Phoenician writes...

So the story behind this ramble actually goes back two years, starting when I first read your Ramble on EQUIVOCATION:

http://www.s8.org/gargoyles/askgreg/search.php?rid=817

Regrettably I would not have the chance to attend the Oregon Shakespeare Festival that year, dedicating my travel expenses to the last Gathering in Los Angeles. Before I go any further, can I say that I am quite jealous that you and your family go every year to Ashland? Because I am d:

Anyways, it didn't hit me until about month or so later that I could simply buy a copy of the script just as you had mentioned doing. A thorough look at (and a telephone call to) the OSF's Tudor Guild Gift Shop revealed they had quickly sold out of their entire supply, and that odds were, it'd be a while till they got more, if ever. Of course, by the time I DID check back with them, the OSF was done foe the season and Equivocation was not being performed again in the near future.

Fast forward to summer 2011, where I stumbled upon a copy of the play script at my old college in Los Angeles. I don't know how the conversation started, but the person I was talking to mentioned that the school was trying to get permission to perform the play that school year!

But before I allowed myself to get excited, I remembered I was only in town for the week to visit some friends I hadn't seen in over a year since I graduated in May 2010. My friend sympathized that my horrible, horrible timing wouldn't have me in Los Angeles if and when they did perform the play (and especially after hearing me recite your ramble from 2009 with alarming precision) he was generous enough to let me take a script with me back home!

I tried to be patient, reminding myself that I had waited two years to find a copy and that the AskGreg queue was closed during the Young Justice hiatus, but that VERY short flight back to Phoenix was suddenly felt like an eternity. Of course, its just my luck that even though I read it back in early August, I only JUST now remembered to write this rambling as yesterday (November 5th, 2011) was Guy Fawkes Night.

So did I enjoy the play, even when I only read it as a script?

In a word: YES. :D

But one thing is for sure: I really, really want to catch an actual performance now. I won't go into too much detail here (since you've seen the play and I don't want to spoil others that might read this before catching/reading the play themselves), but I will say this play reminds me quite a bit like Shakespeare in Love (a film I also remember you writing about more than once), though its obvious that (even if Stoppard and Cain were working with the same muse) this is a noticeably older Shag than the Will we saw in the 1998 film. For one, Shag's working for the King James VI/I and not Queen Elizabeth. For another, the only person caring for him these days is the very mature Judith. Finally, he's now an established name (he'll still be remembered in, oh, fifty year's time!), though the romances and comedies seemed to have been eclipsed with his slew of historical plays, earning him the reputation of killing "more Kings than any man alive."

The various references to Shag's other plays were fun, especially Hamlet and Macbeth. Speaking of the Scottish Play, remembering what you said about how Macbeth (in the Gargoyles Universe) was a drinking buddy of Shakespeare's, I vaguely wonder how the events in Equivocation looked from his perspective. ;)

I'll also say that after briefly mentioning "Doc Shakespeare" in your Equivocation ramble, I made sure to pay close attention to Judith's interactions with Shag, if only to one day have them as a reference point in understanding the characters . . . much like I hear Roger Lancelyn Green's works are a good place to see your early inspirations for King Arthur.

I must also admit to re-reading your thoughts from 1999/2000 about how Shakespeare in Love opened a door to understanding Will as a man . . . and having missed out on the 2005 Gathering in Las Vegas, I can only imagine how you treated Will (and Judith) in Doc Shakespeare. I guess I'm just hopeful to one day see you a work of yours introduce William Shakespeare the man, be it in the Gargoyles Universe or some other original work (and references in shows like The Spectacular Spider-Man will always be fun too).

I'll end this by saying THANK YOU so much for recommending Equivocation. I look forward to watching a performance one day (may the stars align soon) and its only a matter of time before I find my way to Ashland for the Oregon Shakespeare Festival.

Anonymous writes...

Where can I buy the young justice comics online?

Anonymous writes...

I did a search for "speed force" and didn't find anything that answered my question so I hope this isn't a duplicate.

Someone asked you why you "got rid of the speed force on Earth 16" and you replied that you didn't get rid of it on Earth 16 because it was never there.

