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Antiyonder writes...

1. Is there still the interest in doing a Young Justice/Scooby Doo film? I figure even with YJ now being for a older audience it wouldn't be out of place considering Scooby's appearance on Supernatural.

2. Was it planned as a canon story (and as such the Mysteries Inc. Gang being part of continuity)? Or does the Newsgirl Legion presence change such is previously a yes?

Greg responds...

1. Brandon and I are still interested. I don't know that anyone else at WB ever was.

2. We never got that far. But we were, at the time, willing to do a Scooby import into the YJ universe, or a YJ import into the Scooby universe.

Response recorded on November 05, 2021

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Nick writes...

Hi Greg, I'm glad that Phantoms has premiered now. Almost flipped when hearing we can watch them on HBO Max after the DC Fandome was done. I like how the heroes are not given a big issue to deal with like in the last two seasons. Feels like going back to the first season roots.

Anyway I enjoyed the first two episodes and I have a few questions from them and I can promise that none of them involve spoilers.

1. What's with the iris-change in the Martian eyes? How come J'onn didn't have them when he was on Earth? They look better.

2. Are Harper Row and her brother adopted by Snapper and Beth?

3. One scene I didn't get in "Schooled" was when M'gann formed multiple arms to fight the Monqis and then freaks out after Wally freaks out seeing her with the arms. I don't get it?

4. Is Phil Bourassa not working on the show anymore? I noticed someone else is in charge of character design. Did Dou Hong work under him?

Thank you and till next time.

Greg responds...

1. The iris change allowed them to take in more light on Mars, I believe.

2. Fostered.

3. His reaction startled her.

4. Dou worked as a character designer on Season Three under Phil. Phil moved on after Season Three, and Dou was promoted to Model Supervisor. We also brought back Jerome Moore, who did characters for us during Seasons One and Two, and brought in Austin Reinkins to design with Dou and Rome.

Response recorded on November 05, 2021

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LoboGuara5bruxaria writes...

Hey Greg, on more than one occassion someone have asked you how strong an average Martian is when compared to a average Atlantean, but you had responded that it is hard to give an straight answer since martians can augment their strength with their shape/denseshifting abilities and telekinesis. So allow me to ask you this:

1) How strong to you think an average Martian is in their... "Biologically Natural*" form without any telekinesis involved when compared to the average Atlantean? I am NOT asking exact numbers of "Y Character is X times stronger/weaker than Z character", but more on a "I think X is a bit stronger/weaker than Z" kind of way.

2) How strong to you think an Average Gargoyle from Gargoyles is when compared to Young Justice's Average Atlantean and "Biologically natural" Martian?

*I say "Biologically Natural" form of Martians (That one of large bipedals with narrow waists and exposed gums) than True Form, since for a species of shapeshifters "true form" would likely be the one they are personally most confortable to stay in. Am I right or wrong on that regard?

Greg responds...

1. These kinds of questions are not really of much interest to me. You're trying to remove all situational criteria, but life is entirely situational. I guess by the terms you're using that Atlanteans are stronger than Martians. But the terms only exist in a vacuum of circumstance, which can never occur - not even in a vacuum.

2. Now, you're crossing shows? No. I'm not going there. Watch the two series. See what you see. Make your own evaluations.

3. Every Martian is different.

Response recorded on November 05, 2021

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Aziraphale writes...

After watching the season premiere of YJ, I have an additional question:

In your reinterpretation of the White Martians, I was confused by their new portrayal as an oppressed underclass compared to the Green Martians, in contrast to their depiction in the comics and other media as hatemongering conquerors. And that led to a confusing racial allegory that I already didn't think worked well, but then I noticed Ma’alefa’ak's birth name is "M'Comm", something original to this show and not the comics, and he was imprisoned in a jail with a giant X on the building. M'Comm X? If this was an intentional reference to real life civil rights leaders, what was the thought process in turning a character who had murdered innocent teenagers the previous season into a Malcolm X analogy?

Greg responds...

I see where you're coming from, but that's not where we were coming from.

The X on the building comes from the X on Martian Manhunter's chest. In our mind, that was the symbol of the M'huntrrs, i.e the Martian police, that J'onn J'onzz was a member of before coming to Earth. I totally see how you got there, but I promise you it literally never occurred to us to associate that X with M'comm to create any kind of Malcolm X reference or analogy.

The name M'comm was, for us, just following in the tradition of most Martian naming, i.e. you take a relatively average human name and Martian it up a bit. Hence John becomes J'onn, Megan becomes M'gann, etc. M'ree, M'aatt, J'ann and M'comm follow along those lines. So, yes, M'comm is a Martianing up of Malcolm, but I never specifically thought of associating him with Malcolm X, any more than I think of J'onn being associated with some specific Jon or John.

Way back when we were developing Season One, Brandon and I rejected the idea of there being an evil race on M'arzz. I find that notion from the comics very troubling. But we did think that the MYTH of an evil race would be useful for the ruling castes to justify their caste system. Scapegoating, in essence, creates a self-justifying belief: "Oh, so the A'ashenn are angry about the way we treat them? They don't like how we keep them in their place? Well, that's because they're hate-mongering would-be conquerors! Thank C'eridyall we DO keep them in their place!"

I've said before that I regret having used White Martians at all. We were following in the footsteps of the comics, but I do wish we had thought to use Grays instead of Whites. For one thing, the idea of Martians being either "little green men" or "Grays" feels right to me, in terms of alien-mythology. But mostly, it's because here in the real world, the word "white" is obviously associated with people of European descent (such as myself) - i.e. so-called Caucasian - and not with the actual color white, i.e. the snow white or chalk white of our A'ashenn. In essence, we were distracted by the visual look of the White Martians and didn't have the sensitivity to focus on the actual and very real connotation of the WORD "white".

That's one of the main reasons why, this season, we made a conscious choice to largely stop referring to the Martians as White, Green, Red and Yellow, in favor of A'ashenn, G'arrunn, B'lahdenn and Y'ellonn. We actively wanted to create some mental distance between the A'ashenn and Caucasians by avoiding the common word "white". We don't want the oppressed A'ashenn associated with the decidedly NOT oppressed Caucasians in any way, shape or form. It's not a perfect solution, but after consulting with our multiple sensitivity readers, it felt like the best we could do, given our failure of imagination and sensitivity way back in Season One.

Response recorded on October 29, 2021

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Brie writes...

Hey Greg!
I have seen people say that Wallace West (the second) and Emiko Queens relationship in the comics is Spitfire 2.0
An archer and a Kid Flash being in a relationship alone is enough to draw parallels, but they also started off fighting/being sarcastic before eventually opening up to each other and starting to date.
My question is:
1) What do you think about people calling them spitfire 2.0?
2) what do you think about Emiko Queen in general?
3) what do you think about Wallace West (the second) in general?
Thanks for taking the time to answer this! I'm loving season four so far!

Greg responds...

1. It feels like a tribute, so I guess it's a smile. But this question is the first time I've heard of this.

2. She's interesting.

3. Also interesting.

Thanks!

Response recorded on October 29, 2021

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Caleb writes...

I've been sitting on this question for a while, so it's not strictly related to the season 4 premiere (which I really enjoyed), but here we go:

Agendas is one of my favorite episodes of Young Justice. I love seeing superheroes interact in decidedly not-super ways. Anyway, I was looking at the membership timeline of the Justice League on the YJ Wiki and noticed that (as a rule) there seem to be no new members for years, and then a huge jump in membership around the same time. What was really odd was the (at least) 10 season 3 additions (from Aquaman II to Steel) all joining around 6 months before the season began. This is contrasted with the Team, where members come and go much more frequently. So…

1. Is the meeting/discussion/vote format depicted in Agendas the primary way that new members are added to the Justice League?
2. Are there any outliers besides Doctor Fate (who was then legitimized by the vote in Agendas)?
3. When multiple members are added in a single day (like Atom, Plastic Man, Icon, and Red Arrow in Usual Suspects or the aforementioned season 3 batch), how are their Zeta-designations assigned? When they debuted as heroes? How many votes they got? Whatever order Batman dictates?
4. Whose arm do I have to twist at DC to get a comic miniseries of Earth-16 Justice League Election Specials?

