Laura 'ad astra' Sack writes...

Hi again,

Please pretend I spelled Klarion correctly at least once on my Missing questions. Not the worst mistake I've mistyped, but I kept repeating it. In case there is any doubt a mean "...the Witch Boy" and not a trumpet. :}

Laura 'ad astra' Sack writes...

I forgot to ask this last night.. What are the logisitical difference now that cartoons are broadcast in HD? Do the films have to have more detail? Does it cost more?

EXALT writes...

1)Have you seen any of the movies of the Marvel Cinematic Universe (Iron Man-The Incredible Hulk-Iron Man 2-Thor-Captain America: The First Avenger)? If yes, what do you think of them?
2)Have you seen Joss Whedon's The Avengers (It's not out yet, but it'll probably be when you'll answer this)?

Laura 'ad astra' Sack writes...

Coldhearted- I don’t have a lot of comments, but I did enjoy the episode a lot. Some highlights:
i) 7:15…6 I loved the touch of the text in front of the scene changing with the time.
Great little human moment; while fighting atop on of the blizzard ships, Aqualad vaults over Aquaman by putting a foot on his king’s shoulder. Arthur’s face looks startled and annoyed. That and at the end when Wally crashing through the glass doors as they start opening were my two favorite visual bits.
ii) I figured out that the heart was the main objective pretty early, pretty much as soon as Vandal Savage showed, but I still liked it. (It was obvious based on story form and not something the characters should have picked up, so it was fine.)
iii) Wally’s points ‘A’ & ‘2’…. Loved it!
iv) Once again his choice of souvenir shows growth.
Thanks!

Laura 'ad astra' Sack writes...

Kevin asked “Are the three martian races a nod to Edgar Rice Burroughs Barsoom Series or is it just a coincidence?” (and you responded “ <Ahem> No comment.” ;). I feel silly for not thinking of that myself- especially with M’gann’s habit of being green and growing extra arms. It bring a few questions to mind:

1- Do the Red Martians appear in the comic books or are they new to the show?
2- Are the Martian races different species or just literally different races as in the scientific term? When I first thought of the question I only saw the three groups in the comic book. Now we have a very different image of the white Martians. Ordinarily such great physical difference would imply different species, but M’gann said her shape- shifting works at the molecular level. I wonder what remains static to indicate their speciehood? It may mean that physical appearance is less important to the genetics of the races of Mars.

Laura 'ad astra' Sack writes...

Wow! Is it hard to keep up with even the questions to post new ones. Thanks for reopening the queue!

Condolences on the lose of your Grandmother. I remember the months before my grandmother died how she had retreated into herself and was all but unrecognizable, than all of a sudden came back to herself for a week or two at the end. I still treasure it as a great gift that we were reminded who she was before the end. She was a good deal younger than 100 so we were not quite expecting the end, but I can understand what you mean by feeling that the person you love is already on the way somewhere else. I am glad you have so many years and so many wonderful memories to look back on.

1- I see someone already asked if you can explain some of the terms you used when you broke down the stages the of episodes in progress. He mentioned ‘online’ in particular. If you didn’t already do so, can you also define ‘slug’?

2- I know you prefer to record the voice actors together in conversation, unlike many other cartoons that record the voices in isolation. In live action tv and movies are recorded out of order, that’s the most efficient way to use the sets and actors. Since there aren’t sets for cartoons, and you prefer to have all the actors together anyway, are the scenes more or less recorded in order?

3- You mentioned in the past moments when stories just come together and surprise you- when the next event seems to announce herself, unplanned but seemingly totally organic to the story. Like when “Owen is Puck!” announced itself. Or when you kept hearing “Thailog” when the video was being rewound. Did you have any such moments for Spectacular Spiderman and the other shows you worked on? Have you had any with Young Justice yet? Can you share any if they’ve already happened?

