Young Justice, Book Six

Young Justice (1998)

by Peter David, Jon Lewis, Dan DiDio

What would the world be like if Young Justice never existed? Can the team make the leap from crime-fighters to reality stars? And will the positivity of youth prevail over the tyrannical threat of Darkseid? Discover the outcome of these adventures and more in the final volume of this series by writer Peter David and artist Todd Nauck, also collecting Impulse #85, Robin #101, and Superboy #99.

Genres: Comics, Superheroes, Dc Comics, Graphic Novels, Fiction, Fantasy, Action

381 pages, Kindle Edition

First published November 15, 2022

About the author

aka David Peters

Peter Allen David, often abbreviated PAD, was an American writer of comic books, novels, television, films, and video games. His notable comic book work includes an award-winning 12-year run on The Incredible Hulk, as well as runs on Aquaman, Young Justice, SpyBoy, Supergirl, Fallen Angel, Spider-Man, Spider-Man 2099, Captain Marvel, and X-Factor.
His Star Trek work included comic books and novels such as the New Frontier book series. His other novels included film adaptations, media tie-ins, and original works, such as the Apropos of Nothing and Knight Life series. His television work includes series such as Babylon 5, Young Justice, Ben 10: Alien Force and Nickelodeon's Space Cases, which he co-created with Bill Mumy.
David often jokingly described his occupation as "Writer of Stuff", and he was noted for his prolific writing, characterized by its mingling of real-world issues with humor and references to popular culture, as well as elements of metafiction and self-reference.
David earned multiple awards for his work, including a 1992 Eisner Award, a 1993 Wizard Fan Award, a 1996 Haxtur Award, a 2007 Julie Award and a 2011 GLAAD Media Award.

Reviews

[bee k · Rating 5 out of 5]

young justice 98 really finishes on a somber note compared to the rest of the series, which, I suppose, is as good an ending as any. nonetheless I loved this series dearly and all the characters and relationships within it.

[Chris Lemmerman · Rating 3 out of 5]

The final volume of this series collects the remaining 15 or so issues, bringing Young Justice's adventures to a close.

We open with World Without A Justice League, which is a five part crossover in which two of the five have little to no bearing on anything. The 'alternate' Young Justice introduced here are awful, which I suppose is the point, but the constant fat jokes thrown at Cassie and the fact that they just let Empress join despite her literally admitting she killed Jason Todd is utterly bizarre. Oh, and the ultimate conclusion is resolved in an issue of Impulse that's, you guessed it, not collected here.

Then we're back for more bickering, as the team once again rope Cissie into their problems by demanding she help pick a team leader. I continue to question the point of having Cissie quit the team if she's going to be in literally every adventure afterwards anyway. There's only so many reasons youc can come up with keep bringing her back before it just becomes contrived.

Luckily, the next selection of issues are much stronger and remind me of the earlier parts of the series as the team rallies around Empress to save her father, and when that doesn't go to plan, invade Zandia for revenge. Despite the massive cast (including characters even I don't know), it still feels more cohesive and outright fun than the last few stories have.

The final few issues bring Secret into the spotlight again as she tries to save her father from Death Row, only to attract the attention of Darkseid in the process. Whoopsie. It's nice for things to come full circle, but this feels kind of rushed as an ending. There's a whole subplot with Harm that just gets literally thrown into a firepit, and then everything hurries to a final page that doesn't really feel like a goodbye at all.

The artwork is all by Todd Nauck (aside from the issues of Superboy, Impulse, and Robin), even the entirety of issue 50 which is extra-sized. Man's a machine, honestly.

Maybe I've just soured on this whole series, but I really do think that as a whole it doesn't hold up to the nostalgia factor. The characters spend so long fighting it's hard to believe that they're friends, and I found myself agreeing with Slo-bo more than once in that I just didn't care what was going on. The latter half of this volume is a return to form, but it's definitely too little too late.

