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Young Justice: Outsiders
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KarrinBlue writes...
So, one of the complaints I've seen come up in discussions about Young Justice is that the villains are too well-prepared for any contingency, beyond what anyone could plan for, and it's hard to root for heroes when they can't make any progress against the villains' plans. And then I realized - well, why are we trusting a bunch of career liars and manipulators to actual say when something's caused them trouble? They'd do everything in their power to make it look like they're in control, always one step ahead, but looking at the actual evidence, we get a different story entirely.
Take Bereft - Superboy escapes capture, the League gets a heads-up that someone in Bialya is messing around with zeta-beams, Sphere is lost, and the Light's top telepath is soundly beaten, and yet none of that matters, because the delivery system was successfully tested... But who ever said the delivery system needed to be tested? It's a boom tube, which the New Gods have been using for centuries, tech that's as tried-and-true to them as anything, and there doesn't seem to be any reason to expect boom tubes to not work if they're being sent to Earth. Saying that it doesn't matter if they lost Sphere because the delivery system works is like saying it doesn't matter if someone breaks into your house and steals your new laptop, because you now know that the postal service that delivered it works fine. But no one in the Light would ever say something like that - they've all been spreading around a reputation of being masterminds, with goals and strategies as inevitable as the tides, so saying anything that would hint at doubt would never happen!
Or, let's look at Downtime and Misplaced. To hear the Light talk about it, getting the entire Starro organism is about the same as getting the sample from the lab, in terms of their plans, so Aqualad didn't really hurt their plans all that much. But looking at it long-term - one member of the Team, on his day off, forced the Light to adjust their plans from 'acquire a nearly endless supply of Starro-samples in one night while no Justice Leaguers are able to interfere, then begin combining it with the Fog, then spend the time until Red Arrow's induction fine-tuning the Starro-tech' to 'wait and plan for months, carry out a massive ritual that draws the attention of every superhero in the world, and in the process bring back the only mystic being that can match Klarion and lose 4 of the Light's top mystic muscle to him, all to acquire a tiny fraction of the original biomass.' Even if in the end they still got the Starro-sample, they still had to go to a lot more trouble and pay a higher price for it.
The Light is a threat, yes, but they're not omnipotent or omniscient, much as they'd like to convince their minions, their enemies, and we the audience otherwise. And I really can't wait to see S3, where they finally have to deal with a Team that can plan and scheme as well as they can.
Greg responds...
Well, I never thought they were omnipotent or omniscient. They're all flawed individuals. But they play a good game, don't you think?
Hope you liked Season Three, and hope that you tune in for Season Four, as well.
Adlan Varayev writes...
Can the Young Justice Beast Boy change into a whale ?
Greg responds...
Yep.
Jeff Bell writes...
Does the young justice invasion hero Wonder Girl have a longer lifespan a normal human because her father is a god ?
Greg responds...
No way to know yet. She's aging normally, so far.
Strathairm writes...
Why did Tim Drake not have a problem with the idea of dating Cassie when he knows her dad is a god ?
Greg responds...
Why would he?
I swear I JUST answered this exact question in the exact same way.
ScavengerOne writes...
Hello Greg,
Regarding Young Justice:
1-Who gets to name the episodes? You, Brandon or the script writer?
2-Is it a team effort?
3-What's the general process? And what exceptions have been made?
Greg responds...
1. It's a mix of the three of us.
2. Yes.
3. It's changed over the years. It used to be more me pushing for one-word titles unless someone had a really good idea that superseded that. During Season Three, because we knew what letter had to start each title, and because we had arcs within the series that each - in theory - had their own title scheme, it was more about the three of us, i.e. myself, Brandon and the writer of the individual script, coming up with the best title of any length that (a) had resonance for the episode, (b) began with the correct letter of the alphabet, and (c) fit the title scheme for the individual three or four episode arc that the episode was part of.
Jaden writes...
I know Paula kicked Sportsmaster out of the house, but are they divorced? If not, how come?
Greg responds...
I'd say by now they are.
Catherine writes...
Well, this is more of a thank you for Young Justice, I am SUPER stoked it's coming back, it is a really amazing program and helped me through some tough times when I was a teen, and I remember thinking, "things might be bad, but at least I don't have to save the world as well". And now, I'm enlisting into the US Army as a combat engineer and am thrilled to be starting a new chapter in my life. The excitement of Young Justice will definitely motivate me through Basic. And thanks again for this show.
