Gail Simone's Blog, page 1120
December 8, 2011
thefingerfuckingfemalefury:
omendreamer:
thefingerfuckingfemale...
One of the best things that happened to me this year was getting to meet Gail Simone at Fanaticon, and actually have the time and chance to talk shop.
One of the worst was losing Secret Six so soon after that.
But, we still have the memories and precedents set by that wonderful comic, and everyone that was involved. Merry Christmas, Secret Sadistic Sexual Sleigh-rides Six!
Holy cow! This is so cute!!!
EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE. LOOK AT JEANNETTE! LOOK AT HER! LOOK AT HER LITTLE FACE! EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!
^ Your tags for this image are the best things ever :D
And Jeanette's face is ridiculous amounts of cute in this picture. That is the expression I have when I know sexy-ness is about to occur
Or when I see chocolate.
That is my sex-or-chocolate face :D
My official favorite piece of Christmas/Winter Holidays fanart EVER.
Have yourself a Secret Six-y Christmas! :D
WHY IS THIS SO AMAZING. WHY WHY WHY?
comicbooksawesome:
By me! (krystalbeisick.deviantart.com)
Told...
By me! (krystalbeisick.deviantart.com)
Told ya I was on a Scandal kick…
I just love how little she is compared to Knockout. She's like a squirrel climbing a tree or something. It's so cute. And I am missing the Secret Six like CRAZY right now!
Anyways… enjoy!
Oh, good lord.
That is adorable. You just made a bunch of hearts beat faster! Beautiful!
alexandraerinr: " When people were going crazy promoting the relaunch,I was trying to say,readers, be aware,this is a great publishing...
It's a little more problematic than that. Let's not even get into DC's completely eliminating characters and/or their relationships to other characters. Or how their treatment of female characters just keeps going on downward spiral to hell for the most part.That being said there are good things about the reboot, how ever little there are in my opinion. And of course there were bad books before. But the ratio of good to bad pre-reboot was a lot different and a lot brighter then it is post reboot.
Yes.
I think there's a lot of false equivalence going on with the relaunch. "Oh, there were rubbish comics before too". Well, yes, but you'd hope that a relaunch would present us with an improved universe. As it is, it feels like a lot of the same culprits committing Brand New Mistakes, "fixing" elements that were better left alone, honouring developments I'd have preferred to see undone by the relaunch, and cancelling plenty of interesting lines and launching lots of problematic ones.
Before and after the relaunch, the DC universe is broadly unknown to me, as I select the very few titles worth bothering with. But I think it's absolutely understandable that a lot of people are upset by the decisions made. Even ignoring the commercial eccentricities, it's just not a brilliant creative result.
Again, it seems like you're just making up an argument no one is actually making. If what you and the OP are saying is all correct, why was no one buying or supporting these wonderful books? Why were they consistently below the profit line? And it's not like people weren't complaining before the relaunch…everything always becomes a glorious golden age AFTER it's gone, which is pretty convenient.
I believe it's the message board distortion factor. To you, people aren't enjoying the books, that's the message you see, and if you just follow Tumblr or CBR or whatever, that seems valid. But reality, where the rubber meets the road, is telling a different story. People are buying these books in numbers not seen in a decade, and enjoying them. Ask any retailer.
And the list of books I keep mentioning are consistently getting excellent reviews, and not just from the comics press. The Internet has pockets of pessinsm, we all know that, it's silly to pretend otherwise. But judging the success of these books by that standard is never going to be anything but skewed.
It's odd, why isn't it enough to say, "I don't like the relaunch?" That's fair, valid, and truthful. Trying to say it's unsuccessful based on„,what, sales? Sales are higher than they've been in years. New customers? Pre-relaunch, new customers were rarer than unicorns. Critical response? Some of the new books are getting raves all over the world.
It's an adjustment. I wasn't down with it immediately and there are still aspects I don't like. But overall, I think it effected a huge change that has given the industry a much, much needed shot in the arm.
So, let's just disagree respectfully, fair enough? ;)
Also, my apologies for the weird formatting, I typed this on my ipad and it just came out odd.
