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SPONSES 2014-10 (Oct)

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Tyler Reznik writes...

Hello again, Mr. Weisman. I saw on the Garg Wiki and in the archives, that Jean Valjean of "Les Miserables" exists as a character in the "Gargoyles" universe (in fact, I have a theory that he might have already appeared). That in mind, I had a few questions about him.

1) Is his backstory more or less the same as it is in the book/musical? I'm referring to his years in prison, meeting the bishop of Digne, being Mayor of Montreuil, his conflict with Javert, etc.

2) For that matter, do other characters from "Les Mis" exist in the "Gargoyles" universe (Javert and Cosette in particular, but certainly not just them)?

3) In-universe, is Valjean still alive, or, at least, was he still alive in 1996?

4) What sort of character would Valjean be in "Gargoyles"? I'd like to think he's the same moral, redemption-seeking figure that he was in "Les Miserables", but I honestly have no idea what your take on him might be.

5) Slightly off topic, but what did you think of the 2012 musical film adaptation of "Les Miserables"? I thought it was excellent, personally.

Thank you for your time, and have a good day

Greg responds...

1. The book, which is public domain. Not the musical, which is not. I'm not saying every detail is the same, but the basics, yes.

2. Generally, yes.

3. No spoilers.

4. No spoilers.

5. I did too. I could quibble with little things, but I found it very effecting.

Response recorded on October 16, 2014

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Anonymous writes...

I love Young Justice so much. Thanks so much to everyone part of the team who helped create such a beautiful show. I just have one question that I'm uncertain about but is pretty trivial. I was recently re-watching the first season and I noticed that Wally was wearing a jacket that was similar to Artemis's in Season Two. Was it Wally's jacket she was wearing? Thank you.

Greg responds...

I honestly don't recall. Might be a question for Brandon Vietti and/or Phil Bourassa.

Response recorded on October 14, 2014

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R.J. writes...

A friend of mine admires and identifies with Brooklyn very deeply. So deeply, in fact, that he sometimes wishes he WERE Brooklyn. He's having a rough time right now, and "just be yourself" isn't helping. I was wondering, could the man that understands Brooklyn better than anyone - his creator - give my friend a little encouragement or wisdom? It would mean a lot.

Greg responds...

I'd be happy to, but I'm at a bit of a loss for at least a couple reasons:

1. I have no idea what is troubling your friend or what aspect(s) of Brooklyn he identifies with.

2. I'm not qualified to give advice, and have very little in the way of wisdom, beyond, perhaps, a willingness to admit to my own ignorance.

But encouragement I can do. It may be a bit generic, but I wish your friend the best and suggest he keep trying and seek out help (and even therapy).

Brooklyn is a good guy, who has his troubles. But after 40 years of wandering through the timestream, he did ultimately come back to his clan with a new wisdom of his own and a loving family. So there is hope.

Response recorded on October 14, 2014

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Avi writes...

Hi Greg, How are you? You may know me from twitter as I tend to have converstations with you at times.
1. Spectacular Spider-man has gotten me into Spider-man. Other than Stan Lee's run, what Spider-man stories do you recommend? I have Kraven's Last Hunt, Death of Gwen Stacy, and all of Lee/Ditko, and will get the rest of Lee's run with Romita soon. Just wanted to get your thoughts on which Spidey stories to buy as you are a big Spidey fan.
2. Did you like the Peter/MJ relationship from the comics? I ask because some writers accuse that relationship as causing sales and quality of Spidey titles to drop, so I wanted to hear your opinion.
3. Since you said you are now working on the third book in the Rain series, did you get the green light for the third book or are you just working on it, in hopes it will be greenlit?
Thanks and hope everything is well!

Greg responds...

1. I can't pinpoint things for you. Might have been able to when I was in the thick of writing/producing SpecSpidey, but that was years ago. I always start at the beginning and work my way forward.