4-One last question for this catch-all batch... what do you think of the new DC Nation shorts? I’m not crazy about loosing the opening credits, but I love shorts and think it is an easy trade. I love that they are all different and playful and yet often also a series. My favorite so far is the one with Batgirl and Supergirl trying to convince Wonder Girl to ‘borrow’ Wonder Woman’s invisible jet. (Oddly I have become used to (and approve) on Dianna being portrayed as someone from another country, with a light to strong intonation of something foreign, but it never occurred to me the same would apply to Donna.)

Begin pontification: I’ve never loved the Teen Titan cartoon, (plenty to like, but never loved), but I love the fact it is turning up in the shorts. Back when Disney XD was Toon Disney I wondered why they didn’t run shorts. (To be fair I didn’t have a TiVO at the time and it was possible they were already running the “Have a Laugh” abridged classic shorts as well as Shaun the Sheep. But they weren’t running any new material.) It seemed odd to me they were trying to compete with the Cartoon Network’s reach into the older demographic and didn’t, for instance, declare one night a week the 10 o’clock older folks movie night, (say a Miyazaki flik), and intersperse it with shorts- gorgeous, varied, counter expectation shorts like they gleefully did for Fantasia 2000. (I had the idea a long time ago.) If some of those shorts were back door pilots...great. It worked for the Simpsons They could have led to another late evening night of new programming of new shows. They couldn’t compete with cheap nostalgic cartoons or crude adult ones because that just isn’t Disney. Disney can never put out a Family Guy type show under the Disney label. Maybe they could do it on ABC, but not something with Disney in the name. (Even Miyazaki’s Princess Monenoke had to be released in the US under the Miramax label because a PG-13 cartoon would be problematic under the Disney label.) It a rather obvious route for a high end cartoon station to go and might have netted a few Oscars away from Pixar. Or perhaps more for Pixar. End pontification.

Of course it would have been an ideal place to run a little Gargoyle related short. :)

Anonymous writes...

Hello Mr. Weisman,
I am a teenage aspiring writer and I love to think of story ideas to write about. But whenever I actually sit down and try writing, I don't know how to start or I have second thoughts about my characters, plot, etc. So, I was just wondering if you could give me any tips on writing a story. Thanks!

JayBe writes...

Hi Greg, first off I just wanted to say you're awesome. Spectacular Spider-man was THE best Spider-man cartoon/interpretation of all time and IMO the best superhero cartoon of all time (although YJ is now a close second for me). It still pains my heart that it didn't reach past a 2nd season. And despite not being interested when I originally heard about Young Justice, it's quickly become one of my favorites due to the awesome character development/continuity that seems to be your trademark. Having just seen the new Ultimate Spider-man (which I read you won't be watching), I can safely tell you that although it's not the complete crap-fest I thought it would be, it's nowhere near the level of greatness of Spectacular Spider-man.

So anyway, my question is actually about SpecSpider-man (and sorry if it was asked already, I went through as much of the 600+ search results as I could). Could you possibly go into the general idea of what we were going to get out of the next few seasons if it hadn't been cancelled? I know there's probably a thousand details you could give (which would be awesome), but was there any overall story concepts you had that were going to blow our minds? For instance, were we actually going to see Gwen Stacy die?

Thanks for reading even if you can't/don't want to answer.

Anonymous writes...

Hello Greg,

I ask a question before about Superman and Superboy from Young Justice before, but now I have a personal question about Gargoyles that I have wondered about off and on, for a while now.

Much of Gargoyles was inspired by Shakespheare, whose works I became familiar with from Patrick Stewart, and really enjoy myself.

My question is: What Princess Kathrine in some way named for the character from 'The Taming of the Shrew,' because when we first meet her she certainly acted like a shrew and then later on she becomes 'tamed' in a way?

Thanks.

El Kid writes...

Does each city-state in Atlantis have their own Royal Family, or do some people just add "King" to their names as an honorific? Furthermore, if Atlantis is a conglomeration of city-states, how/why does it have a central capital and a ruling monarch?

