Gail Simone's Blog, page 1160

Favorite genderbend cosplayer you've seen recently at Geek Girl Con? Btw, we need a con like that in the NY/NJ/Conn area! It's sounded like you had a fantastic time! ^_^ Thanks for reblogging my photo! Check out the review. ^_-

My favorite was a great Ma Hunkle, the original Red Tornado. I thought it was a big female inside but it was a guy with a beard and everything. It made me really happy!

A Question About the Future

This question is about your outlook for the future.

The blanket term 'social justice' doesn't seem to quite fit right here, but it'll have to do.

Sometimes, when I see progress and signs of acceptance of people who have historically not been embraced or even acknowledged by mainstream society, ie. people of color, people who have immigrated, people with disabilities, lgbtq people, etc., it's possible to feel momentarily quite optimistic.  I was at Geek Girl Con and it seemed that a real effort was made at inclusion—everything could be BETTER, but it does feel sometimes that more voices are being heard, and that it's moving,  perhaps glacially, but still moving, in a good direction.

I realize gay marriage, for example, isn't going to end all inequity regarding gay relationships in America, but the choice is important for many and it does feel like that tide is slowly turning.

But I'm a cisgendered white female. There are few restrictions placed on my freedoms. The only crap I am forced to deal with daily all relate to gender issues.

And at other times, it seems like we're going backwards…it seems that lgbtq people are vilified and demonized with less reluctance by politicians. Hipsters use racist humor under the guise of irony, but it doesn't FEEL like irony. National movements like the Tea Party seem hellbent on re-asserting the power of the straight white male and have tried to imbue that goal with misguided patriotism.

There are lots of examples, you know the examples.

My question is…do you have hope for the future on these social issues? Do you think we will overcome them in our lifetimes?  Why, or why not, do you suppose?

APE IN A CAPE: Occupy Seattle

APE IN A CAPE: Occupy Seattle:

gailsimone:

I was at Westlake with the Occupy Seattle protesters.  I have to say, not only were they incredibly peaceful (I am going to be RIDICULOUSLY skeptical of any report that says they were out of control in any way), but in contrast to the constant attempts to portray them as pointless whackos, they were anything but. They were articulate, focused, and determined.

I made an effort to speak to some of the cops…they seemed polite but on edge, as if they felt SOMETHING was going to happen. They were in something that looked like body armor, but not the full riot gear stuff. I don't think many protesters had actually spoken to them so they were kind of surprised.

I don't know how this is going to shake out…but I would be very, VERY skeptical of how the news covers this. If they portray the protesters as a mob, or as stupid anarchists, I hope the word gets spread immediately that that is NOT the case. These are articulate people using the right to peaceful protest, one of the few remaining rights and tools left to them to protest an increasingly powerful and autonomous force that they feel oppresses them.

Someone asked what my conversation with the cops was like, and it was brief and as I said, they seemed a little edgy that someone came up that close to approach them.

I asked how they were doing, they pulled sort of a grim face.  I said that it seemed a very peaceful group (I just wanted them to realize people were aware that it was an extremely calm, focused group).  They said, yes, yes it is.  I thought one of them was going to add something, he seemed to want to say, "So far," but he shut up. Maybe they were told not to talk about it.

I asked if they were afraid there would be any trouble, and they said, "Hope not."

I had some questions I SHOULD have asked but the whole thing was edgy and a bit unnerving.

APE IN A CAPE: Oh. My. God.

APE IN A CAPE: Oh. My. God.:

kaerya:

gailsimone:

valerie-renee:

gailsimone:

[cut for length and relevance]

It was so thoughtful, and the questions afterwards were so smart…I love this con, it's just amazing. I hope there are more like it, soon. It's an astounding creative success. I hope it's a commercial one, as well.

The discussion after was brief, they kicked us out for time.

The only real complaint about the books that we heard (and again, the discussion was short, there may have been more with time), was from a very smart woman who sat right behind me (I didn't make my presence known, I just wanted to sit in to support scholarly discussion of comics), who felt that Scandal telling her father, Vandal Savage, that she would not give him a true heir, was giving the message that lesbians don't want to have families, or are anti-childbearing.

It's an interesting point, I think it's a fair observation to make—I will have to reread the scene because I'm pretty sure that Scandal just objects to Vandal's manipulations, not the IDEA of childbearing.

I can see where someone would come to this conclusion, especially if they take Scandal's flippant remarks to her father out of context:

She had a few of these little outbursts, making it seem like having a child would be the worst possible thing she could imagine. At one point, she told her father she'd rather die than continue his (their) legacy.

Of course, if you read the whole book, it's very clear that Scandal is most vehemently opposed to the force that's being used against her, and many of the things she says, above example included, are to make a point, and get under Vandal's skin.