My question is, why? Why did you decide that you didn't want the speed force on Earth 16? I like the speed force. It doesn't necessarily bother me that there won't be an episode about the speed force on Young Justice, but it does kinda bother me that there CAN'T be an episode about the speed force.

Leigh O. writes...

Hello, Mr. Weisman. Let me start by saying that I have followed Young Justice since the premier in November, and I think this is one of the best adaptions of the DC Universe by far. This week's episode (Failsafe) kept me on the edge of my seat from beginning to end. Your take on each and every one of these classic characters is amazing, and I cannot wait to see what happens with the rest of the season, as well as Season 2.

Now, I have been searching the archives for a while and have not come upon this topic at all, so if I missed it, I apologize for asking a question that's all ready been answered. In Batman: Brave and the Bold, there was an episode that featured a villain by the name of Crazy Quilt. In the episode, this particular character held a grudge against Robin (Dick Grayson) because while he was still working as Batman's partner, it was the Boy Wonder who accidentally caused Crazy Quilt to go blind. This was my first time hearing of this character, so after the episode ended, I looked him up and found that this episode was extremely accurate to the character's comic book history.

So my question is what is your take on Crazy Quilt? As one of the few DC villains to actually hate Robin more than his mentor, is there a possibility of him appearing at some point?

Ice writes...

Alright, so, I'm curious about something. In Episode 2 Owen tells Xanatos that the cost of moving the castle and rebuilding it brick by brick would be "Astronomical". He also mentions something about the castle being hunted. Now, obviously now I know it was Hakon and the Captain. What I am wondering is if that was what was meant by that line at the time it was written for Owen, or if it was just a random throwaway line that ended up evolving into a part of the story like with Matt Bluestone's line about the Illuminati.

Reiena Grayson writes...

I was wondering, you don't have to tell if you don't want to, but will the mole ever be revealed this season. I've looked through the archives, but I couldn't find my question in particular

Andreas G writes...

Irealized I posted this in the commonets section as well so I apologize. Sorry Greg!

So, after the reveals of Red Tornado's family in "Humanity" I just wanted to know...

1. Any chance of Tomorrow Woman appearing in the series or as her secret identity Clara Kendall? She's both a Justice League member and one of Red Tornado's siblings. Plus both of her creators, Professor Ivo and T.O. Morrow have been featured on the show.

And not a question but thank you so much for your work Greg. I loved watching Gargoyles, and Young Justice has been amazing, and I'm sure it'll continue to be so.

Anonymous writes...

will Robin ever become Nightwing, or have Nightwing references on Young Justice?

Total Miss Martian Fan! writes...

Hi Greg!
I am so excited about Young Justice I just wanted to say good job on the characters and especially Miss Martian and Superboy. I have a few questions:

1. In Failsafe of Young Justice could Miss Martian possibly be more powerful than the Phoenix Force?
2. Will Artemis and Wally ever find out that Miss Martian and Superboy are dating?
3. In Homefront we saw a flash back that had Artemis and a girl that looked like Cheshire and in Targets Cheshire said: "Archery girl I like her" If that is someone Artemis knows does Cheshire really care about her?
4. In Failsafe (Favorite episode) when Martian Man Hunter was saying: "her mind is by far stronger than mine could the team hear what he was saying?
5. (Last question Greg)At the end of Failsafe when Miss Martian was crying in Capt. Marvel's Arms why did Superboy look sad and was holding his arm tightly?
Thank you so much Greg for putting time into answering my questions and you are doing a real good job you and the staff of course I don't watch TV alot but Young Justice gives me something to look forward too. Real Good Job.
P.S. do you consider doing a season 3?

Kit Walker writes...

I looked high and low, and did not see this question asked or answered anywhere on Ask Greg. Forgive me if I did manage to miss something.

Anyhow, you're very much on record as not being pleased with Grant Morrison's take on General Eiling (which I just learned I had been pronouncing wrong since I was a kid - I puzzled it out as I-ling while reading Morrison's JLA when I was nine...I'm 21 now). I was wondering how you felt about John Ostrander's addition to the character's history. Spoilers for "Suicide Squad: Raise The Flag' mini-series follow.

