To celebrate the premiere of the new animated feature Justice League vs. the Fatal Five, I figured it would be a good time to look back on some of the characters' previous animated appearances. If everything goes well, you can expect more threads like this to be posted on this very forum over the next couple of weeks. This thread will focus on Jessica Cruz, one of the newest Green Lanterns of Space Sector 2814 (which includes Earth, as everyone knows). As a side-note, this thread will mainly focus on Jessica, and only mention other Green Lanterns when necessary. An entire retrospective for all the Green Lanterns is a neat idea, but I doubt I would ever attempt starting such a time-consuming topic.
Admittedly, there's not much to cover here, as the character had only a few appearances in animated projects especially considering she is a relatively recent creation from the comics, but I think there is still enough for a decent sized retrospective. While these articles may not be as detailed or well-written as some of my previous retrospectives (due to various reasons, including but not limited to time constraints), I hope you will still enjoy reading through them. And keep in mind these are just my opinions. Feel free to share your own thoughts, comments or even point out any possible errors in my write-ups below!
Jessica Cruz made her debut in 2014, in the pages of Justice League #31, and was created by Geoff Johns and Ethan Van Sciver. Interestingly enough, she was not initially chosen by a true Green Lantern power ring, but rather by an evil power ring which which belonged to the Crime Syndicate from a parallel universe. The ring located her sensing her fear (her friends were just murdered - long story). Batman helps de-activate the ring and helps Jessica overcome most of her fears. Green Lantern Hal Jordan tries teaching her how to control such a weapon, but ultimately she gets rid of the evil power ring with help from Cyborg and the Flash. Only then an actual Green Lantern Corps ring comes to her, and she joins their ranks. She also joins the Justice League eventually, but she still has doubts about her new role as a Green Lantern. She is usually able to overcome her fears, but they do still exist and I think that makes her a pretty unique character and sometimes even relatable.
Jessica made her animated debut in 2018, on the DC Super Hero Girls web-series. The franchise was launched in 2015, s the title suggests, the entire project mainly focuses on super-heroines, such as Wonder Woman (although a younger version of the character), Supergirl, Batgirl and many others, including some that are usually considered villains, such as Harley Quinn or Poison Ivy. Keep in mind this is an alternate universe where they all attend Super Hero High run by Amanda Waller and Gorilla Grodd, so pretty much anything is possible, I suppose. It is mostly aimed at a much younger audience as well as a female demographic. But that's not to say no boys or even adults are featured within the show, and I think the multitude of media that spawned from this franchise can possibly be enjoyed by just about anyone.
The season 4 premiere was a 4-part story, titled "Ring Me Maybe", which introduced Jessica and focused on her origin story. Here Jessica was voiced by Cristina Milizia and was Lois Lane's assistant camera woman (if that's the correct term - she's basically a substitute for Jimmy Olsen). She's a shy girl and it's made pretty clear from the start she is easily startled and scared about various everyday things.
The story begins with the two reporters covering the farewell party the students of Super Hero High gave Green Lantern Hal Jordan, who was about to leave to Oa in order to complete his training. A new power ring would be sent soon to find a replacement Green Lantern on Earth, while he is away. As soon as he leaves, Sinestro - not only leader of the Yellow Lantern Corps, but also headmaster of Korugar Academy - arrives to take various heroes as hostages, wishing to form a new dream team to win the Intergalactic Games competition (he lost the previous one, a story shown in one of the direct-to-video movies set within this continuity). He easily captures Starfire, Flash, Wonder Woman and Supergirl.
A power ring soon appears and seeks out Jessica, explaining she was chosen as the new Green Lantern for Earth. However she refuses to accept this, and tries getting rid of the ring in some pretty amusing ways. Batgirl eventually convinces her to believe in herself and wield the ring to stop Sinestro. Jessica reluctantly agrees, and becomes the new Green Lantern. Her design looks good enough, and I think she fits nicely alongside the other characters on the show. Notably, she wears a classic domino mask to cover her identity, rather than the eye-patch or whatever it is called she wears in the comics (and would wear in future animated projects as well).
