ASK GREG is back, MARCH 23, 2009.

Ask Greg will once again open for question submission on March 23, 2009, which is coincidentally the date of The Spectacular Spider-Man's premiere on DisneyXD. (Okay, so maybe it's not exactly a coincidence.)

I would ask -- even beg -- that you carefully read the submission guidelines before posting here. In particular, PLEASE check the archives and the questions-already-asked sections before posting a question that's already been asked and/or asked AND answered. Try to avoid FLOODING Ask Greg, as it will only serve to slow down my ability to respond in a timely fashion. As always, comments are encouraged and appreciated... on Spidey or Gargs or whatever.

Thanks in advance...

Latest bit of news...

Hey gang,

Back from WonderCon. Had a nice Spidey panel, among other things. (I enjoyed the screening of the Wonder Woman direct to DVD.)

Also talked to Dan Vado. He assures me that the two trades (GARGOYLES: CLAN-BUILDING, VOLUME TWO and GARGOYLES: BAD GUYS: REDEMPTION) will both be out in time for this summer's Comic-Con in San Diego.

WonderCon 2009

Hey gang,

I'll be attending WonderCon 2009 this week in San Francisco.

I'll be signing Gargoyles stuff at the SLG Booth on Friday, February 27th from 4-6pm and on Saturday, February 28th from noon to 2pm.

We'll also have a Spectacular Spider-Man panel on Saturday, February 28th from 3-4pm, where Vic Cook, Sean Galloway, Josh Keaton and myself will have a Q&A and be premiering footage from Season Two, some of which hasn't even been shown yet in Canada or Bulgaria! That'll be followed by a Spidey signing from 4-5pm.

Hope to see some of you there!

UPDATE as of January 2009

Hey gang,

Today's my last day at Sony. I'm packing boxes. (Well, actually, I'm doing this and procrastinating on the packing, but you get the idea.) The last of the Spidey crew is laid off tomorrow, when we deliver the last episode of Season Two. The fact that we're all leaving does not preclude us all from coming back to do a third season, of course. But we've been told that the EARLIEST we could get a pick-up is March, when the series premieres on Disney XD. If I'm available, believe me, I'll be back. But I'm hustling up work now, so we'll have to wait and see. In the meantime, the second season has already premiered in Canada. Hope you Canadian fans are enjoying it. We're really proud of the work done on all 26 episodes.

Meanwhile, on the TRADE PAPERBACK front... As of today, ALL OF THE CREATIVE WORK on the GARGOYLES: BAD GUYS REDEMPTION trade is completed. Totally done. As for the Gargoyles trade, there is ONE lettering error that still needs to get corrected, and THEN ALL OF THE CREATIVE WORK on GARGOYLES CLAN-BUILDING VOLUME II will be done. I do NOT yet know when either trade will be released. That's a Dan Vado question. But I'll post info here as soon as I have it. I will NOT be responding to every rumor or speculation. I'm only going to post when I know something definitive. But believe me, I have no interest in keeping this info from you. When I know, you'll know.

It's been brought to my attention that there's a Goliath sculpt out there that looks pretty darn cool...
http://www.toyark.com/news/attachment.php?do=fullview&attachmentid=3072
http://www.toyark.com/news/disney-toy-news-38/bowen-releasing-new-gargoyles-goliath-statue-722/
As usual, I would never ask fans to spend money they need for necessities, but if you do have disposable income, then nothing helps the property more than dollars spent on products based on it.

Also, IGN's recently presented us with a few nice little honors. Spidey won Best Hero of 2008 (Spidey beats Jack Bauer!) and Best Animated series of 2008... plus we were nominated for Best New Series too. Also in their top 100 animated shows of all time, Gargoyles received #45 and Spectacular Spider-Man was #30. I might quibble about some of the included shows and some of the rankings (Jonny Quest was ROBBED!!!!), but it's nice to have both shows in the top 50.

Check out:
http://bestof.ign.com/2008/tv/15.html
http://bestof.ign.com/2008/tv/5.html
http://tv.ign.com/top-100-animated-tv-series/45.html
http://tv.ign.com/top-100-animated-tv-series/30.html

Finally, preparations are well under way for the Thirteenth Annual Gathering of the Gargoyles in Los Angeles (G2009). This year, it's Goliath meets the Spectacular Spider-Man, as we'll be having panels and guests from BOTH shows! Confirmed guests include myself, Vic Cook, Thom Adcox, Keith David, Josh Keaton (voice of Spidey/Pete) and Phil LaMarr (voice of Rand Robertson, Joe Robertson and Fancy Dan). And that's just the tip of the guest iceberg. Expect a metric ton of pros (writers, artists, voice directors, actors, production people) to sign on over the next few months. The ratio of fan to pro at this convention will top anything you can find anywhere. Don't miss it!

http://www.gatheringofthegargoyles.com/

And that's it for now. We'll reopen ASK GREG for questions and comments when Spidey premieres in the U.S. in March or when one or both of the trades are released, whichever comes first.

