Cartoon Network kicked off its new season of Justice League this past Saturday with a new villain, new time slot and a new format. Two part episodes are now shown back to back. Right off the bat this makes life as a fan easier. The story flows much more smoothly and you don’t have to remember what happened previously. It also makes reviewing them a lot easier which means this is the best season ever!
“Tabula Rasa” begins with Lex Luthor flying around town in his battle suit. He’s been injured in a fight with Superman and goes looking for help. His old assistant Mercy, who has been running LexCorp while Lex was in jail, sends him to see Professor Ivo. Lex arrives at Ivo’s mountain retreat only to find the poor Professor dead. He also finds a powerful robot sentry mourning over Ivo.
Lex manages to play on the robot’s fears of being alone and manipulates it into servitude. “You’re going to have to take care of me, too, otherwise, I’ll go to sleep and never wake up again.” (Stealing what I planned to tell my own children someday. The ferret remains unmoved by such talk.)
Lex’s evil goes deeper than plots for world domination or other clichéd schemes. Throughout the episode Lex uses emotional manipulation to get his way far more effectively than using force would have.
Meanwhile, Superman and Martian Manhunter search the city for Lex. Superman suggests that MM use his telepathic abilities to scan the city. MM says it is risky but agrees. Before too long, MM is running naked through the forest to get away from humanity’s overwhelming selfishness and hatred (a la Woody Harrelson). Good call, Superman.
Lex sends his new robot, who we later learn is named Amazo, on a mission to acquire fuel. After much thrashing of security guards, Amazo is confronted by Hawkgirl. She gets a few good licks in, but the robot begins mimicking Hawkgirl’s ability to fly, and somehow, her mace, too. Before too long, Flash, Green Lantern and Wonder Woman join the fight, but with each new hero, the robot gains new powers and abilities to fight back with. In most cases he uses the powers more effectively than our heroes and manages to keep the upper hand in the fight.
Even though the League is in a losing battle with Amazo, they hesitate to call in Superman. If Amazo gains Superman’s powers they fear it would become unstoppable. Like clockwork, Superman shows up and soon becomes just another one of Amazo’s punching bags.
I’m not sure if it is foreshadowing or I’m just reading too much into things but there seemed to be budding tension between Superman and the rest of the League.
It’s Superman’s idea for Martian Manhunter to use his telepathy to scan the city, which ends badly. Flash, GL Wonder Woman and Hawkgirl all plead for Superman to stay out of the fight with Amazo, which he doesn’t. Hawkgirl gives Superman a little attitude when he jumps into her fight with Amazo Batman just happens to carry kryptonite with him at all times, a move which reminded me of Mark Waid’s run on JLA. Could be nothing. Could be something. Either way, I called it.
Clearly Bruce Timm and his team of writers have been busy over the summer addressing some of the things that really bothered me from previous seasons. Superman, for one, is finally up to full strength. His power level had really dropped somewhere between Superman: The Animated Series and Justice League and he never really had that “Super” Man feel to him.
In “Tabula Rasa” Superman stands toe to toe with Amazo and delivers some mighty blows. Their fight scenes are some of the best Justice League has had to offer in the two years it’s been on the air.
All seven members are featured prominently in the episode. In most of the previous episodes one or two members would be off doing something else while the rest fought the villain of the week. “Tabula Rasa” gave everyone a chance to shine. Mostly.
While Superman is finally using his powers at full strength, Flash still comes off like comic relief. He’s pretty good at getting documents out of a burning building or moving pedestrians out of the way of falling rubble, but he pretty much sucks in fight scenes. For example, Amazo defeats a charging Flash by using Green Lantern’s ring to make a ramp, which Flash runs up and crashes into a wall.
Now if I understand Flash’s powers correctly from the comics, he moves fast but also perceives the world in slow motion. Technically no one should ever be able to make contact with Flash because he’d move out of the way long before they ever touched him. I’m nitpicking but that’s what we comic fans do.
And while I’m nitpicking, let’s talk about the other thing that gnawed at my Fanboy brain during the episode. How does Amazo mimic abilities like telepathy and Green Lantern’s ring? How would a robot even perceive telepathy, let alone mimic it? How would a robot power Green Lantern’s ring and provide the creativity and imagination to use it? *Time out while I rock myself back and fourth, chanting ‘it’s just a cartoon.”*
Actually even with the Fanboy nitpicks, “Tabula Rasa” is an outstanding episode. What it lacks in surprises, it makes up for in quality action scenes and good comic book style fun. Amazo is one of the most powerful villains the Justice League has had to face and you can bet the fight isn’t over.
“Derek’s Continuity Corner”
Ivo probably isn’t dead. In the comics, he’s died a couple of times then revived. I can’t explain Amazo’s mimicking abilities, either, although Mark Waid did provide the limitation and loophole that for some reason, he can only mimic the abilities of Justice League members. So when The Atom disbanded the League, Amazo had no choice but to shut down.
Also, Amazo should evolve. His form provided the blueprint for the android version of Hourman, who in turn transformed Amazo into Timazo. Professor Ivo also teamed with T.O. Morrow to create Tomorrow Woman, a one-shot character that has the mysterious power to hold on to Fanboy’s imaginations in a manner way out of proportion to her abilities or originality. It must be the short skirt.
Next Week: “Only A Dream” – When members of the Justice League are trapped in a nightmarish dream world controlled by the evil Dr. Destiny, they are forced to confront their own darkest fears.
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