Alex Weitzman writes...

Mr. Weisman, while you will undoubtedly get to this message months afterwards at best, given the backlog of questions thus far, I wanted to give my condolences for you and your family's loss in Sue Weisman. I also wanted to thank you for the honest and touching small commentary you made on the subject, highlighting the complex emotional situation of watching an older loved one lose themselves to either Alzheimer's, senility, or just age itself (I would not want to make a definite assumption, based on what you described). It sounds to me like she lived a long, fascinating life populated by people she loved, and nobody could ask for more than that. I send my sorrow regarding her passing, and my hope that your upcoming family gathering will provide you some emotional closure or insight to help you through this time.

Thank you for the many years of excellent entertainment, as well. I look forward to many more.

B writes...

When Artemis said in "Misplaced" that she wasn't a cat person, was that a reference to Cheshire?

Martin Muse-Amiel writes...

Hi Mr. Weisman
How are you?

I hope everything goes well for you and your family. Sorry about your grandmother's passing. She be miss but not forgotten.

SpideyFan writes...

I've just gotten a chance to sit down and watch Spectacular Spidey, and it was absolutely mind-blowing. Between it and YJ, I am totally sold on your work. I love the way you structure your stories (on an episode-by-episode basis, and the way you build up longer arcs), and how you manage to present only the most pertinent/interesting information, and trim the narrative fat. It makes your shows a total joy to watch; the stories have such a deliberate sense of movement, everything seems to have purpose. Watching your work inspires me!

Here's the "Ask" part:
In the series finale (S2E13 "The Final Curtain"), Spidey's big confrontation sees him fighting pumpkin-headed grunts in little flying goop-shooting ships. Was this something the creative team was gung-ho about putting in the series, or was it more related to pressures from the powers-that-be about opportunities to sell toys?
Also, how often is marketing, or promoting the DC/Marvel/what-have-you brand a consideration for you when you're creating a show?
Finally: how did you start writing? I don't mean on the level of occupation (i.e. what jobs got you started), but how did you establish for yourself the discipline and confidence in your skills necessary to write professionally?

And I'm sorry to hear about your grandmother. It sounds like it was her time. My own great-grandmother just passed on, and I can tell you she was as ready for it as we were resistant to it. It certainly made the mourning process a lot harder to initiate, since there was this enormous sense of relief that she wasn't in any more pain, or so lonely anymore. I think a sort of hollow initial response is natural. Hope this is some condolences.

Thank you and adieu,

SpideyFan

akif writes...

the new spider man show isn't that good i wish that you can continue the show anf young justice at the same time

Anonymous writes...

Why did the two GLs refuse Flash's suggestion for Guy Gardener? Do they dislike him in some way?

Catherine writes...

1. How old is Cissie King-Jones?
2. It seemed like Cheshire kissed Roy to mess with Artemis. Is that the only reason she kissed him or were there...other reasons?
Not a question - Just wanted to say that I love Black Spider! That, and also say that I think Roy is a BAMF.

Anonymous writes...

How does technology on Mars compare to technology on Earth in Young Justice, are they around the same level or is one more advanced than another?

Bloggo writes...

Hi Greg

Do you know if the DC nation shorts be available on future young justice DVD's?

Also, are there plans to release the series on Bluray?

thanks

Blaise writes...

Hey, Greg. Just read your post about the loss of your grandmother, Sue Weisman.

Naturally, you have my sympathies for your loss (though you probably won't read this until months after the post, I'm still sending them). And, from personal experience, I understand what you mean about losing someone before they die. I think you've hit the nail on the head there.

Still, over a century. Dang, but that's quite a life to celebrate.

For what it's worth, my best to you and yours.

Jake the Fearless Leader writes...

Hello, Mr. Weisman. No questions this time around. Just wanted to say that I'm very sorry for your loss and will be praying for you and your family.

