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GREG-SPONSES 2010-10 (Oct)

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ananymous writes...

hey greg let me say im very excited for young justice i currently have one question you said the show takes place in earth 16 in the dc multiverse
i did a searched on the internet and it said that earth 16 is home to the "super sons"which is not connected to young justice. so im wondering they you know this before or did you ignored it.

Greg responds...

We asked DC for one of their unused 52 Earths, and they assigned us Earth-16. I wasn't aware at the time that pieces of it had been explored already. So we're ignoring that stuff...

Response recorded on October 22, 2010

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Grant writes...

Did you have Darth Vader in mind when you made Manta, the father of Aqualad?

Greg responds...

You'd have to ask Geoff Johns. That was his idea. (Though I LOVE it!)

Response recorded on October 22, 2010

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Steven D. writes...

Hello again, Mr. Weisman.

I've had a question in the back of my mind for some time, and now seems like a good time to ask it.
Recently, you released the writer's rotation for the first 24 episodes of YJ.
I've always been fascinated with television writing,as there seems to be no one way to do it, so I wanted to ask a few questions on how you approach it.

1. Back when i first wanted to ask this, I checked the SpecSpiderman archives to see what you mentioned about writing for that show. When going over writing duties, you mentioned that some of the episodes that you "reserved" some of the episodes you wrote. Since Young Justice finds you in a similar position of being both a producer and staff writer, I'm curious to know, what factors do you use when picking episodes to reserve for yourself (and confirming that reserve wasn't just a metaphor you were using)?

2. While I'm here, I was hoping you could also shed some light on how much freedom your freelance writers are given. Do they ever get the chance to write an episode completely from scratch, or because the shows you work on are so arc based, are they always given a firm foundation to start with, and if so, how rigid is this foundation (generally)?

Thanks!

Greg responds...

1. Sometimes I end up writing an episode for pragmatic reasons... or a combination of the creative and the pragmatic. For example, I wrote the two-part pilot of Young Justice (i.e. episodes 1 and 2). Of course, I had a creative desire to write these episodes, but it also would not have been pragmatic for anyone else to write them. I needed to set the tone of the series for the other writers to be able to get it.

Another example: staff writer Kevin Hopps and I were set to write the last two episodes (25 and 26) of the first season. Though we know the basics of what takes place in them, based on meetings that Kevin, producer Brandon Vietti and I had over a year ago, we hadn't broken those episodes yet, and creatively I hadn't decided which of the two I wanted to write. But scheduling realities last week made it apparent that Kevin would HAVE to write 25, meaning I was writing 26. All of which is just as well. I started the season; I might as well finish it. But the decision wasn't creative; it was purely pragmatic. The creative decision might have been no different. But the creative decision became moot for pragmatic reasons.

On the other hand, I've also written three other episodes. In those cases, the pragmatic need was for me to write one episode each between 6-11, between 12-17 and between 18-24. Within those parameters, I chose 11, 15 and 19 for purely creative reasons. Those were the ones I felt a special affinity for (based on reasons I can't reveal now without spoilers). So going into the three writers' meetings for each of those three "sets" of episodes, there was SOME flexibility as to which writer took which episode (keeping scheduling pragmatism in mind), but I had "reserved" for myself the one I wanted to write in each case.

2. My freelancers have, for better or worse, very little freedom when it comes to WHAT stories we are telling. The premises were all approved long before the freelancers came aboard. If a specific writer feels no affinity for a specific story, then he or she doesn't have to take that episode. I always try to give each writer an episode that jazzes him or her. But the basics of the stories are set. Now, the writers are very involved in the execution of those stories. That's where their freedom comes in. But they still have quite a gauntlet to wade through... beat outlines, outlines, scripts (and notes from many sources). Ultimately, I take responsibility for every episode, and I'm the guy doing the final pass on every beat outline, outline and script. But I couldn't do this job without stellar writers providing me with great stuff. And on this series, I couldn't do it without Brandon and Kevin actively participating in the inception and breaking of every single story.

Response recorded on October 22, 2010

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Anonymous writes...

Not a question but...THAT GREEN ARROW SHORT WAS F***ING AMAZING!!! Hard to believe a ten minute dvd short is better than half the crap superhero movies hollywood is putting out. Thank you and everybody else who worked on it for this.

Greg responds...

Glad you liked it!!

Response recorded on October 19, 2010

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Vaevictis Asmadi writes...

Hello Greg,

Following (far) behind my long-overdue reaction to Bad Guys, here's my first question about it:

Why does Yama ask which specific gargoyle and human Sevarius used for the mutate DNA he was planning to use on Robyn and Yama? Why does Yama care? Is some human DNA more undesirable than others, or is he just curious?

Thank you.

Greg responds...

I'll leave that for your interpretation for now.

Response recorded on October 19, 2010

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Charisma82 writes...

Did Matt ever tell Elisa that he was a member of the Illuminate? I ask because in the episode Revelations Matt says that it didn’t pay to keep Elisa in the dark about things (speaking about the incident with the Dracons in The Silver Falcon). After going on and on about how they should trust each other in the episode Revelations, it would seem contradictory of what Matt had just been through to not tell Elisa. But then, maybe he has his reasons to keep it a secret. Care to shed some light on the subject?

Thank you for your time and all that you do,

-Charisma82

Greg responds...

I do not care to shed light on the subject.

Response recorded on October 19, 2010

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Anonymous writes...

In High Noon, why could Elisa see Coldstone, Demona, Macbeth, and the gargoyles at the park when no one else could due to the spell that Demona had cast on them?

Thank you for your time and all that you do,

-Charisma82

Greg responds...

It was a condition of the spell that bystanders wouldn't notice, but "players" would.

Response recorded on October 19, 2010

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Charisma82 writes...

