Common Denominators

"Common Denominators" is the 17th issue of the official Young Justice spin-off comic series. It was released on May 30, 2012.

Solicitation

 * Robin, Kid Flash and Artemis fight crime with their adult counterparts!
 * Guest starring Batman, The Flash and Green Arrow!
 * First part of a new storyline.

Tagline: Heroes and Mentors

Synopsis
Green Arrow and Artemis are on patrol when they spot the tampered security systems on the Star City World History Museum. They go in, but are ambushed by a group of heavily armed robbers. One female robber takes a snake dagger from its display.

Green Arrow uses a flash arrow to blind his opponents, but the leader gets away. Artemis tries to stop her with a oil slick arrow, but it stops only her last two henchmen. They make it to the roof, where the woman boards a helicopter. Green Arrow shoots a tracer arrow at it, but it's discovered and deactivated. Artemis reveals her oil slick had microbeads with GPS trackers in them, allowing them to track the thief after all.

Flash called in Kid Flash to help him with escaped animals. They round up a cheetah that had been running wild in the city, and then save bystanders in the Central City Zoo from being trampled. With the people safe, they herd the animals together and create a ditch around them to contain them.

Two guards arrive to tranquilize the animals, and notify the heroes there's something wrong in the reptile center lab. They find it crawling with monkeys, but manage to store them all in a pen. They return to the lab, because Flash had noticed something missing: a sample of concentrated cobra venom. Kid Flash notices a footprint, size twenty-four at least, and discovers it contains a pollen not native to the Central City area. He suggests his mentor analyze it in his lab.

Jason Burr is working in the Gotham City Observatory when he is attacked from behind and sedated. A large man carries him out, but they are discovered by Batman and Robin. The dynamic duo try to stop them, by swinging in the orerry and crashing several of its planets on top of the criminals. Batman is knocked out when the big thug, still bearing their target, knocks a planet at him. Robin tries to attack him from behind, but the criminal lands a punch in his face.

When they come to, the large thug and Dr. Burr are gone. Batman tries to stop the other henchmen from taking a pill, but is too late. Robin stops one, and Batman interrogates him

The three heroes and their protégés convene in the basement of a Wayne Enterprises-owned hotel, the location of the local Zeta-Tube. They compare notes, and with the tracker, the analysis of the pollen and the interrogation, they've all learned the culprits are in Minneapolis. Specifically, an abandoned new age temple, purchased by Kobra recently. They discover Kobra has placed his twin brother on an altar, ready to sacrifice them in the name of their gods.

Title
A common denominator is an attribute shared by a group of people. In this case, Kid Flash, Artemis and Robin all team up with their mentors, and Kobra and Jason Burr are twin brothers (with roughly the same name). Also, both Artemis and Kid Flash's segments end with them saying they had good teachers, referring to their mentors.

Characters
! colspan="3"| Non-speaking roles
 * colspan="3"| Artemis
 * colspan="3"| Batman
 * colspan="3"| Flash
 * colspan="3"| Green Arrow
 * colspan="3"| Kid Flash
 * colspan="3"| Robin
 * colspan="3"| Unnamed police officers
 * colspan="3"| Green Arrow
 * colspan="3"| Kid Flash
 * colspan="3"| Robin
 * colspan="3"| Unnamed police officers
 * colspan="3"| Robin
 * colspan="3"| Unnamed police officers
 * colspan="3"| Unnamed police officers
 * colspan="2"| Jason Burr
 * colspan="3"| Kobra
 * colspan="3"| Mammoth
 * colspan="3"| Shimmer
 * colspan="3"| Unnamed Kobra thugs
 * colspan="3"| Mammoth
 * colspan="3"| Shimmer
 * colspan="3"| Unnamed Kobra thugs
 * colspan="3"| Shimmer
 * colspan="3"| Unnamed Kobra thugs
 * colspan="3"| Unnamed Kobra thugs

Continuity

 * The events of this issue partially coincide with the events of Young Justice #15.
 * Kid Flash mentions Superboy's aversion for monkeys, which started in "Haunted".

Trivia

 * Number 16: Kid Flash and Flash round up escaped zoo animals at 16:39 CDT.
 * The Batman and Robin segment of the cover is based on a classic Carmine Infantino/Murphy Anderson pin-up.
 * A five page preview of this issue was featured in DC Nation Flipbook, a Free Comic Book Day issue published on May 5, 2012.

Goofs

 * The Gotham City timestamp is labeled "Pacific Daylight Time" instead of Eastern.
 * Jason Burr's imperial beard is miscolored in fleshtone.

Cultural references

 * Flash says he "was CSI before anyone knew what CSI stood for", possibly referring to all the CSI series that popularized the term.
 * The Wayne Industries hotel is based on the DoubleTree by Hilton Hotel Bloomington – Minneapolis South, the site of CONvergence.
 * The Cult of the Kobra's ritual involving twins takes place in Minneapolis which is one of Minnesota's twin cities.
 * The "Next issue" text is based on the nursery rhyme "What Are Little Boys Made Of?".

Unanswered questions

 * What does Kobra want to do with Jason Burr?