que conseguiu hackear a tecnologia de Oa e da Tropa dos Lanternas Verdes. Uma formação bastante igual e diferente da Justiça Jovem, assim como Bendis fez com Os Novos Vingadores, aliando o conhecido com o novo. Esse é o segredo do scuesso, Bendis?

[Scott Lee · Rating 5 out of 5]

Bendis brings back Young Justice--or as I first experienced them together, the core lineup of first volume of Geoff Johns' AWESOME 2000s Teen Titans resurrection. I was so happy to see these characters back again, that I was willing to forgive just about anything.

And I loved it. Bendis nails the characters, their interactions, etc. and that's enough to make this work really well. Add a decent story, some fun characters new to the team that circle Connor, Bart, Dick, and Cassie, great artwork, and you've got a book designed to just fall into that special place in my heart where flaws are visible but I just don't care.

My one beef? There's not enough here to explain all the Connor stuff or how he's still alive. It's almost as if there's no attempt to connect this to the real DCU stories surrounding his death. I'm so glad to have him back I can forgive the "magic comics without logic restoration of a formerly dead character," but I have to admit that single aspect of this story isn't super well done.

[Eli · Rating 2 out of 5]

Me when news broke that BMB would be moving to DC:



Me after reading The Man of Steel:



Me after reading this one:



Needless to say, I'm a little disappointed, especially since I loved Bendis with Marvel and this is the first YJ comic I've read.

[Sesana · Rating 3 out of 5]

I wanted so desperately to like this, but it just wasn't working for me. There are too many characters all thrown together at once to do them justice, especially with two of them being entirely new and one being fairly obscure. (Also: Teen Lantern? Ugh.) Gemworld isn't given the attention it deserves, either. The dialog doesn't have Bendis's usual snap. Was he overloaded while he was working on this? While I'm at it, why does Amethyst look like Starfire? And I'm not at all sure about the wisdom of bringing Young Justice stuff back into continuity. But Bart is a flipping delight, and I liked Connor settling down to farm. Jinny Hex is fun, even if she barely gets more attention than the other new characters and I'm not sure how well she fits in with the rest of the team. I think there may be potential here, but I'm not sure I want to work that hard to get to it.

[RG · Rating 3 out of 5]

Great art up/down writing but it defs had potential.

[Matt · Rating 4 out of 5]

Collects Young Justice (2019) issues #1-6

I really like the idea of bringing this team back together, and tying the plot into the larger story being told in this DC Rebirth era, however I don't have any nostalgic connection to this team and these characters because I didn't read the title during its initial run. I liked everything about the Multiverse discussed in this book, but there was a little too much Gemworld stuff for my liking.

Final rating = 3.5 stars

[Shannon Luchies · Rating 3 out of 5]

I seem to be in the minority, because I did actually like it.

I mean, YES it's Bendis-y. Someone needs to sit him down and go 'DIALOG DOESN'T WORK LIKE THAT.' But I liked the characters, it was nice to see Young Justice back, and it basically worked.

Tho admittedly it might be my fondness for Young Justice overriding my critical side.

[Ben Truong · Rating 3 out of 5]

Young Justice is a fictional DC Comics superhero team consisting of teenaged heroes, sidekicks, and vigilantes. Young Justice: Gemworld collects the first six issues of the 2019 on-going series and contains one story: "Seven Crises".

"Seven Crises" is a five-issue storyline and finale (Young Justice #1–6) has the denizens of Gemworld invading Earth and the formation of teenaged superheroes and vigilantes coming together to form an unofficial team called the Young Justice to combat them. Young Justice current lineup consists of Amethyst, Impulse, Robin (Tim Drake), Superboy (Conner Kent), Teen Lantern, Jinny Hex, and Wonder Girl.

Brian Michael Bendis penned the entire trade paperback. For the most part, it is written rather mediocrity well. The main purpose of the trade paperback is to introduce the characters that will be making up this new team: Tim Drake as Robin, Bart Allen as Impulse, Cassie Sandsmark as Wonder Girl, Jinny Hex, and Keli Quintela as Teen Lantern all happen to be in Metropolis when warriors from the Gemworld appear, demanding to meet with Superman. The teens fight them instead, and when the Gemworld warriors retreat, the teens are transported to Gemworld as well, getting separated along the way. Bart Allen finds Conner Kent/Superboy, and Tim Drake meets Amethyst.

Patrick Gleason (Young Justice #1–4), John Timms (Young Justice #5–6), Emanuela Lupacchino (Young Justice #2), Viktor Bogdanovic (Young Justice #3), Kris Anka and Evan Shaner (Young Justice #5) penciled the trade paperback. For the most the pencilers complemented each other rather well, which gives a rather smooth artistic flow. Gleason being the main penciler does a rather good job and gives a youthful appearance to the series.

