No wonder the "squeaky wheel" speech seemed so convincing. Love the Piven- he's a great ranter.

I think Booster was just being stupid about J'onn's name. Although, the characters do pronounce "J'onn" slightly different than "John"- so maybe that's what he was talking about, pronouncing the apostraphe?

"One of," maybe, but certainly not the lamest. The Whizzer, a Marvel super-speedster, has three strikes against him: his name, his yellow costume, and his origin, which involves an injection of radioactive mongoose blood.

Count me in among those who are pissed off with no Flash. Where the hell is he? We're halfway through the season's episodes and he was only seen (but not heard) in the first episode. Every other original team member (except Hawkgirl, obviously) has been in multiple episodes so far except him. The only possible explanation is a conflict with Michael Rosenbaum's schedule on Smallville. The episode shown this weekend had every remaining original team member and around 2 dozen other superheros, but no Flash. WTF?

Wow, I can't believe that I never made that connection. There are obvious similarities. Of course R & G has the deeper issue of Fate Vs Free will, while most of the 'homages' lack any sort of depth.

Elongated Man's origins. Be warned: the guy writing the essay (and four other EM pieces) is a little twisted. It fit for the 1960s. And I liked the "EM" logo on his costume...I think he only had an "e" in the comics.

She didn't look distressed. It wasn't a "save me, Batman!" thing - she's gotten hit by nukes before. It was just him being over-protective. Notice she didn't even thank him, 'cause it didn't really matter.

I love Booster Gold.

I think Superman's arrogance is rubbing off on GL, though. Being a dick to everyone lower-powered than you is not nice.

Where's Blue Beetle? How can you have BG and not the Beetle???

Superman hasn't struck me as being particularly arrogant this season: that's more of a Batman thing. As for GL, I think it's more of a rank issue. He is a military guy, so he probably doesn't have a problem with being bossy and abrupt around the junior members.



I heard that BB's rights were tied up somewhere. Maybe Beetle was hanging out with the Flash.

Overall, I loved this episode. I liked Elongated Man mocking Plastic Man.

One thing aboout JLU that is really starting to grate my nerves more and more is that they show scenes from the episode during the theme song. It annoys me to see bits of what is about to happen at the beginning of each epsiode. Does anyone else find this extremely annoying?

Oh, and bring on the Flash already!

Hee! Thanks to you guys, I learned how well, corny, Vibe is, so seeing this scene cracked me up. And J'onn's deadpan delivery was fantastic. Booster Gold was way annoying but I agree with the poster who said that he did seem a little, a tad, more humble at the end of the ep. And he got the girl!

Billy West rocked as Skeets. "I got nothing." BWA!! Many of these additional superheroes are new to me but dude in the cowboy outfit, I think it's Vigilante, the hell?? He looked like the guy in the Village People. Mordru was great. I thought he looked like a very angry lawn gnome. :-)

That? Was awesome. How an egg shaped floating orb managed to make me laugh like that, I'll never be able to explain, but I'm sure it has something to do with Billy West's timing and talent.

I see that George Eads didn't do Captain Atom this week, although the voice was so close that I didn't notice until the credits. I also liked the "dofus" (with the slight lisp) crack on BG, skeets' list of things needed for child birth, and skeets "pacing" outside of the ambulance. All very funny.

As far as the big fight being a secondary story this week, it looks like next week we might get a better look at the team fighting as a group. I'm not putting spoiler tags on this, as it's just the Yahoo! TV listing, and doesn't say much of anything.

"The Return", Episode #7. Nearly two-dozen heroes join forces to thwart an android.

You know, I think the whole black hole subplot dealie was kind of...stupid. Obviously the dude could hear and talk to people. All BG had to do was say: "Hey, could you stand still for 1 minute, facing away from me? Thanks." And put the collar on (the collar that conveniently disappears when both hands are needed, I might add). But no.

And when it was finally (finally!) done, and the black hole reverses...all the little stuff comes out (bikes, lamps, Skeets), but the truck, trains, and ambulance (plus people) don't.

Now, I understand it's comic book fiction and all that, but I was really annoyed by this.

What's even more insulting is that Vibe isn't even alive in Comic Book continuity. They killed his lame ass years ago.



Hmm. Sounds like Amazo to me! Cool.

It seems to me(and I mean this in a very apolitical way) the way that Supes and Bats' leadership of the JL works is similar to the "George W./Dick Cheney" dynamic.

Yeah, it was. There was one point where someone actually managed to get out of the way of BlackHoleScientist by just dodging around him from just a couple of feet in front of him. That was definitely a WTF moment for me.

*sigh* Last night I rewatched this ep and afterwards just looked over at my Mordru action figure and muttered "Next time..." [/geek] He does kinda look like a garden gnome, though.

