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Earth-16 Timeline FYI

So I JUST NOW finished updating the EARTH-16 Timeline. It is exactly 250 pages long.

I hadn’t had time to update it much during the production of Season Two - or rather, I was pretty inconsistent about updating it. So since we finished, back in October, I tackled a little bit at a time. And I finally finished. It’s the final version of the Earth-16 timeline, until or unless we ever get to make more stuff set in that universe.

It includes (as far as I can tell) everything from both television seasons, everything from the 20+ issues of the comic and everything from YJ Legacy. There’s a bit of extra backstory in there too, (particularly Golden Age stuff) that I mostly figured out way back before Season One. And I tossed in some of the characters from the five year gap that were basically defined by what we DIDN’T do with them. But mostly I intentionally left out characters we didn’t cover yet. We can always add guys like the Question or Gleek later, assuming we ever get a later. But Brandon and I will figure out where they fit on the timeline if and when.

And, no, before anyone asks, I will NOT be posting it. Even Warner Bros, Cartoon Network and DC don’t have it. It’s just for Brandon and I. But I can refer to it to answer specific questions, as long as I don’t deem those questions to be spoilers.

Is there a specific reason why you decided to make Wally’s only suited up appearance this season (so far anyways), being shown up by Impulse? If you weren’t going to make Wally important to the plot at all this season then why did you even bother having him appear in Bloodlines to begin with? Yes I know Wally was a Flash once upon a time, just like Garrick, but he could’ve easily NOT been in the episode and it wouldn’t have affected the plot in the slightest. I suppose it doesn’t help that I don’t really care much for Bart Allen (never really have); I feel he came in and “replaced” a vastly more interesting character in Wally. His first appearance reaked of “Hey kids, do you like Kid Flash? Well forget about him because here we have the faster, shinier, and “funnier” character in Impulse.” A tactic I felt the show was above, until now. You told us Wally hadn’t been replaced in the slightest, no offense but when Bart is the one on the team now and Wally is the one benched, I feel it’s a little silly to tell us that when the show shows us other wise. Why is it that Wally is no longer involved in the plot at all? Yes I know he’s retired, but Artemis was retired as well. You guys easily could’ve plotted out some scenario that utilized Wally’s scientific mind to help Dick out, something I think is 100% in character for Wally to do that would get Artemis home faster, “The Life” or not. After all Wally is one of the original 6, and you and Brandon have stressed over and over again in interviews that the main six would still take center stage. Yet as of The Hunt, Wally has only appeared in 1/4 of the season as a minor presence at best. That holds true for the other five, but Jamie and Bart feel more important this season than Wally does. I feel due to Wally’s lack of presence, the show lost that certain something in it’s second season, and those that have taken up his screen time are nowhere near as interesting in my opinion. It’s gotten to the point where Wally could take up the Flash mantle sometime in the last 3 episodes and I STILL don’t think it would be worth his absence. Just to be clear, I don’t think Wally being slower than Bart is bad, I just haven’t cared about the way it’s been presented. (Ex.: We all know Superman is superior to Batman in strength, but most writers don’t go out of their way to beat that point into the ground like you guys did with Wally/Bart). Nor do I think his feelings for Artemis are what defines his importance on the show, like a poster below does. However I feel like somewhere along the lines of plotting this season (of the original 6) Wally became unimportant to you guys in the grand scheme of things for season 2. Perhaps that’s not necessarily true and that he is important to you guys, but I feel that’s the way it has come across.

Greg responds…

I don’t think Impulse showed Wally up at all. It was Wally and Jay who saved Barry and Bart’s lives. Or did you miss that? The fact that we got a little humor out of Wally’s frustration and Bart’s arrogance doesn’t rise to the level you’re indicating, at least not in my opinion. Not unless you’re looking to see that.

Bart interests me. Wally interests me. We tried to honor both characters. It worked for some. Didn’t work for you. I can live with that. But in any case, I don’t think Bart REPLACED Wally in Season Two. Wally retired. Bart joined. But so did Arsenal and Guardian and Static. We weren’t thinking in terms of a one-for-one replacement. We were trying to honor both speedsters’ stories.

And, yes, I suppose we could have plotted anything. We could have plotted that Wally became an out-and-out villain. We could have plotted that he was magically transformed into an anthropomorphic aardvark. None of that felt right. What felt right to us is what we showed you. Now, we would have loved to have had the luxury to give Wally more screen time in Season Two. But there were only so many episodes and so many minutes in each episode. And we had a very specific story to tell. So you get what you get.

You say “you and Brandon have stressed over and over again in interviews that the main six would still take center stage,” but I don’t think that’s an accurate statement. I believe I gave at most two interviews where I said something to that effect. But it’s largely been misinterpreted - or rather over-interpreted. The story took center stage in Season Two. (I’ve stated THAT “over and over” ad nauseum.) That was intentional. You may not like it, but that’s what we were doing. What I have been trying to say all along is that we still see our core original six characters as extremely important. Some, in Season Two, got more screen time than others. That was defined by story. Superboy was big in the first half of Season Two, and not so big in the second half. Artemis barely appeared at all until Episode 207, etc. But despite that, we made a real effort to honor the stories of those six. And I believe we did that with Wally. (I’m also not sure why you were writing this before seeing the end of the season.) Now, I’ll hazard a guess that you didn’t like the way we ended Wally’s story either. But we’ll never please everyone, obviously. We have to do what we think works and hope that enough of our audience agrees that the series is a success.