Greg responds...
Wow. Thank YOU for your service! Glad we could be part of your life!
won writes...
this isnt really a question but. im still blown away that after so long, y'all were finally able to make a season 3 of yj!!! the fact that you and brandon made a world full of characters we all got so sucked into, are still invested in and excited for almost a decade later is amazing. i cant wait to see where outsiders takes us. best wishes to you, brandon and the rest of the cast and crew moving forward!
Greg responds...
Thanks!! By now, hopefully, you've seen Young Justice: Outsiders, and are looking forward to Young Justice: Phantoms (i.e. YJS4), which is coming soon.
Anonymous writes...
Hi, I'm a massive fan of yours and I was wondering if there would ever be a possibility of you bringing back the tv series W.I.T.C.H? So many people adored the show and would love if it was brought back to TV.I know you were a producer and it seems like a very long shot, but there is actually a petition with nearly 3000 supporters that are willing to do anything we can to help bring back the show. The show had and still has so many supporters of it and if you could do anything to bring us a third season we would be eternally grateful to you please respond!
Greg responds...
There's nothing I can do, I'm afraid. I'd be happy to produce more episodes, but that's really up to Disney, not me.
Is W.I.T.C.H. available on Disney+? If it is, that's a way for the fans to try to get the show back. Petitions are nice and all, but have little effect these days. But by subscribing to Disney+ and voting with your wallet by rewatching a series over and over again, the chances of success are greater.
In essence, that's what brought YJ back.
Marvelman writes...
Do you still consider the original five living team members to be leads in YJ season 3?
Greg responds...
Generally, across the season.
YJ Fan writes...
Why are most of the questions here about Garfield? He's not even an OG character, I would like to know what jobs Artemis and Wally were going to get after their degrees. He was studying Physics and she was doing a double-major in Human Biology and Comparative Literature. What were they trying to get into with those degrees?
Greg responds...
1. I dunno.
2. By now, you probably know that Artemis is studying to be a Comp Lit professor. Wally might have been a professor, too, in Physics. Certainly, Artemis thought that might be the direction he might head.
Kimberly writes...
Why does tim drake not have a problem with dating his teammate wonder girl knowing she has super powers and tim drake does not ?
Greg responds...
Why would he?
Ameera writes...
Will the Young Justice theme song for season 3 have any words? Also, how many episodes have already been recorded for Young Justice season 3??
Greg responds...
1. No.
2. 26.
3. 26 have also been fully recorded for Season Four. We have thirteen episodes in the can, seven more in post-production. The last six are being animated by Studio Mir now. Pre-production is virtually complete, except for a little bit of color on the last episode.
Vegeta fan writes...
When Miss Martian visit Garfield after mom died was it orphanage or foster home Garfield was living at the time ?
Greg responds...
He was living with Rita Farr.
Hayden writes...
Will the complete young justice timeline be revel if all future seasons of the young justice you Mister Greg plan for the show to have are produce ?
Greg responds...
Never. Cuz we'll never run out of ideas for future seasons, and the timeline is constantly growing. Right now it's 694 pages on my desktop computer and 609 pages on my laptop. (I have no explanation for the discrepancy. It's the exact same document. My desktop is much older than my laptop.)
Anonymous writes...
Is David Hyde the real name of Black Manta in the Young Justice cartoon...?
Greg responds...
No spoilers.
Finkel writes...
Did Garfield replace the destroy picture of his mother that was lost when mount just blew up if how ?
Greg responds...
Yes. He got another one.
Chuck writes...
Did Garfield have many friends his age play with at the place he live at were MISS MARTIAN visit him after his mom died or did he keep to himself ? Did Garfield relive the event of finding his dead mom like he did in episode Earthlings ?
Greg responds...
1. I think he largely hung out with the Doom Patrol, but he might have had some friends his own age.
2. Ever? Almost definitely.
Anhaa writes...
Was Garfield anger or disappointed that M'gann who uses the Megan Morse form did not adopt him as her brother soon after her graduation from Happy Harbor High School ?
Greg responds...
No. I think he was with Rita when Megan graduated. She visited plenty, anyway.
Belloni T writes...
Was every human relative of Garfield Logan dead when Megan Morse became his guardian ?
Greg responds...
Marie, if she had any relatives, chose not to leave Gar with them. Instead, she chose his godmother Rita Farr. When Rita died, Miss Martian took Gar in. No one challenged that until years later, when Steve Dayton claimed custody on the basis of being Rita's husband.
