The Big News – Yes, I work on the show

I’ve joked that for the last several years that thing I most commonly say to fans at comic book conventions is “I didn’t work on the show, I just drew the Young Justice companion comics.” It’s largely true.

When I say that I’m not trying to diminish that work on any way in comparison to the show, I’m very, VERY proud of the work I did on those comics. But a lot of fans see my Young Justice artwork and assume I worked on the show, or worse yet, that the show is somehow based on my work. So I’m always quick to clarify my role and give full credit to the amazing people that produce the show, including lead character designer Phil Bourassa and his team for creating the visual landscape I have been privileged enough to play in. Which results in “I didn’t work on the show, just the comic.”

Well that line is going to have to change.

In December I’m going to be moving to Burbank, California and will be working as a Storyboard Revisionist on Season 4 of Young Justice.

This is a huge, life-changing development for me. First of all is just moving to California. Aside from several months spent at Art School in Chicago I’ve lived in Minnesota all my life. I’ve visited the Los Angeles area many times, and even the Warner Brothers Animation facility where Young Justice is produced, but never imagined I’d soon be living and working out there.

This change is largely coming as a result of a conversation I had with Young Justice co-producer (as well as my friend and collaborator on the YJ comic) Greg Weisman in March when we were both at Emerald City Comic Con. I was expressing frustration with the state of my comics career. As much as comic book art was my childhood dream job, I confessed that I’d often thought I could also have been happy working in the animation field, but it seemed a bit late to be making that change, as I’d be starting all over again in a new field. Greg told me he didn’t think it would be as impossible a transition as I was describing, and suggested that if I was serious I should talk to his Young Justice co-producer Brandon Vietti about it.

I ended up talking to Brandon by phone and he was equally encouraging, and thought I could start out doing work storyboarding or as a Storyboard Revisionist. So I updated my resume for the first time in 17 years (no one hiring comic book artists asks to see a resume) and gathered samples of storyboard work I’d done on a few projects over the last decade and submitted them to WB Animation. And now I start in December!

What does a Storyboard Revisionist do? My understanding is that I take the rough boards drawn by another artist based on the script, and revise them as needed to bring them more “on model” for the character designs and make other small changes as directed, before the boards are sent overseas for animation. I’ll have a much better understanding of the logistics of all that by the end of the year!

So now I need to find a place to rent in Burbank (any leads or assistance from my L.A. friends is very welcome!) and organize the move! The life-transforming scale of this change is a little terrifying, but I can’t imagine doing this under better circumstances. On the one hand it’s a leap into the unknown but it’s freaking YOUNG JUSTICE and the people in charge are friends. I knew this show was leaving a huge footprint in my life, but this is crazy! I’m WHELMED! I’m FEELING THE ASTER!

And while I’m here, a couple of other Young Justice related notes:

• I haven’t heard anything new as far as more Young Justice tie-in comics, even though I think they’d be a GREAT way to keep the fans engaged during the long wait between seasons 3 and 4, which will be more than a year. Greg and I would still love to do them, but even if the comic was a digital-only exclusive on the DC Universe streaming platform, it’s still up to DC Comics.
• No, I don’t think I’m done drawing comics forever, but any comics projects will have to be scheduled around my animation commitments for the foreseeable future.
• Yes, I’ll be doing more Young Justice prints, including prints based on Season 3 characters. I’ve just needed the time to work on them and have been waiting to see all of Season 3 to decide what prints to do! (If I’d started before the 2nd half of the season, I’d have had a totally different idea of what group of characters were identified as being the “Outsiders.” I hope to have a couple of new prints done in time for New York Comic Con.
• The previous Young Justice prints I’ve done (along with my other superhero and Doctor Who prints) are available from my Etsy store or you can get them from me directly at my convention appearances.
  https://etsy.com/shop/ChrisJonesArt

I’ll try to do a better job of updating this page throughout the process of this transition, and share as much of the experience of joining the Season 4 team as I can, but I’m under NDAs which means I’ll know more but can say even less about what’s coming. As Greg likes to say… NO SPOILERS!

SYMBIOSI!

Young Justice RETURNS – Young Justice Outsiders

I spent years at conventions talking to fans of Young Justice who were heartbroken the show had ended after Season 2. I’d tell them all hope wasn’t lost and that it was possible the show could return.

Once both seasons of the series were on Netflix and Greg Weisman spearheaded the campaign to encourage fans to watch the hell out of it on that platform to show the demand for the series, rumors started popping up everywhere that a deal had already been struck to revive the show. So then the messaging shifted to telling fans “No, there was not a deal in place YET, but YES it could still happen.”

In November 2016 it was announced that the show would return on the new DC Universe streaming platform under the title Young Justice Outsiders. But it would be a long wait for fans, as the show was being announced at the BEGINNING of it’s production cycle, rather than close to a premiere as is more typical with animated series announcements.

