Sam writes...

hi greg I read somewhere that some characters in the show will die, this might sound bad but I hope those characters are people like Kent Nelson; it's not like I particularly want him dead but I don't want the regulars to die especially Artemis cause that's what my gut's telling me='((

anyway is there any hope that you will comment on whether the regulars will die or not?

Greg Bishansky writes...

Denial

And with our latest episode, I have realized that I really, really like this show. Don't get me wrong, I enjoyed the pilot a lot. I didn't much like the third episode, but after that it started getting better and better with every episode. So, now, by episode seven, I can say that I've officially warmed up to "Young Justice." More on this later, now on to the episode itself.

Kid Flash finally receives a much needed episode focusing on him. Okay, we knew he was stubborn, we knew he was a sleaze, but we focus more on these things. His skepticism of the supernatural was front and center. Although, I have seen a lot of people misinterpret what the moral of this episode was. A lot of people saw it as "magic is real" but I disagree, that is a very, very simplistic way of looking at it without putting in any effort to think about it. The lesson of the episode had more to do with being open minded, that there are some things that cannot be explained, and that taking a leap of faith is often necessary. And, once again, I find myself referencing "Babylon 5" with the following quote.

"Faith and reason are the shoes on your feet! You can travel further with both than you can with just one."

And no, that is not about subscribing to a religious belief, hell that quote was written by an Atheist. I myself am Agnostic, I have no actual religious beliefs of my own, I do not subscribe to any, but I still have faith that there are things beyond our understanding out there.

But back to the episode. I will admit to being quite unfamiliar with Dr. Fate. I've seen him on "Justice League" and "Justice League Unlimited" but that's where my knowledge of the character ends. This, however, was an altogether different depiction of him, but I think I liked it a lot more. I loved Ed Asner in the role of Kent Nelson, I loved how affable he was with just about everyone, particularly Madame Xanadu in the teaser.

I also loved Kent's advice to Wally about finding a spitfire of his own. I agree with that one whole heartedly. Again, getting a little personal here, but I am not attracted to women like Miss Martian at all. I don't know why, I'm just not. I've always been attracted to the spitfire types. I love women with fire in them, the type of woman who can and will kick my ass. That's what Artemis seems to be, while Miss Martian (and to be fair, I am probably still underestimating her) is more the type to want to be Superboy's very own June Cleaver. I guess this sums up why I have always preferred Peter Parker with Mary Jane Watson instead of Gwen Stacy (well, Romita's Gwen Stacy).

Okay, on with the rest of the episode.

Doesn't seem like Wally is listening to Kent's advice. But, he's young, he'll grow. One thing that I have seen a lot that does bug me is people saying he has feelings for Miss Martian. Um, no he doesn't. The only feeling for her he has is in his pants. Otherwise he wouldn't have so blatantly hit on Black Canary right in front of Miss Martian (not that she cared) two episodes ago.

Wally wearing Dr. Fate's helm was really, really cool. Although I can't help but wonder about why that thing is on his shelf with his other souvenirs. Shouldn't he have handed that over to the Justice League? And isn't the robotic eye on his shelf a camera feeding images directly back to T.O. Morrow? Doesn't Morrow work for the Light? Yup, there's some pipe laying.

Klarion the Witch Boy was wonderfully creepy as a villain. I've only seen him before in an episode of "Batman" back in the late 90's, when Batman teamed up with Etrigan the Demon. I'll admit, I thought Klarion was quite lame then, and would always change the channel when that episode showed up in re-runs. But I liked him here, he seemed a lot more sinister, and downright creepy. Of course, I also always enjoy hearing Thom Adcox' voice. And, is it just me, but aside from Lexington, he almost always seems to voice bad guys and psychos. Don't get me wrong, he's great at it, but I always think of him as Lexington first... well, I suppose there was evil Lex in "Future Tense." And Thom is kind of a bad boy in real life... ;)

Let's see, in this episode we had Jeff Bennett as Red Tornado and Abra Kadabra; Thom Adcox as Klarion; Cree Summer as Madame Xanadu; and Ed Asner as Kent Nelson. Almost a mini "Gargoyles" cast reunion. Marina Sirtis already confirmed she's appearing down the line as Queen Bee. And I doubt Weisman will resist casting Keith David in this show. So, I'll have my fingers crossed for Jonathan Frakes, Bill Faggerbakke, Salli Richardson, Brigitte Bako, Tom Wilson, Clancy Brown, and... okay, this list is beginning to get comprehensive. You get the idea.