YJ Nerd writes...
Hey Greg, might I get the names of the animators and artists for YJ? I would like to thank them for all that they've done for the show.
Greg responds...
Check out the credits, dude.
Mason writes...
When do you estimate Young Justice: Outsiders will premiere?
Greg responds...
I estimate January 2019!
Phew. Hope I get that right. ;)
Anon writes...
How close is season 3 to the one you and Brandon had initially thought of when Invasion ended? Pretty close, nothing like it, or somewhere in the middle?
Greg responds...
Dead on - to the extent we had broken it back then. The basic game plan hasn't changed, though we've obviously fleshed it the hell out since then.
Harrigan writes...
Did Garfield live at mount justice for most of the years of the five year gape between young justice and young justice invasion ?
Greg responds...
He lived with his mom in Qurac until she was murdered. Then he lived with Rita and the Doom Patrol until they died. Then he lived with M'gann at Mount Justice until that blew up. Then, after he was rescued from the Reach, he lived briefly in Bludhaven in Nightwing's temporary base for the Team. Then he lived with his step-foster-father Steve Dayton somewhere in Los Angeles. Then after they had made some real money on Space Trek 3016, they moved to Brentwood. Then he legally became an emancipated minor and moved to the Premiere Building in Hollywood.
Anonymous writes...
1. Did Green Arrow ever go on a cross-country road trip with Hal Jordan?
2. How long have Vandal Savage and Klarion known each other?
3. How old is Starro?
4. Where did Psimon get his powers?
5. Where did Brick get his powers?
Greg responds...
1. No spoilers.
2. No spoilers.
3. Which one?
4. No spoilers.
5. No spoilers.
Heather writes...
Did you have to make changes to the young justice timeline since young justice invasion air ?
Greg responds...
Since it aired? No.
Do you mean "Since we made it?"
Additions, yes. "Changes"? Not really. Corrected some typos. Got more specific about certain things. Etc.
Anonymous writes...
Hey Greg I wanna say congratulations on season 3 of YJ! It's my favorite show and i'm so excited it got renewed.
1. Is Barry Allen's mother dead?
2. Is Barry Allen's father in jail?
3. Is Plastic Man as ridiculously durable as he is in the comics? i.e. could he survive being scattered across the ocean floor for thousands of years?
4. What does the "G" in G. Gordon Godfrey stand for?
5. Did anyone ever figure out which Wildstorm character made a cameo in season 1? (If not, I swear I will trawl through every single episode until I find them)
Greg responds...
1. No Spoilers.
2. No Spoilers.
3. I wouldn't think so.
4. Glorious, I suppose.
5. Not that I know of.
Loman writes...
Hey Greg, I love Young Justice and I am so hyped for season 3! I've read all the tie-in comics and the second season prompted me to start reading Blue Beetle, Zatanna and Teen Titans.
What comics would you recommend reading in advance of season 3?
Greg responds...
Um... I'm too late on this one, huh? Sorry.
But if you're still waiting, I'd read the various iterations of The Outsiders, especially the original run by Mike W. Barr and Jim Aparo.
ClarkeC writes...
How are you doing Mr.Weisman?
1.I had a question regarding spoilers for YJ season 3.I could be wrong but since the new season is going to be on streaming site similar to Netflix where you could binge it, how would you approach questions about spoilers for the season when it comes out?
Greg responds...
I'm generally pretty good - all things considered. (And there are a lot of things to consider these days.)
1. Once it's dropped, it's not a spoiler from my point of view.
Kevin writes...
In the rise of tv shows being streamed on individual networks how can we support Young Justice and other shows like it? If this is a really simple solution, I am sorry as supporting shows and comics like this has been really complicated in the past with pre orders and toy lines and I would like a professional in the industry to clarify if it is not too presumptuous.
Greg responds...
Basically, subscribe to the service that carries YJ. Back in S3, that was DC Universe. For S4, that'll be HBO Max. That's the best way.
Buying Blu-Rays and merch helps too.
Michael M. writes...
Hi Greg. Very excited for Young Justice: Outsiders. Finally glad to see Arrowette make her animated debut :)
1. What exact species would Cassie Sandsmark be? Her father is a Greek god and her mother is a mortal human. Wouldn't that classify her as a Demigod?
