Gail Simone's Blog, page 1097

A Printable One

From my Ask box:

"About the racism comment: white racism doesn't exist…among those who are American born or already 3rd generation American. I'm white, but my family is Russian. I've had to put up with racism since I was a young child, despite having been in the US since I was 7 months old. My mother gets racist remarks on a weekly basis. I don't understand why "established" white Americans complain, but that doesn't mean white people are immune to racism or disadvantage due to their ethnicity. I understand your position, but don't generalize to the point you have. I have been hurt and lost opportunities due to this apparently nonexistent racism. The white Americans who don't face racism are those of Anglo-Saxon descent. I'm of Slavic descent, and a lot of white people hate me for that.
Something to think on. I hold nothing against you, just felt a need to point this out.

— daibenzaiten"



Okay, look, I don't know the entire situation, and as I said, I am FAR from an expert on this topic. But it seems to me that what you are saying is a little different from the topic at hand. You are saying you are discriminated against because of your background, right?

It doesn't seem, from what you are saying, that people are saying, "This person is white, I hate them for that." It seems that people are discriminating because of your country of origin, rather than your skin color, is that fair to say?

No one is saying you can't be white and be discriminated against. Obviously, you can be white and gay, or white and female, or white and trans, or white and disabled, and face discrimination for any or all of those things. But it's not your skin color that is the focus of this discrimination, is it?

And even if it were, is it at all comparable to the systemic and institutionalized racism against POCs?

Now I'm Getting PMs About How "Reverse Racism" Exists

Arggh.

The difference, guys?

The entire society is open to white people. Virtually nothing is denied to white people because of their skin color. Incidents of white people being discriminated against for skin color tend to be both fleeting and personal. Incidents of POC's being discriminated against, violated, brutalized, sidelined, ignored and vilified are INSTITUTIONAL and ONGOING and accepted as the societal 'norm.' People sigh wistfully, remembering the days of slavery and genocide, and no one bats an eye. Our history is full of it to its bones, and it continues to this day in our politics, media, and national dialogue.

I am not an expert in these matters. Far, far, far from it. I don't want to lecture anyone and virtually ANYONE IN THE WORLD probably can speak with more eloquence and authority on this topic than I could.

But conflating some incident, even a serious one, with institutionalized racism that POC people face their entire lives in wildly diverging circumstance, that's just shameful.

YATA, It's Chris!: IMO: re GLAAD nominated comic books

YATA, It's Chris!: IMO: re GLAAD nominated comic books:

amboy00:

The 2011 GLAAD nominated comic books are, and rightly so, well desverving of their accolades. LGBT characters have shifted from afterthoughts and side characters to main plot points and leading heroes. But as great as these titles may be, Avengers: The Children's Crusade should win for one…

Hey, Chris, nice post.

As much as I love Allen and agree with a lot of what you say here (and I love the other books, as well)…to me the choice of the year goes to Archie for their Kevin Keller books.

Not only did Archie do something really brave that the other companies haven't matched yet, they actually EMBRACED having a gay male lead, they didn't run from it, they touted it beautifully and with sincerity and dignity. When it erupted into a bigotstorm of outrage, they simply said, "We don't care if bigots don't want to read our books."

They did the first big gay male wedding story that I'm aware of in mainstream comics, and I say it for emphasis, they did it in ARCHIE comics, a line with heavy mainstream awareness, a reputation for having a very young audience, and a deeply conservative approach in decades past.

I really think what they did was remarkable and long overdue and I hope Glaad acknowledges that!

I Am Having A Low Tolerance For BS Day Today

Apparently.

Just listened to my friend, whom I respect, and who is white, talk so goofily about 'reverse racism,' that I can't even see straight.

How does, I wonder, a white woman, with access to every possible advantage from the moment of birth forward, who never had to work for any of it but was instead given it as if from divine birthright,  who lives a dream life many people cannot imagine, somehow manage to see themselves as a victim?

Of RACISM, of all things?

I would love to post at more length but I'm afraid I'm busy smashing my head into a wall repeatedly.

ablipintime:I just made the most pornographic noise I've ever made because I am that attracted to...

ablipintime:

I just made the most pornographic noise I've ever made because I am that attracted to Starling and this issue has so much of her in it.

SHOOTING THINGS. LEATHER JACKETS. BEING BADASS.

She's my favorite part of the new 52, I think, and god I hope she stays around forever. Or at least long enough to go toe-to-toe with Scandal Savage.

I'm not sure who would win that fight.

