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I have 2 questions about Doctor Fate.
1: Do people have to consent to let Nabu possess their body? For Example would it have been possible for the Team or Kent Nelson to just have him possess some evil magic user such as Wotan or Orm by placing the helm on their head against heir will?
2: Does Doctor Fate have access to any non-mystical powers of their human host? He didn't seem to have super speed when possessing Wally, but I am not sure if he just didnt try to(which would be understandable as mid-battle isn't the best place to try out new powers).
1. I mean obviously the Team or the League wouldn't do that. But whether it's possible is a fair question. It's clearly possible for Nabu to RETAIN control over someone against their will. But does the initial possession require consent? I'm going to tentatively say no. But that even Nabu wouldn't take possession without consent.
2. He would have any powers and abilities that the host body possesses.
Does the Gargoyles show exist on Earth-16? Was it made by Greg Vietti or Brandon Weisman? Did any of our favorite superheroes watch it? Who was their favorite character? ;)
I've written like four flippant, smart-ass responses to this question, and erased them all, as none truly seemed funny enough to justify all the noise that would come out of people (sometimes willfully) misunderstanding my humor as something serious.
So basically, here's the truth. We have the occasional Easter Egg, because that's fun to do and "get away with". But these properties are owned by two different companies. They do not overlap.
Was Count Vertigo the younger brother of Perdita father?
No. He was a Vertigo. Perdita and her father were Vladeks.
Maybe this is a strange question, but from a production point of view, are you only allowed to use existing characters from the DC comics or you be able to create an original character for the YJ? I get that their could be a lot of factors in this and alternatives, e.g, like using a relative minor or unheard of character over a more mainstream one. But would you say you have enough creative freedom to create a purely original character for your show that has no DC counterpart that you are adapting? And not just being original, but also having an unmistakable presence in the series, equivalent to one of the mainstream heroes like Nightwing or Artemis. Is a lot of emphasis, from an executive pov, to keep focus on the heroes that are most recognisable to the audience, throughout any of the 4 seasons of YJ? I can think of couple of examples of this occurring in other shows such as Harley Quinn who was created for the Batman TAS, or X-23 who was created for X-Men Evolution. Of course those are two examples of characters that were such a huge hit that they became part of the comics. Now I'm not asking about anything that could be potentially upcoming, I'm just curious if creating original characters is something you could do if you so choose.
We have created original characters for YJ. Tommy & Tuppence Terror, for example. Frankly, we view Kaldur'ahm as a pretty damn original character, as well. He has antecedents and inspirations from the comics, but no one like him existed before Brandon, Phil and I created him. And he certainly has prominence in our series. And a version of him then became part of DC Comics' continuity. Not as popular as Harley, of course. But we think of him as a significant addition to the canon.
Our preference, however, is to use existing characters on the show whenever possible. We just think it's more fun for the viewer that way. Sometimes the more obscure, the better, like Penny Randolph. Other times, we're bringing in heavy hitters like Cyborg.
In any case, no one has set any restrictions on us, one way or another.
I was curious if you ever broke down in what galaxies various planets are. DC's done that a few times: For example Thanagar Daxom and Tamaran are in the Milky Way while Krypton is in the Andromeda Galaxy. Is that the case in YJ as well?
IF that's too spoilery, think you can give some non-spoiler labels to join Earth and Mars in stellar geography. I'm always fond when creators do that.
1. No. Everything we've done is in the Milky Way Galaxy. A galaxy is VAST. Since we tried to ground our show (as much as possible) in reality, the idea of going beyond our galaxy seemed, well... less real.
2. I honestly don't know what you're asking for here.
Hi Greg!
I have some questions about alien reproduction. For my edification, and as far as you care to enlighten, in your mind:
1. Do Martians bear live young, reproduce asexually, or lay eggs that hatch?
2. How about the Reach, with their insect-like motifs?
3. How about the gremlin-like Kroloteans?
4. How about the hawk-like Thanagarians?
5. And finally, what about the bugs on New Genesis?
Thanks ð
1. No spoilers... but they don't reproduce asexually.
2. I haven't given it any thought, but I'd assume something insect-like.
3. I haven't given it any thought.
4. I'd imagine it's more mammalian in nature, but I haven't given it any thought.
5. Again, something insect-like.
Hi, Greg! I was very happy to see the promo art update for the next arc today, and I am incredibly excited to see what PHANTOMS has in store. I saw that you recently answered some questions on when certain members from the S1/S2 gap joined the Team (https://www.s8.org/gargoyles/askgreg/search.php?qid=25193) and I was wondering if youâd be willing to do the same for Jason Todd/Robin. Not asking for debut info since that was marked as spoilers for the Marvels, but seeing as how these recent answers confirm that Jason joined in either Team Year Two (after Troia) or in Team Year Three (before the Marvels), would you be willing to reveal which year it was?