All this time I had people congratulating me on the show’s return or otherwise assuming I was involved with the production. I’d explain that I was *never* involved with the production of the show, I was the artist of the tie-in comic and wouldn’t be directly involved in any revival unless the comic was revived as well. So many explanations and so much waiting…

It’s 2019 and the wait is ending.

January 2 will see “Torch Songs,” the first new Young Justice story since 2013 as part 1 of a new comic story by Greg Weisman and myself launches as a digital-only exclusive on The DC Universe streaming platform, with part 2 following the next day. It features a story set between seasons 2 and 3 of Young Justice, featuring Miss Martian, Superboy, Batgirl and Beast Boy dealing with the villainous Psimon.

Part 1:
https://www.dcuniverse.com/comics/book/young-justice-outsiders-dc-universe-exclusive-2018-1/5a1692d9-aeca-4b5e-83cf-573bfda67f54

Part 2:
https://www.dcuniverse.com/comics/book/young-justice-outsiders-dc-universe-exclusive-2018-2/abfc4dd1-8ad6-4e51-8a5e-a503d4371ece

The Young Justice tie-in comics are written by Greg Weisman and are considered part of the narrative canon of the animated TV series. The original run of tie-in comics (issues #1-25) are available on The DC Universe in addition to this new story, so if you missed them this is the perfect chance to catch up! If the comics are popular enough there, it increases the chances of us being able to do more, in much the same way that the popularity of Seasons 1 and 2 of Young Justice on Netflix led to Outsiders being produced.

January 4 will at long last see the launch of Young Justice Outsiders, with three episodes per week released on The DC Universe through the rest of the month. After the first 13 episodes, the show will take a break until returning for the second half of the season in June. Producers Greg Weisman and Brandon Vietti return, along with character designer Phil Bourassa and many of the same voice actors, writers, directors and crew that made Seasons 1 & 2 so special. This is not a re-imaging or a reboot, it’s the Season 3 the original storytellers weren’t able to do back in the day, just produced a few years later and without the restrictions of working for a Network.

I was thrilled to get to revisit the characters with a new comic book story. Greg and I would both love to do more, but if that doesn’t happen, it’s been a joy. I look forward to enjoying a new 26-episode season of Young Justice with all of you.

So with reaction videos becoming a thing for popular TV shows in the last few years, are you going to get reaction videos for episodes of Young Justice Outsiders? I say we should! #YJReaction

Who knows what the future might bring? More comics? Season 4? We shall see.

Christopher Jones Young Justice Prints for sale
https://www.etsy.com/shop/ChrisJonesArt

Original Young Justice comic pages for sale on eBay
https://www.ebay.com/sch/cajones2001/m.html?_nkw=&_armrs=1&_ipg=&_from=

Photos from Young Justice convention meet-ups
New York Comic Con 2013 Photos (including Young Justice meet-up)
New York Comic Con 2014 Photos (including Young Justice meet-up)
New York Comic Con 2015 Photos (including Young Justice meet-up)
New York Comic Con 2016 Photos (including Young Justice meet-up)

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.

In 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.”

Why I want Greg Weisman at CONvergence 2016 (And You Should Too!)

I wanted to show you all the art print I recently colored. I created a black-and-white line art version of this print for CONvergence 2014, to commemorate the radio play that Greg Weisman wrote then produced entirely at the convention. But I just colored it this month. This is the very first time it’s been colored.

And here’s a recording of the radio play, “Recruits”. It is a mashup of Young Justice, Gargoyles, and The Spectacular Spider-Man. and it features CONvergence 2014 Guest of Honor Marina Sirtis.

Why am I sharing these things? Well…

Most of you know that way back in 1999 I helped start a science fiction convention here in Minnesota called CONvergence. (Yes I have a second career as a con runner in addition to my career as a comic book artist.) Many years later the convention is still going strong with 6-7,000 annual attendees. One of our favorite repeat guests at CONvergence is Greg Weisman, among other things, creator of Disney’s Gargoyles, producer and writer for The Spectacular Spider-man, Star Wars: Rebels, Young Justice, and, of course, my collaborator on DC’s Young Justice comic book. Beyond Greg’s impressive list of writing and producing credits, he always makes a great convention guest because he’s a great talker and great panelist – great both in terms of quality and quantity. No guest ever does more panels at our convention than Greg Weisman does. (Seriously, he’s broken records.)

This is how you’ll usually find Greg Weisman at CONvergence: on a panel

So, some of us are trying to bring Greg Weisman back to CONvergence this year. How, you ask? Well,  he’s been good enough to volunteer to be our guinea pig for a new program CONvergence is piloting called “Fan-Featured Guests” – guests brought in by an outside group with approval from and working directly with the CONvergence Guests of Honor Department.

That is SO CRASH!

The funding for bringing in a Fan-Featured Guest is provided entirely by the group bringing the guest and can be crowdfunded, fund raised, or privately donated. This means that the budget to have Greg as a guest at CONvergence 2016 isn’t coming from the convention budget, but rather from a third party – in this case, a crowd-funding campaign that Hal and I are running. As of right now, it’s 70% funded!