2. How old Helena Sandsmark?
3. Is Traci Thirteen Asian or Caucasian? The reason I'm asking this is that her concept art at Comic-Con makes her look more like the latter.
4. How cruel are the Lords of Chaos'? Do they get a nice kick of seeing mortals from different planets killing each other?
5. In Denial, Klarion mentions Nabu as an "old fart". Does this mean the latter is far older than the former?
Greg responds...
1. I'm gonna say yes.
2. She was born in 1976.
3. She's biracial. Her father is Caucasian; her mother is Asian.
4. They get a kick out of Chaos.
5. Mostly it means that the latter acts like an old fart to Klarion.
Durkmenistan writes...
Hi Greg!
I realize some of these questions may be spoiler requests, so I'd really appreciate it if you could answer any parts of the questions that you can.
If Outsiders has aired or started airing, could you please include information up to whatever date it currently is in series, as opposed to 07/05/16 (Endgame, S2E20)?
1) Can you confirm or deny, and hopefully correct, the numbering for the following heroes/villains sharing noms-de-guerre?
2) For heroes/villains missing their other names, could you please provide them?
3) For any heroes/villains who were missed in numbering (such as another Kid Flash between Wally and Bart), could you provide their numbers and names?
4) If there any other heroes/villains sharing noms-de-guerre that you're aware of, could you please share their noms-de-guerre, numbering and names?
5) Would you define Doctor Fate as the nom-de-guerre for Nabu, or for his hosts? Your response to this may affect the list below.
Flash I - Jay Garrick
Flash II - Barry Allen
Green Lantern I - Alan Scott
Green Lantern II - Hal Jordan
Green Lantern III - Guy Gardner
Green Lantern IV - John Stewart
Black Canary I - Dinah Drake (Lance)
Black Canary II - Dinah Lance
Atom I - ?
Atom II - Ray Palmer
Blue Beetle I - Dan Garrett
Blue Beetle II - Ted Kord
Blue Beetle III - Jaime Reyes
Robin I - Dick Grayson
Robin II - Jason Todd
Robin III - Tim Drake
Kid Flash I - Wally West
Kid Flash II - Impulse
Guardian I - Jim Harper
Guardian II - Jim Harper
Guardian III - Mal Duncan
Firebrand I - ?
Firebrand II - Danette Reilly / Red Inferno
Icicle I - ?
Icicle II - Cameron Mahkent
Thank you for your help!
By the time you read this, Outsiders will probably already be out, but best of luck!
Greg responds...
I'm only going to cover characters that have appeared in the series. For any facts that I know, which have not yet been revealed, I am - for purposes of answering this question - going to ignore/pretend they don't exist.
1. All seems right.
2. Normally, I wouldn't be too inclined to do this, but these seem pretty obvious, so...
Atom I - Al Pratt
Firebrand I - Rod Reilly
Icicle Sr. - Joar Mahkent
3. I'm only going to cover characters that have appeared in the series. For any facts that I know, which have not yet been revealed, I am - for purposes of answering this question - going to ignore/pretend they don't exist, so that you don't know whether or not something is missing.
4. Can't think of any off the top of my head.
5. Doctor Fate is the nom-de-guerre for Nabu AND his host-of-the-moment.
Ruman Hassan writes...
Hi Mr. W, I've been a big fan of Young Justice since I was 12 (I'm currently 16) I really love your work on Young Justice and I was wondering if all the original voice actors/actresses will be back for season 3. If that question was a spoiler than my backup question is, what was your most memorable moment from working on Young Justice.
Thank you for reading x Ruman
Greg responds...
We always bring back previously cast voices if they are at all available to us. We only recast if we have no choice.
PERLITHA writes...
English isn't my native language, but i really want ask you some questions.
I know you are color blind and maybe this question is more suitable for Phil Bourassa, but since both are currently working in Young Justice: Outsiders, maybe you should ask him if you can´t answer...
1)Why decided make the Bart's eyes green? In all the comics his eyes are yellow (except in New 52 where were red and that Bart at the end wasn't Bart). His yellow eyes were an important part of his design, even his googles are amber color in order to hiding his eyes color because were so unique what could reveal his secret identity. His eyes were the first thing we saw clearly in Bart´s debut in Flash #92 (and i thought he was a girl because this close up of big eyes and hair locks looked like an image from a romantic comic XD) Change the yellow for the green, is like turning Superman blond.
2) I've noticed the Reach Scientist's dress look like a hijab with a niqab, and according to Young Justice wiki, i'm not the only who think that. So Is this intentional?