Wishing you all much luck on the last batch of episodes! Us fans are doing all we can to campaign for Season 5, and hope it amounts to good news soon!
Jason joined the Team as Robin in Team Year Three.
Why did Dick and Zatanna break up ?
No spoilers.
Hello! I've seen the last three episodes of Young Justice: Phantoms and I'm eagerly awaiting the fourth. The relationship dynamic between M'gann and her family (especially M'comm) is rivaling Artemis's in terms of pure curiosity and intrigue. I love it and I want to know everything! And given what was shown in the trailer, it looks like even more of Artemis's family dynamics are going to be explored, which is fantastic. I think this is going to be something they'll bond over this season. But who knows! Anyways, on to the questions:
01. You mentioned in a recent Tweet that âCatwoman: Huntedâ is, like your Green Arrow short, a story that also occurs similarly on Earth-16. Given that information, is it safe to assume Catwoman exists on Earth-16?
02. Are Lucas Carr and Bethany Lee alumni of Happy Harbor High School, or did they graduate elsewhere? Given that Snapper was at least living in Happy Harbor as a teenager, I assume he attended the public high school. The same can be said for Bethany, if her backstory from the comics as the daughter of Happy Harborâs police chief before becoming one herself is largely unchanged.
03. Given you are a Stanford alumni and have thought about what dorms Wally and Artemis spent their Freshman years in, did you give any thought into who their respective roommates were? Not asking for spoilers about who they were, just merely if you guys ever bothered to come up with them.
04. Is Batwoman Jewish on Earth-16 like she is in the comics? If so, wouldnât that make Batman (by proxy, if not in practice) Jewish as well, at least on his motherâs side?
05. This is a long one! I know birthdays aren't something you come up with unless the story needs it, but do you have the same line of thinking with babies born during the story? Artur, for example, was born on February 1st, 2011 (according to the YJ wiki, which got the date from Legacy). For Lian, however, we only know she was born in September 2015. Do you have a birthdate in mind for her, or just the month? For Don and Dawn Allen, you answered in an ask that their due date was sometime in the September following Invasion. Iâm not asking if that due date was accurate or when, if you know it, their actual birthday(s) are, but merely the concept as a whole. Was Artur the only one assigned a birthdate in-story because the diary entry needed a timestamp? Since then, a whole bunch of other super-kids (Anissa and Jennifer, Jonny, Traya, Amistad, and most recently Rhea) have been introduced, with Rhea being (according to Unknown Factors) born on January 21, 2019. While Rheaâs birthday is obviously a byproduct of the story and thus laying credence to your stance on only assigning birthdays when needed, she was also the only one explicitly shown. I guess this whole question can be summed up to: do children (emphasis on children somehow connected to the main cast) born DURING the story get assigned birthdays even if the story doesnât necessarily showcase/reference their birth outright? If not birthdays, then just birth-months? Or is that only come up with when needed as well?
1. Yes, in some form.
2. Yep.
3. I actually did give a little thought to Wally's roommate. I have a notion, but I'm not locking it in unless or until a story requires it.
4. Yes.
4a. I think it must be true that Martha Kane Wayne was Jewish. That means by Jewish tradition, Bruce Wayne is also Jewish. But I think it's also clear that he was raised as a Protestant Christian. Beyond that, again, I'm not going to go into details until or unless a story requires it.
5. Just birth years, unless the story indicates an obvious (thus necessary) birth month. And just birth months unless the story requires or dictates a birthdate.
1) When (in terms of which Team Year) did Lieutenant Marvel leave the Team?
2) When (in terms of which Team Year) did Sergeant Marvel leave the Team?
1. Team Year Five.
2. Team Year Five.
Congrats on a 4th season can't wait to see it, now I have browsed the archive many times and since these questions weren't there, so I am assuming they haven't been asked
1. How big is the Timeline currently.
2. You said Earth-16 has some significanct relation with the number 16, I am assuming that means there's more to that then you all dropping 16 in every episode. If so how long do we have to wait is the answer only going to come when we reach season 16.
3. How concrete is the timeline like are their things in it which you thing can be subject to change or is it already vague aside from the necessary stuff i.e have you gone back and changed something thinking this has to better why didn't I think of this before.
1. It's currently 719 pages long.
2. That's funny. No spoilers.
3. I've changed things occasionally. I've certainly corrected math errors that I've made. But I tend not to fix things in the timeline until Brandon and I have decided on things and/or NEED to decide things. That's way more than you've seen, obviously. But otherwise, we try to leave things open when we can.
