Greg responds...

I don't blame people.

Why are you blaming me for making the show I want to make? (Or more accurately, the show that Brandon and I want to make, and which many, many, many fans seem to enjoy?)

I've already answered over and over again why we have always continued to expand our cast. Why some characters are leads in a given season. Why some are supporting. Why some are cameos. Why our spotlight moves around as it does. Feel free to go through the ASK GREG archives and get the lowdown. I'm definitely not in the mood to repeat myself.

But I will make these points:

Blue Beetle was a lead in Season Two. In Season Three he was supporting. In Season Three he only cameod. But should we have NEVER introduced him, just because we didn't make him a lead EVERY season?

Zatanna was supporting in seasons one, two and three. She became a lead for a chunk of Season Four. Should we never have introduced her either?

And if, for example, we made Wonder Girl a lead in Season Five (assuming we get a season five and assuming that's in our gameplan), should we have waited UNTIL Season Five to introduce her? Or might not her Season Five characterization BENEFIT from her having been introduced earlier and us having watched her grow at least a little from a Wonder Woman fangirl in Season Two, to the leader of the Outsiders in Season Four, leading up to whatever might be depicted in Five? And if we then dropped her back down to Supporting in Season Six, would that mean we should never have made her a lead in Season Five?

Different fans might disagree about their specific favorites, but I'd bet anything that NO FAN wanted us to have six heroes and NEVER introduce any more ever. It's a big DC Universe out there. And nearly every fan is frickin' greedy for their favorites to appear.

Greg responds...

There weren't unused ideas specifically for Invasion. Brandon and I simply have a TON of unused ideas for Young Justice and Earth-16, in general. But I'm not going to tell you what they are. Cuz I don't give out spoilers.

Greg responds...

Wow, I disagree with just about EVERYTHING you've written above.

For starters, you're not TOLD Halo is Muslim. You're shown that they're exploring whether Islam might hold some meaning for them. You're not TOLD Khalid is Muslim, you're shown what his Muslim heritage means to him.

And I think both characters have extremely compelling storylines. You don't have to agree, of course. But I don't have to agree with you, either. And I think you're just WRONG.

And we sometimes do go into religion for other characters. Zatara immediately springs to mind since we showed his faith in the very same episode in which we explored Khalid's religion - and in the one that follows.

I don't think either Khalid or Halo are presented as ultra religious, either. Certainly, Halo's not. They're not even certain they want to be Muslim yet. (They're exploring!) I don't even think Khalid's mother is presented as ultra religious, really, though I'll admit you could make that argument about her. And Gabrielle's mother is talking about religion ONLY because Violet asked her about it. She's not proslytizing.

Zatara's the only guy, actually, whom we see kneeling in church and praying. Why doesn't THAT bother you? Is he suddenly "other" and not "normal".

I mean, sure, he is. That's the point. WE ARE ALL OUTSIDERS. Everyone is different. With different needs and different wants. Faith being one of many, many, many variables worth exploring.

And we have other Muslim characters who NEVER mention their faith at all. Queen Bee and Noor Harjavti, to name a couple. One's a villain, and one's pretty minor. But my point is that we don't have any rules. We're doing what we think is right for each of our characters individually.

And I don't think we have "changed the approach." I think we've evolved it. We're going deeper. (Cuz, you know, we're in our fourth season.) Deeper in TONS of ways. Deeper into Beast Boy's mental health. Deeper into Artemis and Jade's difficult childhood. Deeper into Halo's sexuality. Why should religion be off-limits? Especially, since EVERY single Muslim we consulted with and who worked on the season liked what we were doing and helped us get there. This has a positive meaning to many people. I know cuz they've told me that. And again, that doesn't mean YOU have to like it. It just means you can't possibly claim to be speaking for everyone. Not even for every Muslim.

And while I'm at it, I wouldn't be shy about going into Jaime's Mexican heritage. Hasn't come up yet. But I'm not saying it won't. It could become a big issue, if and when we go deeper into his character. Might hit on his Catholicism. Might not. But I wouldn't shy away from it.

Kaldur's blackness is pretty much a non-issue in Atlantis, but we have dealt with his lack of "purity" to certain racist Atlanteans in our companion comics. It's a metaphor. And not a subtle one. So you are OBJECTIVELY WRONG when you say we didn't deal with race. We did. IN DEPTH.

But my real issue, is that I really, REALLY don't like you trying to rein us in and tell us what is and isn't worthy of our attention. It grates on me that you're speaking in absolutes, as if there's only ONE GOOD WAY TO MAKE A SHOW. And, again, I disagree. Strongly. (Or was that not clear?)

Greg responds...

1. Artemis did as Artemis. She doesn't as Tigress.

Out of Universe, it's a design choice, made in a three-way discussion between our character designer(s), Brandon and myself. In universe, chalk it up to each character's personal choice.

2. I've never liked these kind of comparisons, but of the four, Superboy is the strongest. The other three are all pretty close to equal. Although, everything is situational.

Greg responds...

It'a a non-zero number.

Most people don't know she exists. She had an impressive rep in the clandestine world she operated on, but she was never a Super-villain, per se, like Sportsmaster.

Greg responds...

1. I doubt she could take any bullet - unless someone threw a bullet at her - without ANY damage, unless she was ready for it and used some combination of her morphing and telekinetic abilities to avoid injury. She might survive being hit by a bus, but I'm sure it would do damage.

2. Both are extremely dense, relative to your average Homo Sapiens Sapiens. Beyond that, I'm not interested in making hypothetical comparisons.

Greg responds...

1. He freed everybody and ran.

2. Team Year Nine.

Greg responds...

1. So long ago... I'm guessing it seemed to fit our needs. Though I am very familiar with the Beowulf story, so that may have had an influence.

2. We haven't hit any walls in that regard so far. And I doubt we would on HBO Max. So, the short answer is, yes, I'm comfortable.

Greg responds...

1. A-13 was Jay Garrick. A-14 was Impulse.

2. A-01 was Snapper Carr but was updated to Lucas Carr between Seasons One and Two.

3. Yes.

4. Yes.

5. No spoilers. (You had to push your luck, Caleb.)

Greg responds...

1. This is exactly why I shouldn't ever say anything. Because fans compare responses to different questions and then make assumptions based on those comparisons. Cassie and Tim are very clearly over in the show. Dick is very clearly with Barbara. Beyond that... write your own fanfiction, I guess.

2. Everyone forgets. Back in the day, I got a TON of negative feedback on both the Superboy/Miss Martian relationship and on the Artemis/Kid Flash relationship. Now, they're held up as perfection and used to attack what we've done since. It's a head shaker, mostly.

Greg responds...

Nope.

Greg responds...

I think it's clear he HAS asked her out. Multiple times. Probably an inappropriate number of multiple times, knowing Junior. I don't think he's worried about Tommy. I don't think Tommy's worried about him. And Tup can handle herself.

I also don't think Junior really is "in love" with Tuppence. He just wants to be in love.

Greg responds...

Again, I'd have to do research to confirm any of these in full, particularly middle names, which I have not studied and/or don't remember.

But I lean toward Jay and Barry being their actual first names and not short for anything.

Wally, on the other hand, is indeed short for Wallace.

And I can confirm that Iris currently goes by the surname West-Allen. In fact, I can confirm all the surnames.