Jessica confronts Sinestro, but her power ring constructs are not really enough to stop the villain. She creates stuff like butterflies or giant kitties (following the logic that looking at kitties sometimes calms her down). Eventually she realizes the power ring knows she can overcome her fears, and as such she creates giant constructs of her idols - Batgirl, Supergirl and Wonder Woman - to fight SInestro giant dragon construct. She manages to win, and even embarrass Sinestro by removing his yellow power ring, and leaving him in his underwear.
The other heroes welcome her as the new Green Lantern, and there's also a pretty amusing scene where Lois recognizes her as Jessica, despite her mask. I took this as a fun reversal to how Lois usually cannot tell Superman's secret identity despite him not wearing a mask at all, but to be fair, Superman never showed up on this series so things might have been different here. Besides, he's supposed to have graduated Super Hero High before the current class, and Lois still seems to be a teenager, so their relationship would probably have been a lot different. But I digress...
Jessica also joins Super Hero High, and as a result appears in a few more webisodes. However, with each webisode being only around 4 minutes long, and her not really doing anything noteworthy in her subsequent appearances, there's really not much to talk about. I did appreciate how the series gave her an actual origin story, as not too many other characters received the same treatment.
All things considered, this was a pretty good debut for Jessica's animated career. This DC Super Hero Girls version of the character was handled well enough, and is also pretty faithful to the comics. Speaking of which, I understand she also plays a pretty big role in a digital comic set within this same DCSHG continuity, titled "Spaced Out", but I have not read it, and this retrospective is supposed to focus more on her actual animated appearances. Also, all of the webisodes should still be available for viewing on the DC Super Hero Girls YouTube Channel. They're pretty entertaining and offer some good moments and neat characterizations for some of the heroes and villains featured. And like I said, I thought Jessica was handled fine here.
Also worth noting is that a new version of the DC Super Hero Girls premiered earlier this year on the Cartoon Network. While it uses the same title, pretty much the same main characters and some of the voice actors, a different crew is working on the project. The character designs are also different, and the style and tone of the show is likewise different enough to distinguish the two series. Jessica is one of the main characters here, so I will have more to talk about this show in a future article. But until then...
Next: LEGO Jessica Cruz!
Admittedly, there's not much to cover here, as the character had only a few appearances in animated projects especially considering she is a relatively recent creation from the comics, but I think there is still enough for a decent sized retrospective. While these articles may not be as detailed or well-written as some of my previous retrospectives (due to various reasons, including but not limited to time constraints), I hope you will still enjoy reading through them. And keep in mind these are just my opinions. Feel free to share your own thoughts, comments or even point out any possible errors in my write-ups below!
Jessica Cruz made her debut in 2014, in the pages of Justice League #31, and was created by Geoff Johns and Ethan Van Sciver. Interestingly enough, she was not initially chosen by a true Green Lantern power ring, but rather by an evil power ring which which belonged to the Crime Syndicate from a parallel universe. The ring located her sensing her fear (her friends were just murdered - long story). Batman helps de-activate the ring and helps Jessica overcome most of her fears. Green Lantern Hal Jordan tries teaching her how to control such a weapon, but ultimately she gets rid of the evil power ring with help from Cyborg and the Flash. Only then an actual Green Lantern Corps ring comes to her, and she joins their ranks. She also joins the Justice League eventually, but she still has doubts about her new role as a Green Lantern. She is usually able to overcome her fears, but they do still exist and I think that makes her a pretty unique character and sometimes even relatable.
Jessica made her animated debut in 2018, on the DC Super Hero Girls web-series. The franchise was launched in 2015, s the title suggests, the entire project mainly focuses on super-heroines, such as Wonder Woman (although a younger version of the character), Supergirl, Batgirl and many others, including some that are usually considered villains, such as Harley Quinn or Poison Ivy. Keep in mind this is an alternate universe where they all attend Super Hero High run by Amanda Waller and Gorilla Grodd, so pretty much anything is possible, I suppose. It is mostly aimed at a much younger audience as well as a female demographic. But that's not to say no boys or even adults are featured within the show, and I think the multitude of media that spawned from this franchise can possibly be enjoyed by just about anyone.