In what year did garfield logan's skin turn green in young justice timeline ?
No spoilers.
Before miss martian and superboy the logans on december 1 2010 miss martian promise she would come back to see garfied . my question is how long a time did m'gann planned to pass before m'gann came back to see the garfield and marie ?
She came back fairly soon. Before the end of Season One. You can read about it if you pick up our companion comics volume.
As a Canadian, the only way I can support season 4 right now is to binge seasons one and two on Netflix over and over again. Does this actually do any good in regards to getting a season 5?
I honestly don't know, but it might help, and it certainly doesn't hurt.
The current host of Dr Fate will die eventually and then he will require a new host, but it is unlikely that anyone will ever want to wear a helmet that robs them of their life unless they are in an extremely desperate situation. My question is has nabu considered this. Has he thought about this future situation for him at all?
He's been through this for century upon century. I'm sure he's thought about this, but in the end, I'm sure he'd say something along the lines of, "Fate will find a way."
Hello Mr. Weisman! I hope you and the team working on YJ are doing well!
1. In episode 6 of season 2 "Bloodlines" where Bart first appears we see that in almost nothing in the future has changed after his departure (except for Neutron). Does this imply that the future is going to look that moded?
2. At the end of a Young Justice comic collection you wrote that you made a list of about 100 young heroes as potential main characters for the series. Are you ever going to publish this list?
3. If you were allowed to publish Young Justice comics again, when would the play? Before, during oder after season 3? (Assuming you already know what you want to publish).
4. Will you and your team keep on making these entertaining (and well-written) credits for following seasons when YJ gets a go from HBO Max? (I will riot if HBO Max cancels this show #keepbingingyj)
5. What do you keep from your interactions with your fans?
You heard that probably a lot, but I just want to let you know that your show got me through 2020 and I am really thankful for you, your team and the fanbase not giving up on this amazing show!
1. You should look again. The ash has stopped falling. Mount Justice is still destroyed, but that's about as far as you can see. So you don't know from the visual what has and hasn't changed.
2. Probably not.
3. No Spoilers.
4. Our goal is to continue to stuff as much entertainment value and content in as possible.
5. Mostly good stuff.
Thanks. I'm not sure how much help we were in 2020, but I'm hoping we've helped with the back quarter of 2021!
Did M'gann choose to be an ethnic majoriy on earth purposefully?
Like, was she aware being a white woman on earth would grant her a racial privilege she didn't have on mars? If that wasn't something she thought about before coming to earth, did she realize it after? What would that thought process be like for her?
Basically, how did M'gann identity as a white martian factor into her choice to present as a white woman on earth (if at all)
I don't think that was in the forefront of her mind. I think she specifically chose to identify with Megan Wheeler. By the time she had the brain space to think about how she should or should not be presenting herself racially on Earth, she had already established her Megan Morse identity. So many people that WE get to see on the show know she's a shape-shifter, that it's easy to forget that the vast majority of humans that Megan interacts with do not. So in order to maintain her secret identity, she maintains her current racial status.
In order to honor her racial background, she stopped presenting herself as G'arrunn some time ago when in super-hero mode.
And just to be clear, M'gann doesn't equate being A'ashenn with being Caucasian.
Well, as I tweeted today, YOUNG JUSTICE: PHANTOMS is complete, with all 26 episodes in the can. I've also updated all my various reference documents to include everything from Season Four (not to mention Seasons 1-3, our various comic books, the AudioPlay and the video game). And since statistics kinda fascinate me - and since maybe they might fascinate you as well - here are a few.
The Young Justice Timeline is currently 718 pages long. In the past, I've reported that the length of the timeline mysteriously differed between my laptop and my desktop computers, but during the pandemic, my (relatively) ancient desktop finally bit the dust. So now the laptop page count triumphs.
There are 759 characters confirmed - one way or another - to be in the Earth-16 Universe. Some have only been mentioned or referenced briefly. Others, obviously, have had entire arcs dedicated to them. Calling some of them "characters" might also be a bit of a stretch, but I have reasons for including every single one. And - anal individual that I am - I have actually ranked them all in order of their importance to the series. This is something I once did as a hobby for the Buffyverse (which you can find in the ASK GREG archives under the heading of "Buffyverse Geek-Out"), and I've been perfecting my ranking system ever since. The idea is to attempt to make an incredibly subjective thing as objective as possible, based on things like screen time and amount of dialogue and the amount of times other characters reference them, etc. It's still not perfect because I do wind up with point scores, and especially with the lower ranking characters, I wind up with a number of ties. Thus, in order to break any tie, I'm forced to apply more subjective criteria.I was thinking about listing them a few per week, starting with 759 and working my way backwards toward number one. But some of the names haven't been intro'd yet. So it occurs to me that I need to wait until the Phantoms' season finishes airing.