But, I still think it's valid to say that Scandal is opposed to having kids.  At the end of that book, she talks about getting her tubes tied, like it's an easy way to be permanently rid of a pesky problem.  She goes on to say that people who lead her kind of life don't make good parents.

But she's not talking about being gay, she's talking about being a villian-for-hire.  So yes, I get the sense that Scandal never wants to have kids, but I never really tied that in to the fact that she's gay.  I think the two just happen to mutually coexist.

Those are really good points. I realize intent is always a tricky issue, but my feeling at the time was that the 'tubal' comment was her last way of saying FUCK YOU to her father and his plans to dominate her life.

Also, I didn't write that top panel, that was Paul Cornell.

I think you make a good case. I can see now what the woman in the panel was talking about.

I think Scandal would make a lovely mom. As an adopted kid myself and a foster parent, it's important to remember that there are LOTS of ways to have kids, not all of which would satisfy Vandal's desires. She could certainly adopt.

Agreed with the above, but I also want to point out that in addition to the original commenter's issue, another stereotype that tends to crop with lesbians is that, even though they're gay, they're still women so of course they want to have children.  Which is a whole nother kettle of problematic fish.  So coming from that perspective, I really quite enjoyed reading about Scandal not wanting kids.  Even if it was a context based decision.

But yeah, while I think the context for this makes Scandal's reasons very clear, it also creates so associations, by proximity if not by semantics, that are a little uncomfortable in their implications.

Which obviously just means we need tons more LGBTQ heroes, so that the whole spectrum of emotions on the topic can be shown off. XD

That's also a great point, and you're right, we see that presented as cliche quite often, which is seemingly trying to indicate that the lesbian character feels incomplete somehow, like they feel they have to make some sort of substitution for a life they would have had if they were a straight wife and mom, which, agreed, is all bullshit.

The lady in question felt it was tone-deaf because she had been aware of a lot of gay parenting blogs, which is a fair point, but doesn't necessarily apply to every gay character.

You're right, Dwayne McDuffie talked about this—if you have one black character, that character tends to have to represent all black characters. So the idea is to have more, lots more diversity. The default for almost everything still seems solidly cis-gendered, straight, white, male and able-bodied. We can do better than that.

Occupy Seattle

I was at Westlake with the Occupy Seattle protesters.  I have to say, not only were they incredibly peaceful (I am going to be RIDICULOUSLY skeptical of any report that says they were out of control in any way), but in contrast to the constant attempts to portray them as pointless whackos, they were anything but. They were articulate, focused, and determined.

I made an effort to speak to some of the cops…they seemed polite but on edge, as if they felt SOMETHING was going to happen. They were in something that looked like body armor, but not the full riot gear stuff. I don't think many protesters had actually spoken to them so they were kind of surprised.

I don't know how this is going to shake out…but I would be very, VERY skeptical of how the news covers this. If they portray the protesters as a mob, or as stupid anarchists, I hope the word gets spread immediately that that is NOT the case. These are articulate people using the right to peaceful protest, one of the few remaining rights and tools left to them to protest an increasingly powerful and autonomous force that they feel oppresses them.

My Question For The Day

Who is your favorite female supporting character at Marvel/DC, and why?

APE IN A CAPE: Oh. My. God.

APE IN A CAPE: Oh. My. God.:

valerie-renee:

gailsimone:

[cut for length and relevance]

It was so thoughtful, and the questions afterwards were so smart…I love this con, it's just amazing. I hope there are more like it, soon. It's an astounding creative success. I hope it's a commercial one, as well.

The discussion after was brief, they kicked us out for time.

The only real complaint about the books that we heard (and again, the discussion was short, there may have been more with time), was from a very smart woman who sat right behind me (I didn't make my presence known, I just wanted to sit in to support scholarly discussion of comics), who felt that Scandal telling her father, Vandal Savage, that she would not give him a true heir, was giving the message that lesbians don't want to have families, or are anti-childbearing.

It's an interesting point, I think it's a fair observation to make—I will have to reread the scene because I'm pretty sure that Scandal just objects to Vandal's manipulations, not the IDEA of childbearing.

I can see where someone would come to this conclusion, especially if they take Scandal's flippant remarks to her father out of context:

She had a few of these little outbursts, making it seem like having a child would be the worst possible thing she could imagine. At one point, she told her father she'd rather die than continue his (their) legacy.

Of course, if you read the whole book, it's very clear that Scandal is most vehemently opposed to the force that's being used against her, and many of the things she says, above example included, are to make a point, and get under Vandal's skin.

But, I still think it's valid to say that Scandal is opposed to having kids.  At the end of that book, she talks about getting her tubes tied, like it's an easy way to be permanently rid of a pesky problem.  She goes on to say that people who lead her kind of life don't make good parents.