2. I like how some writers/artists/editors handled it. Didn't like how others did. It's all about execution.

3. I have not gotten a green light from St. Martin's Press on Masque of Bones (i.e. Rain of the Ghosts, Book Three). And I have NOT started writing it. I have begun doing some of the research.

Response recorded on October 14, 2014

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ZachHanson writes...

Hi, My name is Zach,
As you can see, I am a nerd for Gargoyles. This show has changed my life! And I'm only 16!
Anyways, I've been on YouTube and noticed that there are no Short Films or Web-series on there.
1)Is it possible that there could be one of those?
2) Would it be alright if I created a Web-Series?

Greg responds...

I'm not sure what you're suggesting here. (I spend very little time on YouTube.) If you're asking about the video equivalent of fanfiction, then I don't have the authority - as I don't own the property - to either approve or disapprove.

I have always had a very mixed response to fan fiction. It's gratifying that fans love the show and its characters enough to want to create their own stories in that universe, but I'm also very territorial about Gargoyles in particular, so I'll admit (churlish as it might be) that there's a part of me that would love to just shout: "HANDS OFF!" (Particularly, when they prefer their version to mine.)

When I learned at one point that a now professional writer was turning a (revised) version of her Gargoyles fanfiction story into a non-Gargoyles Gargoyles movie for Disney, I was understandably upset. (Thankfully, that project seems to have vanished into the ether.)

And from the standpoint of creative people cutting their teeth, I don't recommend dedicating too much energy to a property that said creatives don't own themselves. Why not put your valuable time and energy and talents into something original that you DO own?

But, again, I don't own Gargoyles either. So it's not up to me. And again, I also understand that it's often meant as a tribute to the great work all the folks on Gargoyles did, in which case, I should simply say thank you.

(Oh, and if I've totally misinterpreted what you're talking about: FORGIVE ME!)

Response recorded on October 14, 2014

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Anonymous writes...

Ah, I just thought of another Marvel Family question! Sorry for not including it in the submission I made a few minutes ago.

This one's just a general Marvel Family question: was Mary Bromfield active as Sergeant Marvel in July of Team Year Zero, when the Team was formed?

Greg responds...

No.

Response recorded on October 14, 2014

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Anonymous writes...

It's been mentioned before that a Marvel Family story was planned for the companion comic book, but then had to be scrapped when you were asked to jump forward to the Invasion timeline. I've just got a couple of questions about this Marvel Family story:

1) Just to clarify, would it have been set in Team Year Zero?

2) Which month of the year would it have been set in?

Greg responds...

SPOILER REQUESTS. NO COMMENT.

Response recorded on October 13, 2014

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Heath writes...

Why did you guys decide to use Wally West as one of the members of the original team on Young Justice? Was it because he was a vastly popular character in the comics (and therefore would be popular on the show)? Was it simply because he was one of the original sidekicks? Or was he just a placeholder speedster until Bart could be brought in?

I ask because it certainly seemed like the show never put as much effort and thought into his character and story that it did any of the other lead characters throughout the two seasons. You guys completely skipped over important parts of his story and never established things that were supposedly vital to the character on the show. Having to come here to find out that he was insecure about his speed relative to Barry (pretty important since he died because of that), or what Artemis might like about him, or why he wasn't helping out with the alien invasion after his confrontation with Dick during the second season isn't something that should be necessary. Which meant that both he and the stories he was a part of on the show suffered greatly. Also, you even mentioned that Wally was never a priority for the show like the other five members of the original team were.

So why use a valuable roster spot and screen-time on a character that you guys obviously weren't all that invested in? It's not like he was ever relevant to the plot aside from being Artemis' love interest, which any other character could have been, and being the character that died. The fact that he disappeared for a long stretch and was ultimately killed off during season two shows he wasn't important to the show like the others. That he was the one "main" character you guys felt the show could do without. And I got the feeling from how the show treated the character that you guys didn't care all that much about him, either.