This definitely sounds like people just want not to like something because it's not what they had before, an attitude which is rampant online. The reboot, or whatever it is, did exactly what it was supposed to do: gain shit-tons of attention and media coverage and (hopefully) sell more books. Sales figures from Diamond to retailers don't lie, and reports from retailers regarding increased sales and traffic don't lie either. The fact is that there are more DC titles getting buzz now than there were in the summer, and in the months prior to that. I'm glad for the reboot. I'm reading characters I never thought I'd read, like Deathstroke and O.M.A.C. and enjoying the hell out of them. If you, as a reader, don't like the new 52, move along and read something else. There are lots of other books to choose from…and if you miss "your" DC characters of old, go back and read the stories you liked. They'll always be there. Hell, that's what I do with Spider-Man ever since "One More Day." I got over it, shut up, and moved on. To the New 52 =)
While I agree with the rest of this post, I don't want to discount the opinions of people who didn't like the relaunch, or make assumptions about them, or label them. I think the creators who have done that are being huge jerks. I don't doubt that the relaunch doubters are sincere at all. Many are long-time readers, many gave it a more than fair shot. They just don't care for it. That's valid, they have every right to that opinion. I just hope with time, we can change it!
alexandraerinr: " When people were going crazy promoting the relaunch,I was trying to say,readers, be aware,this is a great publishing...
Reminds me of how Final Fantasy fanboys like to believe the narrative that the series has been dying ever since [game they don't like] and the only way to save it is to make the next one more like if not an outright remake of [game they liked] when sales of main series FF games have been consistently high since 7 (FF13 was the fourth-best selling game in the series and every non-MMO entry since 7 has ranked in the top 20 for sales on their platform.)
Amazingly enough, how much money a thing makes isn't always proportional to the level of criticism people on the internet give it, no matter how valid that criticism is.
Absolutely, I think it's perfectly understandable to be peeved at the relaunch. I think it's also perfectly understandable, if a little less generous, to hope something you really dislike will fail.
But it's very difficult to find an objective standard that makes the relaunch a failure. There's successes to it that haven't even been announced yet. DC was just voted as one of the top hottest licensing brands in the world because of the signal boost of the New 52.
That doesn't change one reader's opinion even a smidge. If they don't like it, they don't like it, that's their right.
I hate to admit it, but one of the things I've always secretly LIKED about fandom is the passion with which they love and hate things. I've been involved in this kind of discussion on the fan side a thousand times myself. ;)
As someone whose first book was a comic book, I found the reboot a little insulting to the dedicated fans. This being said, I enjoy a few of the books from this, and realize they wouldn't have existed otherwise. I lament the lost cannon, and wish that ther
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You know, I saw this beautiful painting in a restaurant a couple days ago, of a Mexican villa, painted in a style that was vastly non-representative. It was a beautiful effect, but for example, nothing in the building had a right angle and the perspective was deliberately distorted. Almost a bit of surrealism.
One problem with going over a topic TOO much is that you can end up explaining something that's meant to be felt, to be experienced. If that artist had gone on a message board to talk about the painting long enough, eventually, someone would ask why the roof has an unnatural curve (not meaning this facetiously, someone could ask what the effect was that was intended, in the name of scholarship, for example).
And at some point, you have to say, "That painting is what I intended it to be," because no amount of talking back and forth is really that satisfying for either party. If the relaunch isn't working for you, what can I say to change that? More importantly, what RIGHT to have to try to change your mind with anything but the books themselves?
Some people hate the relaunch. I don't feel it's my job or my privilege to try to argue them out of it. If they don't like it, that's their honest opinion. I disagree that it's an insult…we publish a LOT of books specifically that have been requested over and over by dedicated fans. Over and over, many of those books sink like a stone even with the best possible creative teams and all the positive energy we can summon.
Arguing why someone should like something seems as odd to me as arguing why someone should hate something.
So I don't have a response that's hugely helpful, I am sorry to say. I am sad you didn't find more books to love. Hopefully it's not over and there's still stuff coming you will enjoy more.
But your opinion is valid, I don't really feel it's my place to disagree with it.
Regarding the writers, again, you can't take these things as a slight or that the writers are out of favor. Some, like James Robinson and Nicola Scott, had projects that were coming but weren't ready yet. Same with characters…Huntress wasn't in the Birds because they wanted to give her a kickass solo mini. So some writers are still on the way.
The other thing was, because it was absolutely vital to make sure that retailers got these books on time (not just for credibility, but also things like our online partners and bookstore sales), DC needed writers who could absolutely deliver in a certain time frame, without fail. Some great writers, like Marjorie M. Liu, were already booked with other work and regretfully, could not make those time frames.
So there were a lot of reasons why some writers didn't get a launch book. It REALLY doesn't mean they're not important. James' book is going to be huge, a real keystone for the whole effort.
There may be some writers who were overlooked, I don't know.
Hope that all makes some sense!