But she's not talking about being gay, she's talking about being a villian-for-hire.  So yes, I get the sense that Scandal never wants to have kids, but I never really tied that in to the fact that she's gay.  I think the two just happen to mutually coexist.

Those are really good points. I realize intent is always a tricky issue, but my feeling at the time was that the 'tubal' comment was her last way of saying FUCK YOU to her father and his plans to dominate her life.

Also, I didn't write that top panel, that was Paul Cornell.

I think you make a good case. I can see now what the woman in the panel was talking about.

I think Scandal would make a lovely mom. As an adopted kid myself and a foster parent, it's important to remember that there are LOTS of ways to have kids, not all of which would satisfy Vandal's desires. She could certainly adopt.

Some Personal Highlights From Geek Girl Con

These are purely personal, and being ON so many panels and events, I missed a lot of stuff. So this is just from a very limited perspective.

This event could have been a failure. It could have flopped. And if it had, it might have been years before anyone attempted another female nerd con of this size again.  It could have been the Elektra/Catwoman of cons, the movie they use an excuse not to make any more movies with female leads.

It was so much NOT that.

First, attendance was amazing…the event sold out early both days and they had to turn people away at the door. I'm told the event was full in the first hour each day, with lines of people still waiting to get in. HUGE sigh of relief.

Second, I can't get over how beautifully DESIGNED the event was. This is something even big cons don't always pay attention to…but in this case, the signs, con merch, t-shirts, volunteer shirts and badges had an adorable design and a yellow and black motif that was really fun to see completely take over the Seattle Center.

The venue was amazing, in the shadow of the Space Needle and half the event was held in the bizarre but wonderful EMP building which is completely inexplicable. There was some difficulty when panels and things were back to back—it was a good ten minutes walk between the two buildings, but the view and the people attending were so lovely we almost always enjoyed it.

The programming was astounding, there were panels I was dying to attend and could not.  Usually, I'm sorry, I don't feel any big need to see most panels at cons…these were fascinating topics and I sat in quietly in the audience in some. I can't tell you how fun it was, for a change, to see a packed room, with 80 percent female audiences over and over. And not just for panels about Harry Potter, but for scholarly and ethical panels. It was so exciting.

They even had a token male panel, called the VERY SPECIAL DUDES panel, which was really awesome. The guys were great sports about it, and I think they all really enjoyed the gender-flip of this event.

Everything felt a little different. Lest you think this con didn't have geek cred, let me assure you, the superhero/genre panels were absolutely as hardcore nerdy as any I have attended, but it was from a female and safe perspective. As a whole, the con felt more like a festival at times than a con…it was much less aggressive and without that odd hostility that some big cons have acquired.  You would walk out of a panel, and there would be female musicians playing awesome acoustic sets. There were artists EVERYWHERE, women doing crafts and cosplay and drawings and paintings and mirror art and stained glass, and just on and on, everywhere you looked was something beautiful.

There was a fantastic Ma Hunkle cosplayer.  A Ragdoll!  Two amazing Black Canaries, a Knockout, lots of manga cosplayers.

One dad had, I think, his four daughters dressed up as different Princess Leia's, and their mom was teaching them how to use lightsabers. That made me happy.

People brought me little handmade gifts, something that is always very touching but I never know how to respond to…it's enough that they are there and have supported my work! I feel like I owe THEM gifts.  But gifts of tea and art and books and music, all very lovely. A geek jewelry company, Optimystical Studios at Optimystical.com made me a little Birds of Prey necklace I will treasure.

One of the most amazing panels was the presentation of two scholarly papers, late on Saturday, from a visiting professor and a PHD student. One of the papers was about my Wonder Woman and the subversion of male imagery to female, and the other was about queer family structure in comics, regarding Scandal, Renee, and Batwoman. I wish that was filmed, it was absolutely astounding.

They showed 45 minutes of the upcoming Wonder Woman documentary…holy crap, that was FANTASTIC. I can't wait for you to see it, it's about the sociology of Wonder Woman and superheroes, not her history in particular. It was moving, funny and inspiring.

Trina Robbins went on at length on a panel about what she loved about my Wonder Woman run.  You know that thing when one of your heroes compliments you and you have no idea what to say, because it's your hero? Yes, that happened.

I watched a few panels dealing with women aspiring to get into comics as creators. I think it's going to happen. I predict a VASTLY changed landscape in five years. I do not believe these women will be denied. And there are some GREAT female editors who believe in comics as well.

There was a panel on cattiness among female readers and creators, a lot of interesting points about what MAKES a person want to be part of a mob, or to be a gossip about people they barely even know. It was interesting to see that every woman on the panel had experienced that.

There was a packed games room, teaching people to play cool board and card games—there was a calligraphy from Japan display.

