Greg Weisman

Greg Weisman

Born (1963-09-28) September 28, 1963
Los Angeles, California
Nationality American
Occupation Novelist, writer, producer
Years active 1987–present
Known for Gargoyles, The Spectacular Spider-Man, Young Justice

Greg Weisman (born September 28, 1963) is an American novelist and American comic book and animation writer and producer, best known as the (uncredited) co-creator of Gargoyles and as the Supervising Producer of The Spectacular Spider-Man. Weisman also worked as producer on the Young Justice animated series. In addition, Weisman wrote the script for DC Showcase: Green Arrow, an animated short feature that is included on the DVD for the film, Superman/Batman: Apocalypse. His first novel, Rain of the Ghosts was released on December 3, 2013. Its sequel, Spirits of Ash and Foam was released on July 8, 2014. Weisman was executive producer on the Star Wars Rebels animated series, alongside Dave Filoni and Simon Kinberg, but left the show after season one had been produced.[1] He is currently producing, writing and directing a full-cast unabridged AudioPlay based on Rain of the Ghosts.

Early career

Weisman is a former English composition and writing teacher and received a bachelor's degree from Stanford University and a Masters from USC. In between college and graduate school, Weisman worked on staff in the editorial department of DC Comics, while also co-writing Captain Atom with Cary Bates. During an interview done during Comic-Con International 2010, Weisman revealed that while 22 years old, he wrote a four issue mini-series for DC Comics starring the superheroine Black Canary. The first issue of the series was penciled, but the project was ultimately shelved due to the character being used in writer/artist Mike Grell's high-profile Green Arrow: The Longbow Hunters series. Elements from the ill-fated project were used for his DC Showcase: Green Arrow short film.[2][3]

Animation

After graduate school, Weisman worked as a development executive at Disney. While working at Disney, in conjunction with others, Weisman pitched an early comedy-adventure version of the TV series Gargoyles to Disney CEO Michael Eisner. Eventually, the Gargoyles series idea underwent a transformation from Weisman's initial conception as a largely comedic cartoon, to an episodic but sequential animated action-drama, and the series was produced for syndication. Though Gargoyles itself bears no on-air creator credit, Weisman describes himself on his website as "one of the creators" of the show.[4] Aired as a syndicated show for 65 episodes, Gargoyles was later picked up for a further 13 episodes by ABC. Weisman was credited as a co-producer of Gargoyles from episode 6, and as a supervising producer for much of the show's second season. However, he has disassociated himself from the third-season episodes of Gargoyles—somewhat ironically, as the debut third-season episode for ABC bears Weisman's only writing credit of the entire series.

Weisman's other TV credits include overseeing the first season of Max Steel, the second season of W.I.T.C.H., as well as both seasons of The Spectacular Spider-Man and the two of Young Justice. Weisman has also written episodes for numerous animated series, including Men in Black: The Series, Roughnecks: Starship Troopers Chronicles, and Kim Possible, among many others. Weisman also voice directs and voice acts on occasion; he played the role of Donald Menken on The Spectacular Spider-Man and Lucas "Snapper" Carr on Young Justice.

He also directed the 2001 English dub localization of the 1991–1996 Japanese anime OVA series 3x3 Eyes. He used voice talents who previously worked with him on Gargoyles and other series. Homages to Gargoyles in the OVA series include a homeless man humming the Gargoyles theme song and a character who says "What could make claw marks in solid stone?"[5]

Weisman is notable for the question and answer forum he participates in with Gargoyles fans online. On November 7, 2016, it was reported that Weisman would return in the upcoming revival season of Young Justice,[6] alongside Brandon Vietti.

Current work in comic books

Weisman also continues to write for comics, including in continuity continuations of the storylines from the television series Gargoyles and Young Justice. (On the latter, Weisman, along with Kevin Hopps, became full-time writers of the tie-in comic as of issue #7 (as well as issue #0).[7]). Weisman also wrote a parody of Gargoyles and Captain Atom in JLA Showcase #1.

More recently, Weisman has written Star Wars: Kanan for Lucasfilm and Marvel. And Marvel also announced he would be writing a new ongoing super-hero series, Starbrand & Nightmask.

Rain of the Ghosts

After leaving Disney in 1996, Weisman spent two years at DreamWorks, where he created and developed a new television series called Rain of the Ghosts. When the series was not picked up, Weisman bought the property back to turn it into a series of novels. The first book, also titled Rain of the Ghosts, came out in 2013. The second book, Spirits of Ash and Foam, followed in 2014. Weisman has announced that the third book will be titled Masque of Bones, but in the meantime he is currently working on a full-cast unabridged AudioPlay based on Rain of the Ghosts.

Influences and style

Weisman has been a great lover of the works of William Shakespeare. Many of his works have been influenced by Shakespeare by not only using Shakespeare character names but often similar storytelling. This includes: Macbeth, The Weird Sisters, Oberon, Titania and Puck, all characters from Gargoyles loosely based on characters from Shakespeare's work. The penultimate episode of the Spectacular Spider-Man, "Opening Night", had a majority of the characters acting out a stage rendition of a Midsummer Night's Dream, which interchanged with scenes of Spider-Man escaping the Vault prison and subsequently fighting the Green Goblin.

There has also been an affinity for casting actors involved with the Star Trek franchise in his series, including Nichelle Nichols, Jonathan Frakes, Marina Sirtis, Brent Spiner and Bruce Greenwood.

Other work

Weisman has written episodes for the following TV shows:

References

  1. ↑ "Greg Weisman Leaves Star Wars Rebels". IGN.com. 2014-02-10. Retrieved 2014-05-10.
  2. ↑ DC Animated Showcase: Greg Weisman Interview, Part 1 – YouTube
  3. ↑ Wells, John (February 2011). "Failure to Launch: The Black Canary Miniseries That Never Took Flight". Back Issue!. TwoMorrows Publishing (46): 45–52.
  4. ↑ "Greg's Introduction : Gargoyles : Station Eight". S8.org. Retrieved 2014-02-17.
  5. ↑ 10 – Ask Greg Archives : Gargoyles : Station Eight
  6. ↑ http://www.worldsfinestonline.com/category/animated-series/young-justice/
  7. ↑ Search Ask Greg : Gargoyles : Station Eight
  8. ↑ http://www.s8.org/gargoyles/askgreg/search.php?qid=12502

External links

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