I know there are a lot of fans who are still crying the blues over the cancellation of Young Justice. Well, it just so happens that ye scribe may just have the answer to their problems.
We know that Cartoon Network prefers comedy over action these days, if only because of the narrow mindset of Stuart Snyder and his acolytes, who are aiming for boys as young as six. I honestly doubt that boys in grades 1-3, and maybe 4th grade, might get what passes for comedy on, say, Teen Titans GO!, which is already getting played into the ground and has been renewed for a second season, to start later this year. Well, the idea I have wouldn't fly at Cartoon Network, but it wouldn't hurt if Warner Bros. shopped a potential idea to other networks.
The concept is Justice League Academy, which would reboot the premise from season 1 of Young Justice in that members of the Justice League (i.e. Batman, Superman) would act as mentors to the next generation of heroes. But instead of rushing the sidekicks/trainees into action, which happened with Young Justice, you need to give the Academy room to grow. You want comedy? I'm sure there'd be room for some lighter stories that would serve as done-in-ones to bridge a gap between more serious story arcs.
As for the student body, well, we'd start with at least the vast majority of the Young Justice crew. To refresh your memories.......
The only mistake made with Young Justice was killing off Kid Flash as part of the season 2 storyline, which I never got to see. These kids would be a foundation point, but they wouldn't be alone.
No, what I have in mind is to add on. Would there be any other Titans? Yep, but with ties to the classic comics from the 80's, not the cartoons that have been out for a decade and change.
Beast Boy (real name: Gar Logan) was added to YJ during season 2 (Invasion), and that arc suggested his powers came from a blood transfusion provided by Miss Martian. That sounds familiar, doesn't it? Sure, it does. It copies She-Hulk's origin from her first comics series, which came out a few months before the Titans were reassembled at DC. However, head writer Greg Weisman gave Gar the facial appearance of a monkey in his heroic guise, something that no one at DC thought of, although it might've been inspired by the 2003 Teen Titans cartoon, which gave BB the look most fans recognize now, albeit with pointed ears. In the old books, Gar was working in Hollywood as a stuntman (!) when he was recruited for the Titans in 1980, and was played up as a wanna-be playa when it came to the ladies.
Cyborg (Victor Stone) has not always been the video game/junk food junkie as presented over the last several years. He's the son of a scientist, and you'd think he could add some smarts to the team. As with Beast Boy, he was de-aged when the Titans debuted on CN in 2003.
Starfire (Princess Koriand'r of Tamaran, Earth alias Kory Anders) literally fell for Robin (Dick Grayson) in the pages of New Teen Titans 1 back in 1980. Writer-creators Marv Wolfman & George Perez came up with the boss idea of giving her a cover as an aspiring supermodel, but yet unable to explain away her golden skin. She, too, was de-aged for the cartoons, and they gradually worked in her relationship with Robin, as they also have in Teen Titans GO!, but she is no longer with Dick in the books. She wouldn't be the only one giving Miss Martian some company on the alien front, though........
Yep, that means the Wonder Twins, Zan & Jayna, would be added to the mix as well. Their guest appearance on TTG aside, they've hardly been used in recent years, and have been rebooted a couple of times. After all, they succeeded Wendy Harris & Marvin White as the Super Friends' junior partners (Wendy & Marvin had in effect graduated in issue 9 of the comic book, as the first year of the book covered their "senior year", if ya will), and the training would be priority this time.
I didn't include Raven right away because of her father, Trigon, who'd be a central villain early on, leading to Raven entering the Academy.
What do you guys think?
12 comments:
I'd rather have YJ back - even if as a miniseries or movie to help close some loose ends.
"The Team" wasn't completely green at superheroing. Robin and KF of course were already experienced crimefighters. Artemis and Miss Martian had the least experience but caught on quick. Being on the team in effect WAS the academy in a way.
Perhaps if the academy was of totally different heroes in training ("Hero High" redux? "Sky High"?).
CN is acting as if young boys don't like action or enjoy toons that turn their brains to mush. That's a mistake.
I'm not totally convinced KF is dead - I think if the show hadn't been cancelled, we would have seen him appear in Impulse's time and getting more on what happened, then finding a way back to the present and save the day.
"The Team" sounded too generic to me. What was Weisman thinking?
To me, being in training goes beyond field missions. Insofar as using different characters in the academy setting, well, look what happened to Beware the Batman when they went outside the norm and used lesser known characters, putting the iconic supporting cast aside. It's still MIA!
I think if YJ was granted a 3rd season, your supposition on Kid Flash might've been spot on after all.
@hobbyfan: terrific idea; actually reading this gave me my own idea(for a sort of fan fiction story actually).
If I remember to, i'll go on Toonzone later and give you a private message with my idea, so you can tell me what you think of it.
Thanks, Scoobyfan1. Looking forward to your pitch.
@Hobbyfan: you're welcome; I just went to Toonzone and sent you a PM with my idea; I have a feeling you may like it.
And I do. Sent reply over at TZ.
@Hobbyfan: thank you, glad you read my idea and glad you liked it.
Maybe you could pitch to WB and advise shopping to anyone but CN....
@Hobbyfan: agree on shopping the idea to anyone but Cartoon Network; I doubt WB would listen to me though.
However, I do think the idea I came up with would be a great fan fiction series, or at least one fan fic(although frankly, there would be way too much involved to do only one fan fic with this idea).
A series of fan-fics would have to do. If you check TZ's Story Board, I've done that myself....
@Hobbyfan: yeah, I was thinking a series of fan fics would work too, because as I mentioned before, there's no way my idea would work in just one fan fiction story.
Sometime i'll write these stories, I just don't know when.
All you need is inspiration to get it going.
I just have to remember to get back to a certain unlikely couple......
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