The vendors room was packed with cool stuff, a lot more home-made stuff than usual. I was told the room sold out early…next year, they may need to expand this, it could use an artists alley area.

I met a lovely, wonderful lesbian couple, recently married in Washington DC, and we shared funny, awful stories about our marriages. One of the women had a service dog, and she let me pet her, which was nice since I miss my dogs so much. There was a sad moment, too, there, that stings a little bit.

We had been doing a panel, "This Comic Isn't About Me," which I THOUGHT was about Lgbtq issues. I am invited to a lot of queer panels and I have even done this panel before with the same moderator, Zan, from the wonderful Prism Comics and Northwest Press, makers of lgbtq comics. And it was near the end of an exhausting weekend, the other panelists and the mod were both lgbtq, and that seemed to be what most of the questions were about. I had three panels and two signings in a row with no brake, had been up all night, i was a little slow on the uptake, as it were.

So we were having a nice discussion about this important topic, and some people quite rightly brought up intersectionality and the additional issue of race (Hi, Rachel! Hi, Stephanie!), so we talked about that a little and I brought up people with disabilities, but only briefly as the panel was going quickly and ended too soon.

But I still thought it was supposed to have been about lgbtq comics and readers.

After the panel, we met with the lesbian couple I mentioned earlier, she had tweeted thanking me for at least bringing UP pwd, but after the panel, she said she had gone out and had a little cry that at a con about inclusion, during a PANEL about inclusion, pwd had still not been part of the conversation.

I felt about an inch tall. Of course she was right. Here we were being SO enlightened talking about lgbtq issues and how important they are, and we had not embraced another group that would like to be acknowledged and good lord, sometimes the truth just smacks you in the face.

She could not have been nicer. She appreciated that I at least brought it up. But we failed, there's no excuse for it. What we did talk about was lovely. But there should have been more.  Hopefully, it's a lesson learned for all of us, this is going to bug me for a long time. The best way to make it up to her and other pwd is to make sure to include them in both the work and in the discussion. I'm not going to mention her name, but I'm going to remember her message.

Back to happier stuff…Greg Rucka and Hope Larson and Jen Van Meter were there, Mike Madrid, Jen Stuller, lots of amazing people. It was a joy to meet them and again, it was the most creative con audience I've ever seen.

People were smiling everywhere I went. There was so much joy. Just a different vibe. People were grabbing me and talking at length about what Birds of Prey and Secret Six meant to them. Several women wrote me lengthy, wonderful letters about how those books and others made them feel more welcome in this industry.  Several women said I had inspired them to make comics, which, I have to tell you, that is the nicest possible thing I could ever hear.

Also, holy crap, women love superheroes. We have to kill the myth that they don't in its sleep. Women were cosplaying them, talking about them, and buying superhero comics in piles. Don't listen to those who say women don't like this stuff, they DO.

I did a panel with the Batgirl from San Diego, Kyrax2, who I am now proud to call a friend. That again was smart and a little bit thrilling.

I've been going on at length. Sorry, it was just such a lovely experience. I've been to several female-power events that reeked of desperation and a feeling of self-loathing. This was the opposite, it was a blast from start to end. The guys I talked to who attended loved it, too. There was a concert, a masquerade, a burlesque show, it was endlessly fun and FULL of energy.

The outstanding commercial and creative success of this event can be put down to the organizers and volunteers. I hope that this leads to lots more such conventions…that's a message the major publishers will not be able to ignore. However, I hope that new cons follow the lead of this one and make sure it's not JUST a girl con, but a GREAT con. It will not work if the event doesn't measure up and surpass other conventions.

Sorry to go on at such length, but I think the game changed this weekend, because of Geek Girl Con, in Seattle.

how are mini-series (in and out of continuity) structured? Like, how much control does a writer have in the story of the book as opposed to an ongoing series? Do you believe they are more difficult to write?

No, I think minis are easier to write, they are a complete story. Writing the same characters and keeping someone's attention for years is a very specialized skill and not always very easy. The difficulty with minis is trying to have some real punch, some real impact, in four short issues (or however many it is).  But I love that, I love the economy you have to use with a finite story.

Different writers and different projects vary significantly in how much control is exerted.  If an editor asks me or, say, Scott Snyder, or Matt Fraction or whatever, they know we have an audience and a viewpoint and some experience…there is a bit of trust that we know what we want and how to get it. So we are generally, but not always, given more slack to accomplish what needs to happen.

If you are newer, or your work is a little less singular (and I do not mean that as an insult), then you may have a lot more control exerted. Also, tie-ins tend to offer the writer less individual control.

What are the chances of getting Manhunter in Batgirl? I miss Kate!

I am not sure what the status of Kate is…a lot of characters are still being settled, some for great stuff like mini-series or ongoing or team slots. We WILL have some female guest stars in the second half of her first year!