
It's Young Justice Saturday!
Hey there again, everyone, Shrine Correspondent Andy Luckett here again with a review of Young Justice issue 12. Last issue, Batman and Robin foiled another plot of R'as Al Ghul's which ended in Ra's' apparent death. After Talia and Ubu scooped up the body and returned it to a Lazarus Pit, Ra's returned to life. However, soon after Ra's left, Clayface emerge from the Pit, calling Talia's name. Huh?
We pick up this issue not with Clayface and a perplexed Talia, but instead we see:


R'as demands to know of Talia how Clayface came to be, and we flash back yet again to months earlier. Turns out, since Batman has repeatedly spurned her advances, Talia has fallen for Hagen, a soldier in the League of Shadows. Her father does not approve, saying that Hagen is beneath her and that Batman must be her intended. Yet Talia has found happiness with Hagen, and her father relents. They meet at a nearby waterfall, where:

She takes him to the Pit, where she tells him he must submerge. Predictably, as he does, she shuts the lid and locks him in. Should've seen that one coming, Matt! So, by being locked in the energized fluids of the Lazarus Pit for months, Matt becomes Clayface, and another grotesque Batman villain is born! As we see, however, the Dynamic Duo is not the only opponents he's after:

Okay, well, another issue of Young Justice that features cameos by Young Justice. Not that this issue was a bad read, it just seems like a strange choice of story for this book. Even Batman and Robin are relegated to the sidelines as we explore the origin of Clayface. I did enjoy seeing a more vindictive side to Talia that shows her less as a directionless pawn caught between her father and Batman, and more as a powerful woman not be be messed with. I do hope next issue that the action involves the team much more. And to be honest, the flashback upon flashback structure of this issue was a little unnecessary. At times it felt like watching that Seinfeld episode in India that plays in reverse.
As stated above, Aqualad makes only a couple of appearances in this issue, once daydreaming of Tula (which was a nice surprise for the opening page) and once in battle with Clayface at the end. But I do still feel that this comic as a whole has leaned more toward individual member stories than adventures where everyone works together. In the future I hope to see more team adventures that have a bit of that old Gardner Fox early-JLA teamwork feel, but we'll see.
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