Coming at you EVERY Thursday this summer, ANIMATED INSIGHTS BY SHANNON MUIR takes you inside Shannon’s latest reflections on her passion for animation as a medium, and other animated insights about life. To catch up on all posts, check out the Animated Insights portion of the website! This week, Shannon talks about catching up on the first thirteen episodes of YOUNG JUSTICE OUTSIDERS. DISCLAIMER: Shannon Muir does know individuals working on this show personally, and has not been asked by any of them to promote this show in any way. Finally, I’ve been able to take a look at the first thirteen episodes of YOUNG JUSTICE OUTSIDERS, as part of DC UNIVERSE. Because this required investing time and energy into a new outlet for viewing, it took a little longer to get around to. As someone who has seen the first two seasons of YOUNG JUSTICE when they aired several years ago, and did re-watch a number when they ran on Netflix, I had some familiarity with the characters. However, I wanted to see how well the story held up on its own merits if someone were to start out with Season 3 without watching prior seasons first. Granted, I had some knowledge of the major characters, but I wanted to see how well I remembered the details.
I did end up getting confused at a few points, due to not remembering everything from the prior seasons, but it is a testimony to the richness in storytelling and character development of this show. The “Outsiders” group also pre-existed in the DC Comics universe and was adapted and changed for the animated series, and I also had both the advantage and disadvantage of having grown up a fan of the debut, especially of Halo, who is also a lead character here. The Halo in the animated series has similar powers to the other, but her origin is very different and in fact I didn’t recognize who she was for several episodes.
My recommendation here is that YOUNG JUSTICE is worth watching, but if you don’t have any (or even a moderate) knowledge of this incarnation, it will help you to binge all three seasons in order. The first thirteen are out as I write this, and I hear the rest from this arc are coming soon. I’ll close this installment with the teaser for YOUNG JUSTICE OUTSIDERS. See you next week!