Greg Weisman

Greg Weisman (; born September 28, 1963) is an American writer, producer and voice actor. He is best known as the creator of the animated series '' Gargoyles'', '' The Spectacular Spider-Man'' and ''Young Justice'' and as a producer for the second season of '' W.I.T.C.H.''

Early life and career

Weisman is a former English composition and writing teacher. He received a bachelor's degree from Stanford University and a master's from USC. Between college and graduate school, he worked on staff in the editorial department of DC Comics, while also co-writing ''Captain Atom'' with Cary Bates. In 1985, Weisman wrote a four-issue mini-series for DC Comics starring the superheroine Black Canary, which was cancelled due to the character being used in writer/artist Mike Grell's series '' Green Arrow: The Longbow Hunters''. Elements from the project were later used for his '' DC Showcase: Green Arrow'' short film. Weisman is Jewish.

Animation

After graduate school, Weisman worked as a development executive at Disney. There, in conjunction with others, he pitched an early comedy-adventure version of the TV series '' Gargoyles'' to Disney CEO Michael Eisner. Eventually, the idea was extensively reworked by Weisman, who brought in Michael Reaves to write the pilot five-parter. The series underwent a transformation from its initial conception as a comedy to an episodic but sequential animated action-drama, and the series was produced for syndication. Though ''Gargoyles'' bears no on-air creator credit, Weisman describes himself on his website as "one of the creators" of the show. 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, but has disassociated himself from the third season (''The Goliath Chronicles''), on which he received producer credit. Since 1997, Weisman has run an online website where he answers questions from fans, primarily pertaining to ''Gargoyles'' and ''Young Justice''.

Weisman's other television credits include overseeing the first season of '' Max Steel'', the second season of '' W.I.T.C.H.'', and both seasons of '' The Spectacular Spider-Man'' and four of ''Young Justice''. Weisman has written episodes for numerous animated series, including '' Men in Black: The Series'', '' Roughnecks: Starship Troopers Chronicles'', '' Bonkers'', and ''Kim Possible''. He also voice directs and voice acts on occasion; he played the role of Donald Menken on ''The Spectacular Spider-Man'' and Snapper Carr on ''Young Justice''. Weisman was also co-executive producer on ''Star Wars Rebels'', but left the series after the first season. In 2016, it was reported that he would return in the revival season of ''Young Justice'', alongside Brandon Vietti; the new season, titled '' Young Justice: Outsiders'', premiered in January 2019.

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). Weisman also wrote a parody of ''Gargoyles'' and ''Captain Atom'' in '' JLA Showcase'' #1. During his time with the ''Star Wars'' franchise, Weisman wrote the miniseries '' Star Wars: Kanan'' for Lucasfilm and Marvel Comics. From 2015 to 2016, he wrote the superhero series ''Starbrand & Nightmask'', which lasted six issues.

At San Diego Comic-Con 2022, It was announced that Dynamite Entertainment had acquired the ''Gargoyles'' license and that Weisman would serve as the writer of these new comics. In November 2023, it was announced that Weisman would write a new ongoing series for Marvel Comics dubbed '' The Spectacular Spider-Men'', which features Peter Parker and Miles Morales teaming up and fighting supervillains together. The series will also feature artwork by veteran Spider-Man artist, Humberto Ramos.

Novels

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. His debut novel, also titled ''Rain of the Ghosts'', was released in 2013. Its sequel, ''Spirits of Ash and Foam'', followed in 2014. Weisman has announced that the third book will be titled ''Masque of Bones'', and in 2015, he released a full-cast unabridged AudioPlay based on ''Rain of the Ghosts'' after successfully crowdfunding the project through Kickstarter. In 2016, Weisman released a children's novel in the ''World of Warcraft'' universe entitled ''World of Warcraft: Traveler'', followed by a sequel, ''World of Warcraft: Traveler - The Spiral Path''.

Weisman's next novels were set in the '' Magic: The Gathering'' universe. '' War of the Spark: Ravnica'' was released on April 23, 2019, and made the New York Times Best Sellers List. Its sequel, '' War of the Spark: Forsaken'', was released in November 2019. Alexander Sowa, for '' CBR'', highlighted that "Greg Weissman's ''War of the Spark: Ravnica'' asinfamous among fans for its misrepresentation of existing characters". Sowa commented that its sequel, ''War of the Spark: Forsaken,'' "was greeted with a lukewarm response after it infamously attempted to retcon the sexuality of one of the book's protagonists, Chandra. As a result, the game's publisher, Wizards of the Coast, released an official apology for the novel's poor handling of the subject and canceled plans for the book that was intended for the game's next set, '' Theros: Beyond Death''". Reactions to the sequel were "overwhelmingly negative" and it was "lambasted for its disappointing prose, lack of understanding of character voice, and failure to provide any emotional payoff for the relationships that have been set up in the world of ''Magic''. One aspect that has been called out, in particular, is the biphobic language and erasure around the relationship between the Planeswalkers Chandra Nalaar and Nissa Revane". Weisman issued an apology highlighting the "mutual creative/editorial process with WotC and Del Rey" for Chandra's characterization. Wizards of the Coast made a further announcement that they would no longer censor the content in ''Magic: The Gathering'' novels to "accommodate foreign content restrictions".

Bibliography

Comic books

DC Comics

Marvel Comics

SLG Comics

Novels

Filmography

Film

Television

Video games

Audiobooks

References

External links

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Greg Weisman's official Facebook page

Greg Weisman's interview on BAD GUYS & GARGOYLES comic books

Greg Weisman discusses the new ''Gargoyles'' comic series

Comic historian Alan Kistler interviews Greg Weisman about ''Spectacular Spider-Man''

Ask Greg – a ''Gargoyles'' forum

{{DEFAULTSORT:Weisman, Greg
1963 births
Living people
20th-century American Jews
21st-century American Jews
American animated film producers
American comics writers
American male television writers
American male voice actors
American showrunners
Television writers from California
American voice directors
DC Comics people
Disney Television Animation people
Marvel Comics writers
People from Woodland Hills, Los Angeles
Showrunners of animated series
Television producers from California