Gail Simone's Blog, page 1125

You wrote a Power Girl in a guest spot once? What book was this? I love PG!

It was two issues of Wonder Woman…it's a fun little story, the villains are creepy little bastards, and PG and WW make a great contrast.

I'm back with another question! As I'm sure you can tell from my penguin costume you saw with the secret six at mcm expo, I love the character, and in my mind I have a way I imagine Oswald is in terms of personality etc. To me, he regards himself as the to

I LOVE writing the Penguin, far more than the Joker or those guys. The Penguin to me is incredibly smart, and while not a fighter, I think he's tough, inconquerable. I hate when they make him a pushover. I like him to have an amusing, but disturbing cadence to his speech. I think of him a little bit like a cross between Jack Nicholson and Popeye, in his speech, to be honest…loquacious, but with his own rhythm and a pattern that says, basically, says, "F*** YOU, WORLD, I AM OSWALD F***ING COBBLEPOT." 

I like him to be scary. I've only gotten to write him twice, really, and both times I wanted him scary. Not mutated, I hate all that stuff, just determined, like the worst crime boss ever. If you saw him in the Secret Six story, the entire Six torture him for an hour and he not only doesn't break, he MOCKS them while they do it.

Bane's great and all, I love Bane. But he's facing the PENGUIN.

Different thing entirely, a different kind of strength!

Last Day For Coolness!

The Comic Book Legal Defense Fund is a vital and wonderful organization that fights for free speech rights for all forms of the comics industry; creators, readers, and retailers.  Just this past year, we've seen overreaching customs agents abuse their power when people tried to bring common comics purchased legally through customs. We NEED the CBLDF and they do amazing work.

Right now, in the spirit of Christmas, they are selling books with PERSONALIZED and signed book plates, by the creators who made them. Creators like Gaiman, Azzarello, Kirkman, Spiegleman, Miller, Hickman, and many more (and me!). This is the LAST day you can order them personalized. Why not get one for a loved one or a friend or yourself for the holidays AND make a lovely contribution to one of the most important causes in this industry we all love?

Seriously, this is the LAST DAY. Check it out!

http://t.co/dzYbBaQN

blackalice:Elena Fried (me) as Black Alice mock Daniel...

blackalice:

Elena Fried (me) as Black Alice mock Daniel Luvisi's Secret Six #16 cover! :-)

I think I might love you for this!

Hi Gail! I read on an entertainment news site that you were working on a project about teen superheroes for DC. When will we be getting details on that (or did I miss the announcement somehow)?

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Kind of a misquote, that got repeated everywhere. What I said was that I was working on something with some teen characters. Unfortunately, can't give details yet, sorry!

I know she was only a Bird for a little bit, but did you come up with a backstory for Judomaster? I know Geoff Johns did some stuff with her origin when he brought her over into the JSA after you left BOP, but did you ever plan on doing more with her?

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Sigh.

Yes, I did have a backstory for her, and a whole character development. I didn't want to do the typical thing with her.

To be honest, I feel like she's one of the characters I failed on. I didn't get enough time with her to really show what she could do and be. I wanted her to become something very special. But I left the book for Wonder Woman, and Geoff picked her up and gave her some great screen time.

I have a couple characters I would love to have developed more. It happens, it's always a drag. The thing about Birds of Prey was always that the women were whole characters, not just a series of traits and tropes, at least, that's my feeling. We didn't get to develop JudoMaster beyond that stage.

I hope she's still around and someone will get the chance to give her a full, rich life outside of kicking and throwing people!

Very curious about something...What is Black Alice's sexual orientation?

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That's interesting. We never really explored it, we know she has problems with girls her age, and when we first meet her, she's making out with a boy. And she seems to have a crush on Ragdoll.  At the same time, I got the impression that she had a crush on the girl who steals her boyfriend in her first appearance, but that could have been non-sexual.  So we have proof she likes boys, and some evidence that she might like at least A girl, but hasn't acted upon it. Straight with a question mark? Non-practicing bi?  I would say that's still fluid. Sorry, sometimes the answers just aren't known yet!

Hey Gail! I just wanted to say, since Liana has come up a lot today, how grateful I am for you including not only such a wonderful lesbian character, but also such a well written character who's a stripper. People in the sex industry are often portrayed in

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Thank you so much!

I have a lot of friends who are sex workers of various stripes, and so my approach has always been to write them as human beings rather than JUST sexual concepts.  Like anything else I haven't experienced personally, it's easy to make a misstep or to fall into a cliche, and even if your intentions are good, that can happen.

A very good friend of mine was very upset that Liana had a stalker, she felt that that was a cliche that accompanied far too many media portrayals of workers in the sex industry, and it really upset her. On the one hand, I've done enough crisis work that I see the stalker thing as a VERY REAL PROBLEM, but on the other, she lives that life, she knows what it's like to have her life and work misrepresented and reduced to cliche. You have to listen to that, you have to try to take it in as best you can as an observer.

Most of the people I know in the sex industries suffer the same frustrations the rest of us do, they have good days and bad days, but most of them have made a choice and they rightfully resent being cast as puppets and easily manipulated victims.

So it's a learning thing…Writers can't experience every career, every gender choice, every background. So eventually, it comes down to a weird, imperfect mix of empathy, research, proximity, and ability, which we all have in varying degrees from LOTS to NIL. :)

One of the reasons Liana works so well in the Secret Six book, to me, is that she represents the undamaged heart, the only one in the book. Sex worker or no, her heart is indomitable. So she's got a kind of power that the Six will never understand.

So I think the idea is just like anyone else, no one wants to be thought of as anything less than a whole person. But too often, sex workers are portrayed purely for titillation with no thought to their humanity, and I can certainly see why they would get sick of seeing THAT in all media, all the time!

Just wanted to say I've really been enjoying Firestorm, particularly your Hyena revamp! The lead female Hyena was AWESOME (though a bit racist) and just ugh, I continue to love Tonya!

Thank you!  It's funny, but you almost can't talk about race at ALL in mainstream comics without getting a bajillion offended white people.  Thanks, I didn't realize that ALL RACIAL INEQUALITY WAS FIXED ALREADY!

Someone should have told me!  :) 

And thank you about Tonya, she is going to have an increasingly large role, and I think you will like it!

Hello Gail! I'm not sure if you have been asked this before (you probably have, and have responded to it, but I couldn't see anything on your tumblr), but I was wondering, what are your thoughts/views on the way the character Bunker is being handled? I kno

Okay, I have been asked this a lot. I have only read the first issue of Teen Titans so I don't know Bunker yet, but he seems very polarizing. I've heard from lgbtq folks who REALLY don't like him, but then I've also read really positive stuff from lgbtq folks about him. I wish I had a better answer, but I'm not really caught up.

I'm not dodging it, I'm just behind on some of the 52 books. I still haven't read the Catwoman and Red Hood books people were freaking about!

I will say I just looked at some scans, and I like how he appears to be a happy, positive character. That's actually quite nice to see.