Anonymous writes...

In Secrets three freshman attempt to leave the Halloween party, only to be told to go back inside by Marvin. The freashman are dressed as Captain Atom, Aquaman, and Wonder Girl. As seen here

http://namtab.com/aquablog/yjsecrets13.gif

1. Is the Wonder Girl costume a tribute or shout out to Donna Troy?

2. Is that costume what Donna would have worn at some point?

Kaitlyn (again!) writes...

Hi again,

I read in the guidelines to submit different posts involving different subjects, so I have another question, one that isn't as, for lack of better terms, serious as the other!

Throughout the Young Justice series, I was always wondering why you had the Kid Flash and Artemis pairing as opposed to the Kid Flash and Linda Park one. I honestly enjoy the 'Spitfire' pairing more (actually, I LOVE this pairing. I'm going down with this ship, Mr. Weisman xD), so I'm definitely not complaining that Linda wasn't added to the cast. I was just curious as to why you chose to add a Wally and Artemis pairing.

hmmaster writes...

Hey Greg! I want to thank you gain for your awesome career. Basically every single show that you have ever worked on in some capacity has been awesome, which is a track record that should get you plenty of work in the future.

My question is sort of a roundabout one. You did a Google hangout talk with a few of the popular YouTube reviewers of Young Justice over the summer, and something came up that piqued my interest. One of the topics was going to be what a potential season 3 might look like, what kinds of storylines that we could expect to see (or want to see). You stopped the discussions before it could start because of legal reasons, so I was wondering what that entails.

Is it the same rule that makes you incapable of reading fanfiction if you wanted? Like, if I or someone else were to ask a question regarding a list of what storylines we wanted to see, would you be incapable of even acknowledging said list? Would you just give a usual response of a spoiler request if you did acknowledge it? Would that list then make you incapable of using any of those storylines if you answered the question? Does it all fall under the same legal umbrella?

(I apologize if that isn't very clear)

Anonymous writes...

In Young Justice #15 Ronal creates a fish when battling Ocean Master. During the battle his tattoos, or skin icons are visible. As shown here

http://namtab.com/aquablog/youngjustice15pg16.gif

Kaldur's tattoos, or skin icons are eels.

What type of tattoos, or skin icons does Ronal have?

Food writes...

All these questions are related to food.

1. In comics it said that superman dosent require food as he can live off entirely on solar energy. Is this same case for Earth 16 Superman and to an extent Superboy?

2. Do Maritians need food? I'd imagine that on mars, their diets would probaley be different than humans, but do their shapeshifting powers allow to them compensate for lack of nutrition?

3. In the series, Wally's suit had a pocket where he kept emergency food. Now first I have to say that's a pretty clever way to deal with Wally's speedy metabolism weakness. I also assume that Flash and Impulse have a food rations on them as well in case of emergencies, so what exactly is the food they eat? I can't imagine it being anything gourmet or something that could easily get destroyed or cause a mess. I (personally) would probably think of it as similar to the rations they give in the military.

4. Do other heroes like Batman or Green arrow keep emergency food rations as well? I mean in most versions, Batman tends to keep himself pretty busy with both his hero and wayne industry work, so he dosnet get that much sleep. So I suppose if he's on some long mission, he probaley would need stop and eat something at one point. The thought occurs to me when I think of the Batman Arkham game series, where Batman is trapped inside Arkham Asylum for at least 10 hours and dosnet eat anything. Now obviously that's just a game dynamic so its not a big deal, but considering how well written Young Justice is I would wonder when and how the heros get a chance to eat and basically recover some energy.

5. I lied. This last question isn't about food. After the events of Misplaced, was the Zeta Tube computer updated to recognise Billy Baston?

Raphael writes...