Across four seasons (98 episodes) an AudioPlay and a video game, we've used 128 actors, a phenomenally talented group if ever there was one. Some have only voiced one character. Others have voiced over a dozen. I'm honored to be included among them - even if hiring myself is a rather dubious way to earn this distinction.
There's probably more, but this will do for now.
Just a little peek into my weird brain. Hope you enjoyed it. And I hope you enjoy the show.
I dare say that Jade and Will's relationship is one of the best in the entire show. You, Brandon and the writers have managed to develop something that feels so true and pure without showing much on screen. But If ever you had the chance, would you write a story about their relationship?
I feel like we have. But if you're asking if we'd be interested in exploring it further, the answer is clearly yes.
Does Black Canary have formal training in psychology?
Yes. (Or, at least, the Earth-16 version does.)
Does Klarion know that Vandal Savage is the father of Nabu? If so, is that why Klarion is obedient to him?
1. Yes, he knows.
2. Klarion's not obedient to anyone. But he and Vandal have fun together.
A few Vandal Savage Blackbeard questions:
1. Is Vandal Savage still Blackbeard or has that changed since your 2013 post on the subject?
2. If so, was the Light of that time made up of other pirates?
3. Did Vandal Savage have anything to do with the disappearance of Anne Bonny from Jamaican prison in 1721?
1. Still the general plan.
2. Your question assumes facts not in evidence. And even if it didn't, no spoilers.
3. No spoilers.
I know the out-of-universe explanation is that Marina Sirtis is British and also awesome as-is, but in-universe, why does Queen Bee not have a Middle Eastern-ish accent like Halo or, to a lesser extent, Ra's Al Ghul?
When speaking English... British schooling.
Often in fiction, you usually tend to see the big dogs, or wolves, occasionally showing a friendlier side. But in this case, Wolf has been a bit more serious than the average loyal pet canine. Though I'm just curious (in offscreen moments in the event you don't intend to animate them in Young Justice), does Wolf occasionally affectionately lick the other members of the team, and if so, which ones?
Um. Sure. Yeah. Uh... all of them?
I'd previously asked this:
"So, it's established in Season 1 that M'gann has twelve sisters. The tie-in comics (issue 6, if I remember correctly) state that she had seventeen brothers. So, including M'gann herself, that would make thirty kids, right?
M'comm essentially says in season 3 that their parents had 29 children. Was the figure stated in the comics incorrect?"
There's an error- M'comm stated that in Season 4, actually (in "Needful"). Sorry for the hassle, Greg.
J'ann and M'aatt have 29 children. Twelve sisters, including Em'ree and M'gann. Seventeen brothers, including M'comm. I thought we'd been consistent about this. I know I tried very hard to be consistent about this. But apparently, I blew it. OR... Miss Martian messed up when she said she had twelve sisters. She MEANT to say she has eleven sisters, but there were twelve sisters total, including herself.
So it's not so much that I'm bad at addition. It's that M'gann mispoke once. I think we can forgive her.
1. How old is Shirley Mason?
2. How old is Mr. Tawny?
3. How old is Kraig?
4. How old is Monkey?
5. How old is Wolf?
1. Shirley Mason was born in 1935.
2. Mr. Tawney was born in 2006.
3. Kraig was hatched in 2009.
4. The Monkey God came into existence approximately 7 million years ago. Whether or not that answers your question, I'll leave to your interpretation.
5. Wolf was born in 2007.
Hey Greg, how are ya? First off, I wanna say that I'm a huge fan of your work, especially Spectacular Spider-Man and Young Justice. YJ is my favorite animated series. Thanks for being a big part of my childhood. Anyway, on to my questions:
1. If the opportunity ever presented itself, would you consider doing any Young Justice spin-offs, or would you just stick to Young Justice only?
2. At what age did Dick and Wally meet?
3. At what age did Dick and Barbara meet?
Thank you for your time and I'll be starting season 4 tonight! Stay safe!
I'm good.
1. Brandon and I have pitched spin-offs. I'd be happy doing either or both.
2. They met shortly after Wally became Kid Flash. Wally was probably 14; Dick, twelve.
3. Dick was ten. Barbara was nine.
Since hindsight is 20/20, if you could change ANYTHING about Young Justice, what would that be?
