Gail Simone's Blog, page 1045

The HandDrawn Hero: Reason #632 Why I'm a Gail Simone Fan

The HandDrawn Hero: Reason #632 Why I'm a Gail Simone Fan:

handdrawnhero:

gailsimone:

handdrawnhero:

#632: She just defended a friend of hers from Roseanne Barr on Twitter. Nbd.

That was very weird. :)

But thanks!

I admire Roseanne, she's a trailblazer. The whole thing was surreal.

It was just really bizarre to see the odd social interactions of…

I have had that happen a lot of times, that hairdresser thing. When some guy wants to dismiss my opinion, they often bring up that I was a hairdresser, like I'm supposed to be ashamed of that.

(This wasn't Roseanne, by the way, it was some writer guy named Ward Webb or similar, can't recall).

For the record, I am not ashamed of being a hairdresser. It's a hard job, the schooling is hard, the job itself is demanding, I had my own salon which I ran in the most ethical way I could (people who made racist or homophobic statements were told they would be happier someone else and never given another appointment). 

I was poor when I went to beauty college, worked nights to pay for it with little help from family, and I was proud of the work I did. When you are a cosmetologist, you do the first haircuts of a toddler, you do the transformative haircut that gives a person confidence and can change their lives, you do bride's haircut on the day of her wedding, and you do the last haircut of the woman who wants to look nice for her funeral. It's demanding, and it can be draining, and it can be lovely and rewarding.

Almost every writer I know had a different job first. Brian Bendis worked at McDonalds, Ed Brubaker was a sales clerk, Mark Waid was a lounge singer at one point. The thought of insulting those talented guys because they worked while honing their craft is really noxious to me.

So, guys who hate my guts, there's much better ammo to use against me than calling me a hairdresser. I'm proud of my time doing hair.

And I was GREAT at it. :)

— Cliff ChiangI had a story of Zinda and a very...

— Cliff Chiang

I had a story of Zinda and a very Tuskegee-like squadron that I was dying to do, and now probably never will. This shot just makes me sadder about that.

CLIFF CHANG, WHY DO YOU DRAW SO GOOD?

Good lord!

Good lord!

wilwheaton:inothernews:think-progress:Obamacare turns 2....

wilwheaton:

inothernews:

think-progress:

Obamacare turns 2. Here are the facts about what Americans have already gained.

"WE DON'T CARE ABOUT YOU OR YOUR FACTS!!!"

— Republicans

OH BABY JESUS WHO WILL SAVE US FROM THE AWFUL TYRANNY OF AFFORDABLE HEALTHCARE?!

Thoughts About An Artist's Passing

This is just a personal note of sadness, it's not anything but my own personal experience, and a little bit of grief for a man I didn't really get to know except through his art and his actions.

Maybe it's partly a gender thing, but when I was a kid reading comics, I never bothered to read the credits boxes. I learned to discern some artists I loved, but by their styles, never their names.

We were poor when I was a kid, my mom worked two jobs to support my brother and me, and when I got comics, it was usually at a garage sale or something like that. That was fine with me, I didn't discriminate, I loved all comics at that time and was happy to read Archie, old Bugs Bunny and Disney comics, superheroes, scary comics, whatever was there. 

But the score, the big treasures, were the DC specials that included Golden Age reprints. That stuff really fascinated me, and built my love of the shared universe concept. There were TWO Batmen? There was a JLA and a JSA? What?

I loved that stuff.

And I really liked the b-listers from those stories, people like the Ray, and the Black Condor, characters who hadn't really made it big, but had a lovely vibe of their own.

And my favorite of those, by far, was Doll Man. He was a bit like the Atom before the ATOM was like the Atom, by which I mean, he shrunk, when the Golden Age Atom was just a short guy. He shrunk to the size of a doll.

He had a classic, simple costume, reminiscent of the same circus outfits that inspired Superman's outfit. He had a girlfriend, named Doll Girl, who was fun to read about on her own.  Unlike the Atom, Doll Man could only shrink to one size.

Like Plastic Man, the creators of this series milked the concept for all the fun in the world. It was gimmicky, but it was great.  Doll Man rode a big dog, standing on its neck and pulling its ears to direct the canine transport.

He was tremendous fun. I've always wanted to write him.

Years later, when I was offered the All-New Atom, a huge part of wanting to do the book was because I loved Doll Man so much. I tried to bring the original Doll Man into the cast, but that was turned down. I still stuck a few Doll Man references in there, including Atom riding a dog, Doll Man style, in issue two, I believe.

So, okay, I can't say what it was I liked about him, maybe it was his whimsy, or it might have been that when you feel small and powerless, it's fun to imagine someone who is small and still kicks everyone's ass.

Over the years, Doll Man has mostly been forgotten, I think. He was reinvented in an excellent series a while back by a great creative team, but obviously, the theme was very different for today's audience.