Hi Greg, I wrote many months ago about the correct episode order for Gargoyles. I actually live in Australia so getting Gargoyles Season 2 Vol. 2 is hard and because I know I won't be able to finish it, I haven't watched all of what I have of Gargoyles yet. That information wasn't really needed but I figured I would put it there as a precursor to saying I'm practically obsessive about The Spectacular Spider-Man, (as a Spider-Man fan like yourself, albeit a much narrower breadth of knowledge as I am only a teenager) love Young Justice, particularly the second season, and am enjoying Gargoyles (I think I'm only just past City of Stone, which was epic in the literal sense) and Star Wars Rebels, that twist in 'Rise of the Old Masters' in particular was really well crafted, which as I write this is six episodes or seven episodes in, I'm slightly behind.
Before I get started, I want to make it clear that whatever I say in my first question, I have no intention to argue with you about what you put in the show as others have been about Wally West at the time I write this. I actually have a few different questions on Young Justice, one on The Spectacular Spider-Man and one about you which are split up and these two paragraphs sort of serve as an introduction to all of it.
1. I'm fairly certain there's an undeniable change of pacing and generally a slight tinkering in the type of storytelling from the first season of Young Justice to the second. In the first season the episodes were relatively self contained episodes that contributed to larger character arcs but in the second season almost every episode, if not every episode, contributed to a constant driving narrative. I've noticed something like this in all of your shows, between their first and second seasons before they all were sadly cancelled. Gargoyles felt like its first season set up the character dynamics and world before the second season expanded its universe, probably due to such a large episode order. And The Spectacular Spider-Man felt like it just grew more confident and ambitious. If you don't think these assessments are correct I'd be very different to hear why your shows evolved. I believe Young Justice evolved the most though. Was that planned from the start or was the show readjusted due to what direction you and the rest thought the show could best move in? Or was it some external factor like a change in writing staff, or a smaller amount of episode? In conclusion, why was the show's overall pacing changed? And if you think I've answered my own question can you elaborate?
2. Was there any break in production? I know there wasn't much space between the airing of Young Justice's first season and its second, but did you have any break between seasons?
3. I'm not sure if this has been asked before, and it seems like a fairly obvious question so I apologize if it has been, but how far into production of season 2 of Young Justice, if at all, did you know it was your last season and how sure were you? When I say you I mean everyone who worked on the show.

Cameron02 writes...

1.How physically strong are martians in the earth-16 universe?
2.Can they pick up cars or trucks?
3.Can they reverse their density-shifting to make them stronger and more durable?
-Great show by the way :D

Arden Rose writes...

Hello Greg,big fan of your work. My question is; Robin (Dick Grayson) seemed to me to have a slight stutter sometimes when he spoke in the series. I was wondering if it was because if you were going the comic book route that English was his second language and Romani his first. If it was the intention to have Jesse McCartney sometimes struggle through the lines or if it was a different intention entirely? Thank you so much for an awesome series. I hope you can answer my question.

haters gonna hate. writes...

sir,
I think that you'll find that you have been answering SPOILER to many Young Justice questions. I thought the show had finished. technically you cannot spoil that which is over. in saying SPOILERS, you are implying that Young Justice is in fact not over. thank you. also. how much more protesting/ buying of merchandise will it take to bring back Young Justice?

Anonymous writes...

Mr. Weisman,

I hate to be the bearer of bad news. In "The Multiversity: The Just #1", your "Young Justice" universe apparently only exists as a video game series on Grant Morrison's Earth-16.

How screwed up is that?! I would have to assume that if you plan to come back to "Young Justice," you'd probably reboot the series on yet another parallel Earth (perhaps one of the seven intentionally unknown parallel Earths in the new 52 DC multiverse)?

Cameron02 writes...

Are the earth-16 martian power set telekinesis,telepathy,shape-shifting,camouflage,super-strength, flight,Density-shifting, and durability?

Claude writes...

1) If someone were to use the zeta tube to go out and at the same time someone is trying to go in (let's say that the others are busy ) what happens? Who gets priority?
2) Do atlateans eat sea food ? Or is that like taboo?
3) How do atlateans ummm... "take care of their business"? I mean being under water would be a great medium for bacteria (enteric bacteria) or especially trematodes. Is it done by ~magic~
4)So why did the blue scarab used "cease" and when Jaime asked what it meant by that we get no response? Was that suppose to be a tease?
5) how are you ? :) and thank you!

Just a Nerd writes...

Not so much a question as something interesting for anyone who feels up to it. Quizzes of EVERY character in YJ and Gargoyles. Go nuts.

http://www.sporcle.com/games/Clever_Username/every-young-justice-character

http://www.sporcle.com/games/Masterdramon/gargoyles_characters

Gabriel writes...

Hey, I just wanted to ask if you've seen the first two episodes of The Flash and what you thought of it? I really enjoyed Young Justice and just finished it and it's such a shame it was cancelled I hope you get to continue the story soon because I could see it being just as good or even better than The Justice league.

Anonymous writes...

Mr. Weisman,

Have you read "The Multiversity: The Just" yet? If so, then what are your thoughts about this issue, considering it uses the same designation (Earth-16) as the setting of the "Young Justice" TV series? Do you feel this could create any problems for you if you ever decide to go back to "Young Justice" someday?

Dale writes...

