Laura 'ad astra' Sack writes...

And more old reviews-
Beneath

Shorts in short- hey I just read Sword of the Atom! SBFF love those girls

[Not so many observations, so I'm only numbering the questions this time around.]
Q1 Jaime seems to come from a well off family. That's a marked departure than his print origin. They ran a business and were better off than hand to mouth, but I remember money being tight, especially after his father was injured. What made you decide to change it?

Nightwing: "Uh, there's, there's no right answer for that, is there?" smart boy not to dig deeper :) She enjoyed that!

The dynamics between Mrs. Longshadow, Maurice, Jaime and the absent Ty- I'd say lovely, but it's the wrong word for the situation.

I wonder if the scarab realizing that his methods would have dead ended with Maurice is the start of him becoming more than blood thirsty programming.

Bumble Bee and Batgirl- first the funny in the air ducts, then the moment that comes when dealing with any bat family member- talking the empty air.

Of course Batgirl was the only one who could fly a plane, she's the only one who would need to. Of course Wonder Woman does have a jet....

Freeze Jr is still hung up on Miss Martian in Belle Rev?

Q2 Simon knows Batman is away? How?

Cast- Devastation… I could have sworn that was Kristen Johnston's voice.

In all a good ep- we see the girls in action as any other thoroughly capable team.
I'm guessing the other plot line will be some sort of Super Chief storyline, but in general it is nice to be reminded that Jaime is not just comic relief, but rather a powerful weapon. Though I do love him as comic relief too.

thank you

Laura 'ad astra' Sack writes...

Still more old reviews:
Salvage

Short shorts review:
-Shorts -Vibe (2parts)- amazing! Intentionally totally dated but not making fun of it!

Main event: (Q for actual questions)
1-Oh Roy... (Q1 Where'd his money go- wasn't he richer than Ollie? Used it up with the search?) The whole intervention was wonderfully done, right up to it failing. (And we caught us up with several characters.)

2-Now Snapper Carr knows they're there.

3-Blue Beetle: "Not Compatible? Not Compatible with what? I swear I don't understand half the things you say!"
Mal: "Feeling is mutual" :)

But that does raise the question, well two questions:
Q2 1- This may be the one error in the execution of the time skip- Finding Jaime's one sided conversations weird is funny, but not knowing that he is talking to the Scarab would imply that he was hiding, albeit poorly, the source of his power. However here he sighs and tells Conner the whole story (at least as he knows it -created by Ted Cord? A clearly deceased Ted Kord). Given how level headed and informed Connor has become, it seems odd that he wouldn't already know Jaime's situation. For that matter, you'd think at least the founding members would have had to know it to let him join the group. Am I missing something here that would explain it?

Q3 2-What made you go with the bloodthirsty Scarab and not the budding sentient Scarab? It is laugh out loud funny, but I have to admit to having a tremendous soft spot for the malfunctioning sentient weapon. Among my all time favorite lines I've read, not just in comics, was in the Blue Beetle comic when Jaime manages to defeat the Reach - right before starting on a dang near suicidal plan he asks the Scarab if he is in on it. (Even though there was no way for Jaime to go without him, and no other way to save his family and the planet.) The Scarab's reply of "Jaime:Friend. Scarab:Hero" was heartwarmingly awesome.

4-Speaking about emotionally wrought near sentient beings- the Golem was very nicely done. Connor meant a specific Ugly, but her was right; something ugly had killed it.

5-I only noticed upon rewatching this and the previous episode that "Partner" is an actual name for the new big bad, and not just a figure of speech.

6-Artimas and Wally...are so very sweet.

7-Cheshire and Roy...can't tell if she's there for him, or for an ulterior motive. Or frankly, she could be there for both. However it is, I like the suggestion that she gave up crime for him without any good guy component to it. It sounds like he wouldn't have married a criminal so she gave up crime. The marriage fell apart and she happily went back to it. She simply does not have a hero mentality and it makes her fun. It also gives her the possibility of being a good sister/wife/mother without being a good guy. You don't get the impression she would ever subject her child to what her father had subjected her and Artimas to. Strange to say it, but she is probably extremely healthy on an emotional level.

