Gail Simone's Blog, page 1157
October 17, 2011
Hey, just wanted to stop by and thank you. I was thinking of getting the S6 trades today but, instead I got Batgirl #2 and the new Batwoman issues. I want to start reading S6, but, which arc do I start with?
Thank YOU!
And I recommend starting with Villains United, if possible, followed by Six Degrees of Devastation, then UNHINGED, then DEPTHS. If you want, you can get the Birds of Prey tpb, the final book of volume one of that series, which has a pretty fun Six story in it, before Unhinged. Hope you enjoy!
October 16, 2011
cracked.com shares more truths
"Batman Characters
Gotham City is a giant group therapy project, and just like in real-life psychiatry, nobody benefits from it.
The real tragedy is how many decades it took to get a great Batman movie.
Just The Facts
"The $*#@ Batman is mother-flippin' crazy!" according to several gangs of multicultural street punks.
The popularity of a Batman cast member is proportional to how much poetic comparison he draws with Batman.
There are women in Gotham, but their personalities have all the defitinion of a snowman made from cottage cheese.*
*Unless written by Gail Simone, who punches up weak characters so well you'd think she was a bully."
Awww! Well that's a nice and unexpected compliment!
I love Cracked, I'm hooked on it. Who would have thought Cracked.com would become so essential?
rraaaarrl:
oh uh
HA!
One of my favorite things in Secret Six...
oh uh
HA!
One of my favorite things in Secret Six was having a complete alpha male like Floyd be so completely sexually dominated by a woman. I think it was interesting that he's attracted to her, but he's terrified of her at the same time, and very little terrifies him.
There's a similar thing with Catman and Cheshire, where he says that her womb is the most dangerous weapon in the world. But he doesn't exactly say NO when it comes calling, either.
ceebee-eebee:
Jim Calafiore did this Jeannette for me and I am...
Jim Calafiore did this Jeannette for me and I am utterly blown away. I couldn't possibly love it more. And it's more than a little bitter sweet.
WHY ARE YOU IN NEW YORK AND I AM NOT?
elliottmarshal:
[Image: An adorable drawing of DC Comics...
[Image: An adorable drawing of DC Comics character Jeannette, drawn very tiny. She stands with her hands on her hips.]
By Katie Cook
Oh, good lord, Katie drew this?
I AM JEALOUS OF THE WHOLE WORLD.
fly-little-bluebird:
mulder-itsme:
pikatroy:
Awww :)
Can we...
[image error]
[image error]
Awww :)
Can we just take a moment to realize how this child is acting more maturely than half the population of the earth? Kay. That will be all.
reblogging again ;u;
October 15, 2011
APE IN A CAPE: A Hopefully Helpful Thread
I had a Hollywood friend ask me this morning about how to format a comic book script. That's a big question. I'm going to answer it, and I thought it might be helpful to some of you who are aspiring to write comics yourself (the short answer is, everyone does it differently. The long answer is,…
Thank you SO much, Gail! My question is how much action direction I should give to the artist in the script?
Tricky one!
Okay, there's a lot of variety in the industry. A lot. Some very famous writers will say to the artist, "okay, here's three pages of fight scenes, and the hero wins. Have fun!"
Me, I like to choreograph a fight scene. I want it to be original, to have fresh elements, and I want it to speak to character. Action is stress, and stress reveals emotion. Think of what Bruce Lee said about fighting, he said to bring EMOTIONAL CONTENT.
So I insist on writing my fight scenes. When I write animation, I always block it out in detail, and then I always get a polite note back saying, "Gail, our storyboard guys know how to do this, you don't have to write every punch."
:)
But they end up USING my notes, because I think I know how to do a fight scene in an entertaining way.
Now, if your artist is a veteran, or if he or she is simply great at fight scenes, it's okay to tell him or her, "Artist, this is how I see the scene, but if you see something more exciting, let's talk about it." Then you tell them what the scene MUST convey, and let them go. Once you have opened that box though, you can't complain if they go a direction you didn't expect.
Eventually, you find out what an artist can do. I would write fight scenes for, say, Nicola Scott, but she knew she had room to make it better if she had an idea.
So it varies. But the more important the emotion in the scene, the more I want to choreograph to get the MAXIMUM impact.