Did Garfield ever meet Rita Farr before Marie's death by Queen Bee?

Andres writes...

I love YJ awesome work between YJ and Geoff Johns work on Aquaman in new 52 I have renewed interest in the character and has become my favorite of the New 52 comics. Aqualad is the best created tv superhero character ever is my opinion. Watched a few episodes recently and I have just one question. In season is established that Aqualad is one of the more experienced and powerful members of YJ but in season 1 he is defeated soundly by Chester but by season 2 Kaldur is taking on half of YJ and holding his own and taking out Superboy with a couple of blows even after Superboy advancing in fight technique with instruction by Black Canary. Is this simple progression of fighting ability or increase in power?

Anonymous writes...

Hi Greg. I have a question about female heroes in the YJ universe, I hope it doesn't venture into spoiler territory.

The Team had a solid male-female ratio. The League considerably less, with 3/16 and later 5/25. Wonder Woman even mentions this inbalance in "Agendas".

My question is: what was the ratio in the JSA/A-SS? Wonder Woman was a member, as was "Firebrand", but were there any female heroes operating at the time? Obviously, there was no Black Canary yet in this timeline, but were there any other women? Or was it mainly a boys' club?

Kane writes...

Why did the rest of the world let count Vertigo escape justice when he threatened them all?

Cameron02 writes...

How strong are martians in Earth-16

Dave writes...

Couple questions regarding Wonder Woman in Young Justice:
1.) You said previously that you can't age while on Themyscara, but if Diana was sculpted from clay as a baby how did she age to being 16 by the time she left the island in 1941?
2.) Was Hippolyta the only one that was involved in Diana's sculpting from clay or were others involved?
3.) Were all the amazons sculpted from clay or just Diana?
4.) Did the gods bestow Diana with her powers at birth, or did she receive them later in her life?
5.) Why did she decide to return to mans world again in 2001?

ND writes...

Hello,

this it to clarify. According to some fans, Tula was a b*** because she betrayed Kaldur for his best friend, and Garth betrayed his best friend because he started dating Tula even though he knew Kaldur was in love with her.

According to some other fans, Tula had never been Kaldur's girlfriend so she didn't cheat, and neither Garth, nor Tula knew Kaldur had feelings for her so no one did anything really horrible.

Please, what really happened?

Anonymous writes...

1. As of Season One which Leaguers civilian identities were known to the entire Team?

2. At what point in time did Green Arrow tell Artemis his secret identity?

Anonymous writes...

1. Were Aqualad and Rocket still dating when Jason joined the Team?

2. Did they break up sometime after Jason's death?

3. Were Dick and Zatanna still dating when Jason joined the Team?

4. Did they break up sometime after Jason's death?

ND writes...

Hello,

How long can Atlanteans survive out of water?

Have a great day!

Yojimbo writes...

1) In "Happy New Year," when was Adam Strange's first trip to Rann relative to when Martian Manhunter introduced him at the Watchtower (i.e. 2 months, 2 weeks, 2 days)?

2) How long was Tseng replaced by a Krolotean or was the switch done at the same time as the events of the "Players" arc in the last issues of the comic?

3) In "War", who was the other tyrant that replaced Mongul from as ruler of his planet or was that in the plans to reveal who he/she was given enough episodes/comics/games?

4) In "Usual Suspects", were Lex Luthor, Queen Bee, and Sportsmaster going to take Superboy, Miss Martian, and Artemis to the start work on the Atabey's Shrine project on Santa Prisca (later visited in "Legacy")?

5) In "Insecurity", what did Bernell Jones do to be up for assassination by the League of Shadows?

Gillian writes...

When Garfield became totally green did from Miss Martian's blood transfusion did Garfield start to age slower? He looks younger than 13 to 14 year old in season two?

Nicholas Griel writes...

Where is Belle Rev penitentiary located? Geographically.

Anonymous writes...

1. Do the Guardians of Oa approve of romantic relationships between Green Lanterns?

2. Is being romantically involved with another Green Lantern forbidden?

3. Have romantic relationships between two Green Lanterns ever happened in the history of the Green Lantern Corps?

Algernon writes...

You've often said that a good villain should serve as a dark reflection/contrast to the hero. Is that one of the reasons you choose Vandal Savage as one of Young Justices's Big Bads? Pitting the young heroes of the DC Universe against a character who is literally the World's Oldest Supervillain?

Anonymous writes...

Do magic potions exist in the young justice universe?

Anonymous writes...