At the point that I am writing this, "Insecurity" has aired just the previous day. Artemis was never one of my favorite characters on the show, but I really enjoyed the episode. Now, I am looking forward to the rest of the season, as well as the beginning of Invasion.

jenova writes...

why did ocean master get so little screen time?(esp when compared to the rest of the light)

Insert A Creative Name Here writes...

Hi Greg!
How would you describe the relationship between Paula and Lawrence Crock? Do they have any affection for each other? How do they treat each other?
If this is a spoiler request or this question's been answered, I'll apologize in advance.

Anonymous writes...

I know it was just a fun nod to DOCTOR WHO in "Insecurity", but I still gotta ask the question: does the fact that the Star City Zeta-Beam portal terminates in a police box mean that police boxes are (or were) commonplace in the America of Earth-16? I mean, presumably the League would want to conceal the portals in inconspicuous places. And the only thing I can figure is that a police box would be a good disguise only if they were otherwise commonplace. As a long-term fan of the multiverse it would be a cool thing to say that one of the distinguishing features of Earth-16 was the widespread use of police public call boxes in North America as well as Britain. (By the way, kudos to not only giving a sly nod to DOCTOR WHO in general, but specifically the 1966 serial, "The War Machines'. The "out of order" sign made me howl with laughter.)

Jack-Pumpkinhead writes...

Dear Greg,
I realize it'll be a while before you get to this, but first off, my condolences. I lost my grandpa this year too.

Onto good things, Insecurity was a good episode. The story was fun, I liked the character interaction, and I hope Artemis stays with the team, I've grown fond of her. On that note, I also want to thank you for the cameo by a blonde girl with the last name King. I know that's supposed to be Cissie, and having her be impressed by Artemis is a nice touch. I hope we see more of her in the future.
Please keep up the awesome work.

Bodhi writes...

Hello, Greg.
Very sorry for the loss you've had. I had my dog put down because she had some sort of tumor growing on her hip. It was bleeding like crazy. So, day before Thanksgiving(isn't THAT a great time to do something like this?), we'd put her down.
Anyways, all losses aside, I've been thinking. I was very surprised last Comic-Con when Lego announcing they'd be making licenses for BOTH Marvel and DC. The DC sets were great,(even though most of them were just remakes of the old Batman sets), and I'm sure the Marvel sets will look incredible too. My question is, do you think DC could let Lego produce some Young Justice sets? Even with your past confrontations with Lego(which didn't end well for you), do you think it could be possible?
P.S. Young Justice is fantastic!

nikesh writes...

OK, this is a really stupid question, so do forgive me for asking, but:
I noticed that Red Arrow sounded noticeably deeper in "Insecurity" than he did in his previous appearances. Was this done on purpose?

angela writes...

do you have any advice for people who want to go into animation.

Ernie writes...

Is season 2 considered episodes beyond the 26 announced or are we watching season 2 currently (14 - 26)?

With your staff of writers for season 2, just how many episodes do they get to write for that batch of episodes --- being a fan of Peter Davids work I'm wondering how many more I (and any other fan of his work) can look forward to.

in episode 123 (the name escapes me right now) the cut away to wolf was just laugh out loud funny

Todd Jensen writes...

I was recently rereading your old series bible for "Roswell Conspiracies", and two of the names of the characters seemed familiar to me: Cedric Harris and Tri Chung. I pulled out my copy of "Clan-Building" and spotted them - yep, both were named as members of the Gargoyle Taskforce in #3. You really do take care never to waste anything.

Arthur Jr. writes...

Hey Greg, I have been watching the recent episodes of "Young Justice."

* In "Image," the episode's twist ending had the Bialyan Queen Bee appearing in Garfield Logan's bedroom as Miss Martian appeared to check up on Garfield. Queen Bee stated that Psimon wasn't the only one who knows that Miss Martian is a White Martian and is now planning to use Miss Martian in a later plot. I am assuming that Psimon must've relayed his discovery of Miss Martian's true form to her before being knocked out. If that's not the case, then what is?