Scandal. :)

The Last Secret Six Trade...

…The Darkest House, is out today, including the final issue, which ign.com rated as "the best single comic issue of 2011."

I rarely use this forum to hype books directly, I figure there are tons of other venues for that. However, if you order or buy this book, if you ask your retailer for it if he or she is sold out, eight away, that sends a VERY strong message to DC, that these characters and this book are missed and that the readership want them back.

Can't stress it enough, the key is do do it ASAP…if the book sits on a shelf at all, it doesn't demand more Six characters and stories.

Thank you as always for the love and support!

bringbacklianharper:JUDE'S COMMISSION COLLECTIONRagdoll...

bringbacklianharper:

JUDE'S COMMISSION COLLECTION

Ragdoll dressed as Black Canary in Tiny Titans form. By Franco Aureliani. Wizard World Philadelphia 2011.

(Already posted this)

Oh, no!  Those guys are so wonderful. This is adorable and SO WRONG!

collababortion:gailsimone:comicbookkissyface:Birds of Prey...

collababortion:

gailsimone:

comicbookkissyface:

Birds of Prey v1 #109

This is one of the few Bop pages that I get credited for a lot that I didn't write.

It was written by the great Tony Bedard, one of the most underrated writers out there. Smart, imaginative, with great empathy and plotting skills, the fact that he's not a household name is just a crime.

Many times, even when friends wrote the Secret Six, or the Tranquility characters, or even the Boppers during my tenure, it would be a little painful. It often felt that the surface characteristics would be there, but the subtext that gave them life would be missing (I am not putting on airs, I've made the same mistake myself, more than once).

Tony wrote the Boppers in his own style, but it still FELT like the Boppers. Here, he has a very tricky and funny and sexy scene, it's very much about the characters, not the titillation (although, hell, there's some pretty good titillation).  Sigh.

Great writer, sad his run didn't last.

Just to add…the art on this is so refreshing and wonderful!  Sexy without objectifying.  "Realistic" (as far as one can be in comics) proportions.  And I LOVE Scandal's "chins" - showing how a woman (or just any person ever) gets that smushed look when she reclines like that…that's something you wouldn't get in a book drawn my Benes, or Land, or Liefeld, or any of the scores upon scores of shitty artists who get hired time and again out there in comicdom.

Well, that's because it's the mighty Nicola Scott, whose talents are just funky ridiculous. She's amazing, she makes even mediocre material look great and she elevates great material even beyond that.

She ought to have shrine, that girl.

Plus, here's a thing. She eats like a horse. I was at a dinner once with her where she DID eat horse (true). And if you are at her table, she will grab food off your plate with her fork and eat it without even looking away while having a conversation. You look down, and part of your meal is gone because Nicola snatched it when you weren't looking.

Great, great artist, I really miss her. We both wanted her on Batgirl but DC had other plans. I'm thrilled with Ardian, so it worked out, but she and I always want to work together as much as possible.

Hi Gail! There's something I've always wanted to know about your Wonder Woman run. In Wonder Woman #34, Wonder Woman and Black Canary have an interesting conversation about their respective religious beliefs. Diana has abandoned her worship of Zeus, and sh

My thinking was that Dinah was always a bit of a polytheist, to be honest. The defining trait in my run with her was that she was a citizen of the world, intellectually, rather than simply another American citizen.  So she would have seen and done things from a much wider perspective than the average Gothamite, particularly in the DCU where there really ARE gods and goddesses and some are still walking about, as it were.

So my feeling was that she was probably raised Christian, but as she grew up and traveled the world, became a believer in more than one god.

I never saw religion as as big a part of her life as Helena, but it seems to me that she would be a believer, based on her history and being in love with a guy who returned from the dead, for example.

Hi Gail! There's something I've always wanted to know about your Wonder Woman run. In Wonder Woman #34, Wonder Woman and Black Canary have an interesting conversation about their respective religious beliefs. Diana has abandoned her worship of Zeus, and sh

My thinking was that Dinah was always a bit of a polytheist, to be honest. The defining trait in my run with her was that she was a citizen of the world, intellectually, rather than simply another American citizen.  So she would have seen and done things from a much wider perspective than the average Gothamite, particularly in the DCU where there really ARE gods and goddesses and some are still walking about, as it were.

So my feeling was that she was probably raised Christian, but as she grew up and traveled the world, became a believer in more than one god.

I never saw religion as as big a part of her life as Helena, but it seems to me that she would be a believer, based on her history and being in love with a guy who returned from the dead, for example.