Gail Simone's Blog, page 877

I think that a lot of fans are trying to relate Cass and Steph to current characters, often as a way to either cope or hate. But I do think that though Cass is dearly missed, I really don't see much of her character in Mary. Cass is an especially unique ch

Well, I think that first thing is true and I sympathize, that’s a kind way to see it. I should be more patient…but I’ve always kind of loathed that thing that two dissimilar female characters are the same because they have red hair or they’re both black or bat-themed or whatever superficial similarity they share. You can have twelve million Green Lanterns and people don’t say that. But with female characters, it happens ALL THE TIME, and it’s frustrating to here, particularly when to any passing examination, the characters aren’t even remotely similar.

I agree about Cass. I love Mary, but she could never replace Cass in the DCU or in my heart or in the hearts of readers. She’s a different character. However, in this one case, if she reminds people a little bit of a character who is benched and if that makes some people happy, then I am all for that.

In Batgirl Annual #1, it mentions Catwoman + Green Arrow got together. Did this happen in one of the comics? Which one? (It seems weird to even think of them crossing paths really.)

It hasn’t happened on panel, yet…my guess is that Batgirl is just indulging in a bit of gossip, it may never have happened at all. My thinking was that Catwoman is a woman that people speculate about a LOT…she tends to live large and leave questions!

And being Catwoman, she doesn’t mind if people have questions…she just chooses not to answer.

branch56:Mary Talon from BatgirlWhew! I hope this is a good...

branch56:

Mary Talon from Batgirl

Whew! I hope this is a good followup to Steph! I’d be lying if I said I didn’t like the potential that Mary Talon poses. Gail Simone built an interesting start to a character that could have unlimited potential. It’ll be interesting to see if she gets added to the Birds of Prey.

Some basic changes to her costume. I eliminated the gold and replaced it with a more Owl-eque brown, the veil on her mask with a vented apparatus and ‘talon’ gloves (not that she really needs them, that girl can claw!) and then some basic pattern changes.

Wow, really nice!

Will you help me with my petition to get Nicola Scott to do a full book of just Nightwing ass

I support this idea or product. ASS VOUCHER.

Have you been watching Arrow? If so what do you think?

Only watched the first episode. I am…cautiously optimistic. There are things I liked. I am hoping they do something great with Dinah.

Belfast is Amazing

First, did a Q&A at the Queen’s Film Theatre, after a showing of the WONDER WOMEN! documentary, which I had never seen in full.

It was only supposed to be about a half hour talk after the movie, but it went on much longer, and was had a super lively discussion, then a signing…people came from as far away as Scotland. Met so MANY lovely people, it’s a bit overwhelming.  We met a great couple who asked very deep questions, a beautiful red-headed woman and a lovely Scots gentlemen, lots of Secret Six and Birds of Prey followers, and a guy named Paul who runs a DC role-playing game where his friends all play the Secret Six. He brought his friend Shane, who plays Deadshot. Man, I WANT TO PLAY IN THAT GAME.

LOTS of female readers, and a wide age range, too. I loved getting there, Northern Ireland, and people were wearing Flash and Green Lantern and Batman shirts, and the girls had Wonder Woman and Superman purses. Just a pure joy to meet readers in another country and have them be SO informed and so enthusiastic.

Next was a signing at Forbidden Planet, Belfast. We were late because the Taxi came slow, and I looked around and saw no line, so I was almost relieved because I felt bad for being tardy…but no, the signing was upstairs and there was a huge line (so I felt guilty for being late, but wonderful to meet all these readers).

That signing is one of my favorites, ever. All these people and they were SO friendly and welcoming and hospitable and kind…they brought presents and lots of books to sign, and again, huge number of female readers. One boy loves Wonder Woman, that’s his favorite hero, and he was just such a smart young man that it really made me happy. Some people brought sizable stacks…I thought it would all be Batgirl but it was stuff going all the way back to Deadpool.

Amazing store, tons of toys and stuff downstairs, HUGE selection of graphic novels and more upstairs. And the staff was amazing, I can’t remember all the names, but there was Mal (who was fantastic, and the best host imaginable), and Christopher who looks like Superman, and I think Connor? I feel bad forgetting the names, but they were wonderful.

There’s something fantastic about going to a new country and seeing people brought together by a shared love of these characters and this medium. I am going to sound corny, but it’s magic to me, I never get tired of it. I never stop being amazed and humbled by it. I’ve seen it in Singapore, Japan, China, Leeds, Barcelona, London, and all over the United States and Canada. It’s lovely.

