AfroBeats writes...

Hey Greg

Just wanted to ask a few questions about season 1 of 'Young Justice':

1. Why did you write Artemis as having a crush on Conner?

2. Was this done deliberately to mirror Wally's crush on M'gann?

3. Since you've also mentioned in previous posts that Artemis was supposedly physically attracted to Wally, did she feel a stronger physical attraction towards him than Conner upon initially meeting him in 'Infiltrator'? Was Wally more her 'type'?

I admire your work on all four seasons and hope we're fortunate enough to see a fifth!

Anonymous writes...

In the Earth-16 universe, which one of the following names below is the Joker's real name?

Jack Napier ("Batman" 1989 film and "Batwoman" TV series)
Jeremiah Valeska ("Gotham" TV series)
Arthur Fleck ("Joker" 2019 film)
Jack Oswald White ("Flashpoint Beyond" comic book series)
Darwin Halliday ("The Bat-Man of Gotham" comic book story arc)
John Keyser ("The Joker: The Man Who Stopped Laughing" comic book series)

Anonymous writes...

This last thing I am still very reluctant to say, because it means getting involved in something I don’t think people should do, and even worse, doing it myself; which is to argue in this space. Don’t get me wrong, even I have issues with a couple of things you’ve said throughout the years (you can’t agree with anyone all the time, Right?), but I will never speak about it here, principally because obviously the online and social media comment structures are a failure when it comes to debating (or even having a real conversation, in my opinion). And because, in any, case, I regard this site as the information office, not the complaint department.
However, there is this discussion already started by someone else, and that is of concern to me. I have seen that a couple of fellow atheists have come criticizing you for having openly religious characters. First of all I say that, being an atheist myself, I can’t help but side with you on the arguments as they are: you made very sensible points for yourself, whereas these fellow atheist have strike a certain tone I disapprove of in general: I dislike the way most people today voice out their opinions and/or “criticism” online, even if I agree with them. And, in case some of these atheists are reading this and want to accuse me of some kind of treachery, I say this: No, I’m not been soft, I´m being civil. There is a difference (not that anyone remembers anymore).
All that said, I think I understand where this criticism is coming from, and since it’s already out I’d think it at least deserves to be expressed in a civilized manner, if you’re interested. If not, feel free to read no further, I don’t want to importunate anyone.
On the one hand, from the perspective of laicity, secularity or whichever is the accurate term in English (frankly they are all widely misunderstood anyway), which is independent from atheism, religion is best kept behind closed doors. One of the reasons for that is that is always a confrontational topic. You are now living one of these kinds of confrontation with the whole Halo controversy (I hope I’m not scratching anyone’s wounds here; I apologize if I am). I am not getting into that discussion on itself, I don’t think it’s my place, but the point is even when you acted with the best of intentions you ended up in an eggplant garden, as we say in these parts, and I think that proves my point.
Another reason is that simply set religion aside is the only way to be truly neutral, and therefore, democratic about it; but that is in politics, it doesn’t necessarily apply to you. When you’re telling a story it’s a different matter, and it’s obvious to me that you have been neutral about it, not trying to evangelize anyone. I trust you when you say you do it for the sake of realism, not to sell religiousness. But it remains a thorny subject.
On that note, you’ve also said that you wish to have more opportunities to equally represent atheism, or at least that is what I understood. I really appreciate the thought, and I would love that, but rationally I can’t but advice you against it. If you’ve gotten in some much trouble as it is by talking about religion, who knows what kind of havoc would arise if you have someone voicing our objections to religion on screen. Many believers perceive atheism as a personal attack on their god; even if you’re not the kind that attempts to change people’s minds, and only address the subject when you’re asked, there are many who feel offended or at least unsettled when they hear you are an atheist. They shouldn’t, of course, and I hope to change that much, but for the sake of your sanity and your work I can´t recommend you to get in the middle of it, not on screen anyway.
There is this other thing that might be involved in what has been said, but admittedly that one is completely on us. In my case, and I imagine I’m not the only one, my self-preservation instinct has developed and inner alarm that rings every time someone talks openly about religion; said ringing screams “Indoctrination alert!”. Obviously, there are moments when that feeling is justified and others when it’s simply paranoia; and again, clearly that wasn’t your intent.
I do somewhat like to think that every sensible fictional character I see is an atheist until proven otherwise, but I also understand that isn’t quite realistic. And that forces me to honesty: I live in an overwhelmingly catholic country, so most people close to me, including friends, are either believers or have a much less critical relationship with religion than I do; still, they are my friends. Therefore, I can have no issue with Zatara being a catholic (it does trouble me that he sent Zatanna to such thing as a catholic school, but I predict you’ll say something like there are different kinds of catholic schools, and then we would never end arguing).
I guess that what really feels unbalanced and upsetting is thinking that viewers who are believers will pat each other in the back saying “See? Greg is on our side, he thinks religion is a good thing”; whereas there is nobody inside pointing out that religion isn’t always nor inherently a good thing, let alone defending that going through life without a god-figure has nothing to do with morality and inmorality, or emptiness, or arrogance. Of course it sounds contradictory that I grieve about it when I just wrote a whole paragraph advising you to not do that either, but that’s the tragedy: it’s upsetting our views remain so much more quieted than those of the other side, but you can’t represent them without risk causing a riot.
I don’t know if these explanations are useful at all. I hope that at least I have redeemed my side of the argument. It’s always sad when atheists use a tone that seems to approach the very viscerallity we criticize.
PS: Whoever reads this that is not Greg Weisman, please don’t bother “replying”. This might be a somewhat public space, but I as said earlier I don’t agree in using it as a debate forum between all of us, nor I wish to engage on such use. There’s only one person who is supposed to answer the questions here, and this isn’t addressed to anyone else.

