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REVELATIONS 2012-02 (Feb)

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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.

Greg responds...

Look, none of this is quite fair. Personally, I haven't read Morrison's take on Eiling, nor have I read Ostrander's.

The fact that I reacted negatively (once upon a time) to someone's synopsis of Morrison's version only proves... that like anyone, I can be guilty of judging something without looking at it myself, something that I abhor when folks do it to me.

So I'm just not going to respond to your question, because that's what it's inviting me to do. And I'm trying to be a better person. Or at least less of a hypocrite.

Response recorded on February 07, 2012

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Anonymous writes...

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

Greg responds...

I'm not saying - because I like to torture you all - but it doesn't matter - because it's just a promotional piece. It's not canon.

Response recorded on February 07, 2012

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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?

Greg responds...

Captain Marvel was only den mother for a week. Then it was Zatara's turn. Then Black Canary. (Maybe a few others in between.) Red Tornado is now back as their permanent den mother, though that doesn't mean you won't see other Leaguers hanging around the Cave.

The robot Red Torpedo was disguised as the human mystery man Red Torpedo. And, yes, that was an existing character. I did NOT make him up. But he wasn't ever in the Justice Society - though he was in the All-Star Squadron.

Response recorded on February 07, 2012

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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).

Greg responds...

See the previous question.

Response recorded on February 07, 2012

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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?

Greg responds...

SPOILER REQUEST. NO COMMENT.

Response recorded on February 07, 2012

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Anonymous writes...

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

Greg responds...

I don't know. You'd have to ask Art and/or Franco.

Response recorded on February 07, 2012

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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!!)

Greg responds...

She was in a coma.

Response recorded on February 07, 2012

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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!

Greg responds...

Argh. Yes, it's similar to the Red Tornado situation.

Someone trying to be helpful and/or clever added that without informing us - and thus made my life more difficult and our series more flawed and inconsistent.

Response recorded on February 07, 2012

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John writes...

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

Greg responds...

SPOILER REQUEST. NO COMMENT.

Response recorded on February 07, 2012

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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.

Greg responds...

Well, we figured very few people would believe we were killing everyone off. So we intentionally put in the "teleportation" option to distract from the possibility that it might be a simulation or dream (let alone both).

I haven't seen "Over the Edge" so I have no comment on that one. As for comparisons to "Future Tense"... well... I'll leave that to you and others to weigh.

For more of Eiling, try to pick up issues 9 and 10 of the Young Justice companion comic.

Response recorded on February 07, 2012


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