Elisa&Goliath writes...

Hi Greg!
I am a lifelong fan of all of your work! Especially gargoyles and young justice. I wanted to ask 3 questions that I didn’t see waiting to be answered already.
1 did you intentionally include props from gargoyles in young justice season four at the Tower of fate? A.k.a. the Phoenix gate, The eye of Oden, grimorum arcanorum.
2 are there more gargoyles Easter eggs throughout YJ?
3 I have recognized the voices of many of the actors on young Justice, as actors who also voiced characters on gargoyles. Do you like to work a lot with the same people?
I think it’s pretty fantastic, but sometimes when I hear the voices I think of their character from gargoyles instead of who they are in young justice.

Anonymous writes...

Dear Mr Weisman i have some Young justice questions for you 1.How old is Jason Blood and how long have he and the Phantom Stranger known each other? 2. I noticed some vary familiar looking artifacts in Mr blood's home that he told Mary not to touch. Have he or Etrigan ever traveled to any other universes outside of Earth 16 and the Dc multiverse including a universe where '' One thousand years ago superstition and the sword ruled'' to claim the artifacts ? 3. How long have Zatanna and Etrigan known each other ? 4. Did you consider hiring Dee Bradley Baker for the role of etrigan before hiring David Shaughnessy for the role instead ? P s thank you for giving my alien theory about the driver and kids on that school bus that Zatanna and her students avoided in the previous episode some footing

Baru Drake writes...

I was wondering... is the Phoenix (entity) a child of Oberon? Or, is it something else completely different? Coz' I don't see how this ridiculously overpowered bird could be a mere "third race"

Having the power to cross between the past and the future, this creature is literally one of the most powerful beings in the Gargoyle universe, considering that it can easily travel back and forth to either the beginning or the end of time. It can literally just send anyone to the big bang if it wanted to.

Anonymous writes...

1. Alot of the times in the comics when conners becomes the lizard, he always changes back because there are still trances of the formula in his system. Did the gene clenser completely remove all the lizard dna from his body, so that this isnt the case?
2.If peter had taken the gene clenser when he still worn the symbiote, would it remove both it and his powers?
3. Why was marco selected for ocks experiment first?

Arlo writes...

What are the stories of how you and the other writers came up with and developed the ideas for the Phoenix Gate, the Eye of Odin, and the Grimorum Arcanorum?

If you don't have time to post the full details right now, that's okay (I'm even expecting that to be the answer). But would you consider writing a ramble on it at some point? We have rambles and outlines for nearly every episode of the series, but no background on the creative process that went into designing these three talismans. I would love to hear about everything that went into them at some point.

Diana writes...

Hey Greg,

it's known, that to control the phoenix gate, one has to think of a special place and time.
Now, that the gate was released by Goliath, one question popped into my head.
Brooklyn couldn't control the gate during his Time Dancer adventures.
But could it be that his subconscious mind influenced the gate's „direction"?
Could the gate (or rather the phoenix) have probably sensed his feelings like fears, inner conflicts or wishes?
Or did the phoenix just follow its own reasons without noticing such things?

By the way … I liked the character of Brooklyn before, but it's due to the Comics (especially Clan building Vol. 2) that he became one of my ultimate favourites. ;)

MacLeod writes...

Hey Greg,

I always thought that in "Future Tense" Goliath sent the Phoenix Gate to the distant past, thus closing the loop and the gate restarting its journey from scratch. Of course this was not the case, otherwise the "Timedancer" events couldn't/wouldn't have taken place. But can you at least give a hint of when did Goliath send the gate to at the end of "Future Tense"?

Anonymous writes...

a) Who was the entity that bound the Phoenix in the Gate?
b) Why did he/she/it do it?

Jurgan writes...

"Xander writes...

Can you tell us who was the first (a) person, (b) being and (c) entity to figure out how to work the Phoenix Gate?
Greg responds...

Yes, I can."

Really, you can? I wouldn't think the term "first" could apply to the Phoenix Gate. And I'm not even being sarcastic (well, maybe just a little), but how can something in an infinite loop ever be said to have a beginning or end? Perhaps there's an earliest time it appeared, but odds are it was taken there by someone else, who may have taught this "earliest" person how to use it- in which case, could (s)he really be said to be the first person to have used it? I'm interested in this- do you think of there being a beginning to something like the Phoenix Gate? Or am I just reading way too much into an off-the-cuff smartass remark?

Xander... frustrated writes...

WHO was the first (a) person, (b) being and (c) entity to figure out how to work the Phoenix Gate?

Xander writes...

Can you tell us who was the first (a) person, (b) being and (c) entity to figure out how to work the Phoenix Gate?

Vaevictis Asmadi writes...

