Artemis Foul

[arbre_rieur]

Four pages from YOUNG JUSTICE 9, which is set right before the Atlantis episode...

Comments

[auggie18]

I know this'll sound a little mean, but I honestly like how often Young Justice gets stomped. It seems more, I dunno, realistic, that a group of younger people, even ones with superpowers, would have trouble in fights with older people with more expirence. (And also superpowers.)

[freezer]

This was pretty much the MO of the original New Mutants. Nearly every time they went up against a more established foe, they got their faces smashed and either escape by the skin of their teeth, win by sheer dumb luck or get bailed out by the X-Men.

[icon_uk]

I remember the first time they fought the Hellions, are are then interrupted by Emma Frost and Sebastian Shaw. Later on Sam notes that "We were fighting the entire team of Hellions, and not doing a bad job of it, and then the grown ups, all two of them, showed up and wiped the floor with us"

[atom_punk]

I agree that a team of, well kids, is liable to get a serious beatdown. If anyone watches the cartoon show and saw the episode where they went after the Injustice League, they appeared largely outmatched by villains like Count Vertigo, Poison Ivy and Wotan and so on (although arguably that was part of the plan). Which makes sense because these villains give the A-listers of the JLA a challenge so its even harder for these kids.

What I'm concerned about is how the writers will balance the aforementioned realism and danger with avoiding constant deus ex machina moments like "Batman shows up" or "Superman tosses the bad guy into orbit".

[weber_dubois22]

Meh, its appreciated for a while, but for as long as its gone on in this series, its just obnoxious now. There's no real balance in the winning/losing against villains for the Young Justice, especially since almost every victory they've achieved is a hollow one that's "all according to teh plan" by the villains. It just makes them seem more incompetent than the Injustice League.

[pyrotwilight]

It's so odd to have a universe where Clayface can beat up an entire team like this. When I saw the scene in the show I thought it was a training program that Batman "saved" the team from at first.

[mrstatham]

The thing is, how much of a downgrade must Clayface get in most comics? He's basically a polymorph with a power scale varying dependant upon the writer - I personally liked Brian K Vaughan's take, which allowed the Basil Karlo version to basically absorb Wonder Woman's clay.

The guy should, arguably, be much more powerful, but I think he's scaled down because he's a Batman foe.

[atom_punk]

From what I can tell in these scans, this is Clayface's first appearance in the YJ universe, so naturally the unknown capabilities of a new villain make him harder to fight and he's already a powerful opponent. Batman obviously sees this as he ordered YJ only to track, not engage Clayface and he is immediately trying to find a scientific way of combating it. (I recommend a sonic screwdriver Bats, if you're gonna tackle a morphic field)

I also read that comic where Karlo-face absorbs Wonder Woman who is herself a clay construct given life, and I liked the creative use of his abilities and the connection of clay but at the same time it was a headscratching moment for me.

Aren't all Clayfaces the victim of some kind of chemical that turns them into a mass of shapeshifting cells? Unless Karlo got his powers from being say, a magical earth elemental, I couldn't understand how his abilities would be able to affect Wonder Woman's clay body. Then again I get the same reaction every time magic beats science or science beats magic for the purposes of the plot.

[mrstatham]

Regarding the Karlo vs Diana stuff, wikipedia states that he did basically sink into the Earth and emerge with related powers at one point, and also absorbed Clayfaces III and IV to be actual clay, so I'm under the impression that Karlo in particular has more of an association with actual clay than the others. Either way, I still think it was a more inventive use of the character than most Clayface appearances, where, moreso than other characters, he's basically forced to job to Batman.

In fact, the only seriously legitimate Clayface defeat I like is the psychological one Batman performs at the end of Feat of Clay, in BTAS.

[atom_punk]

Ah, that makes sense. Thanks for clarifying. Just looked at Wikipedia as well and there are something like, eight Clayfaces thus far o_O

Apparently one Clayface is the offspring of two other Clayfaces and another Clayface got powers by injecting a sample of the Hagen-Clayface.

There's quite a crazy pedigree here...

God do I love comics :D

[generator_rex]

*sees title*
Ahh, I see what you did there.

[zapbiffpow]

Hee hee, I just wanted to second this comment.

[icon_uk]

Did Dick just call Wally "freshness"?

Okay, I know the context, but come ON! ;-)

[superfangirl1]

I really laugh at loud at that. :)

Just checking, but...

[bewareofgeek]

The bit about being tried as an adult is a way to get her on the Squad, right?

Re: Just checking, but...

[rdfox]

It was to get her in on the prison break plot that M'Gann and Superboy foiled a few episodes later. Given that The Wall was warden at Belle Reve at the time, I don't think the Squad exists yet--part of the point of the plot was to get Waller ousted and Hugo Strange given the wardenship.

[dancesontrains]

Kinda annoyed that Artemis is being coloured as slightly paler than Ollie here :/ It's obnoxious enough in fanart...

[katzedecimal]

I can make a "Sometimes I just don't feel fresh" joke here, right? 'Kay.