As someone whose first book was a comic book, I found the reboot a little insulting to the dedicated fans. This being said, I enjoy a few of the books from this, and realize they wouldn't have existed otherwise. I lament the lost cannon, and wish that ther
****************
You know, I saw this beautiful painting in a restaurant a couple days ago, of a Mexican villa, painted in a style that was vastly non-representative. It was a beautiful effect, but for example, nothing in the building had a right angle and the perspective was deliberately distorted. Almost a bit of surrealism.
One problem with going over a topic TOO much is that you can end up explaining something that's meant to be felt, to be experienced. If that artist had gone on a message board to talk about the painting long enough, eventually, someone would ask why the roof has an unnatural curve (not meaning this facetiously, someone could ask what the effect was that was intended, in the name of scholarship, for example).
And at some point, you have to say, "That painting is what I intended it to be," because no amount of talking back and forth is really that satisfying for either party. If the relaunch isn't working for you, what can I say to change that? More importantly, what RIGHT to have to try to change your mind with anything but the books themselves?
Some people hate the relaunch. I don't feel it's my job or my privilege to try to argue them out of it. If they don't like it, that's their honest opinion. I disagree that it's an insult…we publish a LOT of books specifically that have been requested over and over by dedicated fans. Over and over, many of those books sink like a stone even with the best possible creative teams and all the positive energy we can summon.
Arguing why someone should like something seems as odd to me as arguing why someone should hate something.
So I don't have a response that's hugely helpful, I am sorry to say. I am sad you didn't find more books to love. Hopefully it's not over and there's still stuff coming you will enjoy more.
But your opinion is valid, I don't really feel it's my place to disagree with it.
Regarding the writers, again, you can't take these things as a slight or that the writers are out of favor. Some, like James Robinson and Nicola Scott, had projects that were coming but weren't ready yet. Same with characters…Huntress wasn't in the Birds because they wanted to give her a kickass solo mini. So some writers are still on the way.
The other thing was, because it was absolutely vital to make sure that retailers got these books on time (not just for credibility, but also things like our online partners and bookstore sales), DC needed writers who could absolutely deliver in a certain time frame, without fail. Some great writers, like Marjorie M. Liu, were already booked with other work and regretfully, could not make those time frames.
So there were a lot of reasons why some writers didn't get a launch book. It REALLY doesn't mean they're not important. James' book is going to be huge, a real keystone for the whole effort.
There may be some writers who were overlooked, I don't know.
Hope that all makes some sense!
As someone whose first book was a comic book, I found the reboot a little insulting to the dedicated fans. This being said, I enjoy a few of the books from this, and realize they wouldn't have existed otherwise. I lament the lost cannon, and wish that ther
****************
You know, I saw this beautiful painting in a restaurant a couple days ago, of a Mexican villa, painted in a style that was vastly non-representative. It was a beautiful effect, but for example, nothing in the building had a right angle and the perspective was deliberately distorted. Almost a bit of surrealism.
One problem with going over a topic TOO much is that you can end up explaining something that's meant to be felt, to be experienced. If that artist had gone on a message board to talk about the painting long enough, eventually, someone would ask why the roof has an unnatural curve (not meaning this facetiously, someone could ask what the effect was that was intended, in the name of scholarship, for example).
And at some point, you have to say, "That painting is what I intended it to be," because no amount of talking back and forth is really that satisfying for either party. If the relaunch isn't working for you, what can I say to change that? More importantly, what RIGHT to have to try to change your mind with anything but the books themselves?
Some people hate the relaunch. I don't feel it's my job or my privilege to try to argue them out of it. If they don't like it, that's their honest opinion. I disagree that it's an insult…we publish a LOT of books specifically that have been requested over and over by dedicated fans. Over and over, many of those books sink like a stone even with the best possible creative teams and all the positive energy we can summon.
Arguing why someone should like something seems as odd to me as arguing why someone should hate something.
So I don't have a response that's hugely helpful, I am sorry to say. I am sad you didn't find more books to love. Hopefully it's not over and there's still stuff coming you will enjoy more.
But your opinion is valid, I don't really feel it's my place to disagree with it.
Regarding the writers, again, you can't take these things as a slight or that the writers are out of favor. Some, like James Robinson and Nicola Scott, had projects that were coming but weren't ready yet. Same with characters…Huntress wasn't in the Birds because they wanted to give her a kickass solo mini. So some writers are still on the way.
The other thing was, because it was absolutely vital to make sure that retailers got these books on time (not just for credibility, but also things like our online partners and bookstore sales), DC needed writers who could absolutely deliver in a certain time frame, without fail. Some great writers, like Marjorie M. Liu, were already booked with other work and regretfully, could not make those time frames.
So there were a lot of reasons why some writers didn't get a launch book. It REALLY doesn't mean they're not important. James' book is going to be huge, a real keystone for the whole effort.