Does Talon have a second in command down in the Labyrinth?

If so, who? Neither Maggie nor Claw seem like leader material to me, but then I could be wrong. I figure one of the clones might work, maybe. If not one of the clones, does Talon have someone else in mind to lead in his place, maybe someone we haven’t seen who lives down in the Labyrinth (a human)?

If not, why doesn’t Talon have an official second in command? Wouldn’t he know that (if something happened to him) without a leader the Labyrinth could turn to chaos trying to get a new one (worst case scenario)?

Thank you for your time and all that you do,

-Charisma82

Greg responds...

Talon isn't a gargoyle, and hasn't particularly structured the Labyrinth after a clan. He's more or less been elected leader. I guess he figures - if he thinks about it at all -- if he goes down, someone else will get elected.

There are people down there he trusts, like Thug and Maggie and Claw... and I'd guess Delilah.

But nothing official.

Response recorded on October 19, 2010

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YOP writes...

Hey Greg,

I'm going to hope that this isn't one of those pesky "question masquerading as an idea" things, but here goes. Any chance you've seen this? It's a fairly recently made mock trailer for a "Saturday Morning" style cartoon based on Watchmen by a prominent member of the flash community who goes by "HappyHarry".

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YDDHHrt6l4w

You worked on Watchmen as an assistant editor and on several animated shows as a development executive during the late 80's/early 90's, I'm assuming at least some of them were of the "Saturday Morning" variety, so I just thought you might have an interesting perspective on the general idea behind that video.

The video is obviously a joke and exaggerated on several levels, but practically speaking could that kind of thing have been made in that style back then? Which is to say, would it be the kind of thing that would have a reasonable chance of getting picked up as a series, in your opinion?

And while I'm on the subject.

What did your job on Watchmen consist of while you were at DC?

Did you ever work directly with Alan Moore or Dave Gibbons during that time?

What led to you being the fingerprint model for Rorschach?

Greg responds...

I NEVER worked on Watchmen. I shared an office with Julia Sabbah, who worked on designing the book. And she used my thumbprints for Rorschach's criminal file because, frankly, I was there. That's the sum total of my involvement in the project.

And, no, I can't see Watchmen as a Saturday Morning cartoon. But there are a lot of cartoons that are on that I still am mind-boggled by, so what do I know?

I've never worked with either Alan Moore or Dave Gibbons. I met Alan once when I was 21 at San Diego Comic-Con (1985). Never even met Dave.

Response recorded on October 15, 2010

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Phoenician writes...

I originally posted this in the comment room a few weeks ago when I finally got the chance to buy the first issue of Mecha-Nation from my local comic shop. Bad timing had the Ask Greg question queue already closed. Nevertheless, I thought I'd post my review and comments here, as I've been genuinely excited and eager for some Greg Weisman/Vic Cook/Greg Gular material all summer (I blame the lack of a complete second season DVD of SpecSpidey . . . I reckon I'll just buy the last four volumes after a few more paychecks come in *sigh*).

***MECHA-SPOILERS FOLLOW***

The first issue starts 'in media res' with First Wave fighting . . . well, our heroes with a to-be-determined team name.

Team-themes aside, the Mecha-teens go by Stealth, Blast! Tank, Charge, and Fahrenheit. First Wave on the other hand consists of Flood, Grunt, Crane, Velocity and Pulse. As you probably can tell, each individual's name relates to their particularly unique power (like Fahrenheit able to wield fire and Stealth being able to be camouflaged in his surroundings).

They're still shopping for team names mid-battle as a matter of fact (well, at least Blast! is), which rightly leads to some standard obligatory banter . . . which is SO a rule, according to Blast (his profile at the end of the issue lists Dragonball and X-Men as favorites of his, though I wonder and hope if he's seen Spectacular Spidey, hehe).

The battle ultimately cuts short and just as Charge calls it out for what must be an entirely pointless battle, First Wave tells our new heroes that in coming out to fight nearby a Glass Lake Senior High Bowlathon so quickly, they've quite possibly just slipped their hand and given away their non-Mecha-identities. Cue a few Dun Dun Duns.

The story moves on to the next day with Kevin (Stealth), Marcus (Blast!), Zahra (Charge), Ray (Tank), and Fahrenheit (Susie) making their way to school, still somewhat shaken from last night's events. Determined not to out themselves as Mecha-Sapiens, they promise not to 'Metal-out' for any reason to varying successes. We're soon treated to a funny side effect when maintaining one's human form for too long ('the itches' . . . I can only imagine).

While the five try to hide in their metal shells, we get some fun social interactions at Glass Lake Senior High, where Susie is very much a popular and can never-be-seen by the "freaks and geek." Zehra, a 'freak,' meanwhile has connections at the school she would prefer to ignore, given her (and her teammates) current troubles.

The rest of the issue has some fun introductions with the science teacher (who's got a particularly annoying verbal tic) and the school principal, all the while with the blooming mysteries of who the First Wave folk are (and have we already seen them at school?) and what "The Factory" is (evidently First Wave's . . . employers?) Clearly the questions are rhetorical; no doubt I'll get a better sense of the answers in the next two issues . . . <Heh Heh> d:

Tangent -- One issue in, and already with the Shakespeare references? Granted, its Romeo and Juliet which seems to be the typical standard selection for all high schools these days (in my own case, I read it in Eighth Grade and thus begged my freshman English teacher if we could do another tragedy -- Macbeth, I wonder why I recommended that? haha -- instead of his initial selection of Romeo and Juliet). Still, as a long time fan of your work, this brief mention made me chuckle. :)

***MECHA-SPOILERS END***

Overall, a fun first issue that makes me want to see more very soon.

Greg responds...

Glad you liked it. We're really proud of Mecha-Nation and hope it catches on...

Response recorded on October 15, 2010


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