8 Q4-Lian makes her debut- How old is she here? Cartoon babies almost always seem to look a bit older than they are meant to be, (though I think there were some clearly newborns in Missing, IIRC). With that much hair I would guess minimum 9 months, but I'm guessing she is supposed to be younger and it isn't meant to imply Roy hasn't seen Cheshire for over a year. (9 months baby, plus it would be pretty impossible to hide a second trimester pregnancy from a husband = more than a year.)

9 -Of course seeing Lian makes me wonder about Amistad and Traya and Aquaman's son...that ends the list of small children of characters I can think of. (Unless Donna Troy shows up and had/lost her family.) Time will tell.

thanks again!

Laura 'ad astra' Sack writes...

And another old review:
Alienated ...

...but first a short review of the shorts:
-Teen Titans Mothers' Day short was sick and twisted. I loved it, but the Mad musical number that poked fun at the Justice League is one of the funniest things I've seen in a while.

Back to our show: {Numbers without the Q in front of it are just thought ordering}
1-Bumble Bee looks a lot like Rocket in civies...or maybe.... after a lot of freeze framing...Has Rocket's face been made more angular than she had been 5 years before and Bumble Bees stayed rounder?

2-Blue Beetle: ~chuckle!~ but I'm saving up discussing him till later eps.

3-Boy in dreads does look a little like a young Virgil Hawkens, but it seems odd to me for him to be so significantly younger than Rocket.

4(Q1)-M'gann 'interrogating' the Krolatian - in front of Batman and While J'ohn is trying to do the same? She really is without boundary. Connor's look of shock makes sense, but shouldn't J'ohn and Bruce be at least a little surprised?

5-First time we see Kaldur - he does make a scary villain.

6-"Competitor Warrior"- Blue Beetle? The Reach?

7(Q2)-Love watching the Bat Family in action. They are so incredibly in sync with each other. The 'kids' kids with each other even more than with Batman. Does it cause tension in the YJ group to have a sub group or even clique, one who I think doesn't even share their real names?

Q3-who planted bomb?

8(Q4)-Nice smile of pride Wonder Woman has watching Wonder Girl. In all this fighting, I can't tell if they are using lethal measures or not. Last ep Allana saved the Krolatian whose mech she lured into a trap. Here they seem to be causing big enough explosions that you would not expect the mecha pilots to be able to get out. Is this JL willing to respond to lethal attack with lethal counter measures? Batman blew the platform out from under 'Manta's' men. It looked to be a 10-5' drop- though maybe that isn't a big deal for battle armored atlantians. It never struck me as important for WW to be willing to kill if necessary- it actually makes sense since she is a warrior before a superhero. But it does seem pretty integral to Supes and Bats.

9-More things I'm noticing while rewatching- when Kal tells NW he has two minutes left on the bomb his voice is different. He's got Conner incapacitated in a way that will at very least distract him if not let him hear the warning at all and he then gives Dick the vital info.

10-M'gann & J'onn ~chuckle~ I've forgotten I'm wearing something silly, I guess Martians can forget they're wearing a whole different species look.

11-For some reason I didn't realize the Krolatians understood English the first time.

12-Must find the issue with Kal's parents- I thought that's what his father looked like.

13-Black Manta replacing Ocean Master in Light- there is clearly some interesting stories in the gap/

