Gail Simone's Blog, page 344

Sorry to bombard u I bet u get a lot of questions so I'll try and keep it short. Do you think it's hugely important to categorise mental illness in comics like B-man and be sympathetic and stuff or r we just taking fiction to srsly I know some ppl who get

Well, a huge number of people in the US alone live with mental illness, or they live with someone who has a mental illness.  It’s not like they’re Inhumans or robots from the future, they are real people, these are real conditions.

If we write a character with a certain ethnic background, or we write about a certain location, we are expected to do some research to make it truthful and credible. Why would we not want to do that with characters who are mentally ill?

And I feel like the question is loaded. Most people aren’t asking for ‘sympathetic’ portrayals exclusively, they are asking for truthful portrayals to balance out seventy years of mean and untrue stereotypes. Which seems pretty fair to me.

What are your thoughts on the cancellations announced today?

Again, I am not in the loop but I feel pretty certain some relaunches are coming. Marvel does that every week, seemingly, I imagine DC will do the same.

Could be wrong, but that’s my feeling. 

Thoughts on Batwoman getting cancelled?

I am not in the loop but I strongly doubt she will be out of play for long. 

You wouldn't happen to know when volume 5 of batgirl comes out do you?

I think volume four paperback and volume five both come out next week!

Who is your favorite among these authors, Faulkner, Hemingway, Orwell, Woolf, or Vonnegut?

Of those, the one I re-read the most is Orwell. I think he was a reality-changing machine.

So I was wondering, I currently came up with two story ideas however both involve the same genre and fighting against the super natural. As a writer, is it okay for someone to write two different stories that's in the same genre but have different characte

It’s not that they get bored, it’s that they think they have seen what you can do. You create an expectation.

In comics, a lot of people start writing funny comics, like say, Dan Slott writing Ren and Stimpy, or me writing Simpsons. If we kept doing that, editors and readers begin to expect it.

I suggest making your projects as different as you reasonably can at first, unless you genuinely DO have a voice for one genre, by choice. Then, have at it. It worked okay for Stephen King!

Red Sonja: The Art of Blood and Fire

Red Sonja: The Art of Blood and Fire :

tornalar:

So I’ve just finished “Red Sonja: The art of blood and fire” and I absolutely love it! It’s even better than “Queen of plagues” - and that’s saying something! While Sonja herself forever has a special place in my heart, I fell in love with this arc because of the secondary characters. The artisans…

This makes me very happy. Thank you!

I would put my second Sonja volume up against anything I’ve ever written. I am really proud of it, so I am glad you enjoyed it!

2014 Can Go Poop On Itself

This has been a rough year, the roughest in memory for me for quite a while. My brother, whom I love a lot, was hit by a car and almost killed, his neck was broken, and I had to do a lot of his care even now (which is what family is supposed to do, not complaining, but it has been a lot of worry).

Both our beloved dogs died, at age fifteen, a couple weeks apart.

Batgirl.

Our house was robbed last month while I was coming home from a convention and they trashed the place.

And my son was the victim of an apparent gay-bashing attack (even though he’s not gay).

There have been some other things, as well. 

I know a lot, a LOT of people have it worse than we do. We have a home and an income. But between these things and my work and convention appearance schedule, I have never felt stretched quite so thin. The last month has been particularly difficult to get my writing groove back. I write, and I am happy with what I am writing, but I am writing much more slowly for some reason, than usual.

So this has been an emotionally draining year. Again, I know a lot of you have it worse, so I do feel bad for complaining.

BUT.

One thing I have been able to count on over and over again was the kindness and support of readers, especially here and on twitter and at appearances. Hearing you guys talk about comics and your love of our nerdy culture, and the characters we both love, and all your cosplay photos and corny jokes and silly, wonderful comedy has meant so much to me. I can’t explain it.

I know I have talked about this before. But during this holiday as with ALL holidays, I am very, very grateful to have you in my life. I live in the boonies, I work weird hours, I’m not very social. So you weirdos take up some of the slack. :)

And I love you for it. THANK YOU!

PS. If you had a shitty year, let’s wave it goodbye and move on to an undoubtedly better 2015!  :)

Miss Simone, have you heard about the transphobia in the latest Batgirl issue? A very good article was written dissecting how problematic it is, and I was frankly appalled when I found out about what the comic did.

I have received about a gabiliion asks about this and I wrote a lengthy response but it kind of sucked. It boils down to, I don’t like anything that hurts trans people.

I haven’t read the issue, I know the creative team has apologized, and I have no contact with the team other than the occasional friendly tweet so I don’t know any of the context. 

I am glad they apologized. I have only seen a couple panels, but I am glad they didn’t deny the people who were upset. And I know it is important for them that cast is diverse.  I thought it was a sincere apology.

I want the entire industry to do better with trans characters. We have a chance here, not just to keep up, to but to lead. But it means listening to trans voices, really listening. Hopefully it also means hiring trans creators.

That’s really all I can say. 

I'm kinda hoping Kani/Porcelain is native Hawaiian >___<

We will be covering their specific ethnic background very soon!