The season 4 premiere was a 4-part story, titled "Ring Me Maybe", which introduced Jessica and focused on her origin story. Here Jessica was voiced by Cristina Milizia and was Lois Lane's assistant camera woman (if that's the correct term - she's basically a substitute for Jimmy Olsen). She's a shy girl and it's made pretty clear from the start she is easily startled and scared about various everyday things.
The story begins with the two reporters covering the farewell party the students of Super Hero High gave Green Lantern Hal Jordan, who was about to leave to Oa in order to complete his training. A new power ring would be sent soon to find a replacement Green Lantern on Earth, while he is away. As soon as he leaves, Sinestro - not only leader of the Yellow Lantern Corps, but also headmaster of Korugar Academy - arrives to take various heroes as hostages, wishing to form a new dream team to win the Intergalactic Games competition (he lost the previous one, a story shown in one of the direct-to-video movies set within this continuity). He easily captures Starfire, Flash, Wonder Woman and Supergirl.
A power ring soon appears and seeks out Jessica, explaining she was chosen as the new Green Lantern for Earth. However she refuses to accept this, and tries getting rid of the ring in some pretty amusing ways. Batgirl eventually convinces her to believe in herself and wield the ring to stop Sinestro. Jessica reluctantly agrees, and becomes the new Green Lantern. Her design looks good enough, and I think she fits nicely alongside the other characters on the show. Notably, she wears a classic domino mask to cover her identity, rather than the eye-patch or whatever it is called she wears in the comics (and would wear in future animated projects as well).
Jessica confronts Sinestro, but her power ring constructs are not really enough to stop the villain. She creates stuff like butterflies or giant kitties (following the logic that looking at kitties sometimes calms her down). Eventually she realizes the power ring knows she can overcome her fears, and as such she creates giant constructs of her idols - Batgirl, Supergirl and Wonder Woman - to fight SInestro giant dragon construct. She manages to win, and even embarrass Sinestro by removing his yellow power ring, and leaving him in his underwear.
The other heroes welcome her as the new Green Lantern, and there's also a pretty amusing scene where Lois recognizes her as Jessica, despite her mask. I took this as a fun reversal to how Lois usually cannot tell Superman's secret identity despite him not wearing a mask at all, but to be fair, Superman never showed up on this series so things might have been different here. Besides, he's supposed to have graduated Super Hero High before the current class, and Lois still seems to be a teenager, so their relationship would probably have been a lot different. But I digress...
Jessica also joins Super Hero High, and as a result appears in a few more webisodes. However, with each webisode being only around 4 minutes long, and her not really doing anything noteworthy in her subsequent appearances, there's really not much to talk about. I did appreciate how the series gave her an actual origin story, as not too many other characters received the same treatment.
All things considered, this was a pretty good debut for Jessica's animated career. This DC Super Hero Girls version of the character was handled well enough, and is also pretty faithful to the comics. Speaking of which, I understand she also plays a pretty big role in a digital comic set within this same DCSHG continuity, titled "Spaced Out", but I have not read it, and this retrospective is supposed to focus more on her actual animated appearances. Also, all of the webisodes should still be available for viewing on the DC Super Hero Girls YouTube Channel. They're pretty entertaining and offer some good moments and neat characterizations for some of the heroes and villains featured. And like I said, I thought Jessica was handled fine here.
Also worth noting is that a new version of the DC Super Hero Girls premiered earlier this year on the Cartoon Network. While it uses the same title, pretty much the same main characters and some of the voice actors, a different crew is working on the project. The character designs are also different, and the style and tone of the show is likewise different enough to distinguish the two series. Jessica is one of the main characters here, so I will have more to talk about this show in a future article. But until then...
Next: LEGO Jessica Cruz!
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