I find this particularly annoying because it was unnecessary. They could have portrayed him as too disoriented to think straight, or not given us any indication of his mental state. But they had to show that he could hear and talk to people.

I also thought it was dumb that Booster Gold took time to deliver a baby while the entire world was at risk. The scene was amusing, though.



I agree that it's really annoying. I don't watch the opening credits anymore.

Another Canadian chiming in with YTV's airing of "Initiation" last Friday night. I see what y'all mean about the new theme music. It's horrrr-iiiid! I dare say it's meant to reflect the new "lighter" half-hour story format, but, yeah, it sucks. I quite liked Green Arrow, though, as well as the giant nuclear monster they fought. Was he from established DC continuity? I don't remember ever seeing him before.

From the sounds of things, the new eps are wildly up-and-down in terms of quality, but I kinda like the idea of one of the original 7 (well, 6, without Hawkgirl) characters leading a buncha newbies in missions around the world every episode. I assume the JL decided to beef up their ranks after the events of "Starcrossed", but it would be nice to see this acknowledged, or to have some reason given for the sudden membership drive. Unfortunately, the new format doesn't seem capable of anything more than fairly shallow stories, so I don't expect to see any reprecussions explored, though the conspiracy from the Supergirl ep sounds like an attempt at something...

It bore more than a passing resemblance to Brimstone, who first appeared back in 1987 (?) in the Legends miniseries. He had a different origin too, being a construct of Apokalips, not the Chinese.

You've got to throw MM into the dynamic: he seems to be doing most of the actual work. Maybe he qualifies as the chief of staff, if we go by the West Wing dynamic. Does this make GL the Toby of the group? He's got the facial hair, the baldness, the sometimes jack-ass attitude, and the red-haired (ex?)girlfriend.



I think they will be revisiting the conspiracy in a later episode, and the season finale should have reprecussions if the writers don't whip out the memory-erase button.

And who doesn’t love Billy West? Like Jeffery Combs, who played the Question, these are guys that you just have to love.

Skeets was indeed the cutest thing too.

Loved Booster Gold here. Sure he’s an opportunist and full of himself, but he was great here. I liked that he was sort of afraid of Bats: or at least he knew his place around Bats. And the whole conversation with Elongated Man was a very funny. “Maybe they needed a vase”.

I’m also missing Flash here. Of the original JLA cast, I happen to like him the best, not that I mind Green Lantern everywhere, but still. I rather see Wally than Stewart, who seems to be becoming more pompous with every episode.

And what’s up with Captain Atom’s voice? After CSI fired George Eads did JLU do to? Poor guy. Too bad too coz I much preferred Eads’s CA to this new voice actor, who didn’t get that southern accent to come off well (sounded fake this time around).

I think Eads just wasn't brought in for such a small part, he was probably busy what with the firing and issues over at CSI around VO time.



oooh, buuurrrrrnnnn! I love it.

Another wordless Black Canary cameo? When she finally does say something, it'd better be kick ass!

Wonder if TPTB would be brave enough to do an all female episode...Wonder Woman, Black Canary, Huntress, Supergirl, Zatanna, Vixen...that would rock.

As long as we don't see a remake of that JL story where J'onn transformed himself into a Martian female to accompany an all-female team on a mission. I don not need to see that. (Who wrote that, anyway? Gerard Jones?)

You'll have to wait until season 4, but you'll get to see her team up with Green Arrow, Huntress, and the Question if the info I've heard is accurate



I'm not sure, they already did something like this back in season 1. There were some good Hawkgirl jokes in that one, although the rest of the heroines and villainesses seemed ridiculously unconcerned about the future of the human race.

Fweeheehee, that was exactly the story I thought of when an all-female episode was mentioned. Of course with the way that one ends I doubt they'd let it within 20 channels of JLU, much to my trainwreck-loving disappointment. Special Adult Swim episodes anyone?

So, what is Booster Gold's story exactly? I know he's from the future, he can fly, and he's (somewhat?) indestructable. Is he human? How did he get his powers, from drinking soda?

It's always good to hear Billy West.

Vibe looks like something out of a very bad 80's glam video. Besides that (I mean, that's enough) why is he so lame?

The horrid 80's hair band power chords aren't bothering me so much. Have I gotten used to them already? That's scary!



WORD! That totally suspended my disbelief when the doc responded so coherently towards the end of the ep. Before that, he seemed to be walking around like a mindless monster. A bit of a plot big enough to drive a mack truck through, that. He should have been able to think straight all of the time, which should have included him screaming "Get out of the way!" to the unsuspecting. Or he should have been completely mindless all of the way through. The ending was a bit too convenient.