Skip ahead to just a couple years ago, and the great author John Ostrander is having serious problems. He has glaucoma so bad that he is in danger of losing his eyesight, and can't afford the corrective surgery to fix it.

Some friends and I decide to ask the comics community for help. I've talked about this a lot, how amazing it was to get the generous donations of both readers and the creative community. Many of my creative heroes became my compassion heroes as well, as they gave art, time and money to this worthy cause.

News got around, lots of people came to us to donate.

I got a note on facebook from a gentleman I had never heard of, named Geoff Brenneman.  He had a friend who was an artist who had heard about this, and wanted to donate some art.  I was so flooded with all the email and phone calls at the time, that I didn't ask right away who it was, just gave Geoff the information for where and how to donate, and thanked him.

The next time I spoke with Geoff, I was more collected and asked if I might know who his artist friend was.

The artist's name was Fran Matera.

Like I said, I am not that familiar with some of the names of the creators of even some of my favorite comics, so I asked a little about who Fran was.

What an amazing career.

Fran was one of the last remaining Golden Age artists. He was 85 years old when he made this offer.

He had drawn many comic strips for years, stuff like Steve Roper  and Rex Morgan, M.D.  As well as fun, oddball strips like Bruce Lee and Dolly Parton.

He had drawn Tarzan and the Incredible Hulk at Marvel.

I was incredibly touched by this. Out of all the people who had offered to help, here was this 85 year old former Marine, who didn't wait to be asked, but contacted US to volunteer to help a much younger writer in a crisis.  It was just one of those, holy crap, people really ARE good and kind moments.

I was stunned to hear that Fran was a well-known Golden Age artist who had worked with Will Eisner. He had done Blackhawks, for one.

But he was most known for drawing another Eisner creation, Doll Man.

I literally flipped my **** a little bit, there. It just seemed too weirdly fortuitous that I was possibly the biggest Doll Man fan currently writing comics and here this man approached US to offer to help, like a little love from my childhood coming back with a suitcase of unicorns.

Here's Fran's site:

http://www.penandbrush.net/MATERA_.html

And here are some samples of his work, including Doll Man sketches done later in his life.

http://www.penandbrush.net/01-fran/01-fran.html

I love that stuff, I love that art, I love the playfulness of it. I still would kill to write THIS Doll man someday.

So we talked to Fran, through Geoff, and Fran insisted on sending two huge Doll Man sketches to auction off. Original art by living Golden Age artists is getting sadly rare.  And Fran's art was still fantastic, you can see the heart and imagination at work, along with his wonderful skills.

When I told Geoff what a fan I was of Doll Man, Fran himself absolutely insisted on including a sketch of Doll Man just for me. I tried to talk him out of it, I didn't want to benefit personally when the auction was for John, and I didn't want to inconvenience Fran. But he insisted, just every inch a gentleman.

Sure enough, a short time later, I get a package with the sketches, including one drawn just for me…a gorgeous huge Doll Man sketch in in pencil and grey wash, complete with a hand-drawn logo.  It says, "Greeting to Gail Simone from Fran Matera and Dollman!"

People have been very generous to me since I became a writer. I have a room full of lovely gifts and art that creators and readers and retailers have kindly decided to give me over the years.

But there aren't many things I treasure as much as this sketch. Not just the art, and not just the memories, but a reminder that kindness and empathy are forever, and can outlast even the people who had those qualities their entire lives through.

Fran Matera passed away earlier this month at the age of 88 years old. Another  piece of living comics history sadly gone.

I didn't know him, I never met him, but I'm going to miss him.

invisiblelad:daniellemertina:pearlfectchassi:misterdelfuego...

invisiblelad:

daniellemertina:

pearlfectchassi:

misterdelfuego:

Upfront and Honest

Treyvon Martin should have been "upfront and honest" with Zimmerman.

As the spotlight shines brighter on the Trayvon Martin killing, more and more questions have been asked about George Zimmerman, the neighborhood watchmen who admitted to shooting and killing the teen. Amidst the controversy, Frank Taaffe, a fellow neighborhood watch captain and friend of Zimmerman came to his defense.

During an interview with CNN's Anderson Cooper on AC360, Taaffe said that a problem could have been avoided if Martin had been "up front and truthful" with Zimmerman.

Taaffe told NBC Miami that there had been eight burglaries within 15 months, which he said set the stage for Zimmerman's heightened suspicion. He said safety, not race, was Zimmerman's main concern.

"George is a congenial, admirable person," he told the news outlet. "He had a passion and care for this neighborhood, to ensure the safety of everybody here."

Martin, who was black, was walking back to his father's house after a trip to the convenience store in Sanford, Fla. on February 26. George Zimmerman, who was identified by his father as Hispanic, called 911 and told the dispatchers that the teen "looked suspicious."