In that series, it is revealed that Rick Flag, Jr. was not the son of the original Suicide Squad's leader but instead was soldier that General Eiling brainwashed into being a weapon at Eiling's command. It was Eiling who placed him in charge of the second Suicide Squad and forced Waller to put him with the third (the most familiar version, with the villains). He was also more than willing to leave Flag to his own devices until activating he was in a position to be effectively used. I have not been able to track down your run on Captain Atom, so I don't rightly know how you handled the character and I am curious to see how that portrayal fit with your vision of the character. Hopefully, presuming you haven't read the mini, I summarized it well enough.

Anonymous writes...

Who are the characters that are featured in the Season Two teaser poster for Young Justice?

Anonymous writes...

In Humanity, who was Red Torpedo disguised as when he was on the justice society? Was he an existing character, or did you just make it up? Also, Is red tornado the team's den mother again, or will they keep captain marvel around?

Cole writes...

Greg, I'm not sure if you do know a lot about guns, but I noticed an error in "Failsafe":

After watching "Failsafe", I noticed the US Marines in that episode were still using Vietnam War M16A1 assault rifles even though they've replaced them with M16A2s back in the mid-late 1980s. I can tell that they are M16A1s because the handgrips looks triangular (M16A2 handgrips are cylindrical) and the marines were firing their rifles on fully automatic mode (M16A2s fires in 3-round bursts).

Anonymous writes...

While watching the YJ episode Failsafe, one of my friends noticed that the American flag in that episode only had 48 stars. At first I just wrote it off as a technical error, but some things dawned on me after the reveal that Megan was controlling the simulation: Megan learned most of what she knew about Earth from 50's TV (at least, I think that's when Hello Megan is supposed to have aired) and that Hawaii and Alaska didn't become states until 1959.

So what I'm asking is did me and my friend miscount, was it a technical error, or was it a intentional hint you and the YJ team dropped?

Anonymous writes...

How old was Selena Gonzalez from #3 and #4? Was she married?

Brittney writes...

Thanks for the show!! also i understand why you don't wanna reveal spoilers. I mean honestly what's the point of watching the show if you know everything that's going to happen?

Anywho i wanted to ask after artemis died was she able to see what was happening with the rest of the team or was her consious mind just blank?

Thanks again! (and dude adrinaline rush the whole episode!! i swear it just gets better and better!!)

Anonymous writes...

I was watching the episode "Denial" on iTunes and noticed that the bio in the cave computer stated that Kent Nelson was born in 1928 and other information that matches up with his DCU bio. Is this accurate to Earth-16 or is this similar to the Red Tornado bio situation from "Welcome to Happy Harbor"? I appreciate it!

John writes...

Will hal jordan or john stewart have a center role in any of the upcoming episodes?

Greg Bishansky writes...

Failsafe

Well, this one kept me guessing. Mostly between dream and simulation. I know that teleporting beams were a possibility, but one I dismissed. Story structure wise, you don't do something this, well... apocalyptic, early in a series. I knew a twist was coming, but I had no idea which of the two it would be. Surprise, surprise it was both.

I've already seen people compare it to "Over the Edge," an episode of "The New Adventures of Batman" I always thought was severely overrated. In that episode, Barbara Gordon falls off a building and dies, Gordon blames Batman and swears vengeance; Batman is publicly unmasked, becomes a fugitive; Gordon is kicked off the case and then hires Bane to help him take down Batman; Bane betrays Gordon; Gordon and Batman die; and then Barbara wakes up and it was a nightmare induced by Scarecrow's fear toxin. She then vows to tell her father the truth to prevent something like that from actually happening and then doesn't. And then I throw my remote control at the TV. What a crock! Not only is there no internal logic to the nightmare, I mean... who has a dream or nightmare where they are dead and their mind is playing this? And then she decides to do something that would result in character development and change the status quo in an interesting way and doesn't? Really! Then I got on the internet and found out this was one of the most revered episodes of the series.