All in all, Young Justice: Gemworld is a mediocre start to what would hopefully be a wonderful series.

[Honora Quinn · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5 rounded down.
This was my first outing of sorts with this team. I knew about the dynamic and about the original series (that I have yet to read). So I vaguely knew what I was getting in to.
But this was something else... I loved the mismatch between the original team and the new recruits how they were all trying to figure out what was going on together and almost immediately started to work together when trouble struck. I loved the main series art and the guest artist sequences for the flashbacks. I was a tiny bit confused in a few places but I think that that's my fault for not reading the original series first so this my change a little bit after I do.
Over all I was enthralled with this, the characters and the world and I will definitely look out for the next volume (or two) the next time I go to the comic book store.

[Christian Zamora-Dahmen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Young Justice is back!!!!! Ok, I had to let that out of my system.
I started reading it as it came out, but then I realized it would work much better once the set was complete. And what a ride it was!
These characters bonded like few others during Peter David's run, and it looks like Bendis did some serious work understanding how they worked together and figuring out who they were. I mean, it's no easy task to bring back characters that were written off the current continuity. It had to be epic, and it was.
The art had contributions from different artists, but it mingled nicely and beautifully. So, no complaints on that part.
I can't wait to see the next big chapter in this series.

[a ☕︎ · Rating 2 out of 5]

toooooooo muuuuuuuuch taaaaaaaaalking. so many two-page spreads w tons of tiny boxes filled w dialogue. first two chapters were scene setters, next two were nice and peppy, final two were exposition. by far the best plotline was conner kent’s weird little green card wife, lol. by which i mean literally green. bc she is from emeraldland.

[George (Abandoned Places) · Rating 3 out of 5]

This graphic novel highlights Bendis' strengths (dialogue, great character moments) and weaknesses (plot) as a writer. I've never read any issues of Young Justice, but was able to jump right in without a problem. A fun read.

[Emmanuel Nevers · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not really a huge fan of Bendis anymore but this volume is pretty solid. I like the return of Connor Kent and Amethyst into the DC universe. The spirit of the original team is captured very competently (think Teen Titans with a dash of late 90s edgy-ness).

[Lucille · Rating 4 out of 5]

That was a lot of fun! Bendis does write teen characters really well, and I love the sff vibe of this title.

[Murphy C · Rating 4 out of 5]

Some clunky dialog here and there, but overall a ton of fun and a pretty decent story. I enjoyed it thoroughly!

[kenz &#x1fae7; · Rating 3 out of 5]

sorta mid tbh. like it was fun to read but i don’t think is m going to buy into the multiverse bc there isn’t a point for me to keep reading it

[maddy · Rating 4 out of 5]

farmer conner kent 🏃‍♀️🏃‍♀️🏃‍♀️🏃‍♀️

[cauldronofevil · Rating 1 out of 5]

I just read the first issue of Amethyst Princess of Gemworld and was intrigued by the character. Poking around I found that it had taken several reboots and hoped they weren’t as disastrous and most reboots. You know how it goes — let’s redesign the character for a younger generation! It doesn’t sell very well because the younger generation doesn’t have the kind of disposable cash comic books demand these days. Then the older generation who actually BUYS the stuff, demands the original comes back. Then they bring back the original. But they don’t know what to do with the rebooted version so they either reboot it again or have it hang around as some kind of lame off-shoot. But I digress.

So then today I find “Young Justice, Gemworld” a hardcover trade comic and I thought I’d check it out.

Young Justice has always been a kind of 2nd string Teen Titans and while I’ve read quite a few of them (and the cartoon was excellent) they never really seemed to gel to me.

You’ve got Tim Drake, a second-hand Robin and Cassie Sandsmark, a second hand Wonder Woman and Superboy, a Clone of Lex Luthor and Superman. Meh all. I do like Impulse and I give Tim Drake credit in that they’ve definitely made him his own character. They just can’t make up their mind which character it is.

Nothing fantastically new happens in the first issue.

Soldiers/Kings/Badasses from the Gemworld burst into the atmosphere above Metropolis and happen to run in to Robin, Jinny Hex, Impulse and Wonder Girl.

Jinny Hex I have read a little of before, but she’s a cowgirl with a gun. Though in this issue she swaps out her six-shooter for some sort of ray gun blaster.

Wonder Girl mysteriously is really hesitant to get involved, but when the stuff goes down, she joins in the fight.

There is one more who joins in the fight - apparently a newbie to all. “Teen Lantern”. Don’t worry, she soon says “Does this include me? I’ll get a better name.”

They actually wipe up the Gemworld representatives (Tim doing some really kicking) and then (apparently—it’s that kind of muddy-splash-page art), Robin gets zapped somewhere else when Amethyst asks him what he’s doing there.

Impulse does the same thing but winds up with Superboy.

So middling team up start with good art.

