Brian Bendis gives us a history lesson on what happened to Connor Kent as the rest of the new Young Justice team gets captured on Gemworld.

Young Justice 3
Written by Brian Michael Bendis
Pencils by Patrick Gleason and Viktor Bogdanovic
Inks by Patrick Gleason, Viktor Bogdanovic and Jonathon Glapion
Colors by Alejandro Sanchez

When the New 52 took over the DC Comics Universe post-Flashpoint, the original members of Young Justice – sans Tim Drake, who got a pass thanks to his Bat-connections – really got the short-shrift. New versions of the characters were created and they were generally darker than the ones that had been introduced to readers in the 1990s. Bart Allen and Cassie Sandsmark – Impulse and Wonder Girl – were basically criminals. Superboy had most of his connections to Superman severed completely – save the name and the S – as he was created by a shadowy organization to control all metahumans on Earth.

I’ve been really happy with the first two issues of the new YOUNG JUSTICE series, as Brian Bendis has really brought the characters from the 1990s back to the forefront. But Superboy, who really became a favorite of mine during the Peter David run, has been a bit of a mystery, and he’s only really interacted with Impulse.

This issue gives us some more history for the clone of Superman and Lex Luthor (or Project Cadmus Director Paul Westfield… I still don’t know which way Bendis is going there), showing us how Connor Kent managed to find himself on an alien world for all these years. Superboy shares a nice expository scene with Bart, explaining that a confrontation with STAR Labs went horribly wrong, sending Superboy to Gemworld, where he’s been for a few years now.

When some of Gemworld’s constabulary comes to capture Bart, we find out some even more shocking news.

Not only is Connor rocking a scraggly beard and spikes on his leather jacket, but he’s married, too?!? Should we change the name of this book to not-so-Young Justice?

Connor allows Bart to be captured by the Gemworld soldiers, which puts the speedster from the future in the same prison as the other members of the team, who were transported to Gemworld in the first issue. The prison induces some sort of brain fog, so the normally spastic Impulse will likely have some trouble even remembering he found Superboy. But when he does? How is Wonder Girl going to react to finding out her former boyfriend is married? And why does Cassie keep blaming herself for the situation they’re in?

I’m not going to lie, Bendis has me hooked here, and I can’t wait for more. There’s so much I want to see happen here, and I’m really excited to see what he has planned for the rest of this first story arc.