Welcome back to Boomb Tube! Here, we chronicle and give recaps for the various comic book related animated series on the air. This week: DC Nation makes its long-awaited return! Spoilers ahead!
This week on Green Lantern: The Animated Series, Razer has been kicking back with the Blue Lanterns for a while in order to control his rage and become a chiller person. The Blue Lantern Corps, which pretty much has the same origin in the comics of “Ganthet just thought it’d be real cool to have his own corps because other people are tripping”, are then visited by Hal, Kilowogg, and Aya who are asking for advice on how to fight a Manhunter using a destroyed one as an example. Ganthet doesn’t really give any answers that we don’t already know and instead just points at his groovy new Blue Lantern Battery. Sort of like the douchebag who won’t explain why he hit on your girlfriend and just points at his new lava lamp. Or the guy who helped build an army of genocidal robots and points at his new lava lamp. The battery proceeds to activate and boost everyone’s powers, including the scrapped Manunter. Smooth.
Using their Super Mushroom power-ups, the group easily defeats the Manhunter. While planning on how to interrogate it, Razer mentions how it’s impossible to talk to a bunch of metal and wires. His robot girlfriend is not pleased. The Manhunter wakes up and basically says “No it’s cool, we’re just screams and lasers” but everyone else just saw Terminator 2 so they still think all robots can be good on the inside. While St. Walker lays down some real talk to Razer about whether or not he should love again after his dead wife, even if the new woman is a robot, Aya steals the Manhunter and tries to teach it to be a good guy. Three other Manhunters in space see the Blue Lantern signal and show up to make sure the rest of this episode isn’t just talking about feelings.
While her friends are punching other Manhunters, Aya is told by the scrap that she is the same as the other Manhunters. She looks down, notices her lack of arm cannons, yet surprising inclusion of mid-drift, and says “Yeah, no”. The Manhunters attempt to steal the Blue Lantern battery so tehy can stay super-powered like everyone else, but St. Walker’s pet Thresher Maw eats it because this show is great. Aya almost dies but then doesn’t and Razer goes with the rest of the Interceptor crew despite St. Walker’s protests that he still has gigantic anger issues. I’m sure that won’t come to backfire anytime soon.
Review Score: 8/10 – With the inclusion of the Blue Lantern Corps, Green Lantern is really building up its mythology in a fun way.
Meanwhile on Young Justice, The Reach continue to be the most passive-agressive sons of a beetles the League have ever faced. Apparently, they’ve been kidnapping teens and attempting to activate their latent metagenes in order to weaponize them. We get this information from an African American kid with dreadlocks and a black, yellow, and blue ensemble who says he was treated with “STATIC SHOCKS”. The Reach also killed subtlety apparently.
While trying to arrange new digs at the Hall of Justice, members of The League and Team are trapped and attacked by L-Ron and Despero who are hunting for the most dangerous game: Man! Well, Superman. Oh, Superman’s not there. Captain Marvel then. Good enough. Everyone flails around a lot, until Mal Duncan, who really has no reason for being on The Team, puts on The Guardian’s armor and just acts generally awesome while getting his ass kicked. He’s able to distract Despero long enough for Miss Martian to pull some random mind tricks and Captain Marvel destroys L-Roin by doing that whole Shazam trick which, in turn, destroys The Hall of Justice. Now no one has anywhere left to live. Great.
At the UN, Captain Atom, The Reach’s ambassador, and some senator negotiate about how The Reach have totally been hiding on Earth and kidnapping Metahumans. The Senator belives the sassy alien who just showed up over the heroes who’ve saved the universe dozens of time because either Glorious Godfrey’s broadcasts are actually doing something or politicians are dumb in this world too. Back at the remains of the Hall, the Reach ambassador turns off the force field around the Hall, takes Despero into custody, and just drops the old “Oh hey, lemme just bring up your space base in front of the general and this convenient news camera line so G. Gordon Godfrey can flip out over this and no one will trust you guys ever again” move. It works. At Miss Martian’s new digs, she hangs up on Lagoon Boy and lets Superboy in so that Tumblr can be speculative. Finally, Blue Beetle busts in on the League’s emergency meeting to warn everyone about his possible future and declares that he wants the beetle off.
Review Score: 9/10- Sassy Reach Ambassador is the most effective and spiteful villain the League have ever faced.