I've seen "Failsafe" get compared to "Over the Edge" several times already, and while "Failsafe" isn't perfect, it doesn't cheat anywhere near as much as "Over the Edge" did. If it did, the entire Team would have been killed in the first two minutes and this still would have been their simulation and dream. That, and the outcome of what happened here will likely have lasting consequences as opposed to Barbara deciding to tell and then not tell her dad she was Batgirl. I'm a firm believer in continuity and actions having consequences, and while I loved "Batman the Animated Series" and its spin-offs quite a bit, it tended to shrug off long term consequences to keep a certain status quo.

I think a closer comparison would be to the "Gargoyles" episode, "Future Tense." Like "Failsafe," that episode was both a dream and an illusion. Apocalyptic things happen, and you keep waiting to find out what the twist is going to be, but it also throws so much at you, you're distracted from thinking about it... you just know that something is wrong. Overall, I thought "Future Tense" was far more effective at distracting you on that first viewing. I also felt that it played fair more than "Failsafe." In "Future Tense," we never left Goliath. He was in every scene, and we saw everything he was seeing, and nothing else. While "Failsafe" was cutting to civilians hiding in bunkers, and other moments that no one on The Team was witnessing. And if they weren't witnessing it, why was it part of the simulation and their dream?

"Failsafe" was better than "Over the Edge" but not as good as "Future Tense." But then, few things are. It may be a little unfair of me to make the comparisons either way, but that's where my mind went and those were the comparisons that I drew. A comparison to a similar premise in a DC animated production and in another Greg Weisman production.

I really enjoyed seeing General Wade Eiling make his animated debut, at last. And with his proper design and the correct pronunciation of his name. Eiling appeared in "Justice League Unlimited" but with a different look, since General Hardcastle's design was pretty close to Eiling's comic design, and back in 2007, when Greg Weisman and I were having lunch together at a Taco Bell near the Sony studio he was producing "Spectacular Spider-Man" at, we briefly discussed Captain Atom, and I pronounced Eiling the way JLU did, and he corrected me. Since he co-created the character with Cary Bates, I think he'd know. Just like Dennis O'Neil knows the proper pronunciation of Ra's al Ghul even if Christopher Nolan does not.

I hope to see more of Eiling. I've read some of Greg and Cary's Captain Atom run, and he's a terrific character.

The ending of the episode opens a lot of possibilities and lasting consequences. M'Gann is more powerful than previously thought. I have some theories on where this will lead, but I am not well versed in DC lore, so I intend to keep them to myself... except for one. I am convinced she is a White Martian. And hey, this episode has plenty to make both people who love and hate the character happy. People who like her get a great episode that focused on her. While the people who hate her can make an animated gif of her getting stabbed by Martian Manhunter. Everybody wins.

Great episode, and if you will indulge me one more comparison to "Future Tense," well was it a dream or a prophesy? With the second season being titled "Invasion," that's something to ponder.

Anonymous writes...

Will we be seeing more of Dick Grayson's uncle Rick in the YJ series? Does the explanation of Robin's origins in the comic book mean that the series will not really focus on it?

GGG writes...

1. Is Icon a part of the Justice League?
2. How old is Icon?
3. How old is Rocket?
4. Why was red arrow, rocket, and zatanna all together? are they their own team?
5. How old is zatanna?

thank you so much... great episode!!! loved it.

Veronica writes...

Oh my God, you guys scared me to death with episode 16! First Wolf, then Artemis, which is by the way my favorite, then Aqualad, then Superboy and then Robin and Kid Flash. I love that Wally was so determined to get Artemis back! Anyway, to my question, how important are M'gann's powers in YJ??? Just curious, very understandable if it's a spoiler request.
LOVE YOUNG JUSTICE! YOU GUYS ROCK!

Knickerbocker writes...

Who was that soldier Superboy insisted go in front of them when they were evacuating? Was he anyone special or a cameo from the Comics?

Jack-Pumpkinhead writes...

Dear Greg,
Just watched Failsafe and WOW, that was INTENSE!! I mean, I knew something was up, but I did not see that ending coming. That revelation about M'Gann was awesome. And you even got a cameo of future detective Jason Bard, very cool. No questions today, just praise.