As for the notion that Wally became unimportant to us, you’ve missed the boat entirely. If that’s the way it came across to you, I’m sorry. But Wally was always extremely important to us, and his presence even in Season Two is not defined by screen time, but by WHO HE IS. And I think our ending proves that point. Wally West, Kid Flash, is a hero.

1)Who were Artemis’s grandparents? Do you ever plan on revealing them in the show or the comic if the show gets picked up later on? 2)I was reading a Birds of Prey comic in which Cheshire claimed Senator Bob Pullman was her father. Does he have any connection to the Crock family on earth 16?

Greg responds…

1. Maybe someday.

2. I believe it was later revealed that the Senator was NOT Cheshire’s father. I still claim that Sportsmaster is/was. (At least, pre-New 52.) No one can prove me wrong.

1. How is it possible that Jason Todd be Robin in the five year timeskip with Tim already as Robin in season 2? Its impossible, Dick is 13 in season 1, the minimum age for him to become Nightwing is 17 meaning he just became Nightwing in yj legacy which means jason should be robin in legacy instead of tim as jason becomes robin after dick becomes Nihtwing but it isnt and means jason cant fit in those 5 years of dicks age and tims fast becoming robin. Can you please explain this mess? 2. I heard you had dick grayson be robin in season 1 because you said it be unjust not to have him as robin… and yet its completely unjustified not to have jason todd as robin, you did the thing that you werent goin to do to dick and applied it to jason. Why? Why not have jason as robin in invasion instead of tim?

Greg responds…

1. I love how YOU define for me what the minimum age is. I love how you STATE unequivocally that it’s impossible. Anyway, it’s not a mess at all. It’s all been very carefully worked out on paper. It tracks. Just because I haven’t chosen to explain it doesn’t mean it’s a mess or impossible. And I’m still choosing not to explain it, because (a) I didn’t love your tone and (b) it’s a SPOILER REQUEST. NO COMMENT.

2. You’re choosing to interpret my words the way it suits you. What I said, is that neither Jason nor Tim’s origins make any sense without Dick there first. We were starting with the first sidekicks, so we needed to start with Dick. ON TOP OF THAT, Brandon and I also felt a strong affinity to Dick as the original teen sidekick, and felt he should have a place on the Team. But Invasion was taking place five years after the end of Season One. We had to honor and be faithful to that timeline. So we miss Jason and skip right to Tim. But we honor Jason in dialogue and visually. He’s still a significant presence. Heck, Brandon directed Red Hood. You know he matters to us.

In the last YJ comic issue, it appears that Marie was under Queen Bee’s pheromone influence. Is Marie bisexual or a lesbian?

Greg responds…

Yes.

Hi, my questions are related to the the comic book because is not quite clear what´s going on with Dick Grayson´s sort of “love” life. It is somehow clear that he is looking for a relationship with B.Gordon so then, 1) why the whole Bette and Zee situation? (issue 20) I´m pretty sure you have your reasons but I really will love to know why, only if it´s possible, of course. And finally since I became a fan of Dick/Zee as a couple I have to ask 2) around what time did the two broke up and under what circumstances they did and how they feel about it now? And again all this is because the kiss in issue 20 makes things quite confusing. By the way, sorry if my question has already been asked, but if it is I will happily search for it in the Archive. After reading the final issue my dream of seeing Dick and Zee together….died mostly because I´m not too fond of Dick/Babs since they are canon in most comic books and animated movies, but in general it is an AWESOME show full of suspense and Lex Luthor. I really enjoy it and thanks for it. Hope we get to see more of it in the future.

Greg responds…

I’m not sure what to add beyond what Barbara and Dick discussed at the end of issue #25.

Dick’s in love with Barbara, but she doesn’t believe he’s ready to settle down, and she’s probably right. So he had a one-night stand with Bette that might develop into something more. And he’s had a relationship with Zatanna that dates back at least to the end of Season One. (And, no, I’m not going to SPOIL the details of that relationship here.)

So you have commented in the past that at some point the characters take a life of their own and begin to write for themselves and dictate their actions (rather than you, as a writer trying to force it). Building off that premise … 1) For Young Justice, is there any character that took a story in a direction other than the direction you were initially envisioning? (i.e. maybe you weren’t expecting a story arc to go one way but one character’s presence just shed a new perspective on the situation that took the arc in a new direction (or at least new side trek) than originally planned) If so, who/how/when? 2) was there any character (of the primary cast anyway) that took longer (even if just by an episode or two) to come in to his (or her) own in terms of taking a life of his own? if so, who?

Greg responds…

1. I’d say that was true of nearly all the major characters, but especially Aqualad, Artemis, Wally, Bart, Superboy and Miss Martian.

2. Not that I recall. Screentime helps, so some of the characters that didn’t appear as much may not have grabbed a hold as firmly. But you also need to remember that we had way more stories for EVERY character than we had the opportunity to present in either the comic, t.v. series or video game. So they may be more alive to us than to you guys.

If the glamour charm is Zatanna’s, and she came into contact with Artemis for any reason, would she be able to see Artemis under her disguise, seen as it’s Zatanna’s spell that changed Artemis. Or would she see Tigress like the others can?

Greg responds…

She’d see Tigress. Zatanna’s not immune to magic, not even her own.

Who originally came up with the plan for Kaldur to go undercover? Nightwing or was it Kaldur himself?

Greg responds…

Kaldur himself came up with the original notion. But they planned it together.