Anonymous writes...

Me again. I might be pushing my luck, but here are some more general questions:
1. I think one of the things that outstand the most about your work is that you don’t underestimate or patronize your audience. That is very rare. Don’t you ever find people in the industry that tell you, even if not with words, something in the line of “You’re taking this way too seriously” or “We don’t need this kind of depth in a kid’s show”?
2. I see that in seasons 3 and 4 of Young Justice you were much more explicit about politics (personally, I applaud that you placed such blunt words about climate change on Garth, and I think the allusions to a certain “tronald” person through Lex Luthor were priceless). You also had much more explicit violence and became very obvious about sex, specially in season 3. And yet, it seems to me that you got less conservative backlash for all of that than for the inclusion of gender diversity. Any thoughts?
3. This is an observation. While I largely agree with Goliath’s point at the end of City of Stone about searching the answer in life and not in death, I also argue that after a thousand years of existence Macbeth deserves to rest, should he truly want to. For what happens later it seems he does find a new desire to stay alive, yet that could also be interpreted as something he forces himself into out of a sisyphic need. Of course, the fact that the only way to end his life would be to actively kill Demona does make the thing more troublesome. Bottomline, I feel that Macbeth has perfectly legitimate and rational (as opposed to mentally pathological) reasons for wishing to stop his life.

Anonymous writes...

Continuing, this are my Young Justice specific questions:
1. Forgive me if I am being dumb about this, but I still don’t understand how Zatanna’s “mere contemplation” was the trigger for the coming of the Child. How could the Lords of Chaos (both out of and in the mortal plane, apparently) instantly learn about it? It was still just an undeveloped idea, it hadn’t even been spoken out loud yet. The Lords of Order and of Chaos don’t seem able to predict the future or being in connection with every single mind in the universe. I also don’t understand why they would consider it a failure of Klarion or assume a priori he wouldn’t be able to handle it, but I guess I shouldn’t expect the Lords of Chaos to be particularly rational.
2. If all the newly invented Martian names are a reference to existing English names, What do R’ess E’dda, M’aarell and J’Karaa stand for?
3. Can you confirm the nationalities of Wendy, Mist, Livewire, the Infinitors and Jaime’s family?
4. Was Deathstroke known to the Justice League by Team Year 0?
5. You’ve already been asked whether Halo is a mix between the old Gabrielle and the Motherbox or is only the Motherbox in Gabrielle’s body, and you’ve said that these options aren’t mutually exclusive. I don’t understand your answer. One states that Gabrielle´s inner self, persona, or however is it right to call it, is not lost, but it merged with the Motherbox and together they became something “different from the sum of its parts”. The other says that all that remain of Gabrielle was her organic body (that would include her brain and, presumably, certain neural paths already built, so Halo can access Gabrielle´s memory and general knowledge in spite of everything). Since in the Young Justice universe there is such thing as a “soul”, I guess it’s easier to ask it like this: Is Halo’s soul a fusion of the Motherbox’s and Gabrielle´s souls, or is it only the Motherbox’s? Again, I apologize if this is just me being slow.

Anonymous writes...