Greg responds...

1. Yes.

2. On occasion, a hero may be drafted into the League on a probationary basis, during an emergency or for other reasons. But then he, she or they would have to be confirmed in a League vote, as with - as you noted - Doctor Fate.

3. Batman has nothing to do with it. He doesn't run the League. He was chairman during Season One. But since then, we've had multiple chairpersons, including Captain Atom, Black Canary, Wonder Woman & Aquaman (II), and Black Lightning. Generally speaking, if members join at the same time - without having first joined on a probationary basis (as Doctor Fate did) - they are in essence inducted in the order they debuted publicly as heroes.

4. I wish I knew...

Response recorded on October 29, 2021

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Gigliovaljr writes...

Hey Greg,
It has been a delightful surprise for the sudden premiere of YJ Phantoms and I hope there's more episodes soon.

Looking back at when YJ returned, you had a lot less restrictions, allowing you to tell the story more to your choosing, but I can't help but wonder how different season 3 would have been if Young Justice had never been cancelled to begin with and still had those restrictions.

Could you tell us more of how different season 3 would have been if the show had continued back in 2013? What would have changed in regards to characters and story? What plans for season 3 did you come up after the original cancellation and what plans were scrapped?

Greg responds...

I can't answer that. It's hypothetical to a wild degree. Our general plans for the first four seasons haven't changed from back when we first developed the series. But we didn't break Season Three in any detail until DC Universe picked us up for a third season. And we didn't begin breaking Season Four until DC Universe picked a fourth season up - months before DC Universe became DC Universe Infinite, and we moved over to HBO Max.

Response recorded on October 29, 2021

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May Zozi writes...

Okay so my question requires a bit of background:

All three of the Harper boys (Will: B06, Roy: B25, Jim: A45) have different designations yet are identical as they are clones. So, why does the Zeta Tech not view them all as one person?

In S2, the eye scanner at the Arrow Cave viewed both Roy and Will as the same person. When it scanned Will's eyes it recognized him as Roy, who was already inside, then the alarm went off. I am supposing the technology must be different and I am guessing the Zeta tech is more advanced. But then how does it function? WHAT differentiates them?

The only two things I could think were age and physical attributes. All three Harpers are different ages (technically with Jim being the eldest and Roy being the youngest due to time spent on ice) and have differing physical attributes (hair, facial hair, muscle mass, height, limbs in Roy's case.)

My main question is: how does the zeta tube recognize people? Is it through blood, through DNA, through physical attributes? And how can it tell the Harper boys apart?

Thank you so much and really enjoying S4 thus far! :)

Greg responds...

Captain Marvel and Billy Batson were genetically identical, but the Zeta Tube didn't recognize them as the same person. You're assuming that the Zeta Tube is genetically testing potential travelers. And it clearly isn't. I mean how do you genetically test Red Tornado to identify him? Or Sphere?

Response recorded on October 29, 2021

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Liam writes...

Before I ask any questions, I just wanted to say I love Young Justice Phantoms so much so far and I can't wait to see the rest! I'm a big fan of you and Brandon's work on Young Justice and I just wanted to say thank you to both of you for it. It's such a fantastic show that has become such a big part of my life and I am forever thankful. 1) You've said before that important real life events have happened in the YJ universe. Are the people who acted in these events the same people or a fictional character who is not them? (So basically, if Person A carried out an event in our world, could it be assumed the character who did the same was an alternate version of Person A, or a different character who's only similarity to person A is carrying out the action?) 2) Was Hello Megan a popular earth show on Mars, or was it just popular amongst M'gann's family? If it was only popular amongst all martians, what about it made them so interested while earthlings didn't seem to like it all that much considering it was cancelled due to low ratings? 3) What were the cultures you pulled from in order to create martian culture? With mention of a caste system, I assume hinduism is one of them but I assume there are others 4) In season 3, Artemis had mentioned that they know the soul exists because of Secret, does this mean Artemis developed an interest/exploration of the concept of spirituality after meeting Spirit, or was it a belief she had prior? 5) This is an add on to the last question, but I assume it would count as a second question anyways. Does Artemis have any spiritual practices that she has developed or is it more of just a recognition? This last part isn't a question, but thank you, Brandon, and the entire YJ team again. I know some fans dislike it or even wish it wasn't part of the show, but personally I love the way the character's personal lives are incorporated into the show because it adds in a sense of realism that really helps build character

Greg responds...

1. If I understand your question correctly - and I'm not sure I do - then there is an Earth-16 version of real life people doing real life things.

2. It wasn't necessarily a huge M'arzz hit. But there's no Nielson ratings to confirm.

3. As you noted, the Indian caste system was an influence. Racism, in general, is an influence. But I don't want to imply any one to one relationship between Mars and any specific culture or nationality.

4. I don't think Artemis' knowing about the soul implies anything more than that, so your either/or question doesn't follow.

5. This, in essence, is a spoiler request.

Thanks for all your kinds words.

Response recorded on October 29, 2021

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Claire writes...

Was M'gann close to any of her green martian siblings growing up? Obviously not close currently since none were going to her wedding.

Greg responds...

Not particularly - or consistently.

Response recorded on October 28, 2021

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Anonymous writes...

Hi Greg !
What does Zatanna think about Dick and Barbara relationship ? I mean what was her reaction when she learned it?

Greg responds...

Zatanna and Dick broke up long before he started dating Barbara. Zatanna and Barbara are friends, and Dick's super-power is getting along with his exes. So everyone is good with everyone.

Response recorded on October 28, 2021

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Emory writes...

a) What is Ollie’s relationship with Roy and Will like right now?

b) Did Roy join school after he left the team?

c) Is Roy Native American in YJ as well?

Greg responds...

a. Pretty solid.

b. You're the second person today to ask me that. I haven't thought about it, strangely.

c. He might have some Native American ancestry, but generally, he's a white guy.

Response recorded on October 28, 2021

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Dean Paterson writes...

How Old is Harper Row In Young Justice: Phantoms

Greg responds...

By the END of Team Year Ten, Harper Row is 18.

Response recorded on October 28, 2021

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Paco Cruz writes...

First at all, I gotta say thank you for creating this show, it’s amazing. I discovered this show pretty recently. It help a lot, I was diagnostic with cancer and since I had extra time in my hands, I decide to watch it. And let me tell you it help a lot. Now I cancer free. So mostly it’s a thank you note. Although I just have a question (I’m pretty sure that I hasn’t been asked before, I read like 300 question in the search for Zatanna. But then again, it might slipped) Is there any chance for Dick and Zee get back together? I really love their chemistry. Currently I have watched the first 2 episode of season 4. Sorry for my bad English. And thanks again. Hope you doing great.

Greg responds...

I'm very glad you're cancer-free. But I can't answer your question. It easily qualifies as a spoiler request, and I don't give out spoilers.

Response recorded on October 28, 2021

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Verdragon writes...

Two questions, both on the overly specific subject of Martians stealing Earth TV.
1: Is J'onn basically pirating Earth television to send back to Mars? Like, are the execs running Space Trek seeing a large spike in their ratings from no discernable source?
2: J'onn says he's been bringing Earth TV to Mars for 60 years, has he been active on Earth as a superhero for that long?

Greg responds...

1. Technically, I suppose Martians are pirating the signal.

2. Since 1960, yes.

Response recorded on October 28, 2021

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Nellie writes...

Hi Greg! So happy for season four!

A few questions:

You said here you didn't remember confirming if Bruce was Tim's legal guardian here (https://www.s8.org/gargoyles/askgreg/search.php?qid=24832). But you kinda did earlier in this reply (https://www.s8.org/gargoyles/askgreg/search.php?qid=17071). Any clarifications?

In reply to this question you state that Paula is half-Vietnamese, which would make Artemis and Jade a quarter Vietnamese (https://www.s8.org/gargoyles/askgreg/search.php?qid=21311). In pretty much every other questions, you've stated that Artemis and Jade are a half-Vietnamese, which would mean that Paula isn't mixed. Any clarifications on that front?