If Lex was willing to reprogram SB from Queen Bee's comment that they were going to give him a few adjustments why didn't he just kidnap him when he used red sun the first time? Was he that confident that he could convince Superboy to work for him willingly?

Flynn writes...

If Queen Bee's pheromones only work on humans who are attracted to women, do they work on Superboy because he's half-human, or do they not because he's half-kryptonian?

Masterdramon writes...

CONVERGENCE 2014 CON REPORT

DAY 5 AND DAY 6

……………

SUNDAY, JULY 6
11:00 AM CDT

A few things happened in this hour, all of which I tried to get done as quickly as possible to make it in time for most of Greg's first panel of the day: "Protofeminists in Shakespeare."

The main thing was picking up my one successful acquisition from the charity auction: a coffee cup that Chris Jones had used at CONvergence 2013, with the caption…well, I'll just let the image speak for itself:

https://twitter.com/ChrisJonesArt/status/485468921923788800

I had, naturally, bid on the thing as a lark - more or less solely for the reason of being able to say I did. But apparently nobody else at the con shared my particular sens d'humour, because I was the only one who bid. So while I lost out on all the posters and plushies and whatnot that I actually WANTED…Chris Jones' residual DNA was mine.

Which should make the reason for my hurrying clear, I think. Because Chris was doing his final signing of the weekend right at that moment…and if I was gonna be known as the guy who paid $5 for his coffee cup, then I figured I might as well MILK it.

So in addition to getting my "Recruits" print signed, I asked Chris to go ahead and personalize the cup; perhaps, with something that'd commemorate just how crazy I was to pay ANY amount of money for a used coffee cup.

And that is how the cup signed to "Krazy Kevin" that can be seen in the Flickr photos I linked in my first post came to be.

Anyway, with all that out of the way and my farewells said to Chris, I headed back into the Edina room for the aforementioned panel. I'd caught the first ten minutes or so while I was waiting for Chris' line to shorten, and overall I managed not to miss more than about 5-6 minutes, thankfully.

The conversation itself was really quite fascinating - an intelligent, scintillating discussion on some of my favorite of the Bard's plays and characters. It reminded me of being back in college, actually…y'know, in a good way.

This was also where I first learned, through Greg's discussion of the strong women in Will's life and the influence that might've had in how he wrote female characters, what the premise of "Doc Shakespeare" would've been. I'd heard the name bandied about on Ask Greg for years, but I never knew what it was ABOUT.

But now I do. And I want it to exist so very badly. Damn you, Greg Weisman.

I asked one question myself, though as it was at the tail-end of the panel there wasn't much time to really go into depth with it. My question was whether the backlash that "The Merchant of Venice" receives - rightfully - in the modern day over issues of race diminishes Portia's status as a "protofeminist" character (seriously, she spends pretty much the entirety of the final act making everyone else in the play her bitch). The answer Greg gave was that being a feminist character is not mutually exclusive with being a terrible person…and considering he's written for Demona, Nerissa, and Queen Bee, he certainly can say he knows what he's talking about.

A fun discussion, overall, that gave me a lot to think about - something that's been increasingly rare for me since I graduated last May, unfortunately.

……………

SUNDAY, JULY 6
12:30 PM CDT

The last of the numerous, numerous events dedicated to Gargoyles that weekend was this "Gargoyles Fan Panel," composed of a mix of creators, long-time fans, and newer ones.

This one felt a lot more like the Harry Potter "panel" that'd started my weekend than anything else: an intensely, unabashedly geeky outpouring of gushing about how awesome the show was and still is, except with Greg Weisman happening to also be there.

I mean, Jennifer and Karine were up on the panel as well, but it was clearly in more of the capacity of "promoted fans" than as industry professionals. As Karine's epic Hunter cosplay made evident. :)

Favorite moments, episodes, characters; moments that made us laugh, and moments that made us cry; two decades' worth of stories of people discovering, falling in love with, and continuing to enjoy the series, even years after the last piece of canon material was published. All of it was shared, compared, and squeed upon in short order, in a space that felt perfectly safe to fans of all stripes.

Nothing new really came up, but it didn't have to. After a full weekend of bombshells and revelations, it felt good to kick back with the rest of the fandom and just CELEBRATE this show that has meant so much to all of us.

It's been a fantastic 20 years. And this mini-gathering was a great way to welcome many more to come.

……………

SUNDAY, JULY 6
2:00 PM CDT

This was the last space open for walking around that was really available before the end of the con, and I took advantage of it for one final walk around Artist's Alley and the Dealer's Room. And for the first time since Thursday, I did indeed find some art I felt was worth spending my money on: a couple of prints based on Vinyl Scratch from "My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic," and a collage of various villains from the same.

