Gail Simone's Blog, page 258

gailsimone:thefailurecult:Fuck fascists all over the...

gailsimone:

thefailurecult:

Fuck fascists all over the world.

Agreed.

Catman knows who needs a beatin’. 

comicbookwomen:Red Sonja-Stephen SadowskiWOW, that’s...

comicbookwomen:

Red Sonja-Stephen Sadowski

WOW, that’s lovely!

Stephen really, REALLY wants to do a Catman book with me some day. i would love that!

do you think it's easier to add queerness to a villain or at the very least antagonistic character then it is to make a hero character something other than straight when they weren't initially written that way? if so, do you think that derives from the ol

It is a totally fair question.

Here’s one thing that makes this thorny. The average superhero writer creates a LOT fewer new heroes than you might think. When you see a year of comics, you see a lot of new heroes, but that’s shared by a ton of writers. If you have one monthly book, you have twelve issues max, and you have to maintain your main characters. Odds are you will create no more than one or two good guys a year.

But each of those issues needs a villain. Odds are again that you will create several bad guys each year, possibly a team of them, it adds up. 

So because these are new characters being created with a modern audience in mind, more of them will be POC and lgbtq than the host of characters created in the Jurassic era. And then it starts to look like all the new lgbtq characters are villains. So it’s EXTRA important, when we get the chance to create new heroes, to make an extra effort at diversity. Otherwise we get into creepy territory really fast.

Two other factors are, I don’t really consider anti-heroes like, say, the Secret Six or even the Runaways (teams that aren’t quite the Avengers, I mean) to be villains. I think having a character like Scandal Savage is still important, she isn’t the Joker, but she’s not Captain Marvel, and that’s okay. 

And finally, it’s also interesting that if we DON’T create some villains who are lgbtq, there is a lot of criticism from the LGBTQ community, which I think is pretty awesome, it shows that they don’t want every gay character to be put on a pedestal of perfection, they want real, believable lgbtq characters all over the morality spectrum. I always think that’s very cool.

But to answer the first part of your question directly, I don’t think any of it is is ‘hard,’ I think it’s just something that needs to be done, we have to bring comics into this century for basic decency, for the readership, for hopes of a more divers range of creators and characters, and for the survival of comics, as well. 

A lot of the people saying it’s ‘hard,’ just aren’t trying, I feel.

do you think it's easier to add queerness to a villain or at the very least antagonistic character then it is to make a hero character something other than straight when they weren't initially written that way? if so, do you think that derives from the ol

It is a totally fair question.

Here’s one thing that makes this thorny. The average superhero writer creates a LOT fewer new heroes than you might think. When you see a year of comics, you see a lot of new heroes, but that’s shared by a ton of writers. If you have one monthly book, you have twelve issues max, and you have to maintain your main characters. Odds are you will create no more than one or two good guys a year.

But each of those issues needs a villain. Odds are again that you will create several bad guys each year, possibly a team of them, it adds up. 

So because these are new characters being created with a modern audience in mind, more of them will be POC and lgbtq than the host of characters created in the Jurassic era. And then it starts to look like all the new lgbtq characters are villains. So it’s EXTRA important, when we get the chance to create new heroes, to make an extra effort at diversity. Otherwise we get into creepy territory really fast.

Two other factors are, I don’t really consider anti-heroes like, say, the Secret Six or even the Runaways (teams that aren’t quite the Avengers, I mean) to be villains. I think having a character like Scandal Savage is still important, she isn’t the Joker, but she’s not Captain Marvel, and that’s okay. 

And finally, it’s also interesting that if we DON’T create some villains who are lgbtq, there is a lot of criticism from the LGBTQ community, which I think is pretty awesome, it shows that they don’t want every gay character to be put on a pedestal of perfection, they want real, believable lgbtq characters all over the morality spectrum. I always think that’s very cool.

But to answer the first part of your question directly, I don’t think any of it is is ‘hard,’ I think it’s just something that needs to be done, we have to bring comics into this century for basic decency, for the readership, for hopes of a more divers range of creators and characters, and for the survival of comics, as well. 

A lot of the people saying it’s ‘hard,’ just aren’t trying, I feel.

do you think it's easier to add queerness to a villain or at the very least antagonistic character then it is to make a hero character something other than straight when they weren't initially written that way? if so, do you think that derives from the ol

It is a totally fair question.

Here’s one thing that makes this thorny. The average superhero writer creates a LOT fewer new heroes than you might think. When you see a year of comics, you see a lot of new heroes, but that’s shared by a ton of writers. If you have one monthly book, you have twelve issues max, and you have to maintain your main characters. Odds are you will create no more than one or two good guys a year.

But each of those issues needs a villain. Odds are again that you will create several bad guys each year, possibly a team of them, it adds up. 

So because these are new characters being created with a modern audience in mind, more of them will be POC and lgbtq than the host of characters created in the Jurassic era. And then it starts to look like all the new lgbtq characters are villains. So it’s EXTRA important, when we get the chance to create new heroes, to make an extra effort at diversity. Otherwise we get into creepy territory really fast.

Two other factors are, I don’t really consider anti-heroes like, say, the Secret Six or even the Runaways (teams that aren’t quite the Avengers, I mean) to be villains. I think having a character like Scandal Savage is still important, she isn’t the Joker, but she’s not Captain Marvel, and that’s okay. 