Here's a brutal fight scene excerpt from Birds of Prey to give an example. It's light on setting the scene because all the expository stuff is done with, I want this fast, hard, brutal, and focused.
PAGE SEVENTEEN:
PANEL ONE: Huntress on her back, arching it in pain, teeth clenched and eyes closed. Her face has blood spatter from her nose.
HUNTRESS CAP: aoh.
HUNTRESS CAP: God.
PANEL TWO: She moves her head just in time to avoid her face being smashed by Shiva's foot.
PANEL THREE: She pushes herself to her feet. Some blood has dripped onto her costume.
HUNTRESS CAP: Can't…
HUNTRESS CAP: …get time to FOCUS.
PANEL FOUR: Shiva kicks Huntress in the face, rocking her head to once side.
HUNTRESS: gugh.
HUNTRESS CAP: Can't breathe.
HUNTRESS CAP: Too much blood.
PANEL FIVE: Huntress smiles, blood on her teeth, and her face.
HUNTRESS CAP: No.
HUNTRESS CAP: Not ENOUGH.
HUNTRESS: You know what, Shiva?
HUNTRESS: You hit like a GIRL.
PAGE EIGHTEEN:
PANEL ONE: Shiva, annoyed, does a spinning elbow smash into Huntress's face.
HUNTRESS: ggllgh.
PANEL TWO: White Canary looks on, fascinated. Not comprehending. Zinda has a bit of a proud smirk on her face. Her friend might die, but she's not going to go down easy.
WHITE CANARY: I don't understand. She's not…
WHITE CANARY: How is she continuing to stand?
ZINDA: That woman right there, lady?
ZINDA: She doesn't know HOW to stay down.
PANEL THREE: Shiva throws ANOTHER punch to Helena's bruised, battered face, again knocking her head back. But now SHIVA's getting angry and flustered.
SHIVA: YIAAAH!
HUNTRESS CAP: Stay…
HUNTRESS CAP: On your feet, Helena.
PANEL FOUR: Shiva does an uppercut, Helena's eye on one side is swollen shut here. Shiva's growling, almost.
SHIVA: TSSS!
HUNTRESS: ggg..
PANEL FIVE: Huntress, still standing, hands up in fists, but shaky as hell and barely able to hold her head up. Blood is still on her face, and one eye is mostly shut.
HUNTRESS: hh.
HUNTRESS: How.
PAGE NINETEEN:
PANEL ONE: Shiva's face, FURIOUS.
HUNTRESS (off-panel): How'd you like the DRINK, drippypants?
PANEL TWO: Shiva throws a VICIOUS haymaker punch at Helena's face.
HUNTRESS CAP: Yeah.
HUNTRESS CAP: That should do it.
I'm reblogging this because it's good advice & a good example, but also because…this scene still brings me to tears.
And proof that Gail knows what she's doing? THE DESCRIPTION DID THE SAME THING.
Aww… :)
Thank you. Huntress taking Canary's place is such a lovely reminder of what kind of person Helena is, and her kneeling to pray in that same issue, it reminds me of the kind of characters I was fortunate enough to write. Honest to god, writing the Birds of Prey was an incredible honor and I miss them terribly and probably will forever.
APE IN A CAPE: In Which I Adore My Husband...
This story is true, and a little weird, and while I SHOULD be angry at him, I have to say, I can't quite manage it.
At the Geek Girl Con, the vibe was so amazing and wonderful that it's easy to forget we still have to live in a real world that ISN'T so supportive and creative and wonderful.
…
Oh my gosh, can I say how much I absolutely ADORE your husband, Gail? Seriously, I was a bit upset when the man came up, and before I could even THINK of reacting your husband was already defending us. It was absolutely brilliant and so touching. I probably had a dorky grin on my face for hours after.
Be sure to tell him thank you very much from me, and that he was one of the highlights of that con for me. :)
Well, that and seeing the jerk run for his life in the face of backbone. Oops, miscalculation on his part I suppose.
HA! Well, I'm sure he'll be delighted. The truth is, hubby said he immediately felt bad for cursing and getting angry in front of you guys. He doesn't like to show that side, obviously, but that creep insulting the two of you was just beyond his ability to take. I'm glad it didn't escalate any further, but it's not the worst thing in the world that a bully is forced to slink away cringing!
Anyway, you and Kyrax2 were both so awesome, it was an absolute pleasure to meet you in BOTH your guises!
