Comic Book News interviewed Young Justice producer at SDCC 2010 about his various animation projects including the new YJ show.
Cliff Notes:
- Weisman was brought into WB Animation after the second season of his Spiderman cartoon at Marvel.
- At the suggestion of Sam Register (their boss) Weisman and Brandon Vietti (his co-producer) took a look at DC’s younger characters and had to set up a clear path between Justice League Unlimited (“so iconic, so great”) and Teen Titans.
- They put together a list of 50-60 teenage heroes from the DCU and filtered them to come up with a diverse group that fitted the themes of the series.
- That theme, repeated from the panel, is “Secrets and Lies”.
- They looked at Peter David’s original Young Justice, the original 60s Teen Titans, and Geoff Johns stuff.
- Weisman knows his DC parallel Earths.
- This is a “young” DCU so they’re dealing with the first generation of sidekicks (Dick Grayson, Wally West, Garth), but characters like Superboy and Miss Martian can be slotted into any generation.
- “The show is a huge canvas and we have a lot of characters.” They start with four characters in the beginning (one who doesn’t join the team), the others are slowly added through the first 6 episodes. A seventh regular joins half-way through the season, and an 8th joins at the end of the season.
- They’ve planned for a second season, but that hasn’t been green lit yet.
- Characters mentioned: Captain Atom, Batman, Red Tornado, Black Canary, Superman, Martian Manhunter, Aquaman, Flash, Green Arrow, Captain Marvel, Zatara, Wonder Woman, Captain Atom, Hawkman, Hawkwoman, two Green Lanterns (Hal and John).
- Greg wrote Captain Atom with Cary Bates for years and is itching to give him a bigger role in the show (he’s a member of the Justice League).
- Zatara – not Zatanna – was mentioned as being part of the League. Could his daughter show up as a teenager?
- The question of Wonder Woman and Wonder Girl was brought up. It seemed that it was a case of them being allowed to use Wonder Woman, but not Wonder Girl. Greg mentions legal reasons. This could possibly related to licensing – historically DC characters in movie production have been ring fenced from other projects, e.g. Smallville was restricted in their use of Lois Lane during the time that Superman Returns was being developed/distributed). Updated: Greg clarified on his Ask Greg column that they were prohibited from using Wonder Girl while the show was being developed, but that restriction has now been lifted.
- The Young Justice comic book won’t “be a little kiddie book”. It will have the same tone as the cartoon and will exist within the same continuity. No crossovers are planned with the main DC Earth.
- There were superheroes in the 1940s on Earth-16.
- The voice director on Young Justice is Jamie Thomason who worked with Weisman on Gargoyles and Spectacular Spiderman.
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This is very exciting! I honestly can’t wait for this show. I’m getting the impression that it will have the same tone as BTAS (more grown up and serious) while introducing a new art style to DC’s animation (as much as I <3 Bruce Timm's work, I'm ready to see some variation).
Is this the same guy who did the art for Crisis on Two Earths? Looks like it.
I agree, some diversity amongst the animation style is a good thing.
yes it is
It’s the same guy. He’s called Phil Bourassa (http://phillybee.deviantart.com/), he’s the lead character designer for Young Justice, JL: Crisis on Two Earths, and Planet Hulk. His style looks a bit like Timm’s DCAU style, but its leaner and more modern.
Interesting that Weisman mentions that there were superheroes in the 40s on Earth-16… I hope that plays into the storylines somehow, because I’d like to know what led to the big gap.
If Roy Harper is starting out as Speedy, then it’s possible that he would be the regular joining either halfway through or at the end of the first season. In the original 60s Teen Titans run, which Weisman has cited as an influence as reported above, the line-up was Robin, Kid Flash, and Aqualad — with Speedy making several guest appearances before officially joining. (Wonder Girl joined Teen Titans long before Speedy did, but given the legal issues with the usage of the character in tv during the development of YJ, her absence from the show makes sense…) As for the other regular, I say either Garth (maybe as Tempest?) or Wonder Girl. I don’t know if Wonder Girl will appear, but that there aren’t any legal issues… Of course, the regulars could be somebody not mentioned so far.
ETA: According to DC Nation Special Edition panel at SDCC (official podcast recording here), Wonder Girl and Arrowette will appear in the show. The producers wanted to tell Artemis’s story, so Artemis was chosen to be a part of Young Justice’s original six (Earth-16 continuity) as opposed to Arrowette and Wonder Girl, who was also originally prohibited due to legal issues.
Weisman mentioned the Wonder Girl issue in that video interview above, but it sounded like it was something they countered at the start of development and was lifted as they went along.
The roster sounds fairly fluid – from the various interviews it sounds like there will be at least two more team members showing up and a character who doesn’t join the team at the start. So a lot of room for additional names.