Young Justice, & Supersymmetry

Hey All,

I just watched the pilot of Young Justice, and was impressed by how they handled the source material. What I was impressed with was how they handled what I like to call "Super-symmetry".

Now many times in a story you see symmetrical aspects such as good versus evil, and how they can be the same yet opposite. Sometimes though, this technique is used to the point where all variation is taken away. Examples escape me at the moment, but feel free to chime in if you can think of one.

(I promise to get into more depth on this topic in later posts)

Young Justice handled it beautifully. Here is a show about sidekicks comprising of Robin, Aqualad, KidFlash, Speedy, Miss Martian, and Superboy (at first). Many of these being originally, market based character creations in order to expand their respective franchises.

"People love Robin the Boy Wonder so let's make a Superboy"*

Here are some things I noticed:

1) They eliminated Speedy in the very beginning, probably because he is the exact same as Robin.

a)Robin is Dick Grayson, an orphan who is taken in by billionaire Bruce Wayne (a.k.a Batman) and acts as his sidekick. (ward relationship)

b) Speedy is Roy Harper Jr., an orphan who is taken in by millionaire Oliver Queen (a.k.a. Green Arrow) and acts as his sidekick. (ward relationship)

2) They staggered the introduction of various members. So Robin, Speedy, Aqualad, and KidFlash were introduced at the very beginning. Speedy left, leaving just three. Near the middle, they introduced Superboy, and at the end they introduced Miss Martian. Nice staggering.

3) They made sure each character, which is or was essentially a sidekick, had varying relationships to their respective main hero.

a) Robin is Batman's ward.

b) Aqualad is Aquaman's subject. (political relationship)

c) Kid Flash is Flash's nephew. (familial relationship)

d) Superboy is Superman's clone. (obliged familial relationship, points for drama)

e) Miss Martian is Martian Manhunter's niece. (familial relationship, this is the one repeat of the bunch)**

Anyways, it's a promising start for Young Justice.

*You can read up more on this if you look up the lawsuit between the Siegels and DC Comics.

**She was introduced at the end, so we'll see how she plays out in the series.

Cheers,

Sousaplex