Category: Young Justice

The (Not Exactly Canon) Gargoyles / Spider-man / Young Justice Radio Show at CONvergence 2016

Performed live at CONvergence 2016, here is the (not exactly canon) Gargoyles meets The Spectacular Spider-man meets Young Justice Radio Show featuring Black Manta’s Celebrity Hot Tub.

…perhaps I should explain.

Radio Show Recruits - prevIn 2014, CONvergence (the convention I co-founded many moons ago) was lucky enough to get to host a 20th Anniversary Celebration of Disney’s Gargoyles. Our Guests of Honor that year included four people with ties to that series: Gargoyles creator Greg Weisman, the voice of Demona Marina Sirtis, Supervising Producer Frank Paur, and Lead Character Designer Greg Guler.

At previous Gargoyles “Gatherings”, Greg had written Gargoyles radio plays to be performed by a mix of voice actors from the show who were on-hand to play their roles and fans from the convention to fill out the rest of the cast. These were tongue-in-cheek stories that frequently broke the fourth wall and became increasingly more convoluted and absurd as they carried forward their continuity from year-to-year and eventually included mash-ups with other Greg Weisman projects including The Spectacular Spider-man animated series.

Greg generously decided to continue this tradition at CONvergence 2014, expanding this madness to include characters from Young Justice. So with only Marina Sirtis on hand to play both Demona from Gargoyles and her character Queen Bee from Young Justice, a large cast of fan actors were auditioned and cast from the fans at CONvergence. The play was called “Recruits” and you can watch the video of the event below.

 

When Greg Weisman returned to CONvergence in 2016, he was joined by Khary Payton (the voice of Aqualad on Young Justice and Cyborg on Teen Titans). From the moment we knew these two were coming to CONvergence I was hoping we could get Greg to not only bring us another radio play, but that we could incorporate an unproduced gem of an idea called Black Manta’s Celebrity Hot Tub.

OK, more explaining. Back when Young Justice and Green Lantern: The Animated Series were airing back-to-back on Cartoon Network as part of a programming block called “DC Nation,” Greg and Khary pitched Black Manta’s Celebrity Hot Tub for the series of comedy shorts that aired between the two shows. In one of history’s great tragedies, these shorts went unmade.

However these shorts were repurposed into segments in the CONvergence 2016 radio show, so now you can get a taste of the glory that might have been.

We had two separate sessions of auditions at CONvergence to fill out the sprawling cast, followed by Greg, Khary and myself hiding away in secret corner of the hotel and sneaking lunch while casting the whole show. The day after the final cast list was posted we had an hour to run through and rehearse before the live performance!


Many thanks to Greg Weisman for somehow finding the time in his busy schedule to write this crazy thing and to everyone who helped make the show happen, and thanks to the CONvergence Video Team for getting the video put together. The video isn’t fancy (single camera from the back of the panel room), but the audio is reasonably clear and we even have subtitles you can enable in the YouTube video!

So without further ado, here’s Greg Weisman, Khary Payton, and a cast of dozens (including me!) in Gargoyles meets The Spectacular Spider-man meets Young Justice: “The Cosmos.”

 

Young Justice: #KeepBingingYJ on Netflix

Young Justice on Netflix KeepBinging 
So there’s a lot of chatter going on right now about Young Justice and Netflix, including some enthusiastic well-meaning customer service representatives with Netflix providing some information that seems a little fuzzy. So here’s my understanding of what we know and where we can go from here:
 
Netflix has had Young Justice Season 1 available as part of their streaming service in the U.S. for some time, and just added Season 2 at the beginning of February. They are currently looking very closely at the number of views Young Justice is getting, and it is possible that they would commission a new season of episodes from Warner Brothers Animation. They would not be negotiating with Cartoon Network, as they would basically be taking over the role that Cartoon Network played in the production of Seasons 1 & 2. DC Comics owns the characters, WB Animation produced the show, Cartoon Network commissioned and aired the show in its original run.
 
The current situation with Netflix creates a great opportunity for those already using their U.S. streaming service to demonstrate the demand for Young Justice without having to spend any additional money. Normally your purchasing dollar is far and away the best way to show your demand for Young Justice, as any decisions about its future are based on the potential for profit and little else. But if you already own the show on DVD, it’s hard to find new ways spend those purchasing dollars that will make a difference. The resale of those items won’t register with them. You can buy the Young Justice comics digitally on Comixology.com, and there’s the Young Justice: Legacy video game, but that’s about it. If the comics and merchandise are already in a comic book store or being sold used on eBay or elsewhere, DC has already collected their money for that sale. So by all means buy them there if you want them, but don’t do so thinking that it’s still helping convince DC Comics or WB Animation to make more of the show.
 
There IS an interest in making new episodes of Young Justice, it just requires a convincing argument that new episodes could be more profitable than the show was when Cartoon Network originally passed on that third season. THAT’S why this Netflix opportunity is so important.
 
By all means, use hashtags to rally the troops and keep the conversation going. Inventing lots of new hashtags is probably going to make that conversation more fragmented rather than keeping it more focused. I’ve been using #RenewYoungJustice since it’s been around for a while, and Young Justice co-producer Greg Weisman put out the #KeepBingingYJ tag which I like because it’s an imperative and can be used as part of an instruction in a tweet!
 
