Review: Young Justice Vol. 2- Lost in the Multiverse

Quick Summary

Pros: The main storyline is fun and exciting. The narrative lets readers learn more about members of this team. The conclusion builds excitement for the next volume.

Cons: The final few chapters feel cluttered.

Overall: This is another solid entry in the Young Justice series. Outside of a bumpy conclusion, the majority of this collection is an enjoyable adventure with a fun team. The action is engaging, the artwork looks good, and the narrative takes more time to let the readers get to know the characters. Readers who enjoyed the first volume of this series should keep reading with this one.

Story

Young Justice Vol. 2: Lost in the Multiverse, by Brian Michael Bendis, is not quite as stunning as this comic’s opening volume but is still a worthwhile read nonetheless. The majority of this book is a fun, multiversal adventure featuring a solid cast of characters. Readers see the team in an awesome fight scene, lean more about their background, and leave them in a position that will be interesting to return to next volume. The biggest problem is that the book’s conclusion tries to do a little too much and ends up feeling pretty cluttered. All in all, this is a book that picks up many of the positive elements from the previous collection, even if it doesn’t manage all of them perfectly.

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The opening chapter of Lost in the Multiverse has the members of Young Justice tumbling through the DC Multiverse in a mostly lighthearted series of encounters. This portion of the book allows the characters to fit in the jokes and fun that was accomplished so well in the previous book.

Then, the narrative takes on a darker tone as the team finds itself on Earth 3, a world where an evil version of Young Justice currently reigns supreme. This is where the book gets its action injection. The team’s escape from this dimension involves heroes fighting villains of equal power, intervention from Earth 3’s rebels, and a finale that finally reveals some of the power Jinny Hex has been carrying around with her. However, this portion of the book also takes time for some emotional moments as well. Drake’s meeting with a tortured version of Stephanie Brown adds some tragedy to the story of Earth 3 while both Jinny Hex and Teen Lantern’s origin stories are emotionally charged. This arc ends up being the highpoint for the collection.

The rest of Lost in the Multiverse depicts Young Justice’s return to the standard DC Universe. Here, Superboy is teleported to another dimension, new members join the team, and Young Justice finally starts to deal with S.T.A.R. Labs in a way that directly relates to Superboy’s current situation and plotlines across the Superman and Action Comics series. All of this helps build up some exciting narrative elements for the next volume.

Unfortunately, this final portion of Lost in the Multiverse is also the mostly clumsy when it comes to writing. I enjoyed seeing the team come into contact with the other heroes from the Wonder Comics imprint. However, stuffing multiple character introductions into a narrative that already has a few things going on causes this portion of the book to read a little rough. 

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Art

The artwork in Lost in the Multiverse is not quite as gorgeous as it was in the previous volume but still manages to look great. John Timms’ stylized approach works really well in depicting the adventures of Young Justice. The bold and energetic visuals ramp up the excitement of the fight scenes and look particularly good when paired with Gabe Eltaeb’s bright colors.

In addition, Lost in the Multiverse contains small visual contributions from other artists that help hammer home the specific tone required by a specific scene. The cartoonish visuals in the opening chapter, from Dan Hipp and David Lafuente, look great in the volume’s lighthearted opening story. Meanwhile, André Lima Araújo and Nick Derington are, respectively, able to bring a unique tone to Teen Lantern and Jinny Hex’s origin stories. The variety of artists working on this book allow it to shift and change depending on what the storyline requires, which definitely adds to the reading experience.

Continuity

Young Justice Vol. 2: Lost in the Multiverse continues the story from Young Justice Vol. 1: Gemworld (Review).

The story here continues in Young Justice Vol. 3: Warriors and Warlords.

This volume also references other comic books, detailed below:

• The Multiverse Map and the concept of Multiversity is mentioned throughout this volume’s opening chapters. These both come from Multiversity.
• One Earth visited in Young Justice #7 heavily references the Kingdom Come reality.
• Naomi’s origin story and the explanation behind her fears of otherworldly invasion are detailed across Naomi: Season One (Review). Naomi’s recent encounter with Superman and S.T.A.R. Labs is detailed across Action Comics #1014-1016, collected in Action Comics Vol. 2: Leviathan Rising (Review).
• Several mentions are made to recent problems caused by S.T.A.R. Labs. The organization was responsible for the damage caused across Superman Vol. 1: The Unity Saga: Phantom Earth (Review).
• Young Justice #12 makes a quick reference to problems created by “Leviathan”. These problems started in Action Comics Vol. 2: Leviathan Rising (Review) and were further elaborated upon in the Event Leviathan (Review) (Reading Order) event.
• The history behind the Wonder Twins is detailed across Wonder Twins Vol. 1: Activate!.
• The history behind the new Dial H heroes is detailed across Dial H For Hero Vol. 1: Enter the Heroverse.