Issue #2, a bunch of thus talking to Prince Moonstone who I’m just going to guess is another prince of Gemworld. They are trying to convince him that should get Princess Amethyst’s head and give it to Lord Opal so that Opal will let them join his side. Robin, Amethyst and a flying unicorn jump into them and tell them to come and get it.

Meanwhile Jinny Hex and Teen Lantern are lost somewhere. Jinny is brandishing a shotgun to everyone to try to get an explanation of what’s going on.

Wonder Girl tries to ask Jinny who she is and vice versa.

Then we get a Wonder Girl flashback to ‘weeks ago’ when Despero is attacking a high school football game. He is insulted that the entire Justice League is not beating him instead of this nobody.

When it’s over (she wins). Someone calls here Zatanna and the cops ask who she is.

She sees an old man in the crowd and jets out of there. She meets up with the old man who turns out to be Zeus, King of the Gods. Who gave her powers in the first place.

They have an interesting conversation. Zeus wants to give her an amulet to get along with the bracers and lasso she’s already gotten.

She’s never heard of this thing. Wonder Woman never told her about it.

Zeus says they need to have a better relationship. Wonder Girl asks (as do I) what relationship? You’re barely in my origin story!

She turns down the amulet, saying she needs to do something to earn it. He flies off in a huff. Kids these days!

Well, this is different. On one hand, it really sounds like Cassie Sandsmark is having a “Who is Donna Troy?” (the last Wonder Girl) moment, so it’s not really very original or new.

On the other hand, as far as I know this is the most interesting Cassie Sandsmark has EVER been and her origin story has always been weak as F, so if someone decided they could jazz up the character (see lame-ass reboots above), the more power to them.

And yeah, I suspect that the amulet is Gemworld-related.

Back to now. Jinny calms down and Robin, Amethyst and the Peg-acorn ram into them both. They all shake hands and then Lord Opal shows up.

Well, I couple of good moments. Teen Lantern is successful at comic relief at least. Jinny is still an oddball in this mix.

The way these modern comics are done, I still feel like I’m reading 10 pages of what would be a 30 page comic book story back in my day, but I guess it’s just the way things are now. Great art, less story, ka-ching!

Next issue, part 3 has Superboy and Impulse hugging each other. Then Carnelian of the Royal Court of Opal walks up and tells them that they are trespassing, but Impulse is mad that they were just trespassing on the Earth when they invaded it 5 minutes ago. They explain that they were looking for Superman to answer for the pain ad suffering brought to Gemworld from Earth.

Bart expects Superboy to beat them up, but Superboy gets on his knees and surrenders.

Flashback. Superboy is flying over the desert, spots a monster and flies down to beat it up. The solders around the monster try to thank him while a female representative tires to get him to come inside and have a talk about this top secret stuff. Superboy flies off.

Later in the day (week? Year?) Superboy is sitting in high school class and realizes he doesn’t half to follow the rules and flies back out to the desert to get some answers.

The soldiers and the Representative are still out there cleaning up the mess.

She tells Superboy to go away and he starts punching things until he gets some answers.

He punches through to an underground lab where he sees a large gem shooting lighting through the roof and then 6 other gems shooting different colored lightning at the big gem in the middle.

Superboy touches the gem and then falls through a hole into Gemworld.

Flashback to now. Carnelian has a sword to Superboy’s throat asking why Impulse thought he was going to be a threat? Superboy tries to bluff badly. Then his wife comes up and asks if everything is okay. She is holding a baby.

Cut to our other heroes in cells. Pits with a hole in the roof where two bars are keeping them in. They try to talk to each other and figure out that Lord Opal has put them in the dungeons and is using a magic spell to make them all sound like dipshits.

Amethyst explains that she is from Earth but is a princess of Gemworld

The end.

So that was some weird and bland filler material. The whole Superboy stuff once again showed that clones have no personality whatsoever.

The big old copy-and-paste job where we see all of our prisons word balloons but the same hole with bars across the top shows that magic can capture anyone.

Why do I feel like I’m still waiting for the story to begin and I’m on part 3?!

Part 4 starts off with what feels like should have been the BEGINNING of the story.

Amethyst is sitting around the round table of the Gem rulers saying that some Chaos magic is bleeding into their world and that Lord Opal is breaking all the rules by using it to create more chaos.

Therefore she proposes the final solution for Lord Opal. “The House of Opal must be Destroyed before it destroys us.”

As an aside, while I can understand that Amethyst doesn’t look exactly like she did in the 80’s (I don’t either), the new look is not helping. She’s got a Wonder Woman T-Shirt and pink hair.

I’m sorry, but pink hair only makes you look like a poser who think pink hair is rebellious or cool. It just doesn’t.

Needless to say no one listens and they kick her out. She listens at the door anyway.

But I guess this is another flashback. Want to talk about an overused story tool?

