Early Review: Young Justice Episode 1: Independence Day

Young Justice debuts on Cartoon Network as a special one-hour movie event on Friday, November 26, 2010 at 7:00 p.m. ET/PT. The series will continue in early 2011 with half-hour weekly episodes. The voice cast includes Danica McKellar as Miss Martian, Jesse McCartney as Robin, Nolan North as Superboy, Superman and Zatara, Alan Tudyk as Green Arrow, Kevin Michael Richardson as Martian Manhunter, Bruce Greenwood as Batman and many many more.

Young Justice deals with the idea of teenagers trying to prove themselves to their peers, parents, teachers, mentors and even themselves. This becomes a harder task when you're a teenage superhero. The members of Young Justice - Robin, Aqualad, Superboy, Kid Flash, Miss Martian and Artemis - all will have to deal with these issues along with the added danger of a superhero life.
 == TEASER ==
The first episode, Independence Day, opens with an attack by Mr. Freeze. When was the last time we saw him? His new look may be different from the Batman: The Animated Series style but he does appear more deadly here.

It's interesting to see how the younger heroes are being allowed to step up but are still being sheltered/doubted by their mentors. This really sets up the "us versus them" attitude that kids often get when they can't or don't want to understand the rules. When Robin, Kid Flash and Aqualad make take their inevitable stand against orders, we get to see the different personalities of each and how they work together. Since we haven't seen too much of Aqualad in the comics yet, it's cool to see him as the level-headed member of the team. It makes sense that he would be the team leader, as announced at SDCC. 

Besides the kids, there are also appearances by Batman, Green Arrow and Roy Harper taking on Icicle, Aquaman and Aqualad versus Killer Frost, Flash and Kid Flash versus Captain Cold, Red Tornado, Martian Manhunter, Superman and Zatarra all in the first ten minutes. There are more appearances by other DC characters but let's leave some as a surprise. There's so many others that do appear. 
 
The episode establishes the series nicely. We  get to see the Justice League discover that these young heroes are more capable than they thought. Again, as announced at SDCC, Young Justice will be the Justice League's secret weapon. They will be handling some of their black ops mission. It does seem a little bit of a stretch considering at the beginning, Batman, Superman and Aquaman wanted the "kids" to stay put in the Hall of Justice as they went out on a dangerous mission. 
 

What makes this series really exciting is the acknowledgement of the larger DC Universe. For example, I really dug the Teen Titans cartoon but you rarely, if ever, saw guest appearances by other DC characters. In the past, there may have been legal issues that put a constraint on other characters appearing. Whatever happened to change that and open this door is the best thing that could have happened. 
 
Is the show worth watching? Heck yeah. We may see "kid" superheroes here out on missions but there is plenty of action and danger to keep the show moving. The only bad thing is after the November 26 premiere, we'll have to wait until early 2011 for more. But as they say, "good things come to those who wait..." You won't want to miss this.