Justice League S02E23 Review: John Jones

Justice League, Season 2, Episodes 23: Comfort and Joy

Ah, Christmas episodes. I really wanted to post this review on the 25th, but that would mean delaying all future Justice League episodes, so hey, whatever. It's already the beginning of December and whether you celebrate Christmas or not, most likely you can feel the holiday spirits. Festivity, goodwill to mankind and all that shit. Even if you're not among the religious denominations that celebrate the birth of Christ, you definitely can appreciate the, y'know, free holiday and the spirit that it represents. Relaxation, catching up with family and friends, forgetting your responsibilities for a while (unless you're Batman), doing something nice and simply just... hang out.

Christmas cartoon episodes have been a staple of Christmas since... well, ever. The first Simpsons episode is a Christmas episode, and both of this show's predecessors, Batman and Superman: TAS both have had Christmas episodes as well. There's definitely a hint of replicating the TNAB Christmas episode that took place in three or four unrelated stories starring different members of the cast. Comfort and Joy gets rid of Batman (who 'begged' for monitor duty because he's a workaholic, his kids are all grown up and Alfred's probably used to spending Christmas nights alone) and Wonder Woman (I don't think the holiday has any significance to her, and having three characters be confused by what it means will be overkill). It's both a lot of good fun, touching moments, but the episode is also a huge, huge tearjerker at parts, exploring the melancholic aura that will settle down on people who are alone during the holidays.

Let's go through the fun bits first. After saving a bunch of random aliens, Green Lantern decides to bugger off and play with snow, making snowmen, sledding, snow angels and snowballs with his power ring. It's actually the most creative that John Stewart has ever gotten with his ring constructs in this show, with creating a crapton of tiny hands and whatnot, and it kind of shows how imaginative he can be now that he's reliving his inner childhood. Lantern goes off to relive his childhood alone, showing an uncharacteristically soft side of his personality that's not all hard-ass super-serious space cop. It's a nice moment of vulnerability that he shares with Hawkgirl while engaging in snowball fights, and while Hawkgirl herself doesn't understand this whole Christmas thing (and John isn't that mushy), she appreciates a good brawl. I mean, fighting must be like sex to her and she definitely enjoys the huge snowball fight she had with Lantern.

They then take their relationship to the next level... which has Hawkgirl bring Green Lantern to one of the space bars she frequents, and she has some fun by intentionally causing a big bar fight. Participating in a big bar fight together and falling asleep at using one of the big aliens as a pillow is... kind of next-level, right? The cheek kiss is definitely a nice touch as Hawkgirl finds that being with John is actually something that she has fun with and something that she really likes, which will come to a head next episode. It's quite hilarious seeing John's confusion and discomfort with the whole bar brawl thing.

Flash carries his part of the story on his own, where the Scarlet Speedster spends his Christmas... still being a hero, hanging out with the orphans in Central City orphanage. We never see Wally's family in the series at all, and while his family is very much alive and well in the comics most of the time, I guess if there is anyone that can show up at family gatherings while still making time to be a nice guy for sad orphans, it's the Flash. Flash is a huge child himself, and seeing him just be a big brother and talk to younger kids is very fun. It's always great to see this... mushier side of the superhero stuff, because it means the world to these younger kids. Hell, when fictional characters can inspire such a reaction in real-life kids... all those people dressing up as Iron Man and Spider-Man and Superman and Batman that visit kids in the hospital? You guys are awesome.

Anyway, Flash promises to get the new DJ Rubber Ducky toy, a little voiced toy with a farting gimmick... but as Flash zips around the city, he realizes that, hey, a popular toy is a toy that runs out in Christmas even for the fastest man alive, but he then gets an idea and runs all the way to Takara Tomy an unnamed toy factory in Japan, and uses his credentials as a superhero to get one of the last ones. It's very touching that Flash would go this far just to keep his promise to a bunch of random orphans, considering how he has been the League's resident manchild goofball.

Of course, it's not a Justice League episode without a villain, and the villain for this piece is the Ultra-Humanite, who is, quite hilariously, destroying modern art that's an affront to any decent human aesthetic taste. I... absolutely agree with the Ultra-Humanite, there. (Flash: "Wow, you really did a number on this place." Humanite: "I haven't even started yet.") Flash and Humanite's battle both verbal and physical ends up causing the destruction of the DJ Rubber Ducky toy... and Flash's dejected look at ruining Christmas for the Central City orphans causes him to just... well, break down and be sad. Humanite, while calling the whole joy and happiness thing bullshit, ends up realizing that, yeah, Flash has got a point. He did whack Flash in the head as payback, but Flash wakes up to see Humanite fixing the toy because, hey, giving the younger generation something educational and constructive is something he can get behind.

While Humanite ended up showing up in the orphanage with a top hat (Flash gets to be Santa), it's revealed that the Rubber Ducky has been changed to read the Nutcracker to the kids... which Flash is totally okay with. It's a nice gesture that Flash actually has Ultra-Humanite participate in receiving the thanks and see the happy faces from the orphans, allowing the villain to participate in the niceties that Flash has been preaching to him about. It's one of the best Flash moments where he still thinks and knows of these less-psychopathic villains as people too, and Ultra-Humanite definitely is one of the show's best reinventions from a generic mad scientist to someone who just wants to spread proper culture.