In True Heroes, it was stated that Tara was 15. In your reply in to this question (https://www.s8.org/gargoyles/askgreg/search.php?qid=24377), however, you stated that she was 16. Can we take we to mean she turned 16 sometime during the story?

Greg responds...

Nothing is canon, including what I write here, unless or until that it appears in canon media (episode, comics, video game, audio play). So, as for Tim: no spoilers. And as for Paula, at some point, I clearly had a reason to state that she was biracial. I honestly don't remember why, but I reserve the right to remember again at a later date.

Season Three began in Team Year Eight and ended in Team Year Nine. So, in True Heroes, she's 15. By the END of Team Year Nine, as clearly stated in the answer cited above, she's 16. But Season Three ended in February of Team Year Nine. All I'm saying is that she turned 16 by December of that year. I'm not saying which month her birthday is in.

Response recorded on October 28, 2021

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Verdragon writes...

Do Markovia and Vlativa have parliaments and constitutions or are they actual monarchies where the royals are also heads of state?

Greg responds...

Both Markovia and Vlatava are constitutional monarchies.

Response recorded on October 28, 2021

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Todd Jensen writes...

In your "big round of question-answering" earlier this year, someone asked you about why there was never a Christmas episode of "Gargoyles", and you mentioned that it was never a big enough priority, though there'd been some ideas for it.

This reminded me that Halloween was the only holiday to feature in "Gargoyles" (unless you count New Year's Eve in the "Bad Guys" spin-off) - it got in twice, in fact, once in "Eye of the Beholder" and once in "Clan-Building", and from there, a thought I'd had about "Gargoyles", "The Spectacular Spider-Man", and "Young Justice".

Now, though I think that both "The Spectacular Spider-Man" and "Young Justice" were both well done, they never grabbed me as much as "Gargoyles" did. (I suspect that this comes from my having grown up on medieval legends and history far more than on DC and Marvel super-heroes, so that "Gargoyles" war far more a "first language" for me than the other two series were.) But one feature of "The Spectacular Spider-Man" and "Young Justice" that didn't appear in "Gargoyles", a feature that really delighted me, was that sense of the year's cycle, traveling through various holidays, in particular (I recall that "The Spectacular Spider-Man" incorporated Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Year's , and Valentine's Day, and the first two seasons of "Young Justice" - I haven't gotten around to seeing Season Three, so can't comment on it - covered the year's cycle - if a different year's cycle from New Year's to Independence Day than from Independence Day to New Year's, thanks to the time skip). Of course, I think it makes sense that those series would focus more on that cycle, since their leads were human (with a few alien leads in "Young Justice", of course, but who were interested in Earth customs), while the gargoyles would have less interest in human holidays (apart from Halloween,for obvious reasons).

More musings than an actual question, but it was an observation that I wanted to share with you.

Greg responds...

I think you're right. But I also think it had a lot to do with an evolution in my sensibilities. Keeping track of time for me started to become a priority for me later in my work.

Response recorded on October 28, 2021

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Elliot writes...

Hello Greg! After just watching the first two episodes of YJ Phantoms on HBO Max, I just want to say that I thoroughly enjoyed it! I'm so excited to see where the Mars storyline takes us, and meeting M'gann's family has been quite the surreal experience. M'gann's attitude and confidence was a sight to behold whenever she (unfortunately) had to deal with the Green Martians' prejudice and outright assault. I love to see it! Anyways, here are some questions:

01 | Did Roy go back to school after being rescued from the Light? It's assumed that Will was the one that finished his education in Roy's place, so was Roy homeschooled after the fact or did he go back to attending public/private school? Was he not schooled at all? Or was Roy (pre-frozen) homeschooled from the get-go and, as such, so was Will?
02 | In the tie-in comics, it's apparent that Dick and Bette hooked up on the eve of his birthday. Given the retcon (if that's the appropriate word) of the Wayne/Kane family relations in the comics, as well as on the show (with the addition of Batwoman and your confirmation that Bette and Martha Wayne are related), would it be safe to say that neither Dick nor Bette knew that they were distant cousins to some degree?
03 | While I assume it was for budgetary reasons, was there a specific reason you guys chose to use Talia's whitewashed design with the same overtly sensualized/sexualized outfit from the recent DC Animated Movies instead of the more appropriately Arabic and regal design Christopher Jones gave her in the tie-in comics?
04 | A lot of stuff has changed very recently in the comics regarding character sexuality, what with Tim Drake and Jon Kent both being confirmed bisexual (though, as of this writing, I don't think Tim's put a label on it one way or another). Whether or not you were privy to such a development isn't what I'm asking about, per say, but you've stated in earlier posts that you'd never take away an LGBTQ+ character's sexuality away (the question was in reference to Renee Montoya's sexuality in the show), so even though I highly doubt it would effect S4 at all, would the change be taken into consideration in later seasons? I'm not asking about Tim and/or Jon specifically, by the way, just the notion itself. Would a previously perceived straight character getting recently confirmed/retconned as another sexuality impact your interpretation of that character? Just for example, Alan Scott has been gay in the comics for quite a few years now, same with Wonder Woman and her bisexuality. Given that you make histories and timelines regarding most of the characters on your shows, I assume you've done the same with these two back in S1 when they were first introduced, but back when in the comics they were straight. Has the retcon changed things for you guys, or is it largely a non-issue?
05 | Not really a question, just more love for Phantoms! The poster alone was phenomenal, and I'm so stoked for what's to come, especially given the trailer, the first two episodes, and the new opening! I'm so glad Raquel is (seemingly) taking a bigger spotlight this season, hopefully we can finally find out who she married!

Greg responds...

1. I honestly haven't thought about these issues.

2. Dick's not blood-related to Bette, either way.

3. She's still Arabic in my mind. Phil chose which design to use, but I don't believe we colored her white.

4. As a rule, I wouldn't change an LGBTQ+ character into a heteronormative character. But being with a partner of one sex doesn't preclude someone being bi, obviously. And even, say, with a character like Alan Scott, given the environment and era he grew up in, he could be gay - not bi - and still have been with women in his past. I have contemporaries much younger than Alan who didn't self-acknowledge their sexuality until long after they were adults in adult relationships with members of the opposite sex.

5. I LOVE those posters! All props to Brandon, Chris and Jason for their work on them.

Response recorded on October 28, 2021

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Michael Morningstar writes...

Hey Greg!

Today, I just saw the first two episodes of Young Justice: Phantoms on HBO Max and I have to say, I am completely blown away by the animation quality of this season! Studio Mir really nailed it with this season and the animation is on par with the first two seasons (not to say the animation companies who did Outsiders was bad but still could've been better) and I'm looking forward to the rest of the season and pray that Warner Bros. Animation or HBO Max renews the show for a fifth season.

Now, when I was rewatching the show a few weeks ago in preparations for its fourth season's debut this year, something interesting popped up in my mind while I was watching the first three seasons:

1. In the first episode of Season 2, John Stewart/Green Lantern explained to the Justice League and The Team that Kroloteans's culture revolves around stolen alien tech. If this species is so involved in stealing technology from other alien races, how were they even able to travel outside their home planet in the first place? Were they originally an intelligent race like the Rannians and the Kryptonians that successfully managed to travel outside their homeworld and establish first contact but eventually became jealous of other alien species advanced technology so much so that eventually caused them to cease all homemade Krolotean tech and resorted to stealing alien technology for themselves?

2. A decade ago when the first season of Young Justice was going strong on Cartoon Network, you responded to a question stating that New Gods are ageless beings. What does this mean exactly? Are they immune to the effects of aging and disease and can potentially live forever? The reason I'm asking is because Dreamer stated to Superboy that fellow New God Serifan grew up watching Earth Western movies on New Genesis. Does this mean that New Gods like Serifan are born similar to Humans and age like them but at some point in their lives, they hit a certain milestone and effectively stopped aging like regular Humans and become Ageless beings?

3. Regarding Lords of Order and Chaos. In Season 3's episode Evolution, it showed that Nabu/Doctor Fate was originally a human but after he died, he somehow ascended to become a Lord of Order. How is it possible that Nabu became a Lord of Order in the first place? Are certain humans capable of becoming a Lord of Order after death? Can this also apply to Lords of Chaos like Klarion? Was Klarion originally born a human like Nabu but became a Lord of Chaos after his death?