P. S. Free Wally! And if can't have any Flash, I gotta get me some more Question.

Uh oh! Fell in love again, now I don't wanna tell my friends (Tell all my frie-ends!)

fresh maker: Here's a brief Boosterography. Hope it helps.

His powers come the power suit he wears. It absorbs ambient and kinetic energy and converts it into power. It surrounds him in a thin force field that gives him super-strength and super-durability. He can also fire off energy blasts too, but that will deplete the suit's power if he overuses that. He can fly thanks to the Legion flight ring he stole from the museum when he broke in to use the time machine they had on display.

Because he's a breakdancing superhero. Really, what more reason do we need?

One thing about Booster Gold I don't understand -- whether because I never knew or because I just forgot, I don't know -- is how in the hell he has a Legion flight ring and Brainiac 5's force field belt (i.e. 30th century equipment) if he's from the 25th century? Did the Legion time travel to c25 Metropolis and leave it behind? That seems pretty stupid of them.

The museum had artifacts from many time periods. Time travel in the DC universe was/is very common. It's possible that some stuff got lost and was never recovered.

That's one of the minor gripes I have about DC. I think in the past the DC writers used Time travel too much. Especially in the Pre-Crisis years where they had heroes zipping around time all the time, apparently not even worried about possible consequences.

Thanks Zerowing and Lantern7.



::Convulses on the floor in laughter:: Seriously? Wait...wait...I'm okay now.

What ARE Vibe's powers? Besides breakdancing and wearing an ugly outfit, I mean. And is he supposed to be "ethnic"?

He's Latino. Or should I say a Stereotype-Latino.

He had the power to control sonic-vibration waves. (hence the name) He could project waves of force to block objects, or concentrated sonic blasts powerful enough to smash through steel and concrete.

Oh, and he could breakdance like a son-of-a-gun.

I prefer to think of him in the past-tense since he was killed in the comics continuity. Why they have him on the TV series I have no earthly idea. But then I don't know why they have B'Wanna Beast on there either. They're both seriously lame.

Among Skeets' many good line I liked "My Gosh, it was full of stars!". Gotta love the 2001 reference.

Thanks, BBG; I remembered there was a film reference in the Booster Gold ep, but couldn't recall what movie was referenced.

Just a half hour before, there was a Graduate shoutout in the Teen Titans episode.

YTV aired "For The Man Who Has Everything" last night, and it was...ok. Those of you who've read the original Moore story know it was a fuck of a lot darker than the JLU adaptation, but I kinda liked the idea of Superman's dream world incorporating aspects of his life on earth (the farm; his reporter wife who's a Lois/Lana combo, complete with Dana Delaney's voice!), which wasn't the case in the original story. But it makes sense: what other frame of reference would Supes have?

But this one would have benefitted from the previous 2-parter format, I think. Superman's gradual realization that it was all a fake didn't seem natural at all; it was too abrupt. Also, I really liked the nightmarish elements of the Alan Moore original, and missed them here. The son was plenty creepy, but I'm not sure he was supposed to be.

I quite liked the streamlined design on WW's invisible jet. Very pretty. And Mongul was a much more successful baddie this time around, so "Yay!" for that. The music still sucked, though.

So, Wonder Woman fans.

She has a pre- and post-Crisis storyline identies.

But for some stupid reason, the writers of the comics thought we wouldn't understand that it was the same WW, as if we didn't get what they were trying to do with Crisis so ...

In the post-Crisis continuity, the "revealed" that Diana's mother, Hippolyta, was the woman who was WW in the 40s, right?

How in God's name is that possible?

Two words: time travel. It's a John Byrne thing. Hippolyta went back in time and stayed with the JSA for several years.

And now she's dead. Because that's just how it goes for female characters.

But why? Why the need to ret-con was was done and assumed in the 40s-60s?

I mean, did they just think it was interesting storytelling or what? Because I could kinda see that. It's neat and kitchy.

But did they feel the need to do it? By making her mother the WW of yore, did they think that that would make us understand or accept the same WW now, when in reality, she should be in her 80s or something?

I just don't see the rationale behind doing it.

anyone else think it's weird that superman is wearing a mask in space in "the return"? I know that it makes sense, but he never wore one in any other JL episode, if I remember correctly.

Well, that was a nice way to end the half-season. I have to admit, I didn't see the little bit at the end coming, although now we know where HG has been hanging out

Plus, if you check out the scenes from the end credits, you'll see that Bizarro, Giganta, and Aquaman will be around in later episodes.

Oh, and there's no way Bruce Wayne alone is paying for all of the League's stuff. That armada was pretty impressive.

One minor nitpick: too bad they couldn't get Michael Dorn back.

Dorn was Steel back in STAS. Pretty insignificant, all things considered.