14-The good byes-
-Wonder Woman/Wonder Girl- nice feel between the two of them, and a mention of Cassie's mom.
-Hawkman goes with Hawkwoman his spouse
...cut to Icon and Rocket. We never do hear from them. I get it might be the realities of voice work fees, but the body language was a bit odd. Are they romantically involved? {Since the new ep- I guess I'm wondering if they're engaged.} (Rhetorical question, not looking for an answer outside of the episodes.) It's been 5 years since we've seen them interact, and Icon has to be used to people aging into new roles around him. Even more than Static, I wonder what D MacDuffie would have done had he had the chance. The original series ended mid story, and there was no Icon cartoon, I don't think we ever saw Rocket in the main DCU (so far) to explore in other ways.
(Q5) Non rhetorical question: to your knowledge did MacDuffie leave behind any ideas or thoughts on where he might have taken her? Would you be more likely to, when possible, try to incorporate such ideas in light of his untimely passing than you would a living creator who might get a crack at doing it his or herself? Working with Peter David you probably hear all sorts ideas that didn't get used in the YJ comic run, but you both know he might work with those characters in a project of his own down the line. Even if it is extremely unlikely, it does remove some of the urgency.
-Super Man/Super Boy "little brother" J See- a clone is more like a brother!
-Martian Manhunter/Miss Martian are adorable- water the plants (plants on Mars)
-Batfamily- really a tight group, a family. I notice it is the first time they smiled all ep. Even when fighting. I can't decide if that is right to me or not. Dick and Barbara always struck me as the type to be having too much fun in the physicality of it not to smile, Tim to a lesser extent, but also.
-Dramatic goodbye- music, wind, break up, everything; nice. (Dang, Barbara is tall.)
15-Bibbo and Vandal are voiced by the same guy? Wow!

Laura 'ad astra' Sack writes...

still posting old reviews:
Earthlings

Rambled observations to follow the short review of shorts:
Still bwahahaing Animal Man and not quite getting the Ardman shorts

{Actual questions are listed as "Q#". The other numbers are just thought ordering}
1-You do like starting at the end and then flashing back how they got there.

2-I love the Garth/M'Gann sibling dynamic, but I wish I could remember if Gar always had the freckles that match hers. Interesting implication in that he has received multiple transfusions from her to get to what he is. It's also interesting that he reverts to a more fully human shape when he is reminded of his mother's death. I wonder whether that is a 'natural' form or a change based on thought. Or if he even has a 'natural form' anymore. (That huge and unexpected, though very welcome, info dump you gave on Martians a while back explains why he is green- if skin color is ethnicity and she has a green parent it isn't particularly odd that Gar could become green. I do wonder why he is only green. I know that is from the comic, but I wonder the in cartoon explanation. Odd- Gar is the age Dick was last season, but he gets to be a kid.
What the Hey! Make that Q1- why is Garth only green?

3-The benefit of being so behind is catching details that can only be appreciated in hindsight - like the look that runs over Conner's face when M'gann establishes the link that allows them to communicate and Alana and her father comment about the sensation. It went right by me at the time, but in light of now knowing why they broke up...

4-"I assume you are not associated with the League"... "We are not members of the League" J\:) technically truthful.

5-Alana is younger than I imagined. She seems of an age with the first YJ team, not the same age as Adam.

6-Seeing Conner talk and act is spot on- a-jumping like earliest version of supes -b-his demeanor matches his description- looks 16 but is not a 16 year old. (Others already asking why M'gann ages at human rate.)

Q2-They took a risk luring the mecha into the sand- how did they know it wasn't the one holding their teammates? Alana sends the Krolatian the rope as second nature- she matches the teams method...and then M'gann mind strips the Krolatian. It was spooky the first time, but seeing Conner's reaction in light of why they broke up it is even scarier. I can't tell from the frame if Alana is looking at the Krolatians carrying their comrade away in shock or at M'gann. M'gann is without boundary- even if she was reacting to them almost getting her brother.

thanks again for taking the time to do Ask Greg!

Laura 'ad astra' Sack writes...

Hello! And thanks again for answering our questions and reading our comments!

Just saw Saticfaction and am very happy. I'm also happy to see this queue reopened. Now that Ask Greg is open I can post saved up reviews! Yay...uh, well, 'yay' for me. :}
I have a lot of saved comments from when it last closed - particularly all my {overwhelmingly positive} episode reactions since the time skip. Maybe I'll get around to doing a blanket rection to the comics before the queue closes again...but probably not.