2-a) All the Reach women dress like her?
It´s a bit hard to see a woman with a "hijab" being ignored, despised and silent by a man (although she was smarter).
3) Why Traci 13 was redesingned like caucasian to the season 3? She was asian american in the comics and Young Justice had being doing a great work including divertsity in the members of the Team
I love Young Justice and i'm very happy for the season 3. Thank you very much for your great work
Greg responds...
For the record, I'm red-green color deficient, not full on color-blind.
1. Maybe because of my color deficiency, I wasn't aware of Bart's eye color. I can't speak for Brandon, Phil or our color specialist James Peters, but it is certainly possible they weren't aware of that detail either.
2. Not that I know of.
2a. Not necessarily. No spoilers.
3. Look again. Thirteen/Traci Thurston is biracial in Young Justice. Her father is Caucasian. Her mother is Asian. I think that's always been true in the comics.
Kayra Youvmir writes...
Is Talia al'Ghul on Earth-16 multiracial (Arabic/Chinese on both her parents' sides) like in the comics (at least pre-Flashpoint)?
Greg responds...
Talia is biracial or multi-ethnic or something. (I'm not trying to be dismissive, but I'm honestly not sure of the appropriate term these days.)
Ra's is Arabic. Melisande is European.
But where are you getting Chinese? (And, no, Sensei is NOT Ra's father on Earth-16.) There's a SPOILER, I guess.
Marvelman writes...
A thought occurred to me about Captain Marvel.
First, let me say, I'm not trying to get you into trouble. I'm really not. But I was wondering...
When ten-year-old Billy transforms into Captain Marvel does he gain an adult libido?
(I'll understand if you want to steer clear of this question.)
Greg responds...
I'm gonna say yes. But its not uncontrollable. In any case, as of Season Three, Billy is 18-years-old, so his libido is already "adult" enough.
Marvelman writes...
I would like some clarification.
You announced at Comic-Con that Traci Thirteen would be part of the cast of Outsiders. Yet, you referred to her as Thirteen. Is her code-name on the show Thirteen or Traci Thirteen?
Greg responds...
Thirteen. I don't think I ever said her name in the show was going to be Traci Thirteen. I may have said she was based off that character. But I think we've been very consistent about calling her Thirteen, even at conventions.
Marvelman writes...
How does Shimmer's power work? I mean... does she melt stuff, or does she disintegrate stuff? (I suspect it is the former, but if it is the latter that makes her very dangerous, doesn't it?)
Greg responds...
Neither. She turns elements to gas. And, yes, she's potentially very dangerous.
Marvelman writes...
1) Has animation begun on Outsiders?
2) Will you wait until all of the scripts are finalized before starting animation?
3) After all of the scripts are finalized, what will your involvement with the series be? What do you personally have left to do on season 3?
Greg responds...
1. Animation is completed on Outsiders.
2. We did not.
3. Nothing, now. We're 100% done with Season Three. I've been involved from beginning to end, right up to the very last HDR session.
YJ Nerd writes...
How do you pronounce Ra's name?
Greg responds...
I was taught - by Denny O'Neil, who created the character - to pronounce it the way we pronounce it in Young Justice, i.e. as Raysh-ahl-gool.
Jack Carpenter writes...
Thank you for answering several of my questions now, it's really great to have my curiosity rewarded!
Can Beast Boy turn into an extinct animal? If so, would he need to see/study an accurate and detailed reconstruction of it first?
Greg responds...
1. No.
2. He'd need to connect with an actual living inidividual of the species. If somehow one were cloned or something, that would make it possible. But a fossil or computer simulation wouldn't cut it.
Cassidy writes...
Was Marie Logan's death reported on the news?
Greg responds...
Yep. As a car accident.
Marvelman writes...
What is the League and the team's stance on killing?
I'm sure they have a rule about not deliberately taking a life, but how rigid is it? I'm not necessarily thinking about M'gann brain-frying someone because in her mind he had it coming. I'm talking about stuff that accidentally and inevitably happens in large scale battles. For example, let's say in that battle with the Light and the Reach in Summit, one of the League's young proteges accidentally hits a foot-soldier too hard and he dies. Is he or she going to be automatically expelled from the team? Or, what if the only way to protect innocent life is to take a life?
I guess what I'm asking is do league and team members have the same discretion of using lethal force that a police officer has?
Greg responds...
