Gail Simone's Blog, page 675

You mentioned you're coming to Cardiff (yaaaay!) - do you know what's your plan for the two days? Any panels, presentations, q&a... that sort of thing. I can't come for both days so I'd really appreciate any info. Thanks in advance!

I don’t know my sched yet, will publish it as soon as I do!

The scene with Black Canary and Flash (Barry) is from JLA: Year One by Mark Waid.

I know, but Mark was having some difficulty writing Black Canary’s voice, and I was email pals with him—it was long before I became a writer. He asked me why I liked Black Canary so much, and I wrote a ton of stuff on the topic and suggested some bits of character for her to do in the book, some of which he used. I THINK this is one of mine, also the scene where Hal letches over some blonde, and Canary takes it personally.

I didn’t co-write or ANYTHING like that, Mark wrote everything, I just had a couple tiny suggestions for the book, same thing happened with his JLA run and BIRTHRIGHT.

Mark is a master, one of the best the industry has ever had. He has the gift of being able to talk an idea out with people to perfect it, I don’t really work that way in my own work so I admire it when I see it.

With some disturbing comments about rape going around in the comics industry right now, I was reminded of Devin Grayson's upsetting remarks from the Nightwing and Tarantula debacle. I'm sorry to ask you, as I know you're not all-knowing etc etc, but after

I don’t, really.

Do you find using an accent or a distinct dialect in dialogue the most difficult aspect of writing characters from a certain region or time period?

It’s difficult because, a) it’s easy to get wrong, and b) people take language understandably very seriously indeed, it’s part of their personal identity.

But writing is full of mine fields. The question isn’t if you are going to mess up, the questions are “how badly” and “how often.”

You have to do the very best you can and try to not make the same mistake twice. There’s no one reading this who could become a pro writer without upsetting someone, not if they have any voice at all. So you have to put that idea right out of your mind and strive for the best you can do, the most honest and informed, and remember that no matter what else, you still need a cracking good story no matter what other concerns you have.

As a professional with the credentials you have, do you only attend Cons/Expos that you are invited to, or do you ever have to register for a table?

I only attend cons that invite me.

I get invited to a lot of cons, and cons are very expensive for most writers to attend, since most of us can’t sell art or do commissions to help with expenses.

So I can really only go to the ones I am invited to, but fortunately, I am invited to many, many times more cons each year than I can possibly attend. I’ve turned down well over fifty this year alone so far, for real.

If you are a guest of a con, at their invitation, you are given a table if you want one. I often don’t need one at cons like SDCC and NYCC, but at smaller cons, it’s nice to have a set place to do signings and meet readers.

Two Cons Coming Up Shortly!

I am very excited to be a guest at these two fabulous events!

First, on August 31-September 1, I will be at the CARDIFF COMIC-CON, in Cardiff, Wales, which sounds amazing, lots of Red Dwarf and Doctor Who guests, as well as one of my all-time favorite artists, Mike Ploog!

That’s here:

http://www.cardiffcomiccon.com/

And then, September 12-15, I will be at RAPTUS which is the BERGEN INTERNATIONAL COMICS FESTIVAL, in Bergen, Norway.

This also sounds fantastic, with a collection of international comics guests. I am REALLY looking forward to learning about comics from Europe that have not yet filtered their way here.

That is here:

http://www.raptus.no/

I have never been to Wales OR Norway, so this is a big thrill for me. Can’t wait to meet the local readers and artists!

Also, if you live nearby, PLEASE come so I don’t feel like that weird creator from the states that no one’s ever heard of. :)

With Villains month in September and Zero Year in November, the upcoming 'Batgirl: Wanted' storyline is going to be a little disjointed for its first three chapters (essentially becoming bimonthly). Is that frustrating for you or does it actually have som

No, it’s mostly frustrating.

The villains story is solid, I am very happy with it. I don’t know anything at all about the Zero Year story but I’m sure it’s good.

It’s a shame to interrupt a story twice like that but I think the story is worth the wait, it’s pretty epic.

SUCH a great shot! Look at the spidey!

SUCH a great shot! Look at the spidey!

The Movement #4

tessatechaitea:

The only thing police fear: a tidal wave of adorableness.


I’m going to be painfully honest here and I hate when people begin anything by saying “truthfully” or “in all honesty” or “Usually everything that comes out of my mouth is a flagrant lie but this one time I’m going to be honest and make sure you know I’m being honest which means I’m really still lying.” Okay. Now that that’s settled, let’s get to the hard truths:


Gail Simone ripped off Alice Cooper with the character of Mouse. From the song, “That Was The Day My Dead Pet Returned To Save My Life.”

Things were getting gory
Got caught on territory
Belonging to the Crutches
In an alley in their clutches
Looking kind of dismal that night.

Well the leader’s name was Fats
Swinging broken baseball bats
Things got really frantic
Starting jumping in their panic
Hallucinating billions of rats
Lots of rats.

That was the day my dead pet returned to save my life!

Okay, maybe that truth wasn’t very harsh. It probably also wasn’t much of a truth! What I really wanted to say was Mouse has a stupid fucking power. And I say that as a person who loves Mouse and his tidal wave of rats! The day he rode a wave of rats through the church in Issue #1 was the day he became one of my favorite characters. But let’s face it. These rats he’s controlling are just too fucking cute. Freddie Williams II, I love your little rats. But Mouse needs to be sending out those big fat Opossum sized fuckers straight up from the sewers! Nobody is going to be afraid of these pet store variety sweetie babies! The only way his power could be worse is if he controlled waves of Kittens that he sent out to overwhelm people. Although tiny kittens do have razor sharp mega-pirahna teeth. But they’re still so cute with their little hiccup hiss and their kitten fight paws up in the air as they decimate the skin on your hand.

Read More

I swear to god, if you love the Movement, or you hate the Movement, you need to read Tess Ate Chai Tea’s analysis of issue four. I am dying.

T.A.C.T., you are hysterical. The rat with the jazz hands killed me.

NEVER STOP WHAT YOU DO.

Does that mean way back when someone had to ask permission to give Dick Grayson his mullet and Discowing?

The way these questions are phrased is sort of missing the point, I’m afraid.

When you change the look of a character, you involve editorial, we’re not off on an island somewhere. It’s collaborative fiction on a massive scale, other books are involved, solicitations, licensing, it’s a considerable deal to change a bat-family member’s look.

Honestly, if we didn’t work together on this, it would be a gargantuan mess in about a week. Part of the job of working in a shared universe is not screwing things up for other people.