[Jadyn❀ · Rating 4 out of 5]

I honestly didn’t expect a series like this to pack such an emotional punch. The team suffers a lot in this volume, but they also learn so much. Every member of the team gets to feel impactful, including Slo-bo, and Cissie, who isn’t even on the team anymore. You would have felt the weight of their absence if any one of them was missing (and you do, while some of them have quit). Even Mrs. King-Jones has grown tremendously throughout the series. There’s also a change in leadership that in my opinion is very well-earned, and Tim is finally up-front about his identity to the team. I am impressed by the way the entire team matured emotionally over time.
I was going to give it a 4.5 but I forgot about just how much of this volume was the “World Without Young Justice” arc, and I really wasn’t a fan of how that story chose to depict some of the characters (particularly Cassie and Anita, the former of which is one continuous fatphobic joke, and the latter of which feels like a stereotype and is never wearing any clothes).

[James DeSantis · Rating 3 out of 5]

The end for Young Justice is here.

Basically it covers to big storylines. One where the Young Justice recruit a bunch of people to help take down a big bad. It's actually a pretty fun storyline with a solid ending. Then there's the last few issues which include Secret going batshit insane, feels forced and rushed, with a death that didn't seem to really matter.

Young Justice has always been a mixed bag, but I'm glad I finished the entire series and while it has the ups and downs it's still enjoyable. A 3 out of 5.

[David Moralishvili · Rating 5 out of 5]

Honestly, I think this run ended pretty well. I do feel like there were some aspects towards the end of the run that had to be slightly rushed, but overall, I feel like everyone on the team got a moment to shine in this volume.
I was especially glad that Secret was at least able to get a resolution. There are parts that I did wish we could have spent more time on, but it's very clear that the Peter David did his best to make sure that the ending for this run at least felt conclusive and satisfying.

[Clara Rush · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good wrap-up to this whole story. Glad Empress and Secret got to have their own storylines. And Slo-Bo is probably still my favorite, what a weird little guy.

[Highland G · Rating 3 out of 5]

Loved this series. Sure it has its flaws but its just pure fun distilled into comic form. You even get a few morals thrown in for good measure.
The animated show has got nothing on this!

[Nico · Rating 4 out of 5]

the first half or so of this book is a pretty mixed bag of different writers being forced to tie-in to a pretty weak young justice story "world without young justice", with the robin issue being the worst one because it just randomly decides to become a tie-in halfway through and the other half of that robin issue is just robin at some improv house watching teenagers do bad acts, it felt so pointless. the first half of that issue probably could have just been removed from this volume entirely. the other tie-ins are at least more focused and offer decent ideas and execution. but then it just ends on a cliffhanger for a couple issues of impulse that i feel like should have been included, even if young justice are barely in the issues. it's just overall a lowpoint for this run. i dont hate the story (well maybe the robin issue) and its far from being the worst young justice story in general (that dishonor goes to the recent dark crisis tie-in) but it's the weakest story in this entire run of young justice. once the event is over though, the book vastly improves with typical young justice shenanigans. it's pretty much on a dime, it almost gives you whiplash with you go from cliffhanger to a splash page of the team holding a leader election. from this point onward, the book is back to its great young justice quality of good humor, good art, good writing, and the occasional actual story with drama (which is also good)
but then you can really tell just when the book got cancelled. the last 2 or 3 issues just kinda have everything on fast forward, things just happen, there are good ideas in there too, but its just kinda brought up too late. other plot points just get dropped or handwaved. things that were built up go nowhere. and then in the last couple pages, the book just goes "oh im out of time, uhhhh here the current story is resolved"
and its a shame because besides the pacing, i was enjoying what the last arc was at least trying to do.
despite all its flaws, this is still peter davids young justice at its core. the series is...really only good whenever he or dezago are on it. and i still love this run

[Adrien]

i can’t believe i finished the og young justice! i’ve been on this post-crisis journey for a few years now and while it’s certainly hit some snags (aka me strongly preferring prose over comics at times), it just gives me all the more reason to celebrate when i do hit these milestones. i really respect the whole endeavor of this series not only for doing what was essentially a seven year run with the same creative team (you’re lucky if you get seven months now on anything less than batman imo) but also for creating stories with such depth, heart, and complexity. i think they captured the experience of being young so well and told main-line level stories that sometimes didn’t have the resolution that the reader wanted. they weren’t condescending at all. they were whimsical and smart and just really, really good. rest in peace to the late, great Peter David! thank you so much for your work.

