Young Justice #16
Young Justice #16 (cover-dated January 2000) marks the debut of Empress — Anita Fite — one of the very few wholly original characters created specifically for the Young Justice series rather than imported from the broader DC Universe. Her introduction injected a genuinely fresh mythology into the book: a Haitian Vodou practitioner with martial-arts training, a fragment of the Anti-Life Equation embedded in her mind, and a family history directly tangled with the team's own antagonists, giving writer Peter David a long narrative thread to pull on across dozens of subsequent issues. The issue also lands at a pivotal dramatic hinge point in the series, closing the chapter on Arrowette's active career — she snaps her bow and vows never to hero again — while simultaneously planting the seed of her replacement, making it one of the densest single issues of roster transition in the run. As the opening tie-in to the 'Sins of Youth' build-up, it set in motion one of DC's most ambitious 2000-era crossover events, foreshadowing the generational clash between Old Justice and Young Justice that would escalate into a company-wide fifth-week event.
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We Buy Collections ▸History
The ongoing Young Justice series was written in its entirety by Peter David and drawn principally by Todd Nauck with inks by Lary Stucker — a creative partnership that held from the 1998 launch through the book's 2003 conclusion. Issue #16 arrived roughly sixteen months into that run, at a point when David was deliberately cycling the roster: Arrowette had been pushed to a psychological breaking point across the preceding arc, and Empress was designed from scratch as an original character — as were Secret and Empress herself — to give the series its own identity distinct from a simple sidekick roundup. The issue also marks the start of the 'Sins of Youth' prelude sequence, with issues #16 through #19 serving as acknowledged tie-ins leading into the March 2000 fifth-week crossover event. Young Justice Book Two, a DC trade paperback, collects issues #8–17 and includes this issue alongside the Young Justice 80-Page Giant and Young Justice in No Man's Land.
Trivia · 8 facts
- First appearance of Empress (Anita Fite), created by writer Peter David and artist Todd Nauck; cover-dated January 2000.
- Empress's civilian name, Anita Fite, is an intentional pun on 'I need a fight,' and her in-universe nickname 'Empress' originates from her mother calling her a 'little empress' as a child.
- Empress enters the story by saving Wonder Girl (Cassie Sandsmark) from a life-threatening poisonous snakebite — her first act in the DC Universe.
- The issue's story is titled 'Aftermath': Superboy and Wonder Girl take a distraught Arrowette (Cissie King-Jones) to the mall after she nearly killed the murderer of her therapist; Cissie stops a robber but then snaps her bow and permanently retires as Arrowette.
- Simultaneously, Old Justice members — including Dan the Dyna-Mite, Merry the Gimmick Girl, and Doiby Dickles — testify before a Senate subcommittee calling for Young Justice to be shut down, while Red Tornado orders all team activities suspended.
- Anita Fite is the daughter of Donald Fite, an agent of the All-Purpose Enforcement Squad (A.P.E.S.) who had spent much of the series hounding the team — a narrative irony David built toward her eventual full membership in issue #25.
- Issue #16 is listed as the opening tie-in of the 'Sins of Youth' reading order, with issues #16–19 serving as the direct prologue to the March 2000 fifth-week crossover event written by Peter David.
- Collected in Young Justice Book Two (DC trade paperback), which reprints issues #8–17 along with related specials.
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Reprinted in Young Justice #6 (2000), Young Justice #2 (2018)
Key issues in Young Justice
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