4. You mention that everything that has happened in real life has also happened in Young Justice like 9/11, Hurricane Katrina, the 2008 Financial Crisis, and the COVID-19 Pandemic. I guess this means that certain Islamic terrorist groups like Al-Qaeda, ISIS, Boko Haram, and Hezbollah also exist in Young Justice? How do these groups react to groups like the Justice League and certain events on Earth like the Reach Invasion and Meta-Human Trafficking? Do they believe these events shook their faith in their religion and their supporters in the Middle East? Or do they use them to their advantage to bolster their plans against the West and the rest of the world?

5. How does a Lord of Chaos like Klarion view the state of Earth it is in? I can imagine that he must be thrilled with events like the Syrian Civil War and the collapse of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan in 2021 since they bring Chaos to the world. Has he secretly pulled strings behind the scenes to bring Chaos to Earth or does he let events transpire on its own without getting involved?

Greg responds...

1. I can think of a couple of possible scenarios, but I'm not going to tell a story here at ASK GREG. As always, NO SPOILERS.

2. Did I really say "Ageless beings"? Well, that doesn't make much sense to me now, assuming it ever did. Some New Gods are clearly older than others. Relative to Earthlings, they may SEEM ageless, though.

3. No spoilers.

4. I'll leave that to your interpretation. As for Covid, our show was too far into production to be able to incorporate Covid into our storytelling. So maybe on Earth-16, the pandemic hit a year later. Maybe.

5. Again, I'm not telling stories here. I'll leave that to your interpretation.

Response recorded on October 28, 2021

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Jim writes...

Continuing on from my previous post:

1) When (in terms of which Team Year) did Freddy Freeman debut as Lieutenant Marvel?

2) When (in terms of which Team Year) did Mary Bromfield debut as Sergeant Marvel?

3) When (in terms of which Team Year) did Lieutenant Marvel join the Team?

4) When (in terms of which Team Year) did Sergeant Marvel join the Team?

5) When (in terms of which Team Year) did Troia leave the Team?

Greg responds...

1. No spoilers.

2. No spoilers.

3. Team Year Three.

4. Team Year Three.

5. Team Year Five.

Response recorded on October 25, 2021

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Jim writes...

Since you've been so kind as to answer questions about when Arrowette, Spoiler and Thirteen debuted as heroes and joined the Team (the Team Years in which they did so...), I wonder if I could try my hand at asking the following questions, please:

1) When (in terms of which Team Year) did Garth debut as Tempest?

2) When (in terms of which Team Year) did Tula debut as Aquagirl?

3) When (in terms of which Team Year) did Tempest join the Team?

4) When (in terms of which Team Year) did Aquagirl join the Team?

5) When (in terms of which Team Year) did Troia join the Team?

Greg responds...

1. Team Year One.

2. Team Year One.

3. Team Year One.

4. Team Year One.

5. Team Year Two.

Response recorded on October 25, 2021

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ruby writes...

This is my first time writing in, so I just wanted to say thanks for having this website up! I can't imagine the amount of time it takes to answer everything. It's truly appreciated. I picked up YJ not long after the third season wrapped up, and I'm delighted I got into it when I did.

I especially have to thank you (and the rest of the YJ crew, of course) for Artemis. I was in a bit of a rough patch when I watched it first, and I saw a lot of myself in her. Watching her overcome her fears, especially in the first season, was a reassuring inspiration. There's been more than a few times when I found myself thinking of her as I braved through things. She means a lot to me, and I'm thrilled to see her still working things out now, even though she's been through so much. (I was beyond excited when we found out she's leading the Team now! I can't wait to see that!)

Anyway, I've had these lying around for a bit, so here we go.

1) You recently mentioned some of the organizations you’ve reached out to for help with YJ’s characters of color, cultures you’re unfamiliar with, and the LGBTQ+ community. It’s wonderful to hear that you’re working with them! Which other groups have you worked with (both today and during the first and second seasons) and how does that relationship work?

2) What does a day in the life look like in the YJ acting booth? (I have to imagine it’s pretty fun with that particular group of actors and directors!) Any idea when you’ll be able to record in person again?

3) From what I understand about acting (both voice and “regular”), it’s incredibly important for actors to be able to play off of each other. How does that work with recording during the pandemic? Do actors record lines individually and then play off those recordings, or are Zoom meetings used to imitate the booth as much as possible?

4) One last question about voice acting: how much influence do your actors have over the characters' personalities? Are their ideas about the characters integrated into the writing?

5) I’ve always loved the glimpses we’ve seen of YJ’s interpretation of Atlantis. Many of the versions I’ve seen are basically just a very large underwater city with little oceanic inspiration. YJ’s version seems to have been created with a lot of thought toward how the structure of the seafloor and plant life interact with it, as well as the intense influence of magic. The colors also often feel particularly vibrant and ocean-like. Given that you’re not one of the artists, I’d guess you may not know much about how it was designed, but is there any insight you could give to choices made regarding Atlantis’s design and culture?

I've just seen the first episode of Phantoms, and it's looking spectacular so far. Good luck with finishing up post-production, and thank you again for your hard work!

Greg responds...

1. I'm going to hold off answering which other organizations we've worked with for now, as I think revealing the organizations would by default reveal content. I'd be happy to answer this after the season's over. But I've already stated that we've been working with GLAAD and OUT and MPAC (Hollywood Division). Plus, we've run every single outline and script by Dr. Janina Scarlet (superhero-therapy.com and @shadowQuill on Twitter). She's helped us with psychological and therapeutic details, while also generally acting as a sensitivity reader for our work. And there's also Warner Bros' own DEI department, who've been very helpful. There are more organizations, but the rest will have to wait for now. As for process, it can differ slightly. But generally, we discuss the stuff we were thinking about doing with them and get their feedback. Then we show them our outlines. Then our scripts. Sometimes even animatics or animation. At each step, we listen, take their notes and make sure everyone feels good about what we're doing before we take the next step in the process. We don't do anything that doesn't work for our story and characters. But we admit to ignorance on many fronts and many levels, and we like educating ourselves and allowing that education to be reflected in the work.

2. Well, it is fun! (Or, you know, most of the time. Nothing's perfect.) But pre-pandemic, we'd bring a majority of any episode's cast in together. (Although our casts are SO big, that sometimes we might split that cast into two shifts, trying to get folks who have scenes together to record together.) Jamie usually has them do a first run through without much direction. Then he might dive in and nuance an exchange or a line. Or even a certain phrase. We like to have options, but we want to make sure we get at least one version that hits the nail on the head. And we also make sure that we have at least two versions of every line. Post-pandemic, everyone was recording alone. Which is still great but not quite as much fun. There's a lot of playing back what one actor did for the other actor. (Whomever went first, kinda gets to set the tone for any scene, in these cases.) As for when we'll get back to recording in person, I don't know. Not on Season Four. That's all fully recorded.

3. See above.

4. After an episode or two, we definitely begin to incorporate their performances into their characters. With regulars or our long time recurring actors, we often sit down and talk to the actors about their characters, and I'm not at all adverse to listening to their takes on their own characters and importing those ideas into future episodes.

5. We wanted to fully bring their culture and milleu to life. To see Posiedonis - which is all you've seen of Atlantis so far - as its inhabitants see it.

Thank you for watching!

Response recorded on October 25, 2021

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Nick writes...

Hi, Greg! I just wanted to take a second to thank you for taking the time to go through the queue this summer (including my many taxing age questions). It’s awesome that you’re still taking the time to answer us fans’ questions DECADES after starting this site. Seeing you go through all the answers these past couple of months has been super exciting as we've looked ahead to Season 4. Seeing the premiere today was incredibly exciting and I'm having a blast talking with the community again as we prepare for all the exciting stuff to come with PHANTOMS. Rest assured, we are campaigning for Season 5.

I have... several questions that I've built up over these past few months as you've been answering the queue, and thankfully, this time most of them aren't age questions.

