Today we have the season 2 premiere of Green Lantern, titled “The New Guy,” in which Hal returns to Earth to find that there’s a new Green Lantern running around. Today’s episode of Young Justice is titled “Satisfaction.”

Green Lantern: The Animated Series – “The New Guy”

There’s a crack in space, and something (Anti-Monitor) floats through it. He drifts down to a planet, and destroys a ship that tells him he can’t be there. It then reactivates Manhunter robots. Hal Jordan returns to Earth, and tells Carol Ferris that he won. He asks if they can start again, and wants to get back to work. Carol tells him that since he’s been gone for months, she had to replace him. Mid discussion, Hal sees a news report about a broken crane, and leaves to help, after setting dinner plans with Carol. He arrives at the construction site in order to save a worker, but another Green Lantern stops the crane from falling. Guy Gardner is the new Lantern. Guy tells Hal that the Guardians sent him in as a replacement. They decide to talk Guardian business over hot wings at a place called McDuffie’s (Dwayne). Guy convinces Hal to call the Guardians and tell them off. Hal starts, but finds that Guy is real friendly with the Guardians. Hal, not happy about being replaced, and they come to blows. Their fight is stopped by a news report about unearthly energy coming from an archeological dig. They find markings that translate into “No man escapes the Manhunters,” and find 3 of robots. The Manhunters attack them. Hal reports in to Salaak, who tells him that if they are active, then they need to be destroyed or else they’ll exterminate everyone on Earth. The Manhunters break through to the surface. While Hal and Guy are fighting 2 of the Manhunters, the third spots a town, and detects emotions. Working together, they are able to destroy the Manhunters, and have a bonding moment. Hal gets a call from Carol an hour and a half after their dinner plans, and Carol tells him that it’s better for both of them if they just move on. Salaak contacts Hal, and tells him to report to the Guardian chamber at one. The Guardians tell him that he will no longer be Green Lantern of Sector 2814, and instead, has been promoted to honor guard, patrolling all of Guardian space.

Young Justice: Invasion – “Satisfaction”

The real Roy Harper wakes up in a hospital, and demands to know what happened to him, why there’s another Roy Harper, and why Oliver has a dopey goatee. The last thing he remembers is investigating a Lexcorp building, and then was attacked. Clone Roy tells him that was 8 years ago, and they took his arm so that they had a supply of DNA to create him. Real Roy is pissed off at Oliver because he had given up looking for him. They leave him to think about things. Clone Roy visits Oliver in a church, and reassures him that he is not a horrible mentor. They go back to real Roy, to find that he’s gone. March 21. Bart Allen questions why there are memorials of fallen heroes in the grotto. Jaime Reyes says that it may be because the League doesn’t want to remind everyone they’re not immortal. He then feels anger that he never got to know Ted Kord, who should have been his mentor. Wally West is with Artemis’ mother at her grave, and she thanks him for being there with her. Jade and Sportsmaster are also there, saying that they will get Aqualad and Manta. Real Roy gets into one of Oliver’s old safehouses, and takes a zeta tube to Metropolis before Oliver and Clone Roy can stop him. Real Roy fires a missile at Lex Luthor in his office. Wendy wishes Conner Kent a happy birthday, but he comments that she’s the only one that remembered it. The Girls are at a bridal shower for Raquel, as Captain Cold is eyeing the bank across the street from them. Lex Luthor survived the missile blast, but as he’s approaching his car, it explodes. Captain Cold attacks an armored car, and freezes that entire section of street. Zatanna frees the girls, and they easily take out Cold. Mercy, Luthor’s bodyguard/robot, attacks Speedy (Real Roy). Speedy bests Mercy, and is about to blow off Luthor’s arm, when Luthor’s guards arrive. Luthor says that he’s been prepared for this moment, and kicks a briefcase over to Roy. He asks him if he wants revenge or satisfaction. Green Arrow and Red Arrow arrive to find Speedy carrying the briefcase. He says that he didn’t kill Luthor,and that Luthor gave him a replacement arm, better than the one his bodyguard had. Real Roy also says that he’s no longer Speedy. From now on, he’s Arsenal.

Short Segments

A runner attempts to avoid some obstacles from Flash’s rogues.

Teen Titans short where each hero tries to record a PSA about Gamma rays.

Super Best Friends Forever try to have a fight with Solomon Grundy, but he no fight girls. They try to taunt him into fight, and just beat him up when that fails.

Thoughts

Kind of a down return. Granted, Young Justice is actually in the middle of season 2. But let’s look at the episodes. We get Guy Gardner in Green Lantern, and it was an alright debut. They got the characterization right. They got the relationship between him and Hal mostly right. I say mostly because there was a bonding moment at the end of a big fight. Though, they did temper that with Guy being Guy. I do like the explaination that there’s another Lantern on Earth by making Hal a member of the Honor Guard. I wonder if they’ll go this route again if they ever want to introduce John Stewart or Kyle Rayner.

The previous episode of Young Justice was so moving and powerful, that this one seems kind of lacking by comparison. Of course, that also may have something to do with me not really caring about the larger Green Arrow family. But Ted Kord got a mention, even though he’s dead. And don’t get me wrong, this was a very emotional episode with characters also dealing with the “death” of Artemis. And just brainstorming, maybe splitting the focus on Artemis and Speedy weakened the episode. Like the part with the girls. Yes, that have a toast to Artemis, and stop a crime. But the episode would have been just fine without. Same with the part about Conner’s birthday. I just think that they should have separated the Speedy stuff into its own episode, and put all of the Artemis mourning stuff into its own episode with the team going on a mission to get their mind off of things.

Have I ever mentioned that the DC Nation shorts are much better than the Marvel Universe shorts? Well, they are. Although, having a runner dodge obstacles like Flash was stupid. Not as stupid as seeing Joe Quesada drawing the Hulk five times, but still pretty stupid.