The Super-Roommates

[arbre_rieur]

Four pages from YOUNG JUSTICE #0...

This issue takes place towards the end of the one-hour pilot, after Superboy's been liberated from Cadmus but before the final scene at the Happy Harbor cave.

After Cadmus' explosion, everyone's heading home when they realize that Superboy has nowhere to go.





But Superboy's missing.



Wally's mom is tired of them loafing around all day, so she tells them to leave the house tomorrow. The two end up shopping for clothes for Superboy on Batman's dime.



There's a robbery by small time supervillains named the Terror Twins (who, as far as I can tell, are original characters). Wally and Superboy tackle them for a time until their adult counterparts show up to take over.

Comments

[sethgray]

Why the hell is it Batman's decision?

[arbre_rieur]

Batman's the *final* decision. The other mentors have already made theirs.

[icon_uk]

Superman seems to have abrogated responsibility (much as he did with Kon in the comics where he seemed to want to have nothing to do with him for years), and Batman is #2 in the League (If I remember the membership numbering system the show uses) so it might be his duty by default.

Alternatively, perhaps Batman (who has already become the YJ co-ordinator) is best equipped and resourced to find out more about Superboy's abilities, what there is of his past, his powers and whether he could fit into a team.

I'm also a little confused as to why Kid Flash didn't just change into his costume.

[starwolf_oakley]

Superman seems to have abrogated responsibility (much as he did with Kon in the comics where he seemed to want to have nothing to do with him for years),

Mostly because for the longest time, Kon *wasn't* a clone of Superman. A Kryptonian "aura" was put onto a clone of Cadmus Director Paul Westfield.
The half-Superman/half-Luthor was (presumably) a Superboy Prime punch retcon.

Still, you'd think Clark would at least try to support a well-meaning superpower teenager that looked like him at 16 and wanted to wear the "S".

[icon_uk]

Oh I know he wasn't his clone back then, but he was SuperBOY (The only name he had, when never felt remotely healthy to me). I should perhaps have phrased it closer to your final paragraph, he wasn't supportive of Superboy, which never felt right, considering how much care he seemed to take with Supergirl by comparison.

[flidgetjerome]

he wasn't supportive of Superboy, which never felt right, considering how much care he seemed to take with Supergirl by comparison

It's weird that they're even carried it over into this adaptation because, really, it's not one of Clark's most IC moments.

[arbre_rieur]

It seems odder now with the legacy kick that DC's been on since the success of STARMAN and JSA, but back when Superboy debuted, it wouldn't have been that unusual.

[aaron_bourque]

Superman seems to have abrogated responsibility (much as he did with Kon in the comics where he seemed to want to have nothing to do with him for years),

I love the Absorbascon's take on that, actually. He really believes that the best sort of place for a kid is a nuclear family, so until he actually had a wife, it never occurred to him that he should be the mentor figure to his younger sidekicks, they should just be raised by, say, his mom and dad.

[icon_uk]

That would work if he has sent him to the Kents at the start, but it took years and years to get to that stage.

Even before he was married, he must have seen that Dick Grayson was turning out okay when he didn't have a standard nuclear family, also the likes of Maggie Sawyer with her kid, Cat Grant with her's and the like...

[bariman]

And then Cat Grant's son gets murdered by the Toyman while he (the boy) was wearing a Superboy costume...

[daningram.insanejournal.com]

"Superman seems to have abrogated responsibility"

In all fairness, why should Superboy be Superman's responsibility? Superboy was cloned without Clark's consent or even involvement

[icon_uk]

Because he's a lost kid looking for some affection, basic Kryptonian decency would be nice, he seems actively indifferent to Superboy.

[zyriex]

If we're talking about the cartoon here, to me it doesn't seem like he's actively indifferent to Superboy, so much as he was really blindsided by the entire thing/has no idea how to react/needs some time to adjust (but still be incredibly awkward)

The entire "Um, can't talk now; need to make sure Blockbuster is properly put away!" thing read like a textbook "Um I need to go wash my plants-I mean dog!-now," sort of transparent excuse to get away from a really awkward situation that one doesn't know how to deal with.

[bariman]

Come to think of it, that's pretty much how Superman reacted when Kon let slip that he was a hybrid of Superman and Luthor. "You're half me, half Luthor? Oh, well, don't worry, you're a fine kid, you'll make up with your friends, stay in school, bye now! *flies off*"

[schala_kid]

A bit of the difference between YJ and the regular comicverse though is that Kon immediately leaves Metropolis for Hawaii because he didn't want anything to do with Superman, I think he explicitly tells him that he wants to be on his own. Kon was making his own life and yes while I agree that Clark could have been a little more supportive he wasn't really obligated to be his father.

But to be fair Clark does care, he gave him his first name (Kon-El) and his second one (Conner Kent), when Kon reproach him about not telling him his secret id he gave him a home with the Kents, when he was skipping school he becomes concern and visits him for a talk and when Superboy died he was sitting down with the body (I always hated the fact that there was only a small space in one panel for this moment).

Oh and that fight with Black Lantern Kal-L pretty much confirmed it when Clark starting displaying a fear and love every time Kon was getting hurt, and he stops pursuing Kal-L when Kon starts falling to his death.