Despite being told by the dispatchers not to engage the teen, Zimmerman left his car and approached Martin. Neighbors called into 911 to report a scuffle, some cries for help, and gunshots. When police arrived, Zimmerman admitted to shooting Martin, who was unarmed, but claimed that he acted in self-defense. Zimmerman has not been arrested or charged, and the incident has attracted national attention.

Sanford police declined to charge Zimmerman, saying they lack evidence refuting his claim of self-defense. Under the 2005 Stand Your Ground law, Florida residents can use lethal force against an attacker if they believe their life is threatened. However, Republican state lawmakers responsible for the controversial legislation recently said it shouldn't apply to Zimmerman.

Nationwide, civil rights leaders and protesters have criticized Bill Lee Jr., the Sanford police chief whotemporarily stepped down saying that his involvement in the case "has become a distraction." The investigation has been taken over by the state attorney's office to decide whether or not Zimmerman should be charged.

But Taaffe told NBC Miami that he is troubled by the way his friend is being portrayed in the media.

"It's really sad that he has already been convicted in the public media and has already been sentenced to the gas chamber," he said. "Let's let justice do it's job."

View Full Story on HuffPost.com

This is BULLSHIT! So he'd be alive if he would have "acted accordingly"? 

if he had just known his place as a nigger and explained to this random stalkerish white man why he exists in *his* neighborhood then he would still be alive.

(i'm very good at translating white folk language)

What he's implying is fuckng awful. I'm going to refer to this as the Geraldo defense from now on. "Why if only Trayvon Martin had been a in a suit while going to the store this wouldn't have happened! If only he hadn't been walking home in a hoodie, and being pursued by a large man in a SUV. If only he had had decided to divulge information to some random person who questioned him…."

Would anyone expect their children, out by themselves at night to submit to this? "Be up front and honest" with people who are in no way law enforcement officers when they presume you're suspicious.

There's an old oldie but goodie I could apply too. "If only Emmett Till didn't allegedly whistle at that white woman." Again, Ethnic and cultural minorities of the world, police your behavior, because people in the dominant culture won't have to do the same. 

This man is scum.

Blaming Trayvon for his own murder makes this man lower than vermin.

bevismusson:Rough sketch for a commission I'm working on. I...

bevismusson:

Rough sketch for a commission I'm working on. I may actually go against my usual insistence that Huntress have the smaller Cry For Blood style mask and give her the bigger version instead. Not sure though…

And yeah, I know the table/work surface that Babs is leaning needs sorting out but it's only a rough sketch after all…

Beautiful!

blackalice:This is my favorite Black Alice photo of myself...

blackalice:

This is my favorite Black Alice photo of myself from San Diego Comic Con 2011.

You are an AMAZING Black Alice…as a hairdresser, I very much admired your Alice hair wizardry!

Also, it was a blast to talk to you at the con and the hotel!

APE IN A CAPE: Good Lord

APE IN A CAPE: Good Lord:

spiral-shark:

spiral-shark:

gailsimone:

hamburgerjack:

gailsimone:

Watching Anderson Cooper, a white friend of George Zimmerman is defending him in a remote interview.Slight paraphrasing, I was too pissed off to DVR it.

He describes what a good guy George is, and how Zimmerman actually…

Okay, well I'm just going to elaborate a bit on what I was thinking when I said that.  Yes, it's important to not shy away (or "dance around" as it was put) issues such as racism, and it's important to know when/how these terms apply.  But with that comes the risk of over-embellishing a term to the point where it becomes a sort of "cry wolf" issue.  If a term is saturated through constant usage, it becomes less effective and stops meaning the same things it used to.

And at the same time, I don't find the "correction", or however you'd call it, of "horrible human being" to "racist" that necessary, and even bordering on completely unneeded.  Racial profiling, or other acts that assign certain traits or actions to certain races, ethnic groups, etc is what defines the core of racism's definition.  And I personally think that everyone involved with this issue is either racist/ignorant or knows (and I mean really knows) that this was an act of racism.

Imagine if people are talking about a square box, and someone refers to it as a prism.  Just then one of the other members of the conversation corrects them, saying "You're wrong, this is a cube."  Well, yeah.  We all know it's a cube.  But it is also a rectangular prism.  And sometime's it's better (even required) to break up and prevent the build-up of monotonous vocabulary.

Because when vocabulary becomes monotonous, the issue at hand becomes monotonous.

Again, I don't want to speak for Hamburgerjack. But I think they were just being accurate. 

Merf. Thinking is Hard.: Want to help a Black honors student stay in school?

Merf. Thinking is Hard.: Want to help a Black honors student stay in school?:

black-candy:

I'm pretty much screwed and can't register for classes and probably won't be able do it until August (fall semester starts September). I'm on a scholarship and I have grants that pay for my tuition, but I had to get a loan for housing, and it doesn't cover all of it. I need…