Gail Simone's Blog, page 58

Can I be a comic book writer without being the artist??

It’s definitely harder to break in that way, but I did it and so did a lot of others!

Loved how you included Doom Patrol multiple times in the Secret Six series. You just killed two birds with one stone by putting two of my favorite off-kilter teams together.

Here’s the thing, when I do a book, I try to fit in all the stuff I like.

Why not?

:)

Why aren't there more superheroes who are lamps? This is an untapped demographic if ever there was one.

Green Lantern says LANTERN right in the name, you bastard!

Since the job of writing demands so much reflection goes on, and you seem to be exceptionally good at both, can you think of a time when some post-print feedback (criticism or praise) on a project influenced how you approached future projects? Are there pr

I think any writer worth the name should grow as time goes on, there’s a lot of stuff I’d do differently with the brain and craft I have now. I am proud of my work and stand by it, but there’s definitely more life experience and there are some trope-y things I wish I’d avoided.

One time, for example, I had a story where a gay couple staged a fake suicide. I thought it was clearly fake, and so I thought there was no harm done, people would see it was an obvious red herring. But I was wrong, and really very unaware of the gay man/suicide trope that was so common in fiction and was very dehumanizing. People pointed out to me, and I acted like a defensive douchebag, instead of listening and acknowledging that I had written this thoughtless thing.

That still stings, I really regret that. But I think it helped me listen to criticism in a different way that’s been really helpful.

And by the way, the people angry about that story element were right, it was very cliché in retrospect and I just wasn’t aware of what a common (and thoughtless) tired element it was.

What would a Ms. Marvel (Kamala Khan) story or arc by you be like?

There are some books I just don’t want to work on because I so adored the previous writer’s vision. G. Willow has killed on that book, so it’s hard for me to even imagine.

Have you read any Kelley Armstrong Otherworld books?

I have not. Good?

trilllizard420:I’ve said this before but I’ll say it again.I’m kinda astonished people made a big...

trilllizard420:

I’ve said this before but I’ll say it again.

I’m kinda astonished people made a big deal of that because how the fuck you supposed to recognize a comic book writer in person?

Unless they’re like, fucking Alan “Bitch I Look Like Rasputin” Moore, how are you supposed to know? It’s not like they stick pictures of the damned writers in every comic book ever, right?

I bet you could just jam in whatever balding or bald white dude that isn’t actually the comic book artist/writer at a comic book signing thing and he wouldn’t get recognized and nobody would fucking care, but it’s a war crime because people don’t recognize Gail Simone on sight. Like, she looks like somebody’s middle aged mom lmao

I AM someone’s middle-aged mom.

I’ve said this endlessly, there was no reason on Earth that guy should recognize me. I never thought it was any big deal, nor was the guy being a jerk. He was just exited to see a movie about his favorite character, and I thought it was kind of adorable that he was explaining Deadpool to me and had no idea that he was speaking to someone who had written the book. The town we live in is tiny, I don’t do any local publicity, there is no way he should have known.

Somehow no one read the multitude of tweets I posted in that thread about how it wasn’t ‘mansplaining,’ it was just an excited Wade fan, and what I thought was a cute little story became this whole other thing. Frustrating.

So for the record, I thought it was kind of cute. The guy wasn’t rude at all, just excited. I’ve tried repeatedly to repeat all that, which I said at the time as well, just because I feel bad that the guy might READ one of those posts one day and feel foolish for absolutely no reason.

What is The Movement?

It’s a comic from around 2013, written by Gail Simone! It’s about a city in the DCU where superheroes have been outlawed by a corrupt mayor, and a group of homeless teens and young adults come together to become superheroes. They kickstart the titular movement, which involves civilians and heroes exposing corruption in the police department, government, etc.

The team lineup is…

Virtue: A Black lesbian who can “ride” emotions, and has a loose connection to the emotional spectrum from Green Lantern.

Katharsis: A former police officer (iirc she’s from Laos) who has wings.

Tremor: An asexual Indian woman with the ability to control the earth.

Vengeance Moth: A disabled woman who can summon a giant green energy moth. I think I remember something about her being Killer Moth’s niece? I know they’re related somehow.

Mouse: He has a mouse army. Thats all you really need to know.

Burden: A gay runaway who can shapeshift into a demonic form, and believes it’s because he’s possessed by a demon (spoiler: he isn’t, he’s just got issues from his childhood)

Rainmaker from Gen13 also appears, though not as a member of The Movement.

It’s a really good comic, but due to some horrible marketing (DC tried tying it to Occupy Wallstreet, which it has nothing to do with) it had horrible sales, and was cancelled after a year. It’s got a strong focus on social justice, which is what drew me to it when it was still going. It’s one of the few New52 titles I’d highly recommend.

The Elvis Sinkhole

Let me tell you a tale of a block woebegone
When a big Elvis sinkhole appeared on my lawn

We were having our breakfast of bacon and eggs,
And our doggie was yearning to stretch out her legs

When an unholy clatter arose from the front
It was a big Elvis sinkhole, to God an affront

We ran to the doorway as fast as we could
So the dog snatched the bacon and snarfed it up good

‘Twas a mystery hole,  forty meters around
And lined with sharp teeth, like a mouth in the ground

I could not see its end, and came over all clammy
And from deep came the scent of fried ‘nanner sammie

The first Elvis arrived, his eyes were quite glassed
He walked up at seven and jumped in at half past

Then they came in by busload and Elvis-y carful
All dressed in white like a young Captain Marvel

They arrived every color, and age, shape and gender
Chanting incessantly, “Dear Satan, love me tender”

Then they all started leaping, one after another
I tried to get autographs (I swear, for my mother)
We did try to stop them, but there was a tussle
And we got a bit starstruck when we saw Kurt Russel

They came from all over, fanatics, full-stop
And we have a bet if they’ll fill to the top

It might be a bit gruesome, it might be macabre
But we’ve made peace with the sinkhole, cursed thingamabob

I suppose some might miss them, though you may all laugh
The population in Vegas, cut nearly in half

And I guess we all wonder, where they end up at
In hell or in Graceland, post-final wet splat

So come see our sinkhole, our own Heartbreak Hotel
It’s half-full of Elvi, (if you don’t mind the smell).

triblast28:My favorite part about following Gail Simone on Twitter is never being able to tell...

triblast28:

My favorite part about following Gail Simone on Twitter is never being able to tell when she is serious about something, for example she once sent the day tweeting as if murdered a guy and I still don’t know if she murdered some guy or not

It was an accident. I mean a JOKE.

It was definitely not murder.

It was a joke, I am almost positive.