Young-Justice-Episode-7 Television 

Five Thoughts on Young Justice‘s “Denial”

By | June 28th, 2017
Posted in Television | % Comments

We continue our Multiversity Summer Binge with the seventh episode of Young Justice and get a quality Wally-centric episode and a foray into the mystic side of the DCU. This episode really makes me wish DC did more with its magical side. They just have so many good characters, and I feel like not since 90s Vertigo has that been exploited in the best way possible. I’m yearning for some quality magic between this and celebrating 20 years of Harry Potter this week.

Let’s dive in!

1. The richness of the magical DCU

So I hinted at this above, but I love the magical side of the DCU and really always want more of it. Zatanna, Constantine, Swamp Thing, Doctor Fate, Deadman, you name it. When I started reading comics one of the first things I was directed to was Neil Gaiman’s “Sandman” and I’ve never looked back. When I got into The New 52 I loved loved loved “Justice League Dark” (until post “Forever Evil”) and “Swamp Thing” and “Animal Man” from Scott Snyder and Jeff Lemire was amazing. I weep weekly that I wasn’t born earlier in the 90s to relish all the Vertigo greatness.

So to see Doctor Fate and Klarion show up in this episode is my jam. It really makes me mad the current state of the DCU doesn’t reflect the awesomeness that is this part of DC’s world. Marvel has turned Doctor Strange into a big player. Why can’t DC do that to Zatanna finally (although she is showing up in “Detective” right now) or put Constantine back on his pre-New 52 pedestal? Bring back “Justice League Dark” I need it! And this is just the beginning of this show really handling the magical side of the DCU with care. It gets so much better and this is just the tip of the iceberg and I really can’t wait for what’s to come. Dan DiDio take notes.

2. Kent Nelson

The other thing I love about as much as DC’s mystic side is the old “JSA” stuff, which gets directly referenced here through Kent Nelson’s appearance. This is another one of those things that the tears just come because I didn’t get sequential issues of a “Justice Society of America” anything (although I’m waiting for Rebirth to bring it back, co-written by Geoff Johns and Joshua Williamson with art by Emanuela Lupacchino and/or JG Jones). But Kent is just so charming in this episode it’s really hard not to like him. Also, would you believe he’s voiced by Ed Asner?

He comes as a perfect contrast to Wally, who at this point is still anything but charming. He’s got a long way to go. Wally is set in his ways, thinks the world is objective and black and white, and still thinks he needs to fit inside typical, patriarchal, masculine norms (see next entry). Nelson, on the other hand, is, as Red Tornado points out, 106, and has been around the block a few times and seen it all. Even without the added wizardry. He comes across as a genuine mentor and good guy. When he dies at the end of the episode trying to save Wally’s life and the Helmet of Fate it means something and it hurts. This again is also the tip of the iceberg on the JSA end, and it just goes to show you that any Earth in the DC Multiverse is at its best when all or most of the components are uniquely aligned and given equal treatment. The world just feels so much bigger and lived in that way.

3. Wally’s libido is going to get someone killed

Speaking of patriarchal, masculine norms, what the hell is up with Wally? I get it he’s a 15-year-old, but I work with kids and this guy’s libido is off the charts. I think Wally would just about fuck anything (except Artemis, but see last entry). When he tries to flirt with Megan again saying he has a genuine interest in the mystic arts, it’s ridiculous. When they get to the Tower of Fate and he lies upon entry the whole team almost dies, and Megan and Kaldur get close to lava which is a weakness to both of them. It’s reckless and stupid. And the worst part is, it seems like he flirts with Megan because he thinks she’s innocent and ignorant. He doesn’t like Artemis because she challenges him. It’s that sense of not questioning why the world works the way it does and playing into these regular, already defined roles. This is the same objectivity that leads him to not accept magic is real, that gets him into trouble in every part of his life. I get tired of harping on Wally every week, but when he’s the most highlighted character next to Robin (who isn’t even in this episode) after seven installments it’s hard not to.

Continued below

4. Sorcerer Supreme

So Dick Grayson isn’t in this episode but there is still a whelming amount of Easter eggs and fun lines. First up, at the beginning of the episode, Kent Nelson visits a fortune teller in New Orleans, who happens to be named Madame Xanadu, a member of the Justice League Dark in The New 52. Although she is a charlatan in this episode it’s still cool that she appears by name.

When Red Tornado reveals to the team that Kent Nelson is missing and that he is Doctor Fate, Kaldur calls him “earth’s Sorcerer Supreme” the title of another mystical doctor (although not one owned by DC Comics). Wally also makes a fun Dumbledore reference around this time as well. Finally, it’s really interesting that the Tower of Fate is in Salem, Massachusetts, because of course, it would be. Two Lords of Chaos and Order can only fight on the ground where witches were strung up and burned cause that just makes sense right?

5. “Find yourself your own little spitfire.

Finally, as alluded to above, Kent tells Wally to “find his own little spitfire” and trails off as he’s trying to suggest that that person should be Artemis. He spends the whole episode talking about how his deceased wife Inza challenged and corrected him, so it makes sense. Inza Nelson at one point in the comics actually was Dr. Fate and wore the helmet, so yeah she’s definitely (and perhaps literally) a spitfire. It really marks the beginning of some good character development for Wally, and the tease that maybe he and Artemis have more going on than meets the eye. This Wally needs someone to tell him what to do in a way that this version of Barry Allen probably has never had to. Soon, soon.

That’s all for this week folks! Sound off in the comments and check back next week as Kaldur finally gets some love (or not). Also, read some DC mystical stuff, you won’t regret it.


//TAGS | 2017 Summer TV Binge | Young Justice

Kevin Gregory

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