I’d particularly love to see Greg back as a guest at CONvergence this year because Khary Payton (the voice of Aqualad on Young Justice and Cyborg on Teen Titans) will be a Guest of Honor as well. (And strangely enough, so will I! After having been a guest at most of the other sci-fi and comics conventions here in Minnesota, I’m finally going to be a guest at the convention I helped start. It’s a little surreal. But I’d love to have TWO members of the Young Justice family there with me to join in the fun.)

The last time Greg was a guest at CONvergence in 2014 he wrote and produced the radio play at the beginning of this post – a mash-up of three of his TV shows: Gargoyles, The Spectacular Spider-man, and Young Justice. Marina Sirtis was also a Guest of Honor at CONvergence that year and she provided the voices of her characters Demona from Gargoyles and Queen Bee from Young Justice. The rest of the characters were cast from volunteer attendees of the convention, during the convention. I wasn’t kidding when I said Greg produced the play at the con. He held auditions and everything. I mean, this was a hell of a thing.

Greg has said that if he returns to CONvergence this year, he’ll write and produce another radio play, and this time we’ll have Khary Payton to lead another cast of fan volunteers. I would do a new art print to commemorate the new play as well.

Greg and me with Young Justice fans at CONvergence 2014

You can probably tell where I’m going with this. I’m inviting you to contribute to help bring Greg Weisman as a guest to CONvergence 2016. We have a number of rewards for various contribution amounts, including the new color version of the 2014 radio play print. I’ve also donated copies of prints I’ve done based on Young Justice and on Greg’s novel and audio play Rain of The Ghosts, which will be signed by both Greg and myself. Those prints can be picked up at the convention or mailed out if you are unable to attend.

Hold the phone. Why would you support the campaign if you are unable to attend?

Well… Some of the rewards are things like Khary Payton (Aqualad, Cyborg) recording a custom greeting for your voicemail. You could have Greg Weisman or me do one too, but if it was ME I’d want the Khary Payton option. Or you could have one of the art prints mailed to you. On top of that, the radio play will be recorded and made publicly available after the convention, so that’s a new, original production by Greg Weisman for everyone.

Also, if you don’t want “Black Manta’s Celebrity Hot Tub” to be a real thing, I don’t know what’s wrong with you. Because it will definitely be a real thing if we can get Greg Weisman to CONvergence 2016.

Click here to view the crowdfund campaign.

And please share this with your friends. Together maybe we can all give this effort the last push it needs!

Christopher Jones at Geek.Kon 2015!

I’m on the road to Geek.Kon in Madison, WI this morning! This is my second year as a guest at this fun little multi-genre Wisconsin convention. I had a great time last year meeting all the great fans at Geek.Kon, and am excited to be back again. This year should be even more epic as my friends and comics collaborators Greg Weisman and Mark Stegbauer will both be guests as well!

I will be at my table in the Dealers Room unless I’m on a panel (in which case, come to my panel!) Here’s my full Geek.Kon 2015 schedule:

Friday

3:00pm – Dealers Room Opens

5:00 to 5:50pm – Opening Ceremonies – Wisconsin Room

8:00 to 8:50pm – From Batman to Young Justice: The Comic Art of Christopher Jones, Green Bay/Milwaukee Room

9:00 to 9:50pm – Tales of Con Horror (18+), Mendota Room

Saturday

10:00am – Dealers Room Opens

10:00 to 10:50pm – Diversity in Animation and Comic Books, La Crosse Room

6:00 to 6:50pm – Young Justice Panel, Green Bay/Milwaukee Room

Sunday

10:00am – Dealers Room Opens

12:00 to 12:50pm – Gargoyles is Super Cool, Geneva Room

3:00 to 3:50pm – Closing Ceremonies, Wisconsin Room

Oh and exciting news! I have a couple new $5 black and white Young Justice prints unveiling this weekend! Feast your eyes on Miss Martian and Aqualad (or, better yet, bring them home!)

Of course, I’ll have the rest of my prints available for purchase as well, including this year’s new favorites…

Nightwing’s Butt! ($5)

Go Team Batgirl! ($20)

And, of course, Bat Wolf! ($20)

You can check out the rest of the prints I’ll have available in my Etsy store, or else just stop by my table in the Geek.Kon Dealers Room. Which reminds me, don’t forget to show me that you follow me on twitter or you like my Facebook page to get your FREE mini-print!

Lastly, Ever since Greg Weisman (creator of Disney’s Gargoyles and was co-producer of the Young Justice) and I worked on the Young Justice comic book together, we look for any opportunity to appear at a convention together or work on a new project together. I created a promotional poster as a stretch goal for Greg’s kickstarter to produce a full-cast audio adaptation of the first novel in Greg’s Rain of the Ghosts series.

For the first time, I’ll have 11″x17″ full color hardcopy versions of my Rain of the Ghosts print available for sale for the special Geek.Kon price of just $5 – so be sure to pick one up and get it signed by both Greg and me!

Okay ‘Sconie geeks! See you at Geek.Kon!