Thank you so much, Belfast! I will remember our visit forever!

The only butt cuter than Nightwing’s.

The only butt cuter than Nightwing’s.

Gail you excellent emotional manipluator (in a good way). The Batgirl Annual was amazing and it made me have all the feels! It was the perfect mix of kick but action and character development. The relationship between Mary and Catwoman was beautiful. Any

He’s Hispanic, I don’t have the issue in front of me, but I don’t  remember his skin being that much lighter. If it is, arghhh.

We ARE going to see more of Ricky, he has a surprising storyline coming up…I won’t say much, but there are a lot of pressures on that guy that are really making life hard for him.

Thank you for the kind words…I would love to see Mary and Selina again together. I’d love to see the three of them together, again. Writing three fierce, awesome women together again definitely reminded me of how much I loved writing Birds of Prey!

EDIT: I just looked at the annual and his skin does seem lighter than it should be…I will compare it to his first appearance to see if they maintained the same color or if it’s a genuine case of white-washing…

EDITED FURTHER: A couple people have correctly pointed out that you can be Hispanic and Caucasian at the same time, and I did know that, but if Ricky was colored with darker skin originally, which I did request, and then got lightened up, it is more likely to be an error than intentional. But it happens so often in comics that dark skinned characters are colored as white or nearly white, that it’s an actual problem.

Gail you excellent emotional manipluator (in a good way). The Batgirl Annual was amazing and it made me have all the feels! It was the perfect mix of kick but action and character development. The relationship between Mary and Catwoman was beautiful. Any

He’s Hispanic, I don’t have the issue in front of me, but I don’t  remember his skin being that much lighter. If it is, arghhh.

We ARE going to see more of Ricky, he has a surprising storyline coming up…I won’t say much, but there are a lot of pressures on that guy that are really making life hard for him.

Thank you for the kind words…I would love to see Mary and Selina again together. I’d love to see the three of them together, again. Writing three fierce, awesome women together again definitely reminded me of how much I loved writing Birds of Prey!

EDIT: I just looked at the annual and his skin does seem lighter than it should be…I will compare it to his first appearance to see if they maintained the same color or if it’s a genuine case of white-washing…

I've never read anything featuring Cassandra Cain, but after the annual came out I've seen a lot of comic readers online calling Talon Mary an expy of her. Do you think they're especially similar, or is this like when people said New 52 Barbara was just l

People saying Barbara is just like Steph don’t know their history at all, wow. The voices are not similar. If we have a model, it’s Batgirl: Year One and I think that’s pretty clear to anyone who has read that book. Believe me, I love Steph, I love Barbara, comparing them is a dead end every time. They’re different characters entirely. I am amazed anyone thinks their voices or MO’s are the same.  The tone is different, it’s a different book. But, being two of the only young women with optimistic viewpoints in Gotham, I can see how people would latch on to that, but it’s pretty superficial. I can’t see Barbara having Steph’s adventures or vice versa, can you? They just don’t fit at all.

The thing with Mary (soon to be called “Strix,”) is that she was based on true stories of young children traumatized by bombs in WWII, something no country really wanted to talk about. The main difference is that Cass’ silence was due to her upbringing. Mary is physically unable to speak at all, period, ever.

The silence is the main thing that is similar, Mary’s not a martial artist in the traditional sense. She’s got the Talon abilities and is an astounding acrobat, very fierce, very feral in combat. And of course, Cass eventually was able to speak (in a very moving series of stories). And Mary lacks Cass’ complicated backstory and body reading abilities.

I also think it’s fair to say that Cass has had a conscience for a long time, something that Mary is only just discovering. When you’re writing the characters, things like that just seem immense, huge, like a vast character gulf.

When Mary was created, we wanted to give a moving background to a Talon, to make her different from all the rest. She’s a thousand times more in common with the other Talons than Cass…but if she reminds people of Cass a little bit, from Cass’ early days, I think that’s lovely, too.

Scott Snyder absolutely loved her in the original script and outline, and he is the one who first asked that she not die or be frozen. Then the reader response was so high that we got the opportunity to flesh her out a bit more. As her character grows, I think we’ll see very little similarity…but that bit IS out of my hands a little, as Duane is working with her in Birds of Prey. But he’s been great and I’m convinced he’s going to make her a wonderful addition to that book.

I love her, I think there’s tremendous potential.