Young Justice is back. Too bad they’re all trapped in another dimension. A dimension known as Gemworld. Home to the twelve kingdoms, Gemworld invaded Metropolis to confront Superman, but was met with some very young resistance. Robin (Tim Drake), Wonder Girl and Impulse were joined by newcomers Jinny Hex and Teen Lantern to repels the invasion, but in doing so, they were all pulled through the invader’s portal. Now, trapped on an unknown planet, what can the young heroes do to make it back home?
(Spoilers Incoming)
As a dark figure watches over the barren waste of Gemworld, three people discuss that for things to go smoothly for them, Princess Amethyst must die. Right on cue, Amethyst and Robin attack and quickly defeat the unknown people. Elsewhere, in the Forest of Topaz (I can’t believe I just typed that), Jinny finds herself with the unconscious Teen Lantern, still encased in her robot construct. As she pulls out her shotgun to attempt breaking the green construct open, she is stopped by Wonder Girl.
We then get a flashback to weeks before the Gemworld invasion. Cassie is single-handedly in the middle of defeating Despero when they land in the middle of a high school football field. After defeating the alien warlord, Wonder Girl receives applause from all around and is greeted by a police officer. As the two of them discuss who she is and what happened, she notices an older man watching in the crowd. This causes her to fly away and out of eye sight. In the air, she meets this man, who reveals himself to be her grandfather, Zeus. Despite this being the first time Zeus has visited her on Earth, Cassie is quick to question why he would come to see her. When he tells her that he wants to start anew with their relationship, Cassie reminds him that they don’t have a relationship. Zeus replies, “You are, Cassie Sandsmark, the future of the pantheon of the gods.” He then offers her an amulet that he claims is her birthright and will allow her to take her place with the other gods. Her response to this is one word: “Why?” She tells him that this whole ordeal makes his arrival seem suspicious and wants to know what she did to earn this power. She then gives it back to Zeus and says, “You know, I’ve got it in my head that I need to earn my own way from now on…I’m done letting guys like you tell me what I’m supposed to be. I’m going to find out what I am when no one is telling me what I am.” Zeus, frustrated at his granddaughter, leaves.
Back in the present, Wonder Girl picks up Jinny’s truck and flies them away from the forest to find the rest of the team, followed by the now conscious Teen Lantern. While in the air, they end up running into a flying horse. This flying horse belongs to Amethyst. Now that she and Robin are with the rest of the group, they just need to find Impulse, but they have an obstacle in their path. When Amethyst tells everyone that they are in her kingdom, she is interrupted by the same dark figure from the beginning of the issue. “This is why almost everybody I know wants to kill you as much as I do, Amethyst. I am Lord Opal of Gemworld. Which means…You all belong to me.”
While not as exciting as the first issue, there was nothing wrong with this one. For an issue that dedicated the majority of its pages to a Wonder Girl flashback, it is still very well done. While we do have some of the backstory behind what Cassie has been doing, we don’t have the full story. How did she go from single-handedly defeating an enemy that has challenged the Justice League to not wanting anything to do with the hero life in the first issue? Hopefully we’ll get those blanks filled in later. I would be a little more disappointed that Conner and Bart were nowhere to be seen, if not for the tease at the end that the next issue would be centered around Superboy. Seeing Conner reunite with Tim, Cassie and Bart is going to be such an amazing moment, and I have complete faith that Bendis will knock it out of the park. Now if only we didn’t have to wait to get the next issue.