Flash gives Ultra-Humanite a surprise when he gets returned to his prison cell, which is an aluminium Christmas tree. We have no idea if Flash found it out or if it's a happy coincidence, but Humanite's shock at finding out something he used to have as a child absolutely tugs at the heartstrings. And the final shot of Humanite sitting in his prison bed being mesmerized by the cheap little aluminium Christmas tree is beautiful and sad at the same time.

But the biggest and most meaty of this little anthology is J'onn J'onzz and Superman. J'onn... doesn't actually hate Christmas the way Ultra-Humanite claimed. He's just apathetic to it all, seeing absolutely no reason to care, which is different to Hawkgirl who cares about having a fun time with her new boyfriend. All this celebration and hanging out with families and giving presents and all this festivity is something that only serves to remind J'onn about the family and the world he has lost. His wife, his daughters, his world...

And who better than the very friendly Big Blue Boy Scout to show J'onn what Christmas is? Superman is the only other member of the League to have truly lost his world, and, yes, he grew up not knowing it and I don't think he never felt as acute a grief as J'onn has, but he does try to get J'onn to cheer up and feel like he has a family on Earth, with the League having gone off to do their own things. Ma and Pa Kent don't really give a shit about any aliens, considering their son is one, and very warmly welcome J'onn to the Smallville farm.

J'onn is so delightfully awkward, trying to understand the holiday but not really getting it, flattered by the hospitality of the Kents but not really understanding the reasons behind it... we get a fun little moment where he kind of shacks up in Kara's room (Kara's off skiing with Barbara, which must be fun). J'onn's trying to be friendly and all, especially to the Kents' cat (hearing J'onn say "kitty!" is one of the best moments of this show) that, y'know, is absolutely terrified of the hollow-eyed green man. And while he gets to cheer up a little over dinner when funny stories and anecdotes are said (he gets a sweater!) J'onn's sadness and melancholia returns as the night goes on, as he goes in his invisible guise to see the Kent parents hang out like an old couple, as Clark Kent unleashes his inner child by trying to peek into presents that are lined with lead.

Seeing Superman regress into a child in front of his parents is something that most people can definitely relate too, and like J'onn, I'm surprised that Superman has this side at all. It's something that's absolutely natural to the character, of course, but most of the time we see Superman the Beacon of Hope, the Man of Steel, or Clark Kent the awkward reporter, but very seldom Clark Kent the son of Jonathan and Martha Kent. It's a fun moment to see Clark Kent still insisting that Santa Claus is real (absolutely hilarious considering he has a second home in the North Pole himself), or still having the excitement of a seven-year-old opening Christmas presents.

J'onn, though, as much as he tries to fit in, can't really relate that much to that kind of sentiment. And as the night falls, J'onn, who doesn't need to sleep, phases out of the Smallville farm, beautifully transforms into his comic-book John Jones human guise, and roams the streets of Smallville. J'onn has never walked among the humans in the show, and has ever only used his shapeshifting abilities for combat or infiltration purposes, and seeing him walk through the streets, seeing everyone going all 'merry Christmas' and hearing people sing choirs and listening to little kids talking about Santa Claus melts the martian's heart.

One of the absolute best moments comes when some random little girl doubts the existence of Santa. Now despite what Clark insists, J'onn probably realizes that Santa Claus isn't real... but he decides to preserve the magic for the little girl, and as a father of two (now-dead) daughters I can't help but think J'onn sees something in the little girl that reminds him of his own. He makes footsteps on the roof, and sneaks off a cookie to give the impression that Santa ate them. "Yum!" indeed, because the cookies are Oreos (or Choc-O's, depending on how trademark-friendly they're being), which is comic-book J'onn's favourite food on Earth. The episode ends with the Kents listening to J'onn, sitting on a windowsill in his natural martian form, stroking the Kents' cat, singing a beautifully alien tune that probably was inspired by him hearing the church's own hymns.

It's a beautiful, multi-layered story and while Lantern and Hawkgirl's may be just basic fun shippy stuff, the Flash and the J'onn stories here remain two of my all-time favourite stories about the characters. Ever.


DC Easter Eggs Corner:

• The doll that J'onn looks over in Kara's room is one of Zook, which is J'onn's alien pet/sidekick in his old Golden Age appearances. 
• J'onn's human disguise is that of detective John Jones, his human alter-ego which doesn't really see a lot of screentime in modern incarnations. And is now usually portrayed as a black man, actually, after Carl Lumbly's iconic voice acting in this cartoon series. His love of Oreo cookies is established in Justice League International comics, and has remained one of the cutest and most endearing things about this normally stoic character.
• Santa Claus actually does exist as a relatively obscure character in DC comics lore, being the focus of a Constantine arc, a Plastic Man-centric JLA issue, and actually fought with Lobo at one point.