They are granted LESS discretion than a police officer because they have powers and abilities beyond those of mortal men. They hold themselves to stricter standards. The League's U.N. charter gives them authority to act, in essence, as an international SWAT/Search & Rescue Team. But the Team has no such authority.
Still, as I hope you saw in Season Three, accidental deaths - particularly those that occurred during moments of self-defense and/or while protecting others can happen. Those deaths are reviewed internally, and a decision on expulsion or other penalties will be made by the entire League. It's all on a case by case basis. Nothing's etched in stone.
Chill Ugwu writes...
Big fan and looking forward to season 3. I was just wondering why Tim in the revel has a hood. A look synonymous with a different Robin and his league background.
I'm just very curious as a huge Robin fan it was a huge surprise. Also very confusing as the Robins usually are interchangeable but you could always tell Damian because of his hood.
Thank you and hope you find the time to reply
Greg responds...
In the comics right now, Damian is hoodless. Basically, we've made independent decisions about costuming for all our characters - including three Robins - from day one. It has to work for Earth-16 and feel iconic.
KarrinBlue writes...
Hi Greg! The SDCC panel looks like it was a lot of fun, I wish I could've been there. Just to clear something up - the internet seems split over whether or not 13 is a new character, original to the Young Justice cartoon (like the Terror Twins or B'arzz O'oomm) or whether she's an adaptation of someone from the comics. Could you settle that one way or another?
(also, I love all the new character designs - Arrowette using Artemis' arrowhead logo is really cool, and I'm very excited to see what the core team has been up to in the last few years.)
Greg responds...
Thirteen is our YJ twist on the character of Traci-13, which by now, I assume, the folks at home have realized.
Cinderblue writes...
I was rewatching Young Justice the other day and I was wondering how long it took for the Bioship to fly places. Is it faster than a commercial plane? It can enter space, so it's capable of accelerating fast enough to leave the atmosphere, so does M'gann slow it down while just flying around Earth or is the Team constantly flying at that kind of speed?
Greg responds...
As we revealed in episode 313, if the Bio-Ship is traveling long distances on Earth it will fly almost straight up and straight down along the Earth's rotation, allowing it to get almost anywhere on the planet in a couple hours or less. Obviously, it doesn't travel that fast if it's going horizontally. And how it accelerates and decelerates is very important.
Jack Carpenter writes...
As of your answering of this question (presumably a few months after I've asked, or so I'm counting on), do you know how close we are to a YJ trailer? If so, how close? Unless there already is a trailer by then (unlikely), in which case never mind.
Greg responds...
Uh... it took me longer than a few months. There have been multiple trailers by now, a new comic (split up in two parts) and 13 episodes. Thirteen more episodes are due this summer, 2019.
RocksCanFly writes...
Hi, Greg! There's been a lot of confusion about something you guys showed at the SDCC panel on July 21st. Is the black man pictured with Artemis, Dick, and Conner supposed to be Kaldur or Black Lightning? I ask this because we all kinda assumed it was Kaldur despite the change in appearance, but comicbook.com is claiming that 'an artist on the show' told them after the panel that its Black Lightning.
I hope this doesn't count as a spoiler request--based on the fact that the identities of the other three was really clear, I figured any confusion about Mystery Man's ID wasn't actually intentional. Thank you!
Greg responds...
It was never supposed to be confusing. No one ASKED us at the panel. Anyway, by now I'm sure you know it was Black Lightning. After all, Kaldur's a blond.
THE SMARTEST MAN IN THE ROOM
The following needs saying, so I'm taking time out from my very packed weekend - not to procrastinate, which would not be unusual - but to write up something that I think is important.
But first, some backstory...
I'm not particularly smart about very many things. I am in many ways a bear of very little brain. Ask anyone. I use an iPhone 4.0 because I literally believe that I don't have the brain space to deal with upgrading. I'm a slow reader. My dyslexia makes math difficult as I am constantly transposing numbers. I'm afraid of change. Etc., etc., etc.
But one thing - maybe the ONLY thing - I am smart about is STORY. Now, I've studied story for decades and decades in small ways and large. I also believe I have an innate gift for story. Like a great pianist, the gift itself would have been wasted without years of study and practice. I've had and done both.
What that means is that - when it comes to story - I have often (not always, but quite often) considered myself - with no modesty and tremendous arrogance - to be the smartest person in the room. In any room where this is a topic of conversation, but especially in any room where story was being professionally discussed. (You can see why - with an attitude like that - I'm so popular with animation executives and the like, and why I've been fired from so many jobs.)