* In "Insecurity," the twist ending there revealed that Sportsmaster is Artemis' father (just like the comics) as well as being Cheshire's father on Earth-16. Outside of that, I did see the opening where Black Spider targets a reporter named Mr. Jones. I don't think you have mentioned which version of Black Spider you are using but some are assuming that it is not one of the three Black Spiders in DC Comics. Do you have any comment on that?

* In "Coldhearted," I was surprised that you got Ariel Winter to reprise her role of Princess Perdita (who last voiced her in "DC Showcase: Green Arrow" where Steven Blum voiced Count Vertigo). This is a coincidence since Jamie Thomason had voice directed her in that "DC Showcase" short.

* When it came to Clayface's animated appearance in "Downtime," Clayface's voice actor was uncredited. I thought it might've been Kevin Michael Richardson. Some others are claiming that Khary Payton or Nolan North voiced him. Do you have any comment on that? Outside of that, the comic spin-off stated that he was a member of the League of Shadows who was locked in the Lazarus Pit by Talia al Ghul when he tried to use it to cure his terminal cancer which led to him becoming Clayface.

Anonymous writes...

Do all the members of the Light blindly trust each other, or do they have contingencies to protect themselves from one another? For example, are the men impervious to Queen Bee's thrall?

Greg Bishansky writes...

Insecurity

Another week, another episode of "Young Justice." The focus returns to Artemis, and considering she is my favorite character on The Team, that focus is always welcome. Out of all the characters on the main cast, Artemis feels the most like an original creation while not being an original creation. I'll admit to being ignorant of her key ingredients, I am aware of Artemis Crock and Arrowette, but I know nothing about them. But this Artemis has always felt like an original Weisman character, and is someone I could easily imagine in a "Gargoyles" spin-off, especially "Gargoyles: Bad Guys." I've always liked her design, and I really want to give a shout out to Stephanie Lemelin for always turning in a wonderful performance as Artemis.

While none of the revelations about Artemis' family relations came as a surprise to me, that did not make the episode any less engaging. Sportsmaster and Cheshire are both breakout villains on this show, at least for me. The choreography during the action scenes was terrific, and Kelly Hu's Cheshire relishes twisting the knife on her little sister, and even Red Arrow a little. Or a lot. But the meat is the denouement at the end between her and Sportsmaster. Surprising? Hardly. Engaging? You betcha.

Likewise, it was fun to see Wally's attitude mature. The lessons he learned in "Coldhearted" stuck, and he now knows how to prioritize. There has been chemistry between him and Artemis since moment one, but this is a relationship that is requiring both of them to grow up a little bit. A nice contrast to Superboy and Miss Martian's where they were pretty much a couple from the first moment, even if it took them a little while to kiss. This is not a critique of either relationship, just that I think Wally and Artemis will develop something with more substance. Superboy was born almost yesterday, and seems like a weird prop in M'Gann's sitcom fantasy world, and she is still lying to him. One of these relationships is slowly building a strong foundation, while the other is a house of cards. Well, to be fair, both Artemis and Miss Martian are lying to the entire team, but Artemis is hiding her family history, M'Gann is hiding who she actually is entirely. Both have their reasons, but... even with her secrets, Artemis feels a lot more honest than M'Gann does... the Justice League knows who she is, can they say as much about M'Gann?

The plotline of the mole has really kicked into high gear. What do we know? Well, at this point Miss Martian, Superboy, and Artemis all seem to have been compromised. Queen Bee is blackmailing Miss Martian. Lex Luthor can make Superboy do things. And Artemis doesn't want The Team to know who her family is. Now, I doubt any of these three are the mole. I have my own speculations, but without more information, I don't feel like tossing them out there in this review.

