No one is safe from DC Comics upcoming Dark Crisis event as the legacy team Young Justice must face the death of their mentors and family in Death of the Justice League and deal with some of their own missing in action in the pages of Dark Crisis: Young Justice. In an exclusive interview with SYFY Wire writer Meghan Fitzmartin (Batman: Urban Legends) reveals that the 6-issue mini-series will revolve around Young Justice’s reaction to the entire Dark Crisis event that quickly devolves into “full blown chaos.”
The Young Justice team was originally formed by Tim Drake (Robin), Conner Kent (Superboy), and Bart Allen (Impulse), with Cassie Sandmark (Wonder Girl) quickly joining their ranks as well. Since then the team has been on countless adventures together and endured immense trauma, grief, and love, with DC showing that no matter what happens to the universe, these young heroes always end up back together. The upcoming Dark Crisis event spins directly out of the Death of the Justice League which sees the major Justice League players seemingly killed, including Superman, Batman, the Flash, and Wonder Woman, the mentors and family of Young Justice’s core team.
Dark Crisis: Young Justice—written by Meghan Fitzmartin with gorgeous art by Laura Braga—will begin at the emotional funeral for Superman according to SYFY Wire, with Superboy, Impulse, and Tim Drake apparently going missing, prompting Wonder Girl to begin a search for them. Apparently Cassie has her work cut out for her because the three young men are lost “on the world of their dreams, one they may never want to leave,” and many of the other heroes are dealing with the major Pariah/Great Darkness emergency as part of the main Dark Crisis event. While not revealing major spoilers, Fitzmartin reveals that the “dream world” Tim, Conner, and Bart find themselves in is very much a response to fan reactions regarding the beloved characters, stating:
“Most of [the reactions] were positive, but there were some negative ones, and [I was] thinking ‘Oh, well, what is it that incites those negative emotions? Not just for this, I’ve worked on various other projects that have strong fandom reactions. [It’s] sort of existing in that space of ‘Where does that come from? Why are we positive on some stuff, but negative on other stuff? What is the negativity coming from?’ And really exploring that aspect of the three boys in particular, and holding a magnifying glass to it, because that’s what I think story does so well.“
“They have had a really interesting and complicated history and it’s so rich,” she said. “It’s so ripe for storytelling. There’s so much to really dig into and sink our teeth into with all of the drama that’s gone on with them in the past. All of the trauma. Half of them died and are now back. My goodness, what an interesting time. So our goal has been to really bring that up, and make it messy, make it dirty, really dig into these friendships and these relationships and play in this world.”
Fitzmartin went on to discuss just how drama and trauma filled the lives of the Young Justice members have been, highlighting how the 2019 Young Justice series, which saw the introduction of Teen Lantern, Spoiler, and Jinny Hex to the team, also brought Conner Kent and Bart Allen back to life. The beautiful preview images, shared above clearly center the tension and sadness the group is feeling as a collective, showing Conner’s original death, the brief romance that Tim Drake and Cassie Sandmark shared, and the relationship between Tim and Stephanie Brown that ended off panel. With Tim Drake’s recent coming out as bisexual in Batman: Urban Legends #6 (also by Fitzmartin), she has revealed that much of the story will focus on Tim and that, “This is a continuation of his story, and this is a continuation of the journey that this character is on.“
With the recent announcement that DC Comics will be releasing a DC Pride: Tim Drake Special that collects his coming out story and a new adventure with him, Young Justice, and the Batgirls, hopefully readers will get to see Young Justice in at least one more uplifting story before the tragic death of the Justice League. Dark Crisis: Young Justice sounds like it is going to re-establish the importance of this legacy team to the DC Universe at a critical time for Prime Earth, showing just how powerful their connection is with each other and their mission. Make sure to pick up Death of the Justice League and Dark Crisis #0 when they premiere before checking out the 6-issue mini-series Dark Crisis: Young Justice by DC Comics when it debuts on June 21st.