Lots of little stuff, I suppose. The only big thing that I can think of (off the top of my head) is that I wish we had made the A'ashenn GRAY MARTIANS instead of WHITE MARTIANS. The use of the word "WHITE" with its connotations of so-called "Caucasians" is problematic and, frankly, messes with our metaphor. But we followed the comic books, when I wished we had followed alien mythology.
I have a question about Martian eyes. In earlier seasons, Martians seemed to have blank red eyes, with no iris or pupils. M'gann's martian form had these in S1. In S4, however, they seem to have pupils and iris, and appear to be different colors based on race. M'gann's, for example, are now amber. Is this their natural form? If so, what prompted the change?
The different light qualities from one planet to another.
1. How old is David Reid?
2. How old is Zucco?
3. How old is Eddie Corliss?
4. How old is Josephine Tarkov?
5. How old is Floyd?
1. David Reid was born in 1991. (I think this was asked and answered already, but...)
2. Tony Zucco was born in 1960.
3. Eddie Corliss was born in 2002.
4. Josephine Tarkov was born in 1981.
5. Floyd Lawton was born in 1975. Floyd Bell was born in 1992. (Not sure which one you meant.)
1. How old is Burton Thompson?
2. How old is Carlo?
3. How old is Casey Klebba?
4. How old is Cooper?
5. How old is Dale Gunn?
1. Burton Thomspon was born in 1978.
2. Carlo and his twin brother were born in 1984.
3. Casey Klebba was born in 1983.
4. Harold Cooper was born in 1974.
5. Dale Gunn was born in 1990.
Hi, Greg. I'm really loving Phantoms so far.
I had a question about the Team's B-designations.
Obviously, the Zeta-Tubes and designations are a very integral part of the show. Prior to Season 1, Dick, Will, Kaldur, and Wally all knew and have fought beside each other.
I find it difficult to imagine they didn't use Zeta-Tubes during that time period, since even Roy knew how to use one (which would seem odd otherwise, considering his brief time as Speedy).
But the B-series was clearly created following the founding of the Team, considering Will's designation is B06, despite him/Roy becoming a hero before Kaldur and Wally.
Since none of them have A-designations, how did the four proteges utilize the tubes during that time, if at all?
They didn't.
Is there a particular reason that Atlantean and Martian magic look more similar to one another than to most of the magic we've seen being used by humans?
Do they? I hadn't noticed that.
1. When was Red Inferno created?
2. When was Red Volcano created?
3. When was the T. O. Morrow android created?
4. When was Mister Twister created?
5. When was Amazo created?
1. Firebrand (II) was constructed in 1942.
2. Red Volcano was constructed in Team Year Zero.
3. There have probably been dozen over the years.
4. Mister Twister was constructed in Team Year Zero.
5. Amazo was constructed in Team Year Zero.
1. When was Thomas Wayne born?
2. When was Martha Wayne born?
3. How old is Magog?
4. How old is Git N Payd?
5. How old is Red Hooded Ninja?
1. Thomas Wayne was born in 1939.
2. Martha Kane was born in 1952.
3. David Reid was born in 1991.
4. Git N. Payd was born in 1993.
5. The Red-Hooded Ninja was born in 1999.
1. How old is Marv Evers?
2. How old is Pete Danbury?
3. How old is Jason Bard?
4. How old is Ishtar?
5. How old is Nikolas Stofka?
1. Marv Evers was born in 1981.
2. Pete Danbury was born in 1987.
3. Jason Bard was born in 1989.
4. Ishtar was born around 1,816 B.C.E.
5. Nikolas Stofka was born in 1970.
1. How old is Wilhelm Vittings?
2. How old is Psycho-Pirate?
3. How old is Angela Eiling?
4. How old is Beluga Boy?
5. How old is Biggitz?
1. Wilhelm Vittings was born in 1997.
2. Psycho-Pirate was born in 1960.
3. Angela Randall was born in 1939.
4. Beluga Boy was born in 1998.
5. Biggitz was born in 1986.
I know YJ is available in the US via hbo max. I would like to know how on earth are we going to watch it in the gloomy UK? Iâll really appreciate an answer because you guys have fans worldwide who are missing out.
Again, I simply don't know. I truly, sincerely wish I had that information. But TPTB do not keep us folks in the trenches informed on international viewing options. I'm really sorry. It's just way above my pay grade.
Do the Atlantis Zeta Tubes selectively filter out all the water surrounding them when transporting people to locations on the surface?
Fair question. So... largely?
Were there any episodes of Young Justice that you wanted to make but couldn't?
It depends what you mean. We didn't break any episodes that didn't get made. But we'd always like to make more. And we have ideas for multiple seasons, movies, spin-offs, comic books, etc. So #SpreadTheWord and help us #SaveEarth16 by encouraging everyone to #KeepBingingYJ!