Hello Greg,

When Xanatos travelled to tenth century Scotland in "Vows," how did he communicate with the Norman ambassador and Prince Malcolm? There was no language barrier in the episode, but English wasn't spoken in Scotland back then. I'm sure that the production reason for this was the same as in Awakening and the Avalon World Tour, but have you decided upon a within-the-Gargverse reason? I have a guess or two, but it would probably be an idea.

Thanks.

Vaevictis Asmadi writes...

Hello again Greg,

A while ago, before I got a hold of Clan Building vol. 2, I asked you this question:

<<Following up on what Clark asked, how is it that such a powerful artifact, the Phoenix Gate, is used by such a simple incantation that even Goliath, certainly no trained sorcerer, quickly learned it? Maybe I'm conditioned by role-playing games to assume that more powerful magic will always be harder to learn than relatively weak magic, but it seems quite strange to me that the Phoenix Gate incantation, and for that matter the incantation to enter Avalon, are so quickly learned when they seem to be quite powerful spells.>>

You replied:
<<It has to do with the nature of the Gate and of Avalon. I don't want to go into too many details (particularly on the former) when we're so close to the release of the Trade.>>

Reading the vol. 2 trade paperback nicely cleared up for me why the Phoenix Gate is so easy to use and just how dangerous it is! In fact it makes me wonder whether the "incantation" is really an incantation in the usual sense... However, the other half of my question doesn't relate to the Gate, and if there was something in the trade paperback that answered my question... I missed it. Now that the three trades have been out for a while and the Phoenix Gate's nature has been (partially) revealed, I hope that you are in the mood to answer the other half of my question:

What is the reason that the Avalon incantation used by the Magus and Tom, seemingly a quite powerful spell, is so easy to use and to learn? Angela and Goliath seemed to pick it up rather easily.

Thanks and have a nice day.

Todd Jensen writes...

One of the big changes you made from canon-in-training to canon, in "Clan-Building", was having the Phoenix rather than the Phoenix Gate be the cause of Brooklyn's timedancing. I thought about it recently, and think that it was a good change.

Aside from it providing a good explanation for why it took so long for Brooklyn to get back (it would probably have seem far-fetched if each time the Phoenix Gate appeared during those forty years, he always failed to grab it before it disappeared again), I think it added something to his journey. While we don't know exactly what the Phoenix is as yet, or what its agenda is, the way it was depicted (and Brooklyn's own comments) made it clear that it deliberately took Brooklyn to Scotland in 997, that this was not just some accidental fluke, that the Phoenix has a purpose and intentions like those of any sentient being. Brooklyn isn't being battened about the time-stream by an out of control magical talisman, but is being sent places to fulfill a mission, like Goliath and his companions on the Avalon World Tour. His adventures up and down history, past and future, are the product of a plan, not just the whims of chance. I think it made for a much better story.

M. writes...

Related to "Future Tense":
When/How did Puck find out about Goliath having the Phoenix Gate. I don't recall Puck ever knowing this before.

Vaevictis Asmadi writes...

==== SPOILERS!!!!!=========SPOILERS!!!!!=========SPOILERS!!!!!=======
I have more questions, inspired by the Timedancer arc in the trade paperback. I hope you are in the mood to answer some fan questions in between the con-journals.

I am quite curious now about what the Phoenix Gate actually is.
1. The Weird Sisters said that "The Eye and the Gate were forged on Avalon..." so is the Phoenix Gate Third Race magic?
2. Is the phoenix itself an actual living being?
3. If the phoenix is an actual living being, what kind of life-form is it? (Other than being a phoenix.)

Thanks again for answering our questions. I'm planning on reading Brooklyn's adventures again in between watching Avalon and City of Stone.
==== SPOILERS!!!!!=========SPOILERS!!!!!=========SPOILERS!!!!!=======

Lauren writes...

Hey, I was just curious as to the exact incantation and the proper spelling of it for the Phoenix Gate, I've seen many different versions and I just want to know which is the true one. I've scoured the archives and I've seen nothing on that specific topic and I apologize if I missed it. Thanks so much!

Geoff writes...

Did all the foreign people & gargoyles in "The Green" & "Bushido" that got to speak know how to speak English or are Goliath, Angela, & Elisa for some reason trilingual? (It just piqued my curiosity that you couldn't really have everyone speak English without some explanation for dubbing purposes.)

This also kinda raises a question on why the Emir read the scroll to capture Anubis in English instead of Arabic. (Unless the scroll weren't written in Arabic. Was it?)

Vaevictis Asmadi writes...

Following up on what Clark asked, how is that such a powerful artifact, the Phoenix Gate, is used by such a simple incantation that even Goliath, certainly no trained sorcerer, quickly learned it? Maybe I'm conditioned by role-playing games to assume that more powerful magic will always be harder to learn than the weak magic, but it seems quite strange to me that the Phoenix Gate incantation, and for that matter the incantation to enter Avalon, are so easily learned when they seem to be quite powerful spells.