Onward....
{Actual questions will have "Q#" by them. The other numbers are just for keeping my thoughts ordered}

Happy New Year-
All those warnings to check dvr settings for the new title...of course I was so far behind reading Ask Greg I came to them at least two weeks late. By my spill time on my Green Lantern recording I figured out I missed this ep and reset it for the next week- but seeing this episode was under less than optimal watching: poor quality buffering and strangely mirror imaged segments on the internet. {I wonder which shorts I missed ~sniff~}
1-Nicely constructed opening scene- first Superboy, unchanged, fighting Clay Face which is an in story throwback. M'gann is next, but hooded. But then she says something about 'Delta squad', and Robin walks out of the shadow looking different. Beast Boy and Blue Beetle show up to confirm things are really different, followed by Bumble Bee. (She's a extra step because we met her as a civilian.) Finally M'gan throws back her hood looking shorn and older and the voice on the other end of the com signs off as Nightwing. Elegant.

2-I see some thinking L'gann is set up to be silly, but by introducing him sparing with Nightwing, humorously and graciously losing, I think he comes across more positively. The more negative impressions probably come from fan possessiveness over the M'gann/Conner relationship, and not anything he is or has done. He is a somewhat silly character- in the cosmic 'oh, come on!' sort of way. He isn't bad or silly looking, but to use his powers he puffs up like a carnival prize. He's a pretty powerful guy, but he knows he's second string at this point and it gall him and leaves him a little insecure. Same for following Conner as a boyfriend. No crime there, even if he appears later being a little mean about it. (Though I am getting ahead of this ep.) And as for Conner's reaction to M'gann and L'gann- You have two relationships to follow from first season- already know one is going to be meaty.

3-Didn't think of it at the time, but if Bumble Bee is b22 and after Tim Drake, I wonder if I'm misreading a vibe that Mal was an active member and somehow forcibly sidelined- like a loss of power. IIRC his comic book counterpart went through a bunch of personas gaining and losing power sets. (I googled it a while back, I just remember it being convoluted and there being a question over who created him…I think.) I look forward to learning how he and Bumble Bee joined up- how old Tim is (what, have 15 people already asked?) and how long he's been Boy Wondering it.

4-hrmmm if Tim is about 13 now, I wonder if that girl whose father was saved from the Black Spider was at least 8 then? I thought not, but if she is Arrowette, she'd be pretty young. {The advantage of first writing this before the shut down- I already have the answer.}

5-General statement- Love Blue Beetle! (But he really shines in later episodes so more on him later.)

6- (Q1)-In the UN- light blue shirts means private security, not NYPD, right?

7- Lobo sounds like he's from Mos Isly ;) Wow- others noticed it too. Maybe it's something about the way the sort of minds that like YJ work.

8-Wonder Girl - Nice having it both ways- Power house entrance, and then Lobo owns her. Neat trick; it should undercut itself but doesn't.

9-Batgirl - Entrance of an uber competent bat professional. It's a bat thing. (Though I hope we eventually get to see her start in flashback at some point.)

10-Tearing Secretary General in half- coulda been gruesome...but wasn't.

11-G Gordon Godfrey... Not the voice, that's pure Tim Curry fun, but the visuals... I can't decide if it is a specific parody or a general parody. A general parody of our cable new/opinion/ego shows is great. But that spinning G keeps making me thing it may be a specific parody, and that would be distracting. Of course it means it is distracting to me because I am wondering about it, but in principle I applaud a general parody. I feel a little like the headmasters that wanted to sue Dickens over 'their libelous portrayal' in Nicholas Nickleby- even though they had two eyes instead of one he was clearly besmirching the reputations of their boarding schools... Ironic that he actually lists some real aliens in his paranoid rants. Come to think of it- they are also hiding Watchtower...nice cut.

12-Zatana and Rocket are Leaguers? Cool. Also nice how even on the Watch Tower the original YJ members still hook into each other for silent chats. (And that the main members declined joining the League.)