Even on the many, many occasions when I have felt that I am among peers who understand story as well as I do, I never felt like they understood it better than I. As good, yes. Differently, sure. Stylistically, of course. But not better. I never felt anyone knew story better.
Oh, I've made mistakes, missed opportunities, slipped up, ad nauseam. I'm human and have never claimed perfection. I've collaborated with some brilliant and wonderful people. The list is nearly endless. But none of that ever shook my basic feeling that when it came to story, I was as smart or smarter than anyone in the room.
All that changed with YOUNG JUSTICE.
So let me state it for the record: when it comes to story, BRANDON VIETTI is the Smartest Human Being in the Room.
I'd love to tell you - BELIEVE ME, I'd love to tell you - that he learned all this at my ancient knee, and that if the student has surpassed the master, the master can at least take some satisfaction in that. But that, dear readers, would simply be a load of crap.
From Day One of YJ, as witness Kevin Hopps could attest, Brandon Vietti knew story, understood it deep, the way I do. And he was smarter about it than I.
The ultimate example of this dropped this past Friday.
Episode 307 of Young Justice: Outsiders, entitled "Evolution."
SPOILERS coming, so if you haven't seen the episode then please go watch it first before reading any further.
Like all YJ episodes this season, Brandon and I broke this story together. A pretty even 50-50 collaboration. There were certain things I wanted specifically to see, like the Cave Bear. Certain things I had researched such as that in (actual documented non-DC Comics) mythology, Nabu was the son of Marduk. And there were certain things that BV wanted in there, like the meta-human kid that Kalibak sacrifices. Certain things he had researched like The Art of War by Sun Tzu (a.k.a. Vandal Savage, a.k.a. Genghis Khan, a.k.a. Marduk, a.k.a. etc.)
And together, we created a pretty kick-ass story for the episode. I don't actually remember the day of the week, but for the sake of simplifying the story, let's say we finished breaking/building the story with index cards all neatly pushpinned into my office bulletin board on a Monday. Monday evening. We both felt pretty good about it, or at least I did, and we left for the day.
Tuesday morning, he comes in and says, "Something's missing."
I tell him he's crazy. There's nothing missing from 307. Nothing. It's a great damn episode. Maybe one of our best.
BV says no. Something's missing.
I say, "What? What's missing?!"
BV says, "I don't know yet. Something. Give me a day."
I roll my eyes in as pronounced a fashion as I possibly can and say, fine.
Wednesday morning he comes in and says, "I want to add a character."
I'm resistant. "It'll mess up the works, I tell him."
But he explains, and of course, he's right. Because Brandon Vietti is the Smartest Person in the Room.
The character he wants to add is Olympia. Olympia Savage. (I take credit for the first name only.) That's right. In our first version of this story, Olympia simply did not exist.
Try to picture "Evolution" without Olympia. Be honest. It's still a solid story. A few of the actual things Olympia does, we had Cassandra doing. But otherwise the plot remains almost completely unchanged.
But not the ending.
With Olympia in the story, the episode isn't merely a solid YJ episode. It's not merely a great YJ episode. To my mind, "Evolution" transcends YJ. It is a phenomenal, even revolutionary twenty-plus minutes of television.
And I tried to talk the guy out of it.
Of course, BV's contributions don't end there. He wrote the script, too, which is fantastic. And if you knew how much he contributed to every facet of production it would humble you. It humbles me, and as you can see above, I'm NOT a humble guy.
But screw all that. I'm not talking about pretty pictures, or color, or sound, or music or even dialogue.
This post is ONLY about STORY. And when it comes to STORY... BRANDON VIETTI will always be the SMARTEST HUMAN BEING IN THE ROOM.
I bow to his greatness. And trust me, I do not do that lightly.
To be honest, he's so good, it's pretty damn annoying.
But it's an honor to be his partner.
Marvelman writes...
Hi, Greg. Warner Bros. have given us a 2018 premiere date for Young Justice: Outsiders. However, as I'm sure you remember, there were some production delays on season one, and sometimes long intervals between new episodes because sh*t happens. Is it possible that the series may be pushed back to 2019?
Greg responds...
Very. But the first three episodes dropped in VERY early 2019, i.e. January 4th. And the next three drop this week, i.e. January 11th, 2019.
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