What are The Light doing? Well, whatever it is, it involves a combination of science and sorcery... a favorite combo of Demona's back during the days of "Gargoyles." And anyone familiar with that series knows just how dangerous that combination is. Klarion and the Brain seem like a fun odd couple of villains if I ever saw one.

On another note, we had Peter MacNicol as Professor Ivo, Lacey Chabert as Zatanna, Crispin Freeman as Red Arrow, Kelly Hu as Cheshire, Thom Adcox as Klarion, and... Josh Keaton as Black Spider. A "Spectacular Spider-Man" family reunion if I ever saw one. I loved it. Very, very much.

We're at the final stretch, three more episodes to go. I'm on the edge of my seat. Next week cannot come soon enough.

Anonymous writes...

Who would could out the victor in these unarmed combat scenarios:
1) Cheshire or Black Canary
2) Sportsmaster or Green Arrow
3) Shimmer or Artemis
4) Joker or Robin

Eagle-Owl writes...

YJ Questions:

1. Are the members of The Light immune to telepathic control (or at least from members of their own ranks)?

2. Queen Bee has the power to enthrall most men and some women, so why hasn't she usurped control from Vandal Savage or turned other members of The Light against him?

3. Same as number two, but with Psimon instead of Queen Bee. Also, is Psimon catatonic after his recent battle with M'gann?

4. Why doesn't Klarion try to take control of The Light considering that he IS the embodiment of chaos?

5. If the Genomorphs want to be accepted, why don't they just use their telepathy to achieve their goals?

YMVM writes...

OK, I finished watching "Insecurity" about an hour ago and I absolutely loved it. I was a little disappointed that Robin didn't show up, but the rest was awesome, from Kid Flash and Artemis' interactions, to Red Arrow, to even Wolf asleep. Please keep up the wonderful job!

malini writes...

Did Garfield take his mother's maiden name? I couldn't help noticing that Marie's surname was Logan in her teenage days.

The Greenman writes...

Hi Mr. Greg Weisman,

I have been a fan of yours since Gargoyles. One of the things that interest me is the basic structure of the themes and world building in the series. One of the styles I see continue to pop up in your series is the relationship between science and sorcery. This is something I have been a fan of in comics like Iron Man and Fantastic Four (specifically Dr. Doom versus Reed Richards). I love the simple explanation that energy is energy.

1. Now I didn't see much of this argument come up in your Spectacular Spider-Man series, because Peter debunked Mysterio, but can you say that you ever planned to and who you would've used to explore that science versus mystic aspect?

2. I am upset that directors such as Jon Favreau and Shane Black have knocked down the very idea of Mandarin showing up as not to approach the so-called mystic aspect. Though, it could be be alien in origin or something, as they claim and prove that even super-science isn't allowed in the MCU. Have you read and understand the Iron Man comics specific to Mandarin and Tony's relationship to science versus sorcery? Was it influential at all in your writing?

Robin~BW writes...

Hello Greg!
I want you to know that Young Justice is an amazing show! My questions:
1) Is it true that Robin/Dick is bullied at school? Or unpopular?
2) I know you said that Dick has not skipped a grade, but you did say that he is a Mathelete; does he take advanced math?
Thanks!

Anonymous writes...

Can Queen Bee control animals and aliens or just human people?

Paul writes...

Why do you put the words 'Produced by Brandon Vietti & Greg Weisman' at the start of each episode (post theme song)? Why not just put them at the start of the end credits instead? The title, writer and director all change with each episode, so I understand why they have a place onscreen while the episode is unfolding, but the producer names are always the same and people don't really need reminding. I understand that you and Brandon Vietti most likely don't want your names to be overlooked, but I think viewers prefer there to be as little listed information onscreen as possible when the episode is playing (essentials like the episode title aside).

Anonymous writes...

Why does Sportsmater call his daughters as "little girls"?
Does he love them?

SDOHT writes...