Heading back upstairs, I wandered over for the final Gargoyles-themed signing to make my last rounds. Ironically, despite getting over a dozen items signed across the course of the con by him, I had nothing left for Greg Weisman (indeed, all I ended up getting at that time were Greg Guler's and Frank Paur's autographs to complete my radio play script).

But I said goodbye to all of them, and wished them well on their flights back home. Though ironically, it actually WOULDN'T end up being my last time speaking with one of them that weekend (but I'll leave that little nugget until the end).

Anyway, most of the rest of this time was spent waiting in line for the next panel, as it was taking place on the Main Stage and we wanted to be sure to grab good seats. Which we definitely did.

I spent most of it chatting with Brainiac, Chip, and Bookwyrm on numerous topics, from Yu-Gi-Oh! to classic video games to various anime.

But eventually, it was time for one last chance to grill the Wise Man for details. And oh, did we take advantage it.

……………

SUNDAY, JULY 6
3:30 PM CDT

This was the last actual "panel" of the day, but was certainly a great one to go out on: "Young Justice Q&A," with Greg, Chris, and Marina.

There were lots of details big and small dropped here, though there were just as many spoiler requests denied with the now memetic line. This naturally came full-circle when someone asked if Stephanie Brown would be showing up again; I mean c'mon, dude, what'd you EXPECT in response to that question? ;)

Of course, I got largely the same response when asking about the circumstances of Ocean-Master's disgrace, banking - obviously unsuccessfully - that he might be willing to share more about events that occurred during the timeskip by this point.

Still, he did at least share one little tidbit: that the reason Orm never got an episode to himself to be the Big Bad was because the "Under the Surface…Here There Be Monsters" two-parter from the tie-in comics was originally meant to be the A-plot of "Downtime," but the executives nixed it for some reason.

It worked out well enough, since subbing in Black Manta allowed them to build on that appearance in Season 2. But I still would've loved to hear Roger Craig Smith belting out Ocean-Master's great lines from those issues, which remain my favorite story from the comics run.

Other "SPOILER REQUEST; NO COMMENT" earners included Shining Knight (considering that one version in the original comics was married to Firebrand, AKA Red Inferno) and the aforementioned Steph. After a few of these, Chris was quick to re-term the panel "Young Justice Q, no A."

All kidding aside, though, there were a number of interesting details presented. When asked about the process of selecting the members of the Light, for example, Greg noted that he was tired of villain team-ups that essentially "defeated themselves" through infighting. As such, he wanted the Light's leaders to be characters whose temperaments would allow them to genuinely collude and work together toward a singular vision, without the constant mistrust and backstabbing previous comics/adaptations have taught us to expect.

Well…maybe except Klarion. But he can at least be kept in line with shiny new toys, LOL.

Speaking of Klarion, Greg also mentioned - in response to a very nice cosplayer of the Witch-Boy, stuffed Teekl included - that the reason he chose Klarion as a member of the Light was because he felt the main villains of "Young" Justice really should be composed of at least one kid (in appearance and disposition, if not literally.

Greg also dropped the bomb that he'd slipped a rather major YJ spoiler into the radio play, which he was EXTREMELY surprised nobody had asked him about to that point. Cue us all jumping to our scripts and flipping through without success…proving beyond a shadow of a doubt that I am selectively blind.

It wasn't until a few days after I'd returned home and reread the script that it became insanely, excruciatingly obvious; the spoiler was clearly in Tigress' line, "I left Roy at home alone watching Lian and J.W." Which I'd noted as a little odd every single time I read it, and then somehow promptly forgot about (several times in a row!) in the midst of all the action.

Not that it would've helped me much, of course, had I figured it out while I was still there. Because if my theory about the identity of "J.W." is accurate, then there is NO WAY IN HELL Greg would ever comment one way or the other on it.

At least, not without some serious pie-making skillz that I, unfortunately, sorely lack. ;)

Marina was (as always) an enormous hoot at this panel, butting into various topics to note that we were "the quietest and best behaved" audience of fans she'd ever seen…as well as that we tended to ask much more intelligent questions than she is used to. As she put it:

"If I get asked 'What's it like to work with Sir Patrick?' one more time…"

She also mentioned, when asked about her thought process in approaching the character of Queen Bee, that when she was initially cast she looked up the wrong reference image and actually thought she'd be playing a…well, a bee-person. So she asked during recording whether they wanted her to add a buzzing sound to her voice. XD

And finally, at one point she ended up going off on a random tangent involving comparing David Xanatos to Donald Trump (context has long since eluded me, though it didn't take much for Marina to go off-topic in the most delightful way). Greg took mock-offense to that, and she quickly noted:

"Of course not. Xanatos is much smarter. And he has better hair."