And finally, it’s also interesting that if we DON’T create some villains who are lgbtq, there is a lot of criticism from the LGBTQ community, which I think is pretty awesome, it shows that they don’t want every gay character to be put on a pedestal of perfection, they want real, believable lgbtq characters all over the morality spectrum. I always think that’s very cool.

But to answer the first part of your question directly, I don’t think any of it is is ‘hard,’ I think it’s just something that needs to be done, we have to bring comics into this century for basic decency, for the readership, for hopes of a more diverse range of creators and characters, and for the survival of comics, as well. 

A lot of the people saying it’s ‘hard,’ just aren’t trying, I feel.

do you think it's easier to add queerness to a villain or at the very least antagonistic character then it is to make a hero character something other than straight when they weren't initially written that way? if so, do you think that derives from the ol

It is a totally fair question.

Here’s one thing that makes this thorny. The average superhero writer creates a LOT fewer new heroes than you might think. When you see a year of comics, you see a lot of new heroes, but that’s shared by a ton of writers. If you have one monthly book, you have twelve issues max, and you have to maintain your main characters. Odds are you will create no more than one or two good guys a year.

But each of those issues needs a villain. Odds are again that you will create several bad guys each year, possibly a team of them, it adds up. 

So because these are new characters being created with a modern audience in mind, more of them will be POC and lgbtq than the host of characters created in the Jurassic era. And then it starts to look like all the new lgbtq characters are villains. So it’s EXTRA important, when we get the chance to create new heroes, to make an extra effort at diversity. Otherwise we get into creepy territory really fast.

Two other factors are, I don’t really consider anti-heroes like, say, the Secret Six or even the Runaways (teams that aren’t quite the Avengers, I mean) to be villains. I think having a character like Scandal Savage is still important, she isn’t the Joker, but she’s not Captain Marvel, and that’s okay. 

And finally, it’s also interesting that if we DON’T create some villains who are lgbtq, there is a lot of criticism from the LGBTQ community, which I think is pretty awesome, it shows that they don’t want every gay character to be put on a pedestal of perfection, they want real, believable lgbtq characters all over the morality spectrum. I always think that’s very cool.

But to answer the first part of your question directly, I don’t think any of it is is ‘hard,’ I think it’s just something that needs to be done, we have to bring comics into this century for basic decency, for the readership, for hopes of a more diverse range of creators and characters, and for the survival of comics, as well. 

A lot of the people saying it’s ‘hard,’ just aren’t trying, I feel.

Have you ever written a Pansexual character, and if so what do they appear in?

Ragdoll for sure…I think Jeannette qualifies as well. 

Yesterday on Twitter you were talking about Catwoman being bi (When did this happen? Haven't read her book in a while), and while dealing with some idiot, I stated that I come to believe that Wonder Woman could be bi as well, or at least it wouldn't surpr

In my headcanon, Diana is absolutely bi, no question. 

I had written myself into a bit of a corner about it, however, to be honest. In my interpretation of Diana’s origin, it was very specifically stated that the amazons of Theymiscira ALL thought of Diana as their daughter, not just Hippolyta’s. So that meant even flirting with another Amazon from that island would be awkward. And most of my stories took place there. 

But I think she’s bi, and it’s been hinted at in canon for a long time. I hinted at it a bit too, and we did ALMOST get to marry Hippolyta to Philipus. It still kills me we didn’t get to do that, DC was willing. 

But my run ended before we could make it happen. It would have been the best scene ever. TEARS were guaranteed. Dang, now I’m bummed!

Yesterday on Twitter you were talking about Catwoman being bi (When did this happen? Haven't read her book in a while), and while dealing with some idiot, I stated that I come to believe that Wonder Woman could be bi as well, or at least it wouldn't surpr

In my headcanon, Diana is absolutely bi, no question. 

I had written myself into a bit of a corner about it, however, to be honest. In my interpretation of Diana’s origin, it was very specifically stated that the amazons of Theymiscira ALL thought of Diana as their daughter, not just Hippolyta’s. So that meant even flirting with another Amazon from that island would be awkward. And most of my stories took place there. 

But I think she’s bi, and it’s been hinted at in canon for a long time. I hinted at it a bit too, and we did ALMOST get to marry Hippolyta to Philipus. It still kills me we didn’t get to do that, DC was willing. 

But my run ended before we could make it happen. It would have been the best scene ever. TEARS were guaranteed. Dang, now I’m bummed!

Yesterday on Twitter you were talking about Catwoman being bi (When did this happen? Haven't read her book in a while), and while dealing with some idiot, I stated that I come to believe that Wonder Woman could be bi as well, or at least it wouldn't surpr

In my headcanon, Diana is absolutely bi, no question. 

I had written myself into a bit of a corner about it, however, to be honest. In my interpretation of Diana’s origin, it was very specifically stated that the amazons of Theymiscira ALL thought of Diana as their daughter, not just Hippolyta’s. So that meant even flirting with another Amazon from that island would be awkward. And most of my stories took place there. 

But I think she’s bi, and it’s been hinted at in canon for a long time. I hinted at it a bit too, and we did ALMOST get to marry Hippolyta to Philipus. It still kills me we didn’t get to do that, DC was willing. 

But my run ended before we could make it happen. It would have been the best scene ever. TEARS were guaranteed. Dang, now I’m bummed!