When asked how Lexington homosexuality will be portrayed in the future you answered:

“Gargoyles is owned by Disney, and I'd be kidding you and myself if I didn't recognize that there are certain limits to what Disney will allow. My goal with Lex is to be honest and consistent in HIS portrayal. Not to be titillating (let alone pornographic). Frankly, I wish I had the freedom to be more forthright. Perhaps there's an element of cowardice in my middle ground position. I'll cop to that. But I'm just trying to tell stories honestly. I face restrictions. I live with those restrictions. What that means practically, is that few people beyond the hardcore fandom will see Lex's orientation as any kind of issue at all.”

I understand what you mean by that I truly do. I was just wondering if you face the same issues now. If any character were to appear gay to you in young justice could you accurately portray it now or are you faced with the same restraint?

Koronog writes...

Why couldnt Garth go to the dinner in the palace in Downtime? Is he not on good terms with Aquaman, after the refusal?

Jeremy writes...

First off let me start by saying that I love everything you're involved with. The top of the list being Gargoyles which I watched as a kid and have now rewatched with a MUCH better understanding of things. Anyways on to my question: Do you plan on doing a reboot of Gargoyles? My reasoning being that a lot of classic shows, such as Thundercats, are being(or have been) rebooted and I was wondering(hoping really) if there was any intention what so ever of rebooting gargoyles.

Real Roy writes...

Who are Garth's parents?

Kevin writes...

1. Is Vandal Savage a Cro-Magnon on Earth 16?
2. Are the sound effects for Doctor Fate based on the Dream Time in Gargoyles?
3. What field of science does the Atom specialize in on Earth 16?
4. Why does Artemis use a compound bow instead of a recurve bow?
5. Do Nabu and Klarion live in the same dimension when they are not in the physical world or did they live in separate dimensions?

The Batfan writes...

This series just keeps getting better and better. "Misplaced" finally gave us another episode where Klarion is the main villain, and brought back Doctor Fate for good - two things I'd certainly been waiting for. It also gave us a hint that each of the members of the Light has his own "crew", as it were - and that, as befits a lord of chaos, Klarion's bosts elemental power. The other side of this was really showing off Zatanna, and finally inducting her onto the team, albeit under circumstances no one would have guessed. All in all, one of my favorite episodes so far.
But even "Misplaced", with all its titanic magic - and I love that stuff, I'm a fantasy buff - can't beat the simple, paradoxically heart-warming beauty that was "Coldhearted". I know the crew was especially proud with this one; they have every reason to be.
It was great to get some more insight into the unfolding mystery that is M'gann, and "Image" really showed us some more of who M'gann really is - and I'm not talking about her "true" form. I had already suspected the White Martian bit, as had many; I am referring to the twist, that she actually hates her "true" form, and has adopted a new identity because that's who she wants to be. As she says to Superboy, "I do it for me." So the M'gann we've seen so far - in terms of personality - actually *is* the real M'gann. And I think that's great.
"Agendas" - well, this one was puzzling. The bit about the human DNA was a nice twist, which I did not foresee, even though others did (I honestly thought his Kryptonian powers were simply still developing). From there, the fact that Luther was the donor was foreseeable - and that he would try to butt-in as Superboy's father-figure, in Kal-El's absence, was the logical and expedient route for taking back Cadmus's super-weapon.
Those "shields" intrigue me, though. How is it possible that an electrical pulse or chemical mixture (I'm assuming it's not magic, since Lex said he developed them, and since magic generally does nothing good to Kryptonians) could "suppress" a good chunk of Superboy's genetic makeup - the delicate code that makes him look the way he does and forms part of the basis for who he is? I know, I'm supposed to suspend disbelief here - but this came so suddenly, so out of the blue, that I'm having trouble with that.
I know you don't really like this kind of question, and I'm sorry to bug you with it, but I really didn't get this and I would really like to. Where did the idea of the shields originate, and how do they work?
Thank you for your patience, and your amazing creativity that makes us love this series.