Artemis is really growing on me. I had a feeling I would really like the character before she appeared, and I was right. She's my favorite character on the team. And I love how she is the only one on the team that doesn't let Wally get away with his crap. Hopefully he'll wise up soon and love that too.

This episode hit some personal chords for me, and like I said, finally really warmed me up to this show. Don't get me wrong, I was enjoying it prior to this. But there are shows I enjoy, and shows I warm up to. I enjoy "Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes" but there is nothing really special about it, and it's really, really lowbrow. But I enjoy it. But, after nineteen episodes of that, it's safe to say I'll never warm to it. And I think the big reason why I was hesitant about this series up until now is that I warmed to "Gargoyles" and "Spectacular Spider-Man" right away. I expected the same of this series, but it took longer. Maybe that's because I've spent most of my life as a Marvel Zombie (although Marvel is slowly decapitating this particular zombie). But, at this point, I can safely say that I love this show.

James Lawson writes...

Dear Greg,
Apologies if I frame this wrong, but in the Young Justice episode "Denial", the JSA was mentioned. Does this mean the earth the show takes place on had a golden age of heroes?

Anonymous writes...

Hi Greg! Will any animation errors be corrected before DVD release of Young Justice? I rarely catch them, but since Kid Flash was talking at the time, it was noticeable. During Infiltrator, while guarding the woman, his goggles switch between on/off his eyes, then back again, while he’s telling off Artemis.

If any others have occurred I missed them all, but someone out there might have spotted something else that pulled them out of the moment. Thanks!

Anonymous writes...

Hi Greg. I'm loving Young Justice so far, and was rather surprised with some of the things you've been able to show, especially in the Bane episode. I don't know if the standards have changed recently, but I’m used to seeing grittier subjects being only alluded to. I really like it! I think it makes their circumstances seem more real and dire. Since I’ve already given my favorable impressions in earlier questions, I wanted to mention two things which I have found to be minor annoyances, mostly because they happen so frequently:

The first is Megan’s use of youthful vernacular. It’s awkward. Since you write these kinds of lines naturally for other characters, I imagine it’s intentional to make her seem more alien. I just don’t know if it’s having the intended impact. The strongest example I can think of is after receiving an explanation of something in their plane, Megan responds to herself, “Like, duh, Megan!” Apart from the slightly awkward usage, and her not saying “like,” much, it gives me a negative impression of her when she does that. I tend to associate that kind of speech with bubble-gum, ditz caricatures. This may be contributing to the negative reaction I’ve seen mentioned a lot here towards female portrayal in the first few episodes. Artemis and Black Canary certainly don’t paint any negative pictures about women.

The second thing I've found slightly annoying is Robin picking apart words in every single episode, even if it’s just leaving off a prefix rather than a whole conversation about it. I don't think it would bother me if it happened often rather than always. I look forward to YJ episodes, and never know what kind of story to expect, but I also go in thinking, “Okay, what’s Robin going to say this time?” Since nothing else is so consistent (at least at present), it stands out a lot. It’s not a huge deal, but the frequency it’s used elevates it to catch-phrase notoriety, and it doesn’t seem like the sort of thing I should immediately call to mind when I think of Young Justice (Like Flintstones & “yabadabadoo”). I don’t know how you feel about catch-phrases, though.

I hope this fan feedback is worth something to you, even if you disagree. I’m sure I’m not the only viewer who feels this way. Keep up the good work!

Laura 'ad astra' Sack writes...

Enjoyed the latest episode- Denial. One question- (multiple parts):
What that Madam Xanadu, ~the~ Madam Xanadu of the DCU or just a shout out?
I read the recently ended series, and assuming that the series was not a departure from her previous characterizations, that Madam Xanadu was an immensely powerful magical being from an elder species to humans. (Can't remember what they were called, but they thought Atlantians were newbies, and when humans finally started upright they were primitive animals.) That and also Morgan LeFay's sister.
The lack of the signature "Enter freely and be unafraid" sign would point to a shout out, but the comment about her being ideally suited points the other way. If it is her- is she a young human with magical aptitude or an ancient magical being who somehow seems to have forgotten?

StuftZombie writes...

Who's responsible for Wally temporarily becoming Dr. Fate? I would like to give them a hug.

adrian writes...

Is there free will in the Gargoyles universe?

Grant writes...

Making Klarion, a lord of chaos, did this idea stem from the number of previous chaos lords who were children? Such as:

1) Child from "Hawk and Dove" by the Kessels and Guler
2) the little girl chaos lord in "Sandman" by Neil Gaiman.

Ceylan writes...

just saw Denial and loved it! seriously the show is amazing! anyway the spitfire Nelson was talking about is Artemis right?

btw missed Robin this episode