1. In the interest of age/debuts questions: I know you don’t always love to reference the real years for YJ and prefer to operate on the ‘Team Year’ system. Still, for the sake of saving you some math, would it be okay if I started phrasing my questions as ‘What year was x born?’ instead of ‘How old is x?’ Just want to know if that’s faster since it could make things easier on your end.

For this question (https://www.s8.org/gargoyles/askgreg/search.php?qid=24832), you weren’t sure whether or not you had confirmed that Bruce Wayne was Tim Drake’s legal guardian in the past. In this 2012 answer from quite a while ago (https://www.s8.org/gargoyles/askgreg/search.php?qid=17071), you said: “Batman is [Barbara’s] mentor, but not her legal guardian (unlike Dick & TIM).”
2. Is Bruce Wayne the legal guardian of Tim Drake as you implied in the above answer, or have plans changed since then?

If yes, would you now be willing to answer:
3. Was Bruce Wayne the legal guardian of Jason Todd?
4. Is Bruce Wayne the legal guardian of Orphan/Cassandra Cain?

And just for my own understanding of the legal terminology:
5. Has Bruce Wayne legally ADOPTED any children, or was Dick, for example, simply a ward like in the classic comics?

I'm incredibly excited to see what you, Brandon, and the team has been cooking up these past couple years and I'm very excited for the future. Hope you're having a great one!

Greg responds...

1. Probably.

2. Nothing is truly canon until it appears in the show (or the comics, etc.). Plans haven't changed. But the way the Barbara question was asked, I may have been lured into answering the way I did. So... no spoilers.

3. No spoilers.

4. No spoilers.

5. There's a difference between being a ward and being adopted. But whether or not Dick was adopted is also a spoiler.

I feel like this is probably a disappointing set of responses. But I am extremely grateful for your enthusiasm!!

Response recorded on October 25, 2021

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Shamrock Holmes writes...

1. Has Martha Kent met Superboy?

2. Was there ever any talk of sanctions against Kaldur and Artemis for their actions while undercover?

Greg responds...

1. Yes.

2. Which actions?

Response recorded on October 25, 2021

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Anonymous writes...

Did Phil Bourassa work on Young Justice: Phantoms?

Greg responds...

No, though of course many of his designs are still being used in the series, and what new designs that were created for S4 by Model Supervisor Dou Hong and Character Designers Jerome K. Moore and Austin Reinkins were designed based on the template and design style Phil set for the series. Also, Dou worked with Phil on Season Three, and Jerome worked with him on Seasons One and Two.

Response recorded on October 25, 2021

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WildStorm Fan writes...

Any more Hints than what you have already given on the Wildstorm character you snuck into Season 1 or maybe the episode number or if you are in a really great mood how about the character name too. Also Thank you so much for continuing to make this show.

Greg responds...

No spoilers.

Response recorded on October 25, 2021

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Thanks So Much For Season 4, Have A Great Day writes...

1. Why does Barry have Blue eyes as flash in season 3 but green Eyes as a civilian, is he wearing contacts as the Flash and if not then what's the reason?
2. This questions has been asked once before but you weren't sure if it has happened, in True Colors Tim wears a stealth suit But Dick has never needed it so why did Tim wear it was it because he is nervous?
3. What do you consider the cut off point for till the point you know about the DC mythos cause I recall you saying you weren't familiar with new stuff like how you didn't know about new stuff like Chris Kent.

Greg responds...

1. Color questions to the colorblind guy seem somewhat fruitless.

2. Again, I'd have to check and confirm.

3. I have gaps. I'm pretty damn familiar with a lot of DC Comics between 1938-1979, though there's plenty I haven't read. On the other hand, I read nearly everything from 1980 through 1996. 1996 is where my big gaps start. I stopped reading then. I came back in 2009, reading a bit here and a bit there, so I'm semi-familiar with a lot of stuff between 2009 and New 52. But I missed ALL of the New 52 before Rebirth, and quite a bit before New 52, as well. I've read everything from Rebirth through 2019. For 2020 and 2021, I'm still reading everything now, but there's a lot, so I'm a bit behind on some series.

Response recorded on October 25, 2021

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FlashKnight writes...

1. Is there any difference in the way Barry or Bart's power work.
2. I am very curious like how would you describe the personality of Jay Garrick, like Barry you described as straight man Gary Cooper like, Wally is a bit more wisecracking and well we have had 2 seeasons of him so his personality is pretty clear, similarly Bart is also pretty easy to understand but like if you had to compare Jay and Barry how would you describe Jay.
3. Do the powers of Jaculi and Trajectory work the same way as Barry or Wally or Jay or Bart, essentially could you tell me the mechanics of their powers like how their speed compares to the flash family, metabolism problems and if acccelerating and deaccelerating is required.

Greg responds...

1. How they work? No, I don't think so.

2. I'm inclined to leave this to your interpretation. But I guess I see Jay as more Spencer Tracy than Gary Cooper.

3. It basically worked/works the same way for them both, but Jaculi was and Trajectory is even less powerful than Wally.

Response recorded on October 25, 2021

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Kevin writes...

1. Since the X designations seem to have been discontinued would it be possible for you to reveal what they were? I agree with you about leaving the rest to be discovered it's just seems implausible for these to be revealed naturally because of the end of Season 3.
2. Prior to Season 2 have we seen the characters who made up the A08 A09 and A14?
3. Does Brucely have a Designation? (I know kinda of a silly question but I think he deserves one.)
4. Did Arsenal gain an A designation after he left the Team similar to how Zatanna gained a B and Justice League Designation?

Greg responds...

1. X-Designations? We don't have X-Designations.

2. Prior to Season 2? Well, I shouldn't answer, but no.

3. He does.

4. No.

Response recorded on October 25, 2021

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magicmanzach writes...

Well here's a couple of magic themed questions-
1. The Sword of Beowulf had the arm of Grendel as a scabbard and I have been very curious as to which sword it was, in the archives you have mentioned that it had been long since you read the novel and that you don't remember, but after reading it the only option that makes sense to me is the Giant sword which melts in the blood of Grendel's mother. Now this might seem convoluted logic on my part and it most probably is but the sword although melted the hilt remained and that melting bound the magical sword or rather only the hilt at this point and was bounded to the another thing of the same blood the arm of Grendel and thus the sword becoming whole again or maybe the story happened a little differently on earth 16. Is this guess right and if not is there anything you can recollect about the sword or the story of how it happened on earth 16?
2. In Early Warnings was Zatanna channeling the power of Dr Fate and summoned his Ankh the symbol of fate's power because Klarion said that doesn't belong to you, So are Humans Sorceres just capable of channeling the power of Lord of Orders wihtout any conduit like the helmet?
3. Why couldn't klarion escape from the tower of fate in Early Warnings despite the fact that he easily escaped in Denial, was it because he was on the top of the tower in Denial and so it was easy to understand for him where he is in space and time as opposed to early warnings where he is inside the tower so it is difficult to teleport since space and time are weird inside the tower or maybe Nabu just upped the security in the tower since Denial?
4. The magic in Young Justice perplexes as it should since well it's magic, but how can Zatanna train Thirteen who does magic without the use of any words are there two different types of magic, I thought only immortal sorcerers could do that. Like are their multiple types of magic because well they aren't rules or restriction that I recall on magic on young justice all we have is experience levels and the power gap between immortal and mortal sorcerers. Basically is there a 101 to magic in young justice if you plan to reveal that season 4 or future I get it but if there are no spoilers then that would really ease my confusion otherwise Spoiler Request No Spoilers is fine by me.

Greg responds...

1. I'm sorry. I'm in the same spot I was in before. It's just been too long since I've read Beowulf.

2. She cheats.

3. Yep. Easier to find one's way off the roof than out of the interior. But he wasn't eternally trapped. Just lost. It's hard for him to focus sometimes.

4. There are indeed multiple types of magic. But it is all about channeling mystic energies.

Response recorded on October 25, 2021

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Owen writes...

1. Why doesn’t Aquaman/Kaldur'ahm get his Tattoos erased or complete Sorcery school?
2. Does Ocean Master have the ability to use sorcery or is all derived from the Trident of Neptune?
3.Why did Miss Martian think Robin Orphan Spoiler and Arrowette weren’t good as the others on the Team when they worked well as a team in Batman Inc?
4. What do the Brain and Ultra Humanite’s scientific specialties? Does the Brain have leadership skills over Humanite at least prior to Season 3 of Young Justice?