[Chad · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is alright. It finishes off the original Young Justice series by Peter David and Todd Nuack. There's some longer stories that I'm use to for the series. First, with the crossover, World without a Young Justice, featuring the return of a character from a few years before. Young Justice is never formed and everyone's lives are different. Your standard stuff for this kind of story. Then Empress takes center stage as every young character at DC joins Young Justice to go after the man who killed Empress's parents. We change leaders during this. The final story is about Secret going off the deep end. This series is fine, although one of Peter David's lesser books. I think Geoff Johns run on Teen Titans with a lot of these same characters is better though.

[adi · Rating 4 out of 5]

Rip Cassie Sandsmark. You would’ve loved Reneé Rapp.

Rip Cissie King-Jones. You would’ve loved Ladybird and every other media of broken mother-daughter relationships.

Rip Kon-El. You would’ve loved Buddie and absolutely hated BuckTommy.

Rip Tim Drake. You would’ve been ecstatic to know you came out and we’re dating a boy before being upset to know it wasn’t Kon.

Rip Bart Allen. You would’ve loved an AuDHD diagnosis.

Rip Greta Hayes. You would’ve loved getting to grow up as a normal girl if the dc writers ever actually let you.

Rip Anita Fite. You would’ve loved True Blood.

Rip Slobo.

Anyways, DC writers, never do to Cassie what you did to her at the beginning of this book ever again.

[Alex · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm gonna miss these kids...

Besides the retread of the magic based alt reality crossover at the start of the volume, the rest of these last adventures are very fun. Betrayals, climaxs, reincarnation, love, loss, and saving the day. The team votes for a new leader, one hero loses their father, a cavalcade of young heroes battle evil, and Secret gets her big callback.

The only real gripe I have against this final volume besides the lackluster crossover, was the book clearly felt like it was rushing a bit towards the end (it was probably cancelled, we don't see 50+ issue stories anymore). Barring that tidbit, I really enjoyed the wrap up, and had a great time seeing these kids have their adventures.

[Lisandra · Rating 3 out of 5]

Time travel sucks again (ou mostre q não sabe nada de mitologia grega): 2,5
Eleições mas pq? pq sim, claro: 2,9
Justice for Anita (corrigiram depois foi só p ela ter vingan��a, mas msm assim foi pesado, não perdoo/passo o pano): 3,9
Preparação pra luta: 3
Vingança: 3,3
Bonança antes da tempestade: 3,8
eu sei o q ta fazendo mas não gosto e não acho q valeu a pena: 2
Dark side sorta?: 3,9
media: 3,17 estrelas

[Miguel Aguila · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5

[Michael · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not a very memorable conclusion for Young Justice.

[Heather Robinson (GFB) · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's over 😭

This series was so much fun ❤️ Tim in this volume was hilarious 💀

[Kaylea 🦎 · Rating 5 out of 5]

Greta Hayes you will ALWAYS be famous to me

[alessia · Rating 3 out of 5]

gonna miss these little goobers

[Brendan Mckillip · Rating 4 out of 5]

Peter David’s “Young Justice” was always its strongest when it was free from crossovers and DC events. So, once you get past the unnecessary World Without a Justice League crossover, the series closes out with some great stories that tie up character arcs, entertains, and leave everyone in a good place.

While there are jokes that haven’t aged well and cultural references that don’t translate, “Young Justice” stands as an excellent example of how much fun superheroes comics can be.

[a ☕︎ · Rating 3 out of 5]

goodbye to yj98 🥲 a very sweet wacky cutieful series that is yet to be matched by any of its successors imo. what other teenage team-up book manages to capture the triumphs and defeats, the epic highs and lows of high school superheroism? 🌺🍹🌴