13-And in Rann's corner of the galaxy...by now Hal is not the "NO" joke of last season; John is going to contact him. Others have commented on the watch for all leaguers already having Zatanna and Rocket shown, even though they just joined. Also on how does the GL League not know. The answer works for me.

14-Nice brotherly dynamic between Tim and Dick.

15-Love how Jaime is okay being in Gamma. ["Yes I do. YES I do. Yes I Do!" Sorry, couldn't resist.] It is consistent for Jaime's print character to say that. He's the kid who tells a bad guy to cease, leave and 'feel free not to tell me' what he was planning, and who in his heart of hearts wants to be a dentist when he grows up. (At least pre52.) Not yearning to be in the most dangerous squad is his kind of smart. The Crolotains don't like the Reach...interesting. I've heard some complaint about his falling into some Spanish a little stereotyply...didn't notice it the first time, but now I'm not sure if it isn't a bit much. On the other hand, there is the constraint of the format...he's American so you can't give him an accent for English words, and he does come from a part of the country that has a lot of Spanish speaking communities so it is reasonable that people get used to keeping certain phrases in Spanish even when speaking in English. I know there are words I simply am more used to saying not in English, despite having English as my first language. When the words are generally understood, I don't think I would think not to use them. As humorous as it was when he talks to the Crolotaian and then starts relaying the information to his teammates without switching languages, it is also the kinda thing a bilingual person might due. There may be no delay in understanding, but when the brain is talking in one language it sometimes forgets to switch. Since the Scarab feeds him the language as readily as English or Spanish the reaction would be the same.

Q2-Is that Black Lightning? Little fuzzy backward screen....

16-The team does seem more Teen Titany than Young Justice. Of course the original YJ never got the chance to be a two generation team. Although the type of work they do is, as someone pointed out, very Outsiders like.

17 -Who isn't in the episode is at least as interesting as who is- Roy, Wally, Artimas, Aqualad. Not appearing at all is a teaser in and of itself.

18-And of course, the controversial time skip: You've pulled off a (near) perfect execution; dropping us mid story and giving us some info, some indications and some glaring absences. The pace continues in the following eps to be perfect. {One possible quibble with Blue Beetle that I'll ask about in a later review.} It comes down to whether you like time skips or not. I tend to be an 'or not' because I miss the in between stories. With Time Dancer you found a way to have it both ways- skip in the main line and then have it's own comic for the skipped decades. I don't know if you plan to keep the comics behind to have it both ways here. {Since I wrote this, but before posting you've answered that the comics will follow the skip} I'm guessing not for marketing reasons {I was right}, unless you are cleared to have more than one line {Which would be super cool}. On a business level, I (still guessing) would think your corporate shepherds would insist that the book be a direct connection to the show. In an ideal world you'd get a comic line for both time lines and at least one more with some sidekicking adventures and some general in universe tales. But in a real world we'd probably not be so lucky. Despite my apriori preference against skips, I'm certainly in for the long haul.

18 points and only 2 actual questions, and one is about shirts...odd.

Harmony writes...

1. Who is shorter now that they're adults, Wally or Dick?

2. Original Roy said Ollie was his friend, does either he or Clone Roy secretly (Or not so secretly) Look up to Ollie as a father?

3. Can Mercy Graves talk?

Anonymous writes...

By the time of 2198, how famous are certain individual gargoyles? Was Samson's leader, who gets taken by the Space-Spawn a house hold name? Samson himself? Delilah? How about Demona... is she known to the general public?

TheTavarse writes...

Not a question, but a declaration. In a perfect world there would be four clones of you. Original recipe Weisman to executive produce Young Justice, Clone-1 to write the comic, Clones 2 & 3 to executive produce the Arrow and Aqua family animated series and Clone-4 to write the web comic "Suoveihcsim" staring Rocket, Artemis, and Zatanna during the 5 year gap. Seriously, where's Dr. Desmond when you need him?

Anon writes...

Why did Artemis choose the bow and arrow as her weapon of choice?