Scans_Daily

At the end of the day, it had been years (a decade?) since the YJ comic ended, and there was no way it was going to be resurrected for an animated show when half the characters were in limbo and the other half had been significantly rebooted within the comics. Especially with DC gearing up for another reboot - can you imagine a YJ cartoon introducing the DCnU versions of the characters?

I had low expectations for the show, knowing it was basically a Teen Titans reboot (where they couldn't use the TT name) and being worried about the characterisation, but the massively positive response meant that when it popped up on Netflix I was interested enough to check it out. The complex, series-length plotting was well thought out, the new takes on old characters (like the Red Arrow / Arsenal thing) were fun and the new characters were great additions I wish had made it over to the comics. Jumping forward in s2 to introduce the actual YJ characters was a nice nod to the fans of the original comic without overloading the canon they were building for the show.

In terms of the characterisation of the original YJ team, half the problems came from the contemporary comics versions, especially Kon's broodiness and the Tim/Cassie 'ship (though the show made it work better than the TT comics did). At least Bart's characterisation was much closer to Impulse than he was as Kid Flash, where he basically had no personality beyond occasional comic relief (the simplification of the Bart/Tim/Kon friendship to Tim/Kon massively frustrated me because it was all about Superman/Batman and nothing about the previous characterisation of the actual characters involved).

For me, the YJ show had more in common with the YJ comic than Teen Titans had had for years, and I really appreciated it for that. The plotting was better than the TT comics, the relationships more thoroughly explored, the characterisation deeper. And then it got cancelled because girls liked it. Damn my gender! ::shakes fist at sky::