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Young Justice companion comic series

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Anonymous writes...

Notice how in season 1, no one felt the need to bring up the fact that Aqualad is black? He just is, and he was a well-developed character. Same with Jaime in season 2 - he's clearly Latino by his name and appearance and sprinkles Spanish into his speech, other than that his character had a compelling storyline that had nothing to do with his race. That's how you do diverse representation properly.

Whereas with Halo and Khalid, the audience is outright told that they're Muslim instead of shown, and it's a big part of both of their arcs. YJ is a superhero show with an ensemble cast that doesn't go super deep into the character's personal lives, and religion is personal - that's why we don't know the majority of the characters' religion.

To harp on it so much with the two Muslim characters reinforces this idea that Muslims are "others," that we're not "normal" like white Christians and that we're all extremely conservative and ultra religious. It would have been nice to have a character that's visibly Muslim (Halo's hijab) or shown to be Muslim in subtle ways (like by saying certain Arabic phrases or mention celebrating a holiday) and just let them be a normal character with a compelling storyline.

You guys had representation down perfectly in the first two seasons, I don't know why you've changed the approach?

Greg responds...

Wow, I disagree with just about EVERYTHING you've written above.

For starters, you're not TOLD Halo is Muslim. You're shown that they're exploring whether Islam might hold some meaning for them. You're not TOLD Khalid is Muslim, you're shown what his Muslim heritage means to him.

And I think both characters have extremely compelling storylines. You don't have to agree, of course. But I don't have to agree with you, either. And I think you're just WRONG.

And we sometimes do go into religion for other characters. Zatara immediately springs to mind since we showed his faith in the very same episode in which we explored Khalid's religion - and in the one that follows.

I don't think either Khalid or Halo are presented as ultra religious, either. Certainly, Halo's not. They're not even certain they want to be Muslim yet. (They're exploring!) I don't even think Khalid's mother is presented as ultra religious, really, though I'll admit you could make that argument about her. And Gabrielle's mother is talking about religion ONLY because Violet asked her about it. She's not proslytizing.

Zatara's the only guy, actually, whom we see kneeling in church and praying. Why doesn't THAT bother you? Is he suddenly "other" and not "normal".

I mean, sure, he is. That's the point. WE ARE ALL OUTSIDERS. Everyone is different. With different needs and different wants. Faith being one of many, many, many variables worth exploring.

And we have other Muslim characters who NEVER mention their faith at all. Queen Bee and Noor Harjavti, to name a couple. One's a villain, and one's pretty minor. But my point is that we don't have any rules. We're doing what we think is right for each of our characters individually.

And I don't think we have "changed the approach." I think we've evolved it. We're going deeper. (Cuz, you know, we're in our fourth season.) Deeper in TONS of ways. Deeper into Beast Boy's mental health. Deeper into Artemis and Jade's difficult childhood. Deeper into Halo's sexuality. Why should religion be off-limits? Especially, since EVERY single Muslim we consulted with and who worked on the season liked what we were doing and helped us get there. This has a positive meaning to many people. I know cuz they've told me that. And again, that doesn't mean YOU have to like it. It just means you can't possibly claim to be speaking for everyone. Not even for every Muslim.

And while I'm at it, I wouldn't be shy about going into Jaime's Mexican heritage. Hasn't come up yet. But I'm not saying it won't. It could become a big issue, if and when we go deeper into his character. Might hit on his Catholicism. Might not. But I wouldn't shy away from it.

Kaldur's blackness is pretty much a non-issue in Atlantis, but we have dealt with his lack of "purity" to certain racist Atlanteans in our companion comics. It's a metaphor. And not a subtle one. So you are OBJECTIVELY WRONG when you say we didn't deal with race. We did. IN DEPTH.

But my real issue, is that I really, REALLY don't like you trying to rein us in and tell us what is and isn't worthy of our attention. It grates on me that you're speaking in absolutes, as if there's only ONE GOOD WAY TO MAKE A SHOW. And, again, I disagree. Strongly. (Or was that not clear?)

Response recorded on October 04, 2022

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FallenLegend writes...

Hey Greg, after watching the spectacular Spider-Man a thought came to me about Young Justice’s Mary.

Do you think her situation with power obsession is comparable to what happened with Eddie Brock? With him being obsessed about Being Venom,

The biggest difference I see is that the symbiotic is somewhat sentient, and the power of SHAZAM is not.

Second question was that power withdrawal /obsession Mary suffered something Black Adam, Billy or Freedy also felt?

Also, do you think Mary’s obsession with her power had to do with low self steem on her normal self?

Blank Adam is also transformed all the time, but he also has that rapid aging problem to have him don’t bother, doesn’t he?

It seemed like this only affected Mary of all the holders of Shazam we know so far. Unlike, say, Venom who was trying to corrupt the minds or both Peter and Eddie, The problem seems to be on Mary’s end completely,

Thank you Greg.

Greg responds...

1. It's an interesting thought.

2. No spoilers.

3. I don't want to oversimplify, but I think that's in the mix.

4. No spoilers.

5. No spoilers.

Response recorded on September 29, 2022

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Marvelman writes...

1) Do Beast Boy & Miss Martian know that it was Queen Bee who murdered Marie Logan?

2) Do they want justice or revenge?