(Following the custom, I apologize in advance for any mistakes, since English is not my native language). Dear Mr. Weisman:
First of all, I’ll simply say that you are among the greatest and that I consider both Gargoyles and Young Justice to be masterpieces. I also think is very kind of you to have this space for fan questions, and even more so to continue running it despite how frustrating it sometimes seems to be. I for one can’t blame you for needing a break; actually, you seem to be far more patient than I would be.
Although I drop by regularly to see the latest answers, I have never asked a question (in fact, this is the first time I ever break my personal rule of never posting anything that resembles a comment, however remotely); when I get a new doubt and can’t find it in the archives, I rather wait until someone else has the same idea. However, your (again, completely understandable) need for vacations got me thinking that perhaps I’ve been taking this space for granted by not seizing the opportunity to ask (I don’t know if this make sense, but I can’t seem to phrase it better).
Apologies, I didn’t mean to write such a long introduction. My point is, I thank you for this site and I admire your patience. Now, these are my questions not about Youg Justice plot or universe:
1. The first isn’t really a question, rather a request of confirmation. If I understand correctly what you have already said about the healing power of stone-sleep, the limits of this power, besides the obvious (mutilation, etc.), are based on the seriousness of the injury but also in how much the damage has progressed by the time the gargoyle falls into sleep (it wouldn’t be the same to receive a blow that causes an internal bleeding five minutes after sunset than five minutes before sunrise). Did I get this right? B: If so, Which one was the determinant factor in the case of Hudson’s eye?
2. Perhaps a rather idle question, but: What is the texture of gargoyle skin? Mammal-like, reptile-like, stone-like?
3. On Spectacular Spiderman, I can only assume it was your own idea to match Shakespearean quotes with the events of the plot. How did you come up with that? B: Why did you choose specifically “A midsummer night’s dream” for the school play?
4. In Young Justice Who are in charge of the fictional languages and how did you find them?
5. You’ve said other DC projects you have worked on are “canon adjacent” to Earth-16. Does the same applies for Brandon Vietti?

Zachary Freeman writes...

Hello,
I hope this email finds you doing well.
My name is Zachary Freeman and by day I am the proud art teacher and comic book club facilitator here at Madison's Trust Elementary in Northern Virginia. By night I am a huge comic book fan myself.
In the weekly comic book club I meet with approximately thirty 5th grade students. They come to the club due to their common interest in all things comic books, cartoons, video games, science fiction and anime. This club rotates students approximately every 8 weeks so others may have a chance to become involved. The students spend the time learning the history of comic books from the 1930s to present where they are given a rundown of some of the books that they may find in their local comic book shop that Wednesday. In addition to that the students are learning how to create their own characters, develop their own stories with original characters or already created loved ones and create their own short books. They are taught concepts such as splash pages, the importance of cover design and lettering.
I am reaching out to you now to inquire if you would consider being involved with the Comic Book Club. In the past people and companies have become involved with us by making a donation of books, artwork or sending along a letter as ways to help encourage and provide new influential reading and reference material to these young creators.

THANK YOU so much for your time and consideration. Have a great day and I hope to speak with you again soon.
all the best,

Anonymous writes...

So now that Superboy and Miss Martian are married, that means Superboy has a total of 11 sister-in-laws (which also includes M'ree M'orzz) and 17 brother-in-laws (which also includes M'comm M'orzz). Is this correct, or did I get the familial relationships wrong?

Anonymous writes...

Mr. Weisman,

I found out on the YJ Wiki that the Earth-16 version of Kara Zor-El is 14 years old, physiologically. Was your decision to make Kara this young because out of all the surviving members of the House of El, she would most likely form a familial sibling-like bond with Kon-El (who is, and still remains, physiologically 16 years old); so that she would have someone in her family close to her age to confide in about how she feels about surviving the destruction of Krypton and other things?

Anonymous writes...

True OR False?

1. Jason Todd became a member of the Team because Batman eventually realized that Jason's crime-fighting tactics were particularly brutal, and Batman had hoped that Jason working with the Team would help him reduce his use of violent tactics.

2. Up until the Earth-16 version of the events of "Green Lantern: The Animated Series," Carol Ferris was completely unaware that Hal Jordan was Green Lantern.

3. After the events of Earth-16 version of "Green Lantern: The Animated Series," Carol Ferris is currently in possession of a Star Sapphire power ring and is currently the only human member of the Star Sapphires.

4. The Earth-16 version of the "Green Lantern: The Animated Series" character Aya (or at least, a copy of her program with no memory of her origins) is currently in the "Justice League Action" universe; as seen in episode 48 of that show).

6. Granny Goodness has been secretly keeping an eye on Mary Bromfield ever since Mary stopped becoming Sergeant Marvel in 2015; hence why she manipulated Mary into succumbing to her lust for power in the Season 4 mid-season post-credits scene.

7. Due to Mary Bromfield succumbing to her lust for power (as a result of her fallout with her mentor, Zatanna, and the secret manipulations of Granny Goodness), everyone on Earth likely assumes that she has been missing since May 15, 2020; when in truth, she has been training on Apokolips to become a member of the Furies during the five-month interval.

8. Darkseid's Omega Beams cannot kill Vandal Savage.

9. Jason Todd likely had feelings for Barbara Gordon, but he was never able to fully explore those feelings due to his tragic death at the hands of the Joker.

10. Kara Zor-El joining the Furies is NOT truly of her own free will, but as a result of suffering from Zone-Sickness from being trapped in the Phantom Zone for 42 years; as such, it can be assumed that her original personality is that of a kind-hearted individual who loves her family dearly.