Greg responds...

1. Why should he?

2. Both. But past tense.

3. I'm not clear why you think Miss Martian thinks that. Cuz she doesn't.

4. More experience, and Ultra-Humanite's work was based in part on Brain's.

Response recorded on October 25, 2021

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Anonymous writes...

Would previous members of the light like The Brain be accepted back into the light if they escaped prison? Or is it like if your caught you’re never allowed back?

Greg responds...

It's not automatic either way.

Response recorded on October 25, 2021

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Paul writes...

1. In "Triptych", Batman referred to Diana/Wonder Woman as "a princess of Themiscyra". Is Troia (Diana's "sister", as we know from "Elder Wisdom") also a princess of Themiscyra?

2. What was the casting process like for the role of Troia? I'm curious after your recent responses concerning the casting process for characters like Geo-Force.

3. I'm curious about this so here goes, even though it might be a spoiler request. Do Garth, Troia and Catherine Cobert have (semi-)regular meetings with the Justice League, or at least with whoever is leading the League at a given time, given that they apparently like to speak out on behalf of the League? In "Royal We" and to a lesser extent "Influence", these characters seemed to be very in-sync with the League's actions and views.

4. Lengthy question now.

In a previous Ramble ("ASK GREG LIVE - Correcting the Web"), you said that "Unfortunately, for reasons reported fairly accurately from ASK GREG LIVE, we were unable to cameo either Troia or Mary at Rocket's bridal shower because there just wasn't time for Phil Bourassa to design FOUR new characters, i.e. the two girls in both their civilian and super-hero costumes."

And in a response dated April 4th 2016, you stated that "Donna Troy/Troia and Mary Bromfield/Sergeant Marvel were scheduled to appear in Season Two at both Rocket's bridal shower and among the crowd of heroes in the season finale."

Looking at both of these comments that you've made in the past, it sounds as though there were plans to include the following four designs in "Satisfaction": Donna Troy, Troia, Mary Bromfield, and Sergeant Marvel. Is my hypothesis correct? (If so, then this would seemingly confirm that Troia used the alias "Donna Troy" at the bridal shower when she was in civilian attire.)

5. Are there any episodes coming up in season 4 that, in your mind, are as good as some of your favorite episodes from seasons 1-3 (anything as good as say "Misplaced" or "Overwhelmed")?

Best of luck with wrapping up season 4 and fingers crossed that THE MODE WILL BE CRASHED so that there can be a season 5!

Greg responds...

1. Yep.

2. I think we chose the wonderful Grey Griffin from among the actors already in the episode.

3. Catherine does, certainly. Garth and Troia might have an occasional chat, but they aren't representing the League.

4. Troia may have used the alias Donna Troy when she was on the Team, but Donna isn't her real name. How we LABELED the designs behind the scenes to avoid confusion doesn't reflect the in-universeness of the fact that had she been there and had anyone addressed her by name, they would've called her Troia, not Donna.

5. In short, yes. (I mean what kind of question is this? Did you expect me to answer, "No, they're all sub-par?")

Response recorded on October 25, 2021

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Paul writes...

Hi Greg! Hope you're well! :) I'm so excited for FanDome today!!

1) Have Kaldur and Garth remained great friends over the years, since Team Year Zero? I know that they worked together as part of the Team but I wonder whether they remained close.

2) I've noticed that when Kaldur lists Team members, he tends to do so in the order of their Designations. This happens most notably in "First Impression", when he lists the Team members in order of B-designation, and then lists the Outsiders in order of B-designation. However, when Superboy mentions Garth and Troia in "Influence", he does not list their names in order of Designation. He mentions Troia first. Was this a subtle hint that Conner and Troia are close?

3) Now that Troia has appeared and we've seen a little bit of what she's up to on Earth-16, would you be able to reveal the in-universe reason for her absence in "Satisfaction", please? (I wonder if it had anything to do with the U.N.) You previously said that you couldn't say why she didn't attend "without revealing SPOILERS" for her story... but maybe now is a good time to ask.

4) Since Troia left the Team before Garth, was she the first of the two of them to start pursuing a career as a U.N. Ambassador?

5) In a previous response, you stated that Garth was "teaching combat sorcery in Atlantis" after leaving the Team. Has he continued to do this when possible (though I would think that being a part of the U.N. would take up a lot of his time)?

Greg responds...

1. Yes.

2. Nope. I think you're reading too much into that.

3. I think she was just busy on Themyscira.

4. No spoilers.

5. Maybe he guest lectured on occasion. But he's pretty busy these days.

Response recorded on October 25, 2021

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Gabrielle writes...

1. Does Hawkwoman genuinely love HawkMan?

2. What is Shayera's eye color?

3. Will we get to see more of the league's personal lives further down the line?

4. Why are the hawks 11 years apart? I'm just curious I ain't hating on you for it.

5. Have the hawks slept with each other?

Greg responds...

1. I would hope so. They're married.

2. Probably shouldn't be asking the color-blind guy color questions.

3. Here and there.

4. I'm not sure I understand the question. Why are my wife and I three years apart? That's when we were born. If you're looking for backstory information here, then: NO SPOILERS.

5. Yes. They're married.

Response recorded on October 25, 2021

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Steven writes...

Does Zatanna have any personal hatred towards klarion considering he was the reason her father was forced to become dr fate permanent host?

Greg responds...

I'd think so.

Response recorded on October 25, 2021

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Mark writes...

Nightwing:”ra’s al ghul is many things but a liar isn’t one of them?” Isn’t this false considering Ra's lied when in “targets” he expressed a desire to kill Luthor, but it turned out to be a ploy orchestrated by both Luthor and him? Nightwing should know about that so why would he think Ra’s wouldn’t lie?

Greg responds...

When Ra's gives his word, makes a statement, it can generally be taken as true to his mindset. But that doesn't mean he doesn't scheme.

But Nightwing could also be wrong.

Response recorded on October 25, 2021

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How I Spent My Weekend...

So... I had a LOT going on this past weekend.

On Saturday, DC FanDome premiered trailers for both CATWOMAN: HUNTED and YOUNG JUSTICE: PHANTOMS, and revealed that the first two episodes of the latter were dropping THAT DAY!

I spent considerable time online - and I don't usually do the online thing over the weekend; in fact, I don't even check my email most weekends - trying to #SpreadTheWord.

But to sum up, here's the news...

CATWOMAN: HUNTED, an anime movie based on my original script, is being released in early 2022. You can see the trailer here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PYPqTLS_g9c. It stars Elizabeth Gilles as Catwoman and Stephanie Beatriz as Batwoman. Voice directed by our old friend Jamie Thomason, it also features Jonathan Banks, Lauren Cohan, Kirby Howell-Baptiste, Ron Yuan and my peeps, Steve Blum, Keith David, Zehra Fazal, Jonathan Frakes, Kelly Hu, Andrew Kishino, Eric Lopez and Jacqueline Obradors. Folks have asked me if it's in continuity with Young Justice. My answer: it's YJ-adjacent, much like that old Green Arrow/DC Showcase short I wrote years ago. A version of these events happened on Earth-16. If you're a completist, you're going to want to watch. (Also, I really think it turned out great!)

Meanwhile, the fourth season of YOUNG JUSTICE, i.e. YOUNG JUSTICE PHANTOMS, dropped its first two episodes this past Saturday on HBOMax. Episode 403 will drop this coming Thursday, 10/21. With another episode (through 413) dropping every Thursday through December 30th. The back half of the season (i.e. 414-426) will drop weekly in Spring, 2022. I'm truly excited for the fans to see the season - and evil creator that I am - also glad that the show isn't all dropping at once. I firmly believe television - especially a show like YJ - is a better experience if you have time to savor and sort and absorb and predict for a week in between episodes.

As for the fourth season's production, we have 21 episodes in the can and ready to air. The last five have all been animated and are currently in post-production. And since there was no IATSE strike today, we're still hard at work. (And to be clear, I'm a member of IATSE as part of the Animation Guild, and I was 100% supportive of the union.) We should be done with all 26 episodes by the end of November.

