Question received on Sun, February 03, 2013 06:08:32 PM

K writes...

I was ridiculously excited when I realized that Tye was based on Apache Chief, and I'm even more ridiculously glad to see a whole episode based around him and the other runaways. I remember people wishing Static would appear in the show since episode one, and I was definitely one of them. The whole crew is so endearing. Everyone I've talked to about the show has a favorite among this group, and not all of them are Virgil. It makes the cancellation of Young Justice all the more tragic, because these characters really deserve the chance to grow like the season one team did.

But, for questions.

1) Why was the "Samurai" stand-in chosen to be gender-flipped? Speaking as a girl myself, I'm thrilled there's a girl at all, but was there any specific reason or did she just win the coin toss?

2) Young Justice has used several characters more famous for being created by previous animated adaptations, like Wendy & Marvin or Mercy Graves. Did these three in specific come to mind immediately for their roles, or only after you exhausted the characters created in the comics?

I'm kind of amused that Mercy's appeared in several episodes, but the character who paved the way for her creation, Harley Quinn, has only appeared as a Halloween costume. That and the fact that Joker and Poison Ivy appeared together in an episode without her. I like to imagine her breaking them out of Arkham or Belle Reve or wherever they ended up. There's no question here; just a random thought.

And to finish up, thank you. Thank you for helping to nurture one of the most diverse cartoons I have ever seen. The fact that Young Justice appears to gone out of its way (I don't know if it actually is OUT of the way, but compared to other shows...) to have multiple women, multiple people of most minorities, and many in fleshed-out, starring roles, is really that amazing. The fact that we're going to lose all this in five more episodes is heartbreaking, but we ARE grateful.

I admit, I was one of the people who was concerned by the fact that it took YJ five episodes just to pass the Bechdel Test (getting two female characters to have a single conversation about something besides boys, and "Schooled" passed on one exchange between Miss Martian and Black Canary). While I still think YJ *could* have done better on that front, I believe that it wasn't for lack of trying. I really am devastated to see the show go, and I hope there's a chance for revival in the future.