And it's not that I didn't like Wally as I liked him well enough. Though I'm honestly not sure if I would have liked YJ's Wally if I didn't feel a pre-established connection to the character (thanks to the comics and Justice League/Unlimited) that allowed me to excuse his behavior/faults that the show never bothered explaining. I ask simply because he didn't bring much to the overall plot of the show in either season as he was just a support character (his relationships with Artemis, Dick, and Bart were portrayed as one-sided too) and the show never bothered examining the important aspects of his character and story like the others. It just seems strange to have a roster of six, and then treat five characters one way and Wally another. I mean, there was probably another character out there that you guys could have made relevant to the plot and/or been interested in exploring their character, right?

Greg responds...

Wow, I'm getting tired of this.

I've said this before, ad nauseum at this point, but I'll say it again. Wally West is my all-time favorite speedster. The fact that he was one of the original sidekicks didn't hurt. But he certainly was NOT just a placeholder for Bart. And I don't particularly care who is popular or not. Brandon and I chose him for a variety of reasons, that included powers, power-level, personality, background, history, dynamics with other characters - and, yes, nostalgia.

There definitely seems to be a vocal minority who seems to think we didn't do the character justice. (At least they're pretty darn vocal here at ASK GREG.) But they are the minority. The vast majority of our audience seems to have loved Wally, which suggests they loved how we handled him - except maybe his ceasing to exist at the end, which BROKE THEIR HEARTS. And you can't break a fan's heart if they don't care about the character in the first place. (I suppose you'll attribute that to the love of the character they brought with them TO the show. But I don't believe that's true for most of our audience, who loved Wally - and in particular, Jason Spisak's performance as Wally.)

And I've never said that Wally was any less of a priority in Season One than the others. All six of the original teammates had equal priority and near-equal screen time. (What I said was that his story was more straight-forward and required less explanation - something that was equally true about Dick and Kaldur.) And what I said about Wally relative to Season Two is that ALL the characters (in terms of screen time) were subservient to the arc of the story. So, yes, some got more priority because of the story. But that wasn't a knock on Wally. Anymore than Superboy's near total absence in the second half of the season was a knock against him.

I will say that if you didn't get some of the nuances of the character until you came here to ASK GREG, then I'm sorry. In that sense, we failed you. Some of it was revealed with more clarity in our companion comic, but I'll grant that you shouldn't have had to pick that up in order to appreciate what was going on in the show. But we took no different approach to Wally than to Dick or Kaldur or Artemis or anyone. If we failed, we failed. But please STOP trying to ascribe some odd motivation to it. You don't like it, fine. But stop trying to tell us how WE feel. It's reductive, presumptuous and insulting.

(And by the way, I don't agree that we failed. The truth of all those things you "discovered" here is IN THE EPISODES themselves. It may not be stated verbally, but I think all of it is there, spelled out in behavior, action and words between words. If we weren't on the head with it enough for you, fine. But it worked for us. We were happy with it. And again, I think most of our audience got it, even if some of our audience did not. And I'm okay with that.)

We were VERY invested in Wally, from his first appearance to his last. Sorry if it didn't work for you, but that's all it is. Us doing something that didn't work for you. Not us crapping it out. We worked very hard, and I believe overall we did justice to the character, as seems obvious by fan response to his death.

Now, can we please put this topic to rest? Those of you who feel this way have had your say, over and over. And I've responded, over and over. Neither side is going to convince each other. It's enough.

Response recorded on October 13, 2014

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Presto writes...

Favorite character to write ever? Go.

Greg responds...

Go where?

Response recorded on October 13, 2014

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Star Wars Rebels: Kanan

This weekend at New York Comic Con, Marvel and Lucasfilm announced the new monthly on-going STAR WARS REBELS: KANAN comic book. I will be writing the first five-issue arc, THE LAST PADAWAN. I'm very excited. More info in an interview I did here: http://www.coffeewithkenobi.com/with-new-kanan-comic-marvel-set-to-explore-more-star-wars-lore/



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