IMPORTANT ADDENDUM: YOUNG JUSTICE has NOT yet been picked up for a fifth season. So if fans want more of Earth-16, the answer is simple: #KeepBingingYJ (all four seasons) over and over. And over and over. And help us #SpreadTheWord. We want to #SaveEarth16.

So use the following hashtags ad nauseam - just as I'm doing in this post:

#CatwomanHunted
#YoungJustice
#YoungJusticePhantoms
#KeepBingingYJ
#SaveEarth16
#SpreadTheWord

And watch the show on HBO Max!!! Please...

For international fans, I wish I could give you info on when any or all of the above will be available in your countries. But unfortunately, TPTB do not keep us folks in the trenches well-informed. Asking me over and over won't magically reveal that information to me so that I can reveal it to you.

Finally, by the time all my work was done on Saturday, I was completely exhausted and took a nap. In the nap, I dreamed I wrote a hit song. Seriously. Now, normally, my dreams slip away entirely upon waking. And even when I do remember the gist of a dream, the details are lost within seconds. But I actually woke up with a clear memory of the song - both the lyrics AND the tune. Here are the lyrics:

I'm taking my pants off,
Cuz it's that kind of party!
I'm walking a straight line,
And it's luminous!

That's the whole song. You can see why it was such a big hit in Dreamland. I'm expecting the Dream-Royalties to roll in any minute.

STAY WHELMED, everyone!


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Kevin writes...

1. Now I am not much of a math person but what do you imagine the populations of Martians and Atlanteans are like? Would it be correct to assume it is in the high hundred thousands to low million range?

2. Is Aquaman a metahuman since his marine telepathy does not seem to be Atlantean sorcery?

Greg responds...

1. I don't know, honestly. Answering those questions would take a lot of research and math.

2. No spoilers.

Response recorded on September 01, 2021

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Alex writes...

1. Do you think Xanatos will ever form a club with Lex Luthor and Norman Osborn? I can't imagine he would find Bruce Wayne and Tony Stark fun for long :)

2. Regarding their wealth do you think Xanatos and Luthor are billionaires and Osborn was a multi millionaire in terms of wealth?

Greg responds...

1. I think we touched on this in one or two of the RadioPlays. You can check 'em out on YouTube. There are links in the Gargoyles Wiki.

2. I haven't done the math.

Response recorded on September 01, 2021

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EDWARD ASNER

So...

This is hard.

It's been a bit of a stressful weekend, as my father went into the hospital with chest pains. A stint that had been replaced last year had failed and was replaced again Saturday morning during an angioplasty. I've been concerned, worried. But the procedure seemed to go well, and he was set to go home today. We seemed to have dodged a bullet.

But there was a second gun.

I slept in today. I woke up to two pieces of news:

1. My dad was good. Solid. My sister picked him up at the hospital and took him straight to breakfast. (My mother was annoyed at not being included - but that's a whole other story.) He's home now. I've talked to him. He sounded cheerful. All good.

2. Ed Asner had passed away.

I spent most of the day doing laundry and other mundane tasks. Life goes on, right? It has to. But it's been difficult getting my head around the whole thing. I've gotten many calls and texts today, offering condolences as if I were part of the Asner family. Folks seem to know how close I felt to Ed. But I don't want to exaggerate. Ed was my friend. I hope he knew I was his, as well. But I haven't talked to him in at least a couple of years. (You can partially blame that on the pandemic, I suppose. There are a lot of people I've lost touch with. If anything, this is a reminder to GET in touch. And I'm going to make an effort to do that.) In any case, there are many, many people who knew Ed better than I did, who were closer to Ed than I was.

Nevertheless, at the risk of turning this post into my own self-aggrandizement, I am going to spend a few paragraphs here on the subject of the Ed Asner that I knew and loved.

I was a fan of Ed's long before I met him. Like many, many people, he first entered my awareness playing Lou Grant on The Mary Tyler Moore Show. (Later, I got a kick out of picking him out of reruns, where he usually played the heavy in such series as The Wild Wild West and others.) But as Lou, Ed was simply brilliant. One of the truly classic scenes in all of television is the scene in the TMTMS pilot, where Lou interviews Mary for a job. Do yourself a favor and view it here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zj286uBKCu0

That scene had a major effect on me, even seeing it as a kid.

Now, having just rewatched it, the genius of the writing and the two performances still knocks me out. But there was something else about Lou and Mary. Watching their interactions was a bit like watching my parents. The connection in my mind between Lou and my dad was especially strong.

Ed and my father were two Ashkenazi Jews from the midwest. My dad was from Chicago; Ed, from Kansas City. They were gruff AND loving. They even had mannerisms in common. There was much more, I'm sure, that they DIDN'T have in common. But something connected the two men in my mind. And, meanwhile, my admiration for Asner as a performer knew no bounds. When I saw him in the Lou Grant series, in Rich Man, Poor Man, in Roots, that admiration only increased. When I learned of his activism - and the price he paid for it - that admiration shot through the roof.

Years later, when we had begun pre-production on GARGOYLES, I thought of Ed Asner - or of Lou Grant, at least - as the inspiration for Hudson. In fact, when we held auditions for the role, I wrote at the bottom of the character description that "Hudson hates spunk." This was, of course, a variation on Lou's classic line from the above job interview scene. Now, to be clear, I never imagined we'd get Ed to play the role. I figured he was way too big a star for us to land. But low and behold, a few days later, Ed came in to audition for the part. Later, he told me that when he read the character description, he was initially thrilled. The "Hudson hates spunk" line made him feel like he was a lock to land the role. Then a couple minutes later, he thought that if he didn't land the role it would really be awful. But of course, he immediately understood the character and nailed his audition... only for Jamie Thomason and I to throw him a curveball, asking him to do it again in a Scottish accent. He nailed that, too.

Working with Ed was a joy. He was fun and funny and so supportive. In addition to playing Hudson (and Burbank and Jack Danforth/Dane) on Gargoyles, I also cast him as recurring characters on Max Steel (Chuck Marshak), 3x3 Eyes (Grandpa Ayanokoji), W.I.T.C.H. (Napoleon the talking cat), Young Justice (Kent Nelson) and Rain of the Ghosts (Joe Charone). When casting Peter Parker's late Uncle Ben in The Spectacular Spider-Man, Ed was the only person I ever considered. He always brought so much to each and every role.

And more than that he was a great friend to me. After the first season of Max Steel, when I couldn't find a job for over a year and thought I might have to give up on my writing career, Ed was there, offering me support. We had lunch at Musso & Frank's. He looked at pictures of my kids out of my wallet and told me to laminate them. He introduced me to his son, Matt Asner, a producer. He didn't allow me to wallow in self-pity or to badmouth guys who I believed had done me wrong. He just reassured me that I had ability and would find my way through. He was, in essence, my work dad.

So today, as you might imagine, has been complicated. My dad is home and healthy. And Ed is gone. I'm grateful and sorrowful. And struggling. But life goes on. It has to, right?

Finally, I'm going to quote Hudson from Gargoyles. In "The Price," an episode that spotlighted the character, Ed as Hudson told Xanatos: "A friendly word of advice: True immortality isn't about living forever, man. It's about what you do with the time you have. When all your scheming's done, what will be your legacy, Xanatos?"

I think we all know that Ed Asner did amazing things with the time he had. And though we'll miss him dearly, his legacy is clear and shining.


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M. writes...

Hi Greg. I have a few questions:
1) Why was Jade so absent in season 3?
2) Was there any problem with Kelly Hu?
And since in episode 325 Lian said something like "we need to find Cheshire for Daddy" (if I'm not mistaken):
3) Does Lian know that Cheshire is her mom?
4) In fact, does she even know or remember who her mom is?
And last but not least:
5) Did Will actually believe what Jade said about being a soccer mom and all that?

Greg responds...

1. Was she? Did she get significantly more time in Seasons One and Two? If so, I guess the answer is that story drives the use of our characters, as always.