3) Have they not pursued justice because there just isn't a viable way of doing that - short of murdering a head of state?

Greg responds...

1. Yes.

2. Yes.

3. Who says they haven't pursued it?

Response recorded on September 28, 2022

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Caleb writes...

Hey, Greg!

Some Zeta questions that hopefully don't cross the line into spoilers.

1. You've revealed that Jay Garrick and Bart Allen were given the Zeta designations A-13 and A-14 respectively, but we haven't seen those numbers used on screen. So how are they actually read out by the computer? Is it Flash A-13 and Impulse A-14, or Jay Garrick A-13 and Bart Allen A-14, or one codename and one secret identity?
2. Same question for Lucas "Snapper" Carr A-01. Is he Snapper, Snapper Carr, Lucas Carr?
3. Is there an in-universe reason why Dick, when assigning G-series designations, used the last name-comma-first name format when the A-series designations we've seen are just first name-last name?

And a couple that I think will be spoilers:

4. Did Eduardo Dorado, Sr receive a Zeta designation during/because of his work on the Erdel Initiative?
5. Were the Doom Patrol ever given Zeta designations during a hypothetical JL/DP crossover adventure?

Greg responds...

1. A-13 was Jay Garrick. A-14 was Impulse.

2. A-01 was Snapper Carr but was updated to Lucas Carr between Seasons One and Two.

3. Yes.

4. Yes.

5. No spoilers. (You had to push your luck, Caleb.)

Response recorded on September 28, 2022

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Michael Broder writes...

How old was General Lemar when he was murdered?

Greg responds...

Clement Lemar was born in 1912. He died in 1968. I don't have specific dates for either, so calculating his exact age is problematic, but he was about 56.

Response recorded on September 27, 2022

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Anonymous writes...

If Icicle Jr. was technically still in love with Tuppence Terror (despite the fact that Miss Martian having posed as her), than why haven't asked her out yet? Is because he's worried that her twin brother, Tommy, will beat Icicle, Jr. up if he tries to date his twin sister?

Greg responds...

I think it's clear he HAS asked her out. Multiple times. Probably an inappropriate number of multiple times, knowing Junior. I don't think he's worried about Tommy. I don't think Tommy's worried about him. And Tup can handle herself.

I also don't think Junior really is "in love" with Tuppence. He just wants to be in love.

Response recorded on September 21, 2022

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Anonymous writes...

Questions In Regards to Earth-16's Nightwing:

1. Is his full name Richard John "Dick" Grayson?

2. Because his father and cousin shared the same first name (John), did he address his cousin by any nicknames, and if so, then what were they?

3. Does he have a older paternal half-sister named Melinda; just like in the comics?

4. How did he come up with the name Nightwing for his current superhero code name?

Greg responds...

1. Anonymous, based on your previous questions, where you put the nicknames in quotation marks and then treat them as if they are some kind of official part of a character's name (even to the point where you seemed to care whether or not the nickname came before or after the middle name), I'm hesitant to answer your question as you've written it, for fear of misinterpretation. I will say that "Dick" is short for Richard.

2. Dick addressed his cousin as Johnny. He addressed his father as Dad.

3. No spoilers. But I'll admit to being allergic to long-lost close relatives that we've never heard of before suddenly showing up. Still, no spoilers.

4. No spoilers.

Response recorded on September 20, 2022

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Parker writes...

1.Is project match still a loose end in the show? I haven't read the companion comics but know a little bit of his fate there, does that mean the original project match is gone both in the comics and the show. I have scowered the wiki but it's a little confusing.
2.Are companion comic events canon to the show?
Anyways love what you are doing and I love y'all's vision(hopefully matter eater lad is in that vision), keep up the great work you guys do it means more than y'all might know.

Greg responds...

1. Well... maybe you should read the comics, including recent issues of Young Justice: Targets. The answers regarding Match are all there.

2. Yes, the companion comics are all fully canon. (To be clear, I'm talking about the actual companion comics, which are now available in two trades - Young Justice: The Early Missions and Young Justice: Growing Up - plus our new six issue mini-series, Young Justice: Targets. I am NOT talking about the old 90s comics or the more recent "Wonder Comics" issues, which are also titled Young Justice. They may be great stories. But they're not canon to Earth-16.)

Response recorded on September 14, 2022

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Paco writes...

First at all. Thank you and Brandi for making YJ. Loving the season 4 so much, looking forward for the second half.
Since we learned that Kent is closed to Zatara’s family…Why didn’t Zee attended to his funeral? but her dad did as we saw in YJ comic issue 11

Greg responds...

That's a really good question. The out-of-universe answer, of course, is that we hadn't yet (a) introduced Zatanna to the Team and (b) figured out how important Kent was to Zatanna's childhood years.

In universe... hmmm. Maybe she was TOO grief-stricken to attend? (Not sure I buy that myself.)

I'll leave it to our wonderful fans to come up with a crazy legit explanation, I guess.

Response recorded on September 13, 2022

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Mark writes...

Is Dick's apartment seen in issues 20 & 25 above the same warehouse used as the Team's temporary base from Cornered onwards?

Is this the same warehouse Dick, Kaldur, Artemis and Wally meet in at the end of Depths?

Greg responds...

1. No. Although it's not far away.

2. Hm. Maybe. I'd have to look again to see if that fits.

Response recorded on September 02, 2022


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