Cut to Superboy and Impulse and the wife and child and Carnelian. Impulse wonders why Superboy is being such a pansy and Superboy is only allowed to have the personality required to advance the plot so he is acting completely non-sensible. (Exception being the cartoon, where at least he was consistently unpleasant).

So Superboy trashes Carnelian.

Back to the pit where Young Justice and co. are. Amethyst demands to see Lord Opal and is ignored. Jinny Hex tells… everyone that she inherited a trunk of stuff from Jonah Hex and thinks its dangerous stuff and may not even be from earth.

It looks like the guards opened the trunk and was blasted by something that came out of it. The vagueness of which annoys me rather than intrigues me.

Suddenly Superboy shows up at which point Wonder Girl decides she can free herself now. I guess she was napping.

Oh, and Teen Lantern figures out she can rescue herself now too.

Again we flash back to Castle Amethyst and Amethyst.

Where Amethyst and Topaz (Princess? Mom? Consort?) are talking about how Amy suspects the other houses are either in cahoots with Opal or just cowering from him.

Then there is a multiverse-quake and Amy runs to the … gem? Cave? Castle and asks Robin what he is doing here.

Another action-less, plot-less and truly character-less story…. That really doesn’t deserve the name story. It doesn’t really deserve the name paragraph.

Unless there are 16 parts to this story I can already tell I’m mostly disappointed and certainly not very impressed by what they’ve done with Gemworld

Which is really a shame cause I thought there was a good unused resource there.

Part 5 was another nothing-burger. They all bust out of Dark Opals prison pits. They Dark Opal catches up with then. Then we flash back to Tim Drake and Stephanie Brown kissing because they ran away from home to go to the Justice League HQ because Black Canary said they should talk to “Doc Samps…” but they got Zatanna instead. Doc Sampson? Isn’t that a Marvel character? Red shirt, green hair. Whatev.

Tim thinks their minds have been screwed with somehow so Zatanna checks and suddenly Tim remembers… Young Justice. But another Young Justice than we’ve been reading. But with Arrowette and Mist (is that her name?), Red Tornado, Baby Lobo? The Ray? Speedy/Arsenal and his daughter. These are different?

Zatanna thinks they should call Madam Xanadu. This takes TONS of pages to tell and still tells nothing.

Back to Dark Opal who threatens everyone because he’s got Kryptonite. Which Impulse yanks out of his hands. And then Superboy punches him. And then they give us one page of 3-D, as in put-on-your-3D-glasses, effects because Dark Opals powers are ripping reality apart.

Back to Robin (Tim) and Stephanie. Stephanie has to check on her dad the Terrible Master Criminal. Sportsmaster if I remember correctly. Robin has to go to Metropolis to find out what happened to Conner Kent. They’ll meet back at the Hall of Justice in a couple of days. They kiss. It’s real tender. The end.

So I guess Tim is not gay, but he’s bisexual? Whatev.

Another story with lots of splash pages and about zero story.

Actually I just got home from London and I have half a martini left and am a little amped from an 11-hour flight where I saw like 5 movies in a row.

Well, this last ‘finale’ feels like it could have been the entire series done in one book.

Superboy tells his story that he just accidentally fell into Gemworld somehow, saw some girl being picked on by soldiers of some kind. Helped her out and then married her and helped raise her kid.

Robin explains how he forgot all about Young Justice.

Teen Lantern explains how she got her powers by ‘hacking’ into the green lantern power battery because… oh well, why not.

Jinny Hex explains that she got this trunk from her great-grandpap and it’s got stuff in it.

Amethyst explains that all the gem rulers keep a power source in their castle. So Impulse goes and takes it from Dark Opals castle. And the castle comes to life and fights them all.

They beat the castle and Dark Opal comes and fights them all and loses.

And then they all appear before the court in the Royal Meeting Hall and are all sent back to Earth. But it’s a trick because ‘queen’(?) Turquoise has banned Amethyst to Earth. But their friend Topaz wonders ‘Where is Young Justice? Where is Amethyst?’

The end.

Well, this was a whole lot of pages and art that told us nothing interesting about Gemworld, Young Justice or whatever happened to the Young Justice that Robin realized that he had forgotten. Which smells an awful lot like an unplanned reboot of the universe. Which apparently happens every month that ends in “y”.

Well, this didn’t tell any kind of interesting story whatsoever. It told me nothing about Gemworld, Amethyst or Young Justice.

It kind of assumed I’d care or know automatically and frankly I didn’t. Sure I like Robin and Impulse (from the beginning of his existence and own series I loved Impulse).

But this was just blah. Filler, nothing really happened in this set of issues.

So much so that I doubt I will even try to get the rest of them, despite what the cashier said to me about the rest of the series being really good.

I’m giving this 1 star and forgetting about it, cause it’s easy to forget.