Randy and Peggy were just drawn right into the page art without models being approved in advance, but I was asked to change Peggy’s hair from what I’d initially drawn. I initially gave her shorter hair as we’ve had a lot of women with shoulder-length hair, and Greg wanted her hair long. Other characters have had models drawn and approved before I penciled the page art. Examples would include Rako/The Cambodian for the current issue and Talia and Ubu for the upcoming issue #11.

Interesting process. So for #9, how many design drafts did you back and forth with the staff on ones like Randy and Peggy Eiling before it was settled on?

Generally characters who will be appearing on the show are designed far in advance of the episode airing, so if a character scripted to appear in the comic will be on the show in the forseeable future there is an existing design by the show’s design team. Some characters who have appeared previously in DC Comics but who aren’t slated to appear on the Young Justice TV show need to be designed, so that falls to me. Randy and Peggy Eiling are a good example of that. In such cases I have some latitude to design the “Young Justice” version of those characters, but I try to keep it within the established design sense of the show and any major characters are signed off on by Greg Weisman and company.

And yes, the JAG officer Miss Martian impersonated was meant to look exactly like Dr. Roquette from “Infiltrator”…

For the supporting cast that appeared in this issue (ex. Randy and Peggy Eiling, the military officers like Mason or Blankly), aside from Eiling who just showed up in episode 16, did you work off designs from Phil Bourassa or were you in charge of submitting designs to Greg Weisman, Brandon Vietti, and Bourassa?

For the JAG officer that Miss Martian impersonated, was Dr. Roquette from the episode “Infiltrator” used as an influence for her look?

Thanks for commenting!

One question, though, which you may or may not be able to answer:

In the cartoon series, Artemis has dark brown eyes. In the comic, she has bright blue eyes, as if she weren’t half-Vietnamese but just a stereotypical white girl.

Was this deliberate, or did colourist Zac Atkinson just not get the memo?