APE IN A CAPE: A Hopefully Helpful Thread
I had a Hollywood friend ask me this morning about how to format a comic book script. That's a big question. I'm going to answer it, and I thought it might be helpful to some of you who are aspiring to write comics yourself (the short answer is, everyone does it differently. The long answer is,…
Thank you SO much, Gail! My question is how much action direction I should give to the artist in the script?
Tricky one!
Okay, there's a lot of variety in the industry. A lot. Some very famous writers will say to the artist, "okay, here's three pages of fight scenes, and the hero wins. Have fun!"
Me, I like to choreograph a fight scene. I want it to be original, to have fresh elements, and I want it to speak to character. Action is stress, and stress reveals emotion. Think of what Bruce Lee said about fighting, he said to bring EMOTIONAL CONTENT.
So I insist on writing my fight scenes. When I write animation, I always block it out in detail, and then I always get a polite note back saying, "Gail, our storyboard guys know how to do this, you don't have to write every punch."
:)
But they end up USING my notes, because I think I know how to do a fight scene in an entertaining way.
Now, if your artist is a veteran, or if he or she is simply great at fight scenes, it's okay to tell him or her, "Artist, this is how I see the scene, but if you see something more exciting, let's talk about it." Then you tell them what the scene MUST convey, and let them go. Once you have opened that box though, you can't complain if they go a direction you didn't expect.
Eventually, you find out what an artist can do. I would write fight scenes for, say, Nicola Scott, but she knew she had room to make it better if she had an idea.
So it varies. But the more important the emotion in the scene, the more I want to choreograph to get the MAXIMUM impact.
Here's a brutal fight scene excerpt from Birds of Prey to give an example. It's light on setting the scene because all the expository stuff is done with, I want this fast, hard, brutal, and focused.
PAGE SEVENTEEN:
PANEL ONE: Huntress on her back, arching it in pain, teeth clenched and eyes closed. Her face has blood spatter from her nose.
HUNTRESS CAP: aoh.
HUNTRESS CAP: God.
PANEL TWO: She moves her head just in time to avoid her face being smashed by Shiva's foot.
PANEL THREE: She pushes herself to her feet. Some blood has dripped onto her costume.
HUNTRESS CAP: Can't…
HUNTRESS CAP: …get time to FOCUS.
PANEL FOUR: Shiva kicks Huntress in the face, rocking her head to once side.
HUNTRESS: gugh.
HUNTRESS CAP: Can't breathe.
HUNTRESS CAP: Too much blood.
PANEL FIVE: Huntress smiles, blood on her teeth, and her face.
HUNTRESS CAP: No.
HUNTRESS CAP: Not ENOUGH.
HUNTRESS: You know what, Shiva?
HUNTRESS: You hit like a GIRL.
PAGE EIGHTEEN:
PANEL ONE: Shiva, annoyed, does a spinning elbow smash into Huntress's face.
HUNTRESS: ggllgh.
PANEL TWO: White Canary looks on, fascinated. Not comprehending. Zinda has a bit of a proud smirk on her face. Her friend might die, but she's not going to go down easy.
WHITE CANARY: I don't understand. She's not…
WHITE CANARY: How is she continuing to stand?
ZINDA: That woman right there, lady?
ZINDA: She doesn't know HOW to stay down.
PANEL THREE: Shiva throws ANOTHER punch to Helena's bruised, battered face, again knocking her head back. But now SHIVA's getting angry and flustered.
SHIVA: YIAAAH!
HUNTRESS CAP: Stay…
HUNTRESS CAP: On your feet, Helena.
PANEL FOUR: Shiva does an uppercut, Helena's eye on one side is swollen shut here. Shiva's growling, almost.
SHIVA: TSSS!
HUNTRESS: ggg..
PANEL FIVE: Huntress, still standing, hands up in fists, but shaky as hell and barely able to hold her head up. Blood is still on her face, and one eye is mostly shut.
HUNTRESS: hh.
HUNTRESS: How.
PAGE NINETEEN:
PANEL ONE: Shiva's face, FURIOUS.
HUNTRESS (off-panel): How'd you like the DRINK, drippypants?
PANEL TWO: Shiva throws a VICIOUS haymaker punch at Helena's face.
HUNTRESS CAP: Yeah.
HUNTRESS CAP: That should do it.
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