Also, feel free to let Netflix customer service know (politely!) that you are happy they are streaming both Seasons 1 & 2 of Young Justice and would love to see them produce a new 3rd Season.
 
But MOST IMPORTANTLY: WATCH YOUNG JUSTICE ON NETFLIX!
I have both seasons of Young Justice on Blu-Ray, but once purchased no one knows if those disks are being played or not. I’ve been running Young Justice non-stop in a browser window on my computer all month, doing my part to drive up those viewership numbers to try to convince Netflix to make the new seasons we’ve all been wanting to see finally happen.
 
It can happen. We can help make it happen.
Today’s the day.
#RenewYoungJustice #KeepBingingYJ
http://netflix.com/title/70185194
Aqualad SYMBIOSI - KeepBinging

Christopher Jones Art Prints GRODD WANT ART ETSY SALE!

Art Sale Infographic

I know that due to logistics and geography, a lot of you haven’t had the opportunity to see me at a convention or signing, but want to pick up one or more of my art prints. You probably know that most of my art prints are available for purchase in my Etsy store, but to show you I appreciate you all just as much as those able to visit me at events, I’m holding an online art sale! This is your chance to pick up that art you’ve been eyeing from me at a bit of a discount.

My GRODD WANT ART SALE will run until June 23!

(Why Grodd? No reason. I just love Grodd.)

Check out my Etsy Store at http://www.etsy.com/shop/ChrisJonesArt to see the full selection of art prints I have available. Use one of the discount codes at checkout.

GRODDMEGA – 40% off any purchase of $150 or more
GRODD45 – $45 off any purchase of $120 or more
GRODD30 – $30 off any purchase of $90 or more
GRODD15 – $15 off any purchase of $60 or more
GRODD5 – $5 off any purchase of $30 or more
FRUGALGRODD – 10% off any purchase of $10 or more

Also, prints now ship inside the United States at just $5 for any size order, and there’s a combined shipping discount on international orders.

Art prints all feature an original signature by the artist (yours truly) and can be personalized upon request.

I won’t offer discounts on online purchases super often, but it is my plan to hold an online sale at least once per year going forward.

The Digital Print I Created for Greg Weisman’s Rain of the Ghosts

Rain of the Ghosts - Kickstarter RGB prev

I created this digital print as one of the rewards for the Rain of the Ghosts full-cast AudioPlay Kickstarter.

Rain of the Ghosts is the first in a Young Adult novel series by Greg Weisman, creator of Disney’s Gargoyles, and a writer and producer for numerous fan-favorite animated series including Spectacular Spider-man, W.I.T.C.H., Young Justice, and Star Wars Rebels. Greg describes the novel this way:

These are the adventures of Rain Cacique, a young girl descended from the indigenous Taíno people of the Caribbean.  Rain lives on the Ghost Keys, a chain of islands on the edge of the Bermuda Triangle, where her parents own and run a Bed & Breakfast that is both Rain’s home and place of employment.  Over the course of the first book, Rain goes from making beds for tourists to learning she has the ability to communicate with ghosts.  Rain has a mystery to solve, a mission to accomplish and a destiny to fulfill.  I can honestly guarantee that if you enjoy the sensibility, characters, plotting and surprises I’ve brought to such series as Gargoyles and Young Justice, you’ll love Rain of the Ghosts.

Now Greg wants to bring the story to life as a full-cast audio drama. Not just an audio book with the text of the novel being read by a single performer, but a full cast of 20 actors with sound effects and music! Greg has already paid to record the vocals out of his own pocket, but funds are needed to complete the post-production work and bring the story of Rain Cacique and her friends fully to life.

I created the image you see above as one of many rewards being offered to supporters of the Kickstarter campaign. The digital download print you can earn as a reward is at much higher resolution than this preview version and doesn’t have the big “Rain of the Ghosts” text in the middle of the image! 

Here’s more on the Kickstarter:

This is a great project that’s worth supporting. Check out the Kickstarter page to see the great rewards for backing the project, plus the amazing cast Greg has assembled for Rain of the Ghosts, featuring fan-favorite voices from Greg’s many animated series.

Support the Rain of the Ghosts AudioPlay Kickstarter!

Young Justice Panel at Gallifrey One 2014

Here it is! The video of the Young Justice Panel we held at Gallifrey One last February!

FEATURING:

Cameron Bowen – Voice of Robin (Tim Drake)
Kris Carter – Composer
Christopher Jones – Comic Book Artist
Stephanie Lemelin – Voice of Artemis
Eric Lopez – Voice of Blue Beetle
Vanessa Marshall – Voice of Black Canary
Michael McCuistion – Composer
Lolita Ritmanis – Composer
Andrew Robinson – Writer
Brent Spiner – Voice of the Joker
Jason Spisak – Voice of Kid Flash
Greg Weisman – Co-creator/Producer, Writer

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Many thanks to Gallifrey One for hosting us and allowing us to take video of the event, and to all the wonderful fans who turned up to celebrate the awesomeness that is Young Justice with all of us. We were truly humbled, and had so much fun!

Oh, and if anyone was interested in seeing the two pages discussed from Young Justice: Invasion #25 in greater detail, here they are.

 YJ #25 inks pg 16 prev (1)YJ #25 inks pg 16 REV prev (1)YJ #25 inks pg 17 prev (1)YJ #25 inks pg 17 REV prev (1)