J'onn J'onzz

Justice League Action, premiering this Friday, December 16, at 6 PM EST on Cartoon Network, is the first new TV version of the Justice League since Justice League Unlimited ended in 2006. From the advance promos, we knew the show was aiming for a younger audience from that show, but beyond a few casting announcements we didn't know many details. Now we've had a chance to watch this week's premiere episode, and we have plenty to say about it. This review deals with the basic plot elements of the episode, and details which characters appear, but beyond that we'll do our best to avoid spoilers.

Q: What are the qualities that allow a character to sustain a solo book, and why doesn't Martian Manhunter have any of them? -- @RichBurlew A: I gotta tell you, Rich, this is a very interesting question, and I hope you'll forgive me if I completely ignore the first half so that I can talk about the second. I mean, let's be real with each other here, if I knew what qualities made for a successful solo character, I would probably be writing that comic instead of this column, and between the two of us, you're the one who's been doing a successful and beloved character-driven story for the past decade. If anything, I should probably be asking you. The Martian Manhunter, however, has always been a really interesting character to me, if only because in terms of being a solo character, he's the definition of an also-ran. He's been around forever, but he's never quite clicked, and I think the simple reason for that is that there's nothing he does that isn't already done better by someone else.