Since the topic we'd started at was the Light, I then couldn't help but shout from the crowd:

"SO DOES LEX LUTHOR!"

That got a lot of laughs. It was definitely one of my favorite exchanges of the con, and a great way to move toward finally wrapping it up.

……………

SUNDAY, JULY 6
5:00 PM CDT

This was it. The final hurrah. One last celebration of everything this weekend had meant to us, with a chance for the "actors" to take their bows before the "curtains" came down.

After we filtered out of the Main Stage, Chip and his brothers elected to return to the hotel room, while Brainiac and I got back in line to await the Closing Ceremonies.

There really wasn't any more reason to walk around - the artists and dealers were packing up, the panels were over and done with, and we'd run all the errands we needed to (such as grabbing a couple items we'd picked up for Station 8's Algernon, who lives in Ireland and as such couldn't be with us that weekend). So we mostly just stood around and continued to chatter on about video games.

Brainiac was the only one of us who'd attended the Opening Ceremonies (I was busy watching Madoka at the time), so he had a bit more of an idea what to expect than I did.

The festivities started with a sort of elaborate skit involving superheroes, hobbits, and Time Lords…little of which I understood, and almost none of which I found particularly interesting. But there were some good lines here and there, and I certainly didn't begrudge the con's organizers the chance to take a victory lap and enjoy the fruits of their hard work.

The guests would each be individually presented and celebrated at a later point, but as Marina had to catch an early flight she came on shortly after the skit to say her goodbyes. And to my surprise, after seeing her in all her frankness and bluntness (meant only in the best possible way, I assure you!) all throughout that weekend, she was…overwhelmed.

With not even the slightest trace of snark, she thanked us from the bottom of her heart for making her feel so welcome. And she made it clear that, while she wouldn't have considered coming to CONvergence without Greg recommending it, she was extremely glad that she did.

Okay…so there was a LITTLE snark. Namely that when saying goodbye to Connie, she actually started to tear up, and blamed our favorite robotic mascot for making her makeup run. But it was all in good humor, and I won't lie - it warmed my own heart to see it unfold.

Speaking of Connie, I really came to fall in love with that cute little gynoid as the Ceremonies unfolded, as she interrupted the ongoing presentation repeatedly to complain about traffic laws and the DMV; it WAS her Sweet Sixteen, after all. Her material was pretty much all pure gold, and it made me kind of regret not attending Opening Ceremonies, if only to see what she might've come up with.

Anyway, while every Guest of Honor got thanked and applauded by name - complete with Chris Jones-created logos for each one - Greg's was a bit more…involved.

One of the con organizers mentioned that Greg had shattered their record for total numbers of panels sat at a single con, with a whopping 26! A clearly exhausted but excited Greg then took the stage to give a great speech about how grateful he was that CONvergence had so graciously opened itself up to the Gargoyles fandom for our little "con within a con"…going so far as to say that, with the Gatherings retired for the foreseeable future, CONvergence was without question his favorite con to attend.

Then, in what can only be described as a grand exercise in good-natured humiliation, said organizer had Greg play a very weird game to guess the total attendance number for the weekend. Various people were holding up signs with various digits, and Greg had to determine which four to use and what order to put them in.

Obviously, the odds were pretty strongly against him getting it with only one shot, and indeed he did not. But it was certainly entertaining - if more than a little bit strange - to watch him make his best attempt.

And for the most part, that was it. There was lots more applause, both for the guests and for the numerous, wonderful volunteers. There were slide shows and videos from the con, including both the rather unfortunate picture of "the role of Lexington will henceforth be played by PILLAR" and the much nicer one of me "on stage" with Marina. There was more Connie, interviewing various congoers in her uniquely cheerful style.

And finally, there was the announcement of CONvergence 2015's theme, which will apparently be run by Connie's totally trustworthy "little sister" Connie Mk. II on account of good behavior. The maniacal laughter and crowd-chanting of "All hail Mk. II!" that followed were only mildly disconcerting.

I haven't yet made up my mind about whether I'm going to try to attend again; I had an unbelievably amazing time, and 2015's "dystopia" theme is right up my alley ("1984" is my favorite book of all time). But scrounging the money for even this year was difficult enough, so I'm not counting anything as a guarantee yet.