1. When was Blister born?
2. When was Giant born?
3. How old is Lynn Stewart-Pierce?
4. How old is Collector of Worlds?
5. When was Match born?
1. Blister was born in 2000.
2. Giant was born in 2000.
3. Lynn Stewart was born in 1988.
4. The Collector of Worlds is about 16,000 years old, give or take.
5. Match was cloned in 2009.
1. How old is S'yraa S'mitt?
2. How old is Bio-Ship?
3. How old is Fury?
4. How old is Everyman?
5. How old is Chameleon Boy?
1. S'yraa was born in 1972.
2. Bio-Ship was, um, "born" in 2010.
3. Fury was born in 2003.
4. Everyman was born in 2000.
5. Chameleon Boy is fifteen by the end of Team Year Nine.
Warning: This is going to deal with some heavy topics (specifically antisemitism), but I was encouraged to ask for your opinions. Please do not take this as accusatory, I'm just a long-time fan who's been thinking about some serious issues over the last few years.
When I watched Gargoyles as a kid, there was a villainous organization called the âAlu Minadi.â I later learned it was correctly spelled âIlluminati,â and that it was a staple of all sorts of genre fiction about secret societies, where it was largely interchangeable with the Freemasons. It was also commonly used as a metonym for any sort of behind the scenes string-pullers, what Angel would call âThe Powers that Be.â All well and good, until I was reading an article about Tim LaHaye, co-author of the Left Behind series. I found out he believed the Illuminati was a real, very dangerous thing. I learned that they were sort of a real group that disbanded centuries ago, but many people believe they still operate in secret. Worst of all, they are almost always at least implied to be Jewish.
I was horrified to realize that Nazi rhetoric about an international conspiracy of Jewish puppetmasters was so prevalent in popular discourse. Over the last few years I've seen more and more conspiracy theories enter the mainstream, and if you scratch the surface of any of them, there's almost always antisemitism underneath. Even truly absurd ideas like âthe lizard peopleâ are often just âwink and nodâ references to supposed Jewish conspiracies. The biggest right now is Qanon, which claims powerful people do all sorts of depraved things with kidnapped children. This is, of course, just a modern reworking of the ancient âblood libel.â Many of its adherents go beyond coded messages and outright say Jews (or possibly âZionistsâ) are behind it all. So now whenever I hear anyone talking about âthe Illuminati,â even as a joke, my antisemitism radar pops up. Sadly, it's usually right.
All that said, what am I to do with shows I love that rely on such conspiracies? Of course, I'm not accusing you of antisemitism (I can think of several reasons that'd be ridiculous, starting with your own ethnoreligious identity), but I didn't know anything about you or any of the other creators when I first saw the show. There is some irony that the character obsessed with the Illuminati is himself Jewish, though I didn't know âBluestoneâ was a Jewish name at the time. Where I eventually came down is that Gargoyles has such clear anti-racist themes that it's hard to imagine anyone taking an antisemitic message from it. On my recent rewatch, I noticed the punks in M.I.A. were basically reciting Brexit talking points about immigrants ruining England, 20 years before Brexit was a thing. âGolemâ puts Jewish characters in the heroic roles and opens with what I now recognize as a pogrom. Also, the characters we see involved with the Illuminati do not appear to be Jewish. Malone is presumably Italian (though I suspect his wife was Jewish), the upper leadership in the comics are mostly from Arthurian legend so probably a mix of Christianity and paganism, Shari is Arabic, and Thailog is... Thailog. And they partner with a clear KKK analog, which I doubt any Jewish organization would do. Still, people do often take perverse readings of shows. I've seen people read white supremacist messages into My Little Pony of all things. And on rare occasions I've even seen people say that Gargoyles was trying to tell the truth about the âreal Illuminati.â
This all ties in to a bigger question of how much responsibility creators and artists have for the audience's interpretation. There are shows like The Sopranos and Breaking Bad that clearly condemn their villain protagonists, yet some fans still admire these âantiheroes.â Alan Moore has said fans tell him they identify with Rorschach, at which point he wishes he were somewhere else. I myself am worried the âsex traffickingâ plotline in my unpublished novel might contribute to harmful ideas. Sex trafficking is real, to an extent, but its reality is nothing like popular beliefs, and those beliefs were part of both the 80's Satanic Panic and its modern iteration, Qanon. These questions are enough to make me (more) neurotic.