Take care,

Greg Weisman

Emru Townsend, RIP

I only just read today that Emru Townsend passed away from Leukemia. See http://www.pcworld.com/article/153725/in_memoriam_pc_world_contributor_emru_townsend.html

I won't pretend I knew Emru very well. He interviewed me twice for FPS. Once on a conference call with Keith David. And once in person during the 2004 Gathering in Montreal. But during those two brief encounters, he immediately impressed me as a smart guy, funny and fun to talk to. He also had the kind of voice that just begged to be behind a microphone in a cartoon, and I do remember telling him as much.

My condolences go out to his family and friends.

I didn't know him well, but he will be missed.

Spectacular Spider-Man on DVD

I can't believe I forgot to mention this:

The first Spectacular Spider-Man DVD, "Attack of the Lizard" has been out for over a week. This does more than "collect" the first three episodes of our season, i.e. the ones featuring Vulture, the Enforcers, Electro and the Lizard. We've recut the episodes into a movie. I won't pretend it works as a film perfectly, but I really do think it plays well ... also restoring footage and sound effects cut for time and S&P reasons.

If you like my work on Gargoyles, I'm fairly confident you'll like what me and the team are doing with Spidey.

And I know this sounds ridiculously self-serving, but good Spidey sales raises my profile in general, which can't hurt us on the Gargoyles front.

Check it out!

ComicsonComics.com

Unless you're Blaise or GXB -- and saw it live -- you might want to check out the podcast I did for ComicsonComics.com:

http://www.comicsoncomics.com/?p=130

The high quality version is available on itunes.

I think it turned out well...

CON-ODYSSEY: CopperCon - Monday, September 1, 2008

CON-ODYSSEY: CopperCon - Monday, September 1, 2008
12:45am - Said goodbye to Lanny and headed down to my room to watch some TV and read.

4am - Went to sleep.

6:45am - Wake up call.

7:15am - Had the complimentary hotel breakfast, which I had never gotten up early enough to get. It was good. Had a cheese, tomato, mushroom omelette. Plus scrambled eggs, bacon, raisin bran, cheerios, corn flakes, oatmeal, potatos, etc. Sat with Mara, Jennifer, Patrick, David and conchair Gary. When breakfast was over, I said goodbye to Mara, Jennifer and Patrick.

8:15am - Shane and Caitlin took David and I to the airport. We said goodbye to Shane and Caitlin, checked in and then I said goodbye to David.

10:05am - Got on the plane.

11:35am - Arrived at LAX. No car waiting for me. Called. Called again. Finally, the car showed up.

12:30pm - Made it home.

And thus ends my 2008 Con-Odyssey. I'm done for the year with conventions. Had a great time at all of them. But I'm ready to stick to home base -- at least until WonderCon in February. ;)

CON-ODYSSEY: CopperCon - Sunday, August 31, 2008

CON-ODYSSEY: CopperCon - Sunday, August 31, 2008
2am - I went back to my room and read a bit.

3am - Went to sleep.

10:30am - Wake up.

12pm - Held a Spidey panel. Usually Q&A's easily fill the time, but the turn-out wasn't great, so I need to start preparing more.

1pm - Sat in on David Hedgecock's panel on producing a comic book. Lots of good info. Not a lot I didn't know, but still learned something new.

2pm - Shane took David and I upstairs to meet the constaff.

2:30pm - David, Jennifer, Greg, Lanny, Patrick, Mara and I went to Qdobe, where I had a steak taco salad.

3:45pm - We said goodbye to Greg Bishansky and then headed for Chase Stadium.

5:05pm - Marty & Lexy Lund bought us all tickets to the Dodgers-Diamondback game. It was me, David, Patrick, Jennifer, Mara, Lanny, Marty, Lexy and three of their friends: Kevin, Corey and Shasta. I had a kosher dog, water and a cheeseburger. Great game. Dodgers slayed the D-backs 8 to 1. After the game, we said goodbye to Marty, Lexy and their friends.

9:30pm - David, Lanny, Jennifer, Patrick, Mara and I went to the hotel restaurant for dessert. I had deep-fried cheesecake and chocolate ice cream (which may explain why I started a diet as soon as I got back to Los Angeles).

10:30pm - We closed down the restaurant and headed up to Jen, Patrick and Mara's room to hang out.

MORE TO COME...

ComicsonComics.com

Last night, I did a podcast for ComicsonComics.com. Greg Bishansky and Blaze came out to see the show. Don't know if what we did made a good podcast, but we had a good time. Check it out.