Todd Jensen writes...

The first season of "Young Justice" takes place over the course of half a year, starting on the Fourth of July and continuing to New Year's Eve in the Season One finale (with episodes set on Halloween and Thanksgiving along the way). I remember that the first season of "The Spectacular Spider-Man" similarly stretched from the start of the school year in September to Thanksgiving (with a Halloween episode along the way), and that the second season got up at least to Valentine's Day. The time progression in "Gargoyles" was more vague, but we had two Halloween stories ("Eye of the Beholder" and the Double Date story) and three wintry episodes in New York ("Her Brother's Keeper", which ends with a snowfall, "Re-Awakening", and "The Price"), as well as a clear timeline for the Stone of Destiny story.

I like this sense of the year's progress through the seasons and landmark days (like the Fourth of July and Halloween), but it doesn't seem that common in animated series outside your own work. I've seen two speculations on why that element is so rare in animated series. One is that a lot of the people who engage in such creative work aren't big on continuity and change, far less than you are. Another is that most people involved in creating animated television series live in or near Los Angeles and other parts of California, where the climate is pretty much the same year around and there's less a sense of four seasons than in other parts of the United States. I was wondering what your thoughts were on these theories.

AJC writes...

Just watched Downtime and it was a great episode! I'm impressed by the amount of detail in the choreography and backgrounds, and the number of voice actors you had in the episode. While I thought cutting from scene to scene of each YJ member during their downtime would be a bit choppy, it was actually very insightful, and it made it very realistic to see each of their lives.

How do companies decide what kind of budget to give to cartoon shows? Some older cartoon shows (ie from the 90s) had worse animation as the series progressed. I noticed the even the batman's animation wasn't as good as its earlier days(although still never went that bad).

Have you or brandon watched avatar the last airbender? I feel your show is taking some cues from the show (ie, the water sorcery, the diverse locations the team travels to each ep).

I have a question about aqualad. He obviously does not live at mount justice so would he not return to atlantis when he's not crime fighting? So wouldn't that mean he sees tula and garth still? Or is he that busy?

Phil writes...

Hey Greg,

I'm sure it's cliche and you're tired of hearing it by now, but I loved Gargoyles as a kid and continue to do so...I guess there's no need to go into any more detail than that. Just wanted to start off by saying thanks for all the hard work.

Anyways, onto the questions:

1. With the Marvel/Disney merger, what are the odds now that we'll see you pick up where you left off on the Gargoyles comic?
2. Does SLG still own all the rights to the comics you wrote for them or is it all owned by Disney and thus now a part of Marvel as well?

Now that the semi-practical questions are out of the way, time for my far nerdier side to kick in:

3. If asked to do a Marvel/Gargoyles crossover, who would be your first choice in Marvel character to cross over with? And since it's likely to be Spidey, who's your second?
4. Have you been approached about bringing Gargoyles into a future Kingdom Hearts game?

Thanks,
Phil

Laura 'ad astra' Sack writes...

Sneaking in a question or two at work lest I start falling far behind again. I apologize if I overlap anything already asked, I've been trying to avoid Spiderman spoilers. I have a stack of set aside responses for after the rest of the season airs. (Though I wonder if I should have bothered; what I didn't pick up just skimming I probably read checking the 'waiting to be asked' que. Oh well...)

First- Love the show.

I did have that first reaction to still art some did thinking it looked a little young, but between prioritizing fluidity of motion for the web slinger on the one side, and not getting that overly static look from being too faithful to the comic art on the other, I am completely won over.

Also, I am not terribly well versed in Spidy lore. (It's too expensive to get hooked on two major comic universes and I started on DC first.) Despite not getting all the references, the deference shown to the history, right down to mining the comics with the intent of not creating a single new character, really shows. Very impressive.

Second-
I thought it was particularly classy to post the credits of the episodes because they went by too quickly to be seen on screen. I assume people like working with you because they know they are not taken for granted. (Just like changing the "Staring..." in the opening credits shows respect to the characters. Love that.) I do wonder -

1- If each episode is written by a particular person or team, what do the staff writers do?
2-If you already have a voice director, what does 'casting' do? Or does the voice director not choose talent too? (I think this question was more involved when I scribbled it on my note sheet months ago, but I didn't write out the details and no longer remember.)
3- How did Cheeks Galloway end up with that nickname? I took a glance at his website and saw his autobigraphy is named "Cheeks Unclenched" Much mirth followed.

bob writes...

Hello I was just wondering if you could help me with something I know you've answsered questions like this before but this one is different. I think that I would like to write lyrics and get paid for it haha I was just wondering if this is a real job? I know your not in the musuc bussiness but you are a writer and have written music before so any help would be apprciated. Were would I go with this? And who do I talk to to make this Happen? Thank you very much for your time and any help you can give, I really appriciate it!

Wesley Nichols writes...

What is youre opinion of the script writer's strike going on in New York and Los Angeles?

Peter Brülls pb@rogue.de writes...

Hi.

Ypou write

"4. Would Disney ever consider selling the rights to Gargoyles?

No. They won't even let go of Clarabelle Cow. They don't want to take the risk that someone else could make a mint on their property and make them look bad."

"Clarabelle Cow" is actually a bad example, I think. She's making regular appearance in Non-US Mickey Mouse stories, acting as best female friend to Minnie Mouse.