I don't exactly know what I'm asking here, just getting out some thoughts I've been kicking around. I guess the question is: what do you think your responsibility is when making a show that mostly children watch? I know you were very concerned with your portrayal of gun safety in âDeadly Forceâ and managed to do it in a way that âconcerned parentsâ groups praised. There was also the need to avoid âimitableâ violence, hence Duncan getting killed by a magic glowing electricity bomb. Are there any similar conversations that take place around how conspiracy theories are presented? In the 90's, conspiracy theories existed, but they were more fringe. Today, they are much more mainstream, and you're making a show whose villains are âThe Light,â which is just an English translation of âIlluminati.â Even without the antisemitic baggage the name âIlluminatiâ has, I still worry about giving people more reason to be paranoid. I don't know how I would approach something like that, so I guess I'm tossing the question to you. Thank you for reading and for whatever response you have.
Let me start with one quibble: Angel used the term "The Powers that Be" as some equivalent to the Heavenly Hosts, not as an equivalent to a very earthly - if magically infused - Illuminati, as we had in Gargoyles.
Beyond that, I think you raise a number of good - or at least interesting - points.
Ultimately, I go back to something my former boss Gary Krisel once said to me. We had received one letter on DuckTales protesting an episode where Magica DeSpell used a magical circle, claiming we were promoting Satanism - that any use of magic in the show would be promoting Satanism. (The letter literally said, "Walt Disney would be rolling over in his grave if he saw what you were doing in his name." To which I wanted to reply, "Have you SEEN Snow White?") Gary said something like, "We're not going to give magic to the Satanists." Meaning, it's part of storytelling and fantasy and myth, etc. It's one of OUR tools as storytellers. And we won't give it up, neither to any one who wants to use those trappings to promote evil nor to anyone who wants to inhibit our creativity.
So along those lines, I come down on the side of "I'm not going to give Conspiratorial Villain Organizations to the Anti-Semites." And, as you noted, I hope it's obvious that I'm not an anti-semite and that neither is Gargoyles' Illuminati nor Young Justice's Light. (Q-Anon clearly is, though I know of plenty of Jews who believe in Q-Anon and don't see it (or only see a few bad apples using it for anti-semitic purposes). Go figure.)
Note: Most of what you're describing goes back to The Protocols of the Elders of Zion, a false text, blatantly anti-semitic, that has been used for over a hundred years to persecute Jews. (See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Protocols_of_the_Elders_of_Zion).
So, to your main question, what is my responsibility as a creator? I think it has to be the responsibility to, in part, reclaim the tools of storytelling and fiction from fascists and hate groups of all stripes - including but not limited to the anti-semites. I don't think it's always possible. You can't reclaim the swastika, for example, even though that predates Naziism. But I think magic circles and fictional villain groups still have hope. Of course, if you are going to use these things that have been, shall we say, compromised, you need to make it clear that you aren't feeding into the negative stereotype associated with the trope. Hence, Gargoyles' Illuminati is being investigated by a Jew and is comprised of mostly non-Jews, including many characters from Arthurian Legend.
I also personally believe it's patently obvious that there is no real world equivalent to the Light or the Illuminati. The world is too damn disorganized for me to believe that ANY one organization is secretly running things. Or if they are, they're doing no better a job than the actual governments they are theoretically trying to supplant. I mean, what's their goal? Just to make everyone miserable? If so, then maybe they're doing just great.
So, Iâm trying to understand something about Batman Incorporated. The League is sanctioned under the UN, so they operate, more or less, within the law, but the UN can limit what they do publicly.
The Team is not something the public or the UN is aware of, so they are off the books. Iâm guessing the League consider the Team to be largely an internal matter amongst themselves and donât want to drag the UN into it, since most of them as their own protégé they are training, and others are young heroes they want to help mentor. But by the end of Season 2, the League recognize the Team as equals and allow them to plan their own missions. Of course, they still work together, but the League no longer claims to be an authority figure over the Team. But does that mean the Team is no longer monitored by the League? And if so, that means they are not bound by the UN and they donât seem to be during Season 3.
This brings up the issue with Batman Incorporated. Batman and other Leaguers decide to quit and continue to work together in secret since the UN is blocking them thanks to Luthor. Jefferson is not pleased by this or the fact they were still working with the League behind the scenes. But how is this any different than what the Team was doing? They go on covert missions and help the League behind the scenes, while the public is unaware of what they do, and they donât have permission from the UN. A good example would be in Season 1, when they go on a mission to Bialya, where the League is not allowed to go. So, the League were already working around the UN by using the Team. So, why would it be an issue for the League to use Batman Incorporated in what is largely the same manner? What was the difference in Batman, Katana and Metamorpho infiltrating Santa Prisca for intel, when the Team did that very same thing as well?