There may be some writers who were overlooked, I don't know.
Hope that all makes some sense!
Cosplayer. Fujoshi. Comic Book Fangirl.: I have the most awesome friends ever
So, back in October, plude and I were guests at Aki Con, and we were devastated that Geek Girl Con was a mere 15 minutes away, the same weekend mostlybecausewewantedtospazzoveracertainawesomeBatgirlandBoPwriter.
But my great friends that were working their booth at the con brought us this:
A great gift in itself, yes?
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HA! I actually remember signing this!
Thank you for making my day, and if you can come to the next Geek Girl Con, you'd better believe that you WILL COME TO IT BECAUSE THAT'S KIND OF AN ORDER.
:)
Also, your avatar photo is completely adorable. Thanks for making my day.
"1941. Right now, not very far from here the German war machine is rolling up the map of Europe...."
-
the Doctor
I would just like to add:
That is England's empire during WWII. It covered about a fourth of the world, and England's severe exploitation of all those countries was what allowed it to survive the war. So: not a tiny island. Certainly not a tiny island saving the world. Modern nationalism is dangerous and I don't like it and I don't like seeing this quote so here. Just look at that map for a while.
(via reelaroundthefountain)
THIS. Ugh. We went up against an oppressor because as a fellow oppressor we didn't like the look of what they were doing and what it might mean for us, and I get so pissed off that people pretend like it was altruistic. A few years prior, fascism? WAS POPULAR AMONGST THE UPPER CLASSES IN ENGLAND. Amongst the people in charge.
Do people think that empire just had always existed? We walked into countries and decided that the people there were inherently inferior to us based on their identities, and we subjugated them. On a regular basis. Hmmm. Sound a little eerily familiar there..?
(via ayries)
******
Wow, what an excellent point, brilliantly stated.
Man, I just watched that episode and it didn't even hit me how full of bullshit that speech was!
alexandraerinr: " When people were going crazy promoting the relaunch,I was trying to say,readers, be aware,this is a great publishing...
I appreciate your comments here, Gail. While personally my opinions on the relaunch are very mixed, a lot of that comes from the fact I've been a dedicated reader as long as I can remember, and when this reboot happened I went from reading six books a month to maybe two (Animal Man, and Justice League Dark). And while I have an immense amount of love for the existence of these two books, I still find myself wary of the entirety of the reboot. I understand something had to be done. I accept that financially it seems to be a success.
Perhaps I'm just an old dog, reluctant to learn new tricks.
That being said, mainly I miss the writing teams of the old universe. And a few of the titles. It broke my heart into tiny little pieces when I found out that Zatanna's series wasn't being kept on, and by that same thread Paul Dini's name wasn't attached to ANY of the new books. It was confusing. It's really difficult to find selling info for the comics (at least for me it is) and it leaves the readers confused to find out that their favorite series was cancelled and its writer seemingly shouldered out of the company.
All in all, I think I just wish they'd explain things more. Yea, the business stuff might be boring to some people, but I think it helps some people understand what's going on.
I totally respect that, and of course, a part of me commiserates with you because I dearly loved some of the books that are gone now, and that stings.
However, stuff is getting attributed to the relaunch that really has very little to do with it. Paul Dini is one of my favorite writers, but he's an incredibly busy writer and in the past year, was not able to keep both his books in scripts. Paul is well loved at DC.
The other thing is, DC has made a serious promise and commitment to retailers to get books on a regular schedule. Some writers are either deadline nightmares (sometimes me!), or are so busy with other work that monthly books are impossible for them. The decision was made to put these people on books that didn't need a monthly deadline. The late shipping thing has gone from a HUGE problem to almost completely gone, with a couple exceptions, and that is kind of a big, big deal for retailers.
I understand missing books. But may I humbly say if you like Animal Man and JLDark, you might really enjoy Swamp Thing, Frankenstein, and Batwoman at the very least? Also Batman and All-star Western are fantastic books with a great weird element, two of my favorites. I'm really enjoying Men of War, as well. OH, and Demon Knights is an absolute blast, Paul Cornell at his manic best!
I'm sorry you feel left behind, that's something DC needs to address.
There are many DCnU books that I thoroughly enjoy, and a couple that I even love.
But I would still give them all up if I could get Secret Six back. ;_;
HA! I would give up a lot, but even I wouldn't give up Wonder Woman and Batwoman and Batman and Demon Knights and I, Vampire and Swamp Thing and Animal Man for Secret Six. ;)
Unless it was Secret Six drawn by Nicola Scott!
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