A woman is targeted by a covert group of assassins and it is up to Robin, Kid Flash and Aqualad to the save the day! Can the teenage heroes save her from the combined menace of Hook and Black Spider? Only if they can escape from the deadly duo themselves. These heroes must prove they can work as a team and take on the menace of the League of Shadows before they are ready for the big time.
What writers Art Baltazar and Franco, along with artists Mike Norton and Zac Atkinson, do is capture the tone, voice and excitement of the Young Justice series on Cartoon Network perfectly. This comic book series is like the directors commentary to the animated series. We the happy readers, get to see why the choices made by the team in the series make sense.
In this story, ‘By Hook or By Web”, the three sidekick mainstays find themselves in a sticky situation when trying to save Farano Enterprises CEO Selena Gonzalez’s life from the League of Shadows. Our heroes are not new to being heroes, but they are new to being a team, so the growing pains we saw in the first couple of episodes still exist in the comic book.
Robin is still expecting Kid Flash and Aqualad to do what he thinks they should do. Kid Flash still rushes into a situation head first without thinking about the consequences. While Aqualad just gets frustrated the other two are so headstrong, and I imagine he’s frustrated he can’t control their minds like the creatures of the sea. Still, for all their differences and inexperiences working together they are able to overcome adversity and “save the day”.
The other big thing in this story… not everything they do will be a success and the final outcome of this issue, while tragic, can be chalked up to a learning experience. Even though they won the battle, they lost the war and lost Ms. Gonzalez to the League of Shadows. In the future, they will take the time to see all the angles and problems that need to be solved. They will be better heroes because of this setback.
Young Justice is a good book for kids, it preaches teamwork and problem solving. However, this book is not just for kids, it is a fun and interesting read for comic book and superhero fans of all ages. If you have a young one at home you want to get into reading, plop this book down in front of them. They will be begging to see what happens next and want to accompany you on your next trip to your local comic book shop.