2. No. She was great, as always.

3. Yep.

4. Yep.

5. Believe? I don't understand.

Response recorded on August 26, 2021

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Theodore writes...

Well I don't think my questions are very interesting but I'm curious, so:

1 - What are the names of Arsenal's parents? And how did they die?

2 - What is the name of Zatanna's mother? And how did she die?

3 - What are the names of Rocket's parents and husband?

4 - What are the names of M'gann M'orzz's parents?

Greg responds...

Some of this stuff you can probably look up in old comics, but otherwise, I'm just going to lay out a big NO SPOILERS to all of this.

Response recorded on August 26, 2021

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FallenLegend writes...

Hey greg, I have a question Regarding time skips. I'm not complaining, just worried. The skips are fine if Young Justice remains as the only earth 16 show, but if any spin offs get made, don't you think we are missing a lot of content and getting a lot of spoilers?

As a fan of your work I've noticed that you tend to avoid making characters immortal. In one answer you said that even the third race of Gargoyles might just be extremely long lived. And you removed Wonder Woman's immortality outside of Themiscyra.

So I'm guessing you are planing to long term retire some characters.

If you got hired to write a Captain Marvel (Shazam) show, well Billy is 18 by season 3, so we basically missed all of his childhood adventures. He is traditionally a kid, isn't he?

If you got hired to do a Superman tv series, and you started from the beginning, we already know he ends up with Lois and even has a son with her up until season 3, so that throws out any tension out of the window.

This applies to all characters, introduced in season 1,2, and 3 that could get spinoffs I think. You would need to start early in their timelines (with people entering spoiled from their fates), or start late Like billy being 18 ( and miss the charm of a kid superhero that made him famous)

Not complaining, just worried. Do you have any contingency for that?

Greg responds...

Your question is so EXTREMELY hypothetical that I just can't worry about it. Brandon and I need to make the best version of Young Justice that we can make. In the extremely unlikely event that somewhere down the line WB asks for an Earth-16 spinoff, we'll deal with that then.

Response recorded on August 26, 2021

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FallenLegend writes...

Hey Greg I got a question regarding Batman on earth 16.

I know the real-life answer is just that they are different characters and giving superpowers to Batman doesn't fit him, but, still, I've always wondered why no empowering entity ever chose Bruce Wayne as a champion.

Say Why didn't SHAZAM chose Bruce Wayne Over Billy? Bruce already had the training, maturity, and skills, and instead, he decided to empower an orphan kid.

Same for other people giving powers like the guardians of the universe (or is it the ring that chooses?) going over people like Guy over Bruce.

Have you thought of an explanation for that?

Greg responds...

I could say that Billy has a purity of heart that Bruce doesn't have. That Hal, John and Guy have a greater ability to overcome fear with willpower. But really, the premise of the question doesn't work for me. There are billions of people on Earth. Why assume that Bruce is the be-all/end-all of humanity?

Response recorded on August 26, 2021

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Abdullah Khan writes...

Hey Greg,
Q1)I wanted to ask regarding the castings for Young Justice Outsiders, How did you and the crew decide to give the roles of Geo-Force, Terra, Halo, Forager,Cyborg and Darkseid to Troy Baker,Tara Strong,Zehra Fazal,Jason Spisak, Zeno Robinson and Michael Leon Wooley?
Q2)And for replacments decide on David Kaye and Greg Cipes to be Vandal Savage and Beast Boy, i know regarding Greg as Beast Boy u did not cast him in the initially because u did not want any Teen Titans reprisals at the time so what change your mind instead of picking another actor because Logan Grove was unavailable for S3?

Greg responds...

Geo-Force - Brandon had worked with Troy Baker before and knew he was a good candidate to play Geo-Force/Brion Markov. We did have him audition (against no competition) just to confirm he could do the Eastern European accent without it sliding into Boris Badenov territory. He could. So we cast him. And he's been great as Brion and other characters ever since.

Terra - We held auditions for Terra/Tara Markov, and Tara Strong just nailed it.

Halo - I knew I wanted to cast Zehra Fazal as Halo / Violet Harper / Gabrielle Daou, and basically wrote the part with her in mind. Brandon and Jamie and I went to see her in a stage play, where she played multiple roles, so that they could confirm just how great and versatile she was.

Forager - With Wally West largely out of the picture, we knew we wanted to find something else to keep Jason Spisak in our cast. Brandon thought Forager would be a good bet and talked about the character with Jason, who loved the idea. We hired him without any try-out, and he was instantly great.

Cyborg - We held auditions for Victor Stone/Cyborg under the false flag of a pretend show with a fake character name. Zeno Robinson was our clear favorite for the role. We brought him in for a callback (with no competition), mostly to see if he had the versatility to play any other roles (such as Steel). We decided then and there that he was our Vic, and seeing Brandon and I in the Control Room, he had already begun to suspect whom he might be playing. We told him he had the role and confirmed he was playing Cyborg, and he practically BURST right in front of us. It was great fun.

Darkseid - We had already discussed a number of potential people to find YJ's version of Darkseid, when Brandon remembered Michael Leon Wooley's performance of the character from Batman: The Brave and the Bold. Jamie and I listened, and immediately Michael had the job.

Vandal Savage - We held auditions to see who could do the best job performing in the giant shoes that the late, great Miguel Ferrer had left behind. David Kaye was the clear favorite.

Beast Boy - When it became clear that Logan Grove was not going to be available to us, we talked with Jamie about who might be able to take his place. After we described the character's journey in Season Three, Jamie suggested Greg Cipes, knowing that we might not go for it, but feeling like Greg'd be perfect for the part. I'd worked with Greg on W.I.T.C.H. and agreed, but our upper management had been pretty adamant about us not using Titans' lead actors to play the same roles they had played on Titans. (Other Titans' actors were kiboshed for certain parts for that reason.) It was something Brandon and I initially agreed with way back in Season One, but by this time, we felt YJ had established itself as its own thing, and we were less afraid of comparisons. And for whatever reason, TPTB were fine with us casting Greg as Beast Boy.

Response recorded on August 18, 2021

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Anonymous writes...

Hey, Greg.

Watching Young Justice season 3, and was shocked by the appearance of designations A41 and A42. Given that the highest known A-series designation prior to this is A20 (Tye Longshadow), it seems like a lot has happened in the two-ish years between Endgame and Quiet Conversations.

I know you are loathe to reveal designations in an off-screen environment, so I won't ask who the missing twenty names are (or even the still-unrevealed A08, A09, and A14), but do you know exactly who those numbers are?

On another note, in Away Mission, the computer reads a designation as "Pierce comma Jefferson G01". But in Humanity, it reads a designation as "Zatanna Zatara A03". Is there any rhyme or reason to which designations are last-name-first or first-name-first?

Thanks!

Greg responds...

1. I do know exactly who the numbers are for. But, no, I won't be revealing any of that here.

2. The A-Designations are first name first. The G-Designations, hacked into the system by Dick Grayson are "[Last Name]-comma-[First Name]-G-[Two-Digit-Number]"

Response recorded on August 18, 2021

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Jeremy G. McLaughlin writes...

Pretty much the entire main cast of Gargoyles have popped up in some way or another on "Young Justice." But there are just a couple who have not quite shown up as of yet. Will there ever be a potential role for Salli Richardson, Frank Welker or Jonathan Frakes?

Greg responds...

Without going into specifics, Jamie and I have talked about bringing more ex-Gargoyles actors to YJ when the role seemed to fit. Sometimes we didn't have the right role. Sometimes the actor wasn't available at the right time. But there's literally no one (living or dead) from Gargoyles that I wouldn't love to get on YJ.

Response recorded on August 17, 2021

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Kiddo writes...

Hey, thanks for hours of entertainment through your shows. I just recently finished watching the canon run of Gargoyles on DVD through the library (Me and a friend greatly enjoyed the journey, and had a lot of fun watching it!) after growing up on your other shows, like Young Justice and Spectacular Spider-Man. So, thank you, and as I’m new here, I’d figure I’d try and put a question that isn’t quite so... obvious.
Did Eliza’s palate change much after the Avalon World Tour?

Greg responds...

Um... sure.

Response recorded on August 17, 2021


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