Still…I'm thinking about it. And that definitely means they did SOMETHING right.

……………

SUNDAY, JULY 6
6:00 PM CDT

We were informed during Closing Ceremonies that free pizza would be coming shortly, so Brainiac elected to stick around and wait for that. I, on the other hand, was absolutely starving after four days of eating basically only one meal of substance each, and so decided to return to TGI Friday's and splurge a bit.

This was a mistake.

I'll spare the gory details and just say that I had a wonderful ribeye steak that just so happened to give me severe food poisoning, which took me nearly two weeks to fully recover from.

Not that I realized it at the time, of course. After my dinner, I returned to the con to meet up with the rest of the gang - Chip and Dragonlord having returned due to the promise of pizza. We had a last round of chatting with other congoers and saying goodbye to the Doubletree as we waited, before finally driving back to spend our final evening together.

With all the action over with, we occupied ourselves with more Yu-Gi-Oh!, a few rounds of "Super Smash Bros. Brawl" (all of which I won handily, suck it Brainiac), and general geeking out about our various hauls.

Those still hungry ended up ordering in calzones for delivery, while I headed to the Crowne Plaza's business center so I could check my e-mail and Skype one time before takeoff.

I got most of my packing done once the games were over with - not that I really had all that much to pack - since I would be the one leaving first in the morning. Then at around 1:00 AM, we finally all turned in.

Not that I could fall asleep, myself, given what was beginning to happen with my stomach. Yeah, I'll leave out the details, but…let's just say I didn't end up getting to sleep until a couple hours later.

……………

MONDAY, JULY 7
6:00 AM CDT

Unfortunately, since my flight was at 8:48 AM, I needed to get up fairly early to be sure the hotel shuttle would get me there in time to board. Skimping on sleep didn't exactly do wonders for my already precarious health, and by the end I was pretty much limping out of there, hoping my stomach would hold for the journey ahead.

The trip held no surprises - good or bad - until I finally made it to the gate, where I was extremely shocked to run into Susan and Karine. Both proceeded to point out the Wise Man himself, whom they were dropping off there and whom I had somehow utterly failed to notice, despite sitting only a few meters away.

For in the strange but happy coincidence to end all strange but happy coincidences, we were going to be heading back on the same flight to Los Angeles; only a couple rows apart, in fact.

Despite feeling utterly like death by that point, this one last chance to speak one-on-one with the man gave me the energy to keep going. It was, to be sure, utterly surreal - only a few years ago, meeting Greg Weisman was this mystical, unattainable thing. And now we were just holding a friendly chat as we awaited our (naturally, delayed) plane.

It was, I suppose, one last opportunity to wrangle answers to the countless questions that I hadn't gotten a chance to ask that weekend…though I didn't really take advantage of it. Mostly because I was WAY too out of it to remember any of the questions I still had burning within me, but also because that really wasn't how the encounter "felt."

Instead, we talked about his kids. About his rather grueling con-schedule that summer. About how Rain was doing, with encouragement that I was excited as all hell for Spirits. About "Young Justice: Legacy," Scooby-Doo, and our impressions of how the radio play had gone.

Not nearly for the first time that weekend, I also reiterated my interest in having him as a guest at Kawaii Kon 2015, and he reiterated his interest in coming. So far, not much has come of my attempts to push the organizers I know on the issue, but it's an ongoing process and I hope to have something more concrete to report soon.

It was an extremely low-key conversation, not the least because we were both pretty exhausted (he, Chris, and co. had made a run on Denny's at 3:00 AM the previous night, which "seemed like a good idea at the time, not so much now"). But it was exactly what I needed at the time.

The entire exchange truly underscored what I loved most about that weekend: that Greg and the rest of the Gathering alums had seen fit to really make me feel like one of their own, rewarding all the effort I've tried to put into Ask Greg with kindness and acknowledgement.

I initially volunteered to help out when Todd reached out in the Comment Room because I so appreciated everything that Greg's work, and Ask Greg itself, had done for me over the years. But no matter how grueling dealing with the umpteenth "Where is Season 3?" or angry rant about Wally can be, I absolutely feel that I've gotten ten times more out of it than I've ever put in.

And that means the world to me.

I said as much to Greg, at least to the degree that I had the energy to articulate it. But all good things must come to an end, and eventually the plane arrived and it was time to board.

We wished each other safe travels, and said our farewells.

And with that…CONvergence 2014 truly came to a close.

……………

MONDAY, JULY 7
9:00 AM CDT

I'll be brief here, just to give an idea of what the aftermath of the con was like.