Yes, there is the argument that they are being no better than the Light be adopting their methods, but wasnât this part of the reason the Team was created in the first place? After Cadmus, they realized the bad guys are getting smarter on how they operate, so the Team would help level that playing field. And yes, Jefferson has a point when he says they shouldnât be keeping secrets. But the League was also doing this when it kept the Watchtower hidden.
And minor thing, but didnât the Reach Ambassador expose the Team to Secretary Tseng during the conversation with Captain Atom? And if he didnât, why didnât Lex expose them to further his antihero campaign?
Also, are the Team, well-known among, I guess I would say, the villain community? Black Manta obviously knows them and told Captain Boomerang. But the Team has been going nearly 10 years now. Wouldnât some word of mouth have gotten around about their exploits?
1. The Team is still monitored by the League. But they leave much of the running of it to the Team's older members. They aren't bound by U.N. restrictions but should be. It's a cheat because the U.N. as an organization is not officially aware of the Team's existence. The members of the U.N. who are, keep the secret for their own reasons.
2. In a way, it's not. One of the things that upsets Jeff is that nearly everyone was in the dark. Another is that Batman Inc. (which was never really their name - though Jeff's repetition of it started to stick) wasn't simply going on covert missions but was manipulating people and events. It's not the Santa Prisca mission that upsets Jeff. But the Brooklyn manipulations are an entire other story.
As Jeff stated, he sees a value in the Team's covert existence and missions - not for the sake of them being covert - but because it allowed the young heroes to learn and grow outside the spotlight.
As for how prominent the Team is within the super-villain community, it's a mixed bag.
This is a question about the writer's room and your relationship with the writers.
Do you and Brandon develop all of the premises for the episodes yourselves? What if a writer comes to you and says: "I have my own really cool idea for an episode. Can I pitch it to you?" or "I don't know if you guys are planning to bring back Wally or not, but, if you are, I have a really cool scene in mind for Wally's return."
Would this be inappropriate? Is he or she crossing some kind of line? Is he in danger of being fired? Is a writer's job strictly to develop the premises you give her? Or, is there some flexibility to parameters of his job description?
For the last two seasons, Brandon and I skipped the premise stage entirely, and we broke every episode together on index cards, and I took those cards to outline. Then Brandon, myself and the freelance writers are handed a completed outline. (We have no staff writers on the show, and haven't after season one, for budgetary reasons.) So, no, a writer can't come in and say "I have my own really cool idea for an episode." Freelancers are not in danger of being fired; they simply don't have that opportunity on this series. It's too intricately plotted. They do come on at the outline stage, and we talk through everything and try to stay very open to their ideas for the episode they've been assigned and to the other episodes in the writers room that day. But the story is the story. If they decide to bring Wally back in an episode where we didn't previously plan to bring Wally back, it's simply not going to happen.
But no one ever suggests going that far off book, anyway. That's just not this gig, and that's made clear up front.
Hi Greg, huge fan of Young Justice and all your other projects.
You said that the Green Arrow DC showcase and Catwoman Hunted loosely exist in the young justice timeline, that versions of these events happened but maybe not exactly the same. What team years did these almost events happen in the YJ timeline?
No spoilers. ESPECIALLY not for Catwoman: Hunted, which hasn't even come out yet.
1. Is Dreamer the New God a more powerful psychic that can get information that normal telepaths can't at least without harming them like she did in her first appearance?
2. What were the Lightâs traditions that Ultra Humanite was referring too?
3. Why didnât the Light dispose of Speedy when they were okay with it for the other sidekicks when they were captured in Cadmus?
4. What was the official reason/cover story that Lex Luthor had held Speedy captive for so long?
5. Could martians have children with humans or atlanteans or
even other aliens?
1. "More powerful" than whom? I'm not too big on power comparisons. Her powers are different but overlap with other psychics we have in the series.
2. I think he states it fairly clearly in the episode.
3. They thought he might be useful, and by that time there was no fear that his existence would out their clone.
4. I don't understand this question. Cover story for whom?
5. It's a good question... that I'm not going to answer, as any answer could constitute a potential spoiler.
What type of music does the main young justice team like? Iâd specially like to know for Artemis, Miss Martian, and Aquaman (Artemis because sheâs my favorite, but the other two because theyâre from different cultures and Iâm interested to know what they would think of human music and what kind theyâd like)
I'm going to leave that to your interpretation.
What is your favorite episode of each (complete) season of Young Justice so far? Which ones do you think are objectively the best of each season?
I don't have conclusive or definitive feelings about them in the way you seem to be implying.
I am very fond of Independence Day, Misplaced, Summit, Endgame, Evolution and Overwhelmed. But I honestly love every episode (like a proud papa).
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?
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.
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