That was the best ep of the season. OMFG. I mean just wow. Every ep needs to be this good. I wish Flash would have had some dialogue though. I was so happy it was Luthor who saved the day. I love Lex. He's always so damn interesting. It was such a great ep. This is why the JL is needed. Amanzo was a global threat and so it makes sense the league got on top of it. I love RP voice. He was just so good. And CB is Lex Luthor as far as cartoon voice goes. I loved the end. I did not see that coming at all. Was Dr. Fate voiced by the guy from the Mummy? Just wow.

In the name of all that is holy they need to stop with the scenes during the opening credits.

ETA: Was Dorn the original voice for Fate?

He did. Flash said "AAAAHHHH!" right before he was knocked out.

I stand corrected.

This was one of the bad assest(?) episodes of the season. Two ways I can tell is that I saw a lot of familar heroes and two, there were a bunch I had no idea who they were, plus the Green Lantern Corps. You can't go wrong with those guys.

What the hell was Lex talking about when he said they sent the weakest superhero to protect him? Okay, next time there's an indestructable android coming for you, B'wanna Beast and Vibe will protect you. Vibe can distract the android with his breakdancing skills and B'wanna Beast will, well, watch.

Questions I must ask:

Why was Superman wearing a suit? Battle Ready Superman?
Who was the Green Flame Lady?
Who was the missile and gatlin guy on shoulder guy?
Red Tornado is an android?


Did anybody else think that when the Atom put his hand on Lex's shoulder that he was going to move it up to his cheek? Just me? Okay.

Because when DC rebooted the universe after Crisis, they wanted to set-up Superman as the first "contemporary" superhero in the new timeline. (The Justice Society being the "Old Guard") But if Wonder Woman was kept as in her original origin, then she would technically have seniority over Superman. DC always wants Superman to be at the forefront.



He wore a spacesuit several times in his own series. Like I mentioned before, the cartoon Superman is not nearly as tough or as powerful as the comic version who can zip around in the vacuum of space with no suit at all.

Hey! I called it! I said on the last page that it sounded like Amazo was coming! And man, he's a BEAST! He (It?) could have easily killed the whole League if he wanted to.

I enjoyed the Atom's and Steel's appearances greatly! Dr. Fate was his usual cranky self. And what the hell??? Hawkgirl!!!

Oh, Lex. You're not fooling anyone dude. We all know you're still rotten to the core. :P

All and all, this was a wonderful episode! Two thumbs way up!

Warden: You got questions? I got answers.

1. In post-Crisis cotinuity, Superman can't breathe in space. He can inhale and hold the breath a long time, but not forever. A space suit was a standard piece of equipment during his season, along with a suit for underwater adventures, and a suit made of lead.

2. Green Flame Lady = Fire, formerly known as Green Flame. Last seen in "Formerly Known As the Justice League."

3. Missle and Gatling Gun Guy = Rocket Red, old school Soviet war suits.

4. Red Tornado is an android...and man, did it break my heart to see him get sliced. I'm thinking he was going, "Bitch, I survived Young Justice! I can take you!" Poor bastard.

I'm a lot less amped about this ep than most of you guys. Yes, it was nice to see Kyle Rayner again...and in the togs Jim Lee designed for him during the Judd Winick era. But up until Luthor started yapping, it was mostly a mediocre episode with a few cute bites, like Lex's secret base being under a barber shop. The last five minutes? Golden as Amazo himself (itself?) And Hawkgirl? Honey, we'd trade half the JLU crew for you.

Guardians are assholes. I'm glad Amazo moved the planet.

One comic quibble...in the Superman animated comic book, Supergirl came from Argo...the planet Argo, not Argo City. Kryptonite isn't supposed to mess her up. Anybody else bugged by this?

ETA: It's covered in Superman Adventures #21, written by Evan Dorkin and Sarah Dyer, who introduced Kara into the toon continuity. But I think the Kryptonite thing was ignored, starting when she got hit by a K-ray in the final episodes.

And while I'm thinking of it...

Inza: Honey! I don't want any more bric-a-brac!

Fate: But he's gold! He goes with everything in the Tower!

Lantern7 Thanks.

So are the Argosians(sp) as powerful as the Kryptonians? I don't read the comics.

*Hangs head in same.*

Many thanks for the answers, Lantern! Bummer about Supes.


In the episode with the Question, didn't that retired general threaten her with a K ray of sorts and plus those secret agent men were shooting K rays at her? This would be two episodes where they have done the kryptonite thing.

I could of sworn that towards the end of the Superman series they stated that Kryptonite was harmful to Supergirl, but because she wasn't from Krypton but a neighboring moon, planet, whatever- it takes a lot more of it to be deadly to her than it would take for Superman. That's why she survived what happened in the Superman: TAS finale (I think a kryptonite missile was launched directly at her) and ended up in a coma rather than dying.

I think.