I flew to LA feeling like hell. I had an hour layover there, in which I felt like hell. I had another, longer flight back to Honolulu, if anything feeling worse than hell (since I hadn't eaten anything I'd kept down for well over 24 hours).

Eventually, though, I made it back home and was able to get the long rest and digestible foods I needed. I managed to make it back to work by Wednesday, though I'd be at least mildly off my game for the next couple weeks.

I called the Friday's in question to let them know about my situation, and calmly requested a full or partial refund; they called back at 6:00 AM two days later to tell me their investigation into the matter showed that they "did everything right that night" and so they wouldn't be able to accommodate my request.

I was too sick to really be willing to argue the point, but rest assured that I won't be visiting that particular restaurant again, should I ever return to CONvergence. And I urge any fellow attendees to do the same.

On a more positive note, Spirits arrived just a couple days after I got back, so once I was sufficiently recovered I got to reading. Once again, I'll be putting together a detailed review for Amazon/Ask Greg as soon as this report is finished and edited….but suffice to say, I dug the hell out of it.

Algernon got his package soon after as well, and was very happy with what we'd managed to find (a figure of Irish deity Brigid, a signed "Recruits" print, and a cuddly pink plushie of Cthulhu). And everyone else managed to get home with their own hauls without too much issue, thankfully.

Overall, despite the rather crappy end, I have little but positive things to say about the whole experience. I'm very proud of what I got to do, who I got to meet, and what I got to bring home…and it's definitely something I'd love the chance to do again.

It was my first "Gathering," such as it was, and it exceeded each and every one of my expectations.

Here's hoping it won't be anywhere close to the last.

NEVER THE END!

Sam writes...

Can any of the Justice League members twerk?
I guess that Batman can do it best, or flash because he probably can do it with high speed. The answer to this question means the world to me.

Thanks.

Anonymous writes...

In the interests of settling the shipping debates in your fandom, since they already met in the new Radio Play, would Queen Bee's powers work on Demona?

SM writes...

What was the full roster of the All-Star Squadron?

Anonymous writes...

1. How rare a sight are Atlanteans that look like Lagoon Boy?

2. Has Lagoon Boy ever met other Atlanteans that look like him?

Anonymous writes...

Megan shape shifted into a female version of Lagoon Boy in Chapter 4 of Young Justice Invasion.

1. Is the girl Megan shape shifted into actually (physically) exist on Earth-16?

2. Are Lagoon Boy's parents alive?

3. Do they look like him?

Anonymous writes...

Concerning Kaldur's tattoo

1. What is the in universe explanation for why it's an eel?

2. Was Kaldur born with the it?

3. Or did he acquire it after he passed a certain level of skill set at the Conservatory?

Anonymous writes...

1. When the Joker was the Red Hood did he wear a suit and tie and a dome shaped (covered his head and neck, and had no eye holes) hood like in the comics?

2. When wearing the hood did he use a red tinted two way mirror (inside the hood) to see?

3. Did the hood double as a rebreather and gas mask?

John writes...

Does superboy have a longer lifespan than full human?

Anonymous writes...

1. Are Lieutenant and Sergeant Marvel older in costume then in their civilian identities?

2. Does Kit Freeman know Lieutenant Marvel's secret identity?

3. Are Freddy and Kit's parents still alive?

4. Are Mary's parents still alive?

5. Would Sergeant Marvel's costume have been red, white, or black?

Anonymous writes...

1. Would Lieutenant Marvel's costume have been a blue version of Captain Marvel's?

2. How old is Shazam?

Anonymous writes...

You have stated that to do Dr. Fate's voice Kevin Michel Richardson (the voice of Nabu) and whomever is playing the host (Jason Spisak/Kid Flash, Khary Payton/Aqualad, Lacey Chabert/Zatanna, or Nolan North/Zatara) are recorded saying the same lines. Then in post production, the voices are double-tracked, so the audience hears two voices.

1. What is the process step by step in order to be able to double-track?

2. Is double-tracking something that requires a studio in order to be able to do or could it be done from a smart phone?

Anonymous writes...

On Feb. 13th 2013 you stated that Dick probably had multiple parties since he had multiple identities.

We know Dick as Dick Grayson, Robin, Dan Danger, and Nightwing.

What other identities does Dick have?

Anonymous writes...

You have stated that Batman and Superman have discussed their mutual origins and the tragedies behind them. You stated that you weren't sure how deep the discussions went for either of them for very different reasons.

What are those reasons?