Story: "Comedy of Eras" (38 Pages)

Credits:

Dan Abnett and Andy Lanning (plot, script)
Todd Nauck (pencils)
Ray Snyder and Terry Austin and Randy Emberlin and Jaime Mendoza and Walden Wong and John Stokes (inks)
John E. Workman (letters)
Tom McCraw Digital Chameleon (color seperations)
Eddie Berganza (edits)

Feature Characters:

Superboy (last in Superboy Vol. 3 #88, next in Action Comics #779)
Wonder Girl II (last in Superboy Vol. 3 #88, next in Wonder Woman Vol. 2 #171)
Robin III
Empress
Impulse
Secret (all four last in Superboy Vol. 3 #88, next in Young Justice #35)

Supporting Characters:

L'il Lobo (last in last in Superboy Vol. 3 #88, next in Young Justice #35)

Villains:

Imperiex
Brainiac-13

Guest Appearances:

Liri Lee (last in Superman: Our Worlds at War Secret Files #1/1)
Oracle
Nightwing II (both simultaneously with Nightwing: Our Worlds at War #1)
Tharok
Mano
Emerald Empress
Validus
Persuader (latter five as the Fatal Five)
M'onel
XS
Apparition
Sparx
Star Boy
Ultra Boy
Saturn Girl
Cosmic Boy
Umbra
Chameleon
Invisible Kid
ERG-1
Quantum Kid II
Brainiac 5 (latter fourteen as the Legion of Super-Heroes)
Mordru
Waverider

Comment: In the year 2020, various heroes are seen on the JLA viewscreens in a possible (at the time) future, which will not now occur. These heroes were: Robin III, Superboy, Wonder Girl II, Secret, Empress, Lobo, Green Lantern (Kyle Rayner), Troia, Dr Fate IV, Lagoon Boy, the Ray II, Tempest II, Power Girl, Changeling, Argent, Warrior, the Atom II, Plastic Man, Captain Marvel Jr, Damage and the Star-Spangled Kid II.

Synopsis:

As Young Justice confront Superboy over his invasion of government property, Liri Lee arrives and charges them with a mission to seek out and destroy a 'renegade artificial intelligence' elsewhen in the timestream, giving Robin a temporal compass to guide them to their destination. Whipped into the timestream, L'il Lobo wrests the temporal compass from Robin, accidentally resetting the co-ordinates and landing them in 16th century Mexico, where hi-tech Aztecs capture Young Justice and intend to sacrifice them to their sun-god. However, the team has little difficulty in breaking their bonds, and when the Secret blocks out the sun, the Aztecs' solar-powered robotic leader stops dead in its tracks. Superboy takes the compass and sends them through time again...

They land in the far future where Brainiac-13's robotic forces are fighting a war. Caught in the crossfire between Brainiac's forces and some other beings, Impulse grabs the temporal compass to get them out of danger... They find themselves once more in the future, but in a fairly close future - the ruined JLA watchtower in 2020. Activating video feeds from Earth they see themselves (minus Impulse) fighting alongside other heroes against the beings that B-13's forces fought in the further future. These beings burrow into the Earth at various points, causing it to explode. In order to keep them all alive, Wonder Girl activates the temporal compass...

The team find themselves in the year 3044, confronted by the Fatal Five and M'onel, who explains that the Legion of Super-Heroes are working with their enemies to defeat Imperiex probes across the galaxy, co-ordinated by a merged Brainiac-5 and Brainiac-13. Leaving things in the Legion's capable hands, Robin finally regains control of the temporal compass. They then find themselves in a place beyond time, a computerised universe. Here they are met by Waverider who tells them that Brainiac-13 has remade the future in his own image and must be stopped before all natural life is wiped out completely. However, their experiences have shown the team that Brainiac-13 is on the right side against Imperiex, who duly shows up in the current moment. They have little success fighting Imperiex, so they send a warning back in time to Brainiac-13, who awakes to battle his nemesis. As he rips into Imperiex and an explosion becomes imminent, Robin sees that their job is done, and brings the team back to what they know as the present.