Gail Simone's Blog, page 888

I was wondering, if you're allowed to talk about it, what's the hiring process like for comic book writers?

You’re going to have to be a lot more specific, I’m afraid.

I want to be a comic book writer/artist so bad it hurts. Yet, I have no idea where to even start. You've probably answered this a metric ton of times but maybe you could give one more inspirational reply for a fan'?

I do suggest you do a google search on this. Most writers have covered this topic, that information is definitely out there.

I can’t provide inspiration, really, but I can give you some true facts to consider. This is long, but has the stuff in it that a serious aspiring writer in comics needs to hear. Good luck!

http://gailsimone.tumblr.com/post/4654769851/brutal-tips-on-breaking-into-comics-warning-long

Gail, you recently had a kickstarter, which I sadly missed, but I was wondering, where did you send the books for Megalopolis to get printed? I wanted to start my own Kickstarter in the future but have no idea where to print the books.

To be honest, Jim is handling all the technical stuff, and he’s on facebook, you might consider asking him? Jim Calafiore! I know he’s priced out a bunch of printers to find the right one for us.

Isn't it Kelly Sue, not Mary Sue? Anyway... I just want to say how much your work means to me as a bisexual teenage girl. No one and I mean no one, reads comics at my school. To love comics and to even aspire to write them? Death wish. But you and your

Thank you, that is incredibly inspiring!

You CAN do this. There are more ways to break in than ever. But I won’t say it’s easy, because it isn’t.

But you can do it. Let us know how it works out, okay?

And I totally get the thing about feeling alone. All I can say is, the internet should help…you know there are thousands more in your situation, only a Tumblr away. You may not have out supporters at your school, but you won’t be in school forever and the internet is out there until then.

You CAN do this. Good luck!

And sorry to the great Kelly Sue, if I accidentally referred to her as Mary Sue! Yikes!

I know you're not responsible for everything DC does, but I think a lot of fans are asking the same question: What does the New 52 mean for the DC/Marvel character Access? Clearly, this is of the utmost importance, and I would really appreciate an answer

Heh. I asked about this recently and apparently, no one knows for certain. It’s believed the character is still co-owned by DC and Marvel, but as no one expects any crossover events any time soon, neither company is using him.

"If Mitt Romney and his vice-presidential running mate, Representative Paul Ryan, were to win next..."

“If Mitt Romney and his vice-presidential running mate, Representative Paul Ryan, were to win next month’s election, the harm to women’s reproductive rights would extend far beyond the borders of the United States.



In this country, they would support the recriminalization of abortion with the overturning of Roe v. Wade, and they would limit access to contraception and other services. But they have also promised to promote policies abroad that would affect millions of women in the world’s poorest countries, where lack of access to contraception, prenatal care and competent help at childbirth often results in serious illness and thousands of deaths yearly. And the wreckage would begin on Day 1 of a Romney administration.”

- The New York Times: “A World of Harm for Women” (via barackobama)

NYCC: Do you know the way to all male panel?

dcwomenkickingass:

I had a fun time at NYCC, I got to meet some great artists, a bunch of creators I know from Twitter, meet some readers and hang with some fellow bloggers. Sure it was incredibly crowded, and the network sucked and the food is expensive but that’s just about any popular convention. 

But still I left the show puzzled. And what I’m puzzled about is why there is such a dichotomy between who we hear is buying comics, and I mean monthly comics from the major publishers, and who is showing up at this convention, going to comics panels and spending money on comics.

We’re told it’s mostly men that women are the minority; a nice to have that is not a focus of sales.

Certainly a look at the comic creators who were “guests” at the show should have told me what I was in for. As I wrote before the show of the thirty-two “Spotlight Guests” not one was a woman. And less than 10% of the invited comics guests were woman (although since I wrote that post the total number rose from 10 to 14 guests).

But as I walked around the halls I saw so, so many women. The same on the convention floor.  And I’m sure many were there for the entertainment panels like Park Avenue or for Anime and Manga. But I saw a lot of women cosplaying as comic characters from Marvel and DC. And, no, they were not all Catwoman and Black Widow from the movies. And flipping through long boxes. And getting comics signed by creators and artists.

And when I sat in the few DC panels I attended, I saw the same diversity in the those audiences. In fact when I went to the Grant Morrison panel (which was a Friday panel but was still crowded, I had women sitting on either side of me. On my left was a teenage girl who seemed so overwhelmed to be there she couldn’t speak; her mother, who clearly was there for her daughter, spoke for her. On the other side of me two women, one a women of color, who discussed with me what were their favorite Grant Morrison works.

And that wasn’t the only panel like that. I went to the new 52 panel on Saturday and I saw lots of women. The same with the panel that focused on bringing Wonder Woman issue from concept to page.

Of course, while I saw women in the hallways and on the show floor and in the audience at panels, I saw fewer on the dais of the comic publishers.

For some it made sense. While you could point to the irony of an all-male Wonder Woman panel it was easy to explain; Wonder Woman currently has an all-male team from editor to colorist.

That’s not to say there weren’t women on any panels. The new 52 panel had Christy Marx and editor Bobbie Chase. And Amanda Conner was on the Before Watchmen panel. And they had Karen Berger moderate the all male Vertigo panel.

But it was still a lot of male panelists. After a while of seeing that it got, well, tiresome. It’s not that I don’t like and enjoy the work of many of those male creators, but going to another DC panel with a dais of dudes … meh. So on Sunday I decided I would skip the DC panels and seek out alternatives where there was more representation. And, lucky me, both Image and Marvel had panels focusing on women in comics.

Read More

Fascinating stuff.

A lot of important things to think about.

I will say one thing, the company that puts on NYCC also puts on several other comics events and have routinely invited me to them, even as far away as Singapore. They have always treated me (I can only speak for myself) wonderfully, with the same respect they treat male creators. Most of the contact people I have with the organization are female, as well.

I don’t say this to validate an all-male featured guest list. But I’ve attended several of their cons in the last few years and it would SEEM that NYCC is an exception, as there was better female representation at the other conventions promoted by the exact same people. So, is it a case of circumstance and maybe a bit of missing awareness, or is it something more deliberate, I can’t say. But this event does seem to have been more of a fluke in terms of the company’s gender representation.

It being such a large, successful con, does make the absence of female guests more keenly felt, just the same. And of course, if an event is this successful, I’m sure some will dismiss any gender representation concerns as unimportant, because the con was successful as is.

I wish I could have seen the Marvel and Image panels. While many of us hope for a day when Women in Comics panels are completely unnecessary, I don’t think we are there yet. I was a bit sour on the concept for a while, I’d been on so many of them. But without fail, at every con, some female readers come up and say that these panels inspired them to try to make their own comics, and as long as that is the end result, I feel a bit of discomfort is still worth it.

If women are going to Women In Comics panels and are inspired by Mary Sue DeConnick, Fiona Staples, Alex DeCampi, Marjorie M. Liu, Nicola Scott, Amy Reeder, and Becky Cloonan, I personally feel the net result is worth a bit of groaning on our part. And I admit, for me, it’s still lovely to see a panel of fierce, brilliant women expressing their passion for the craft.

DC is doing better in this regard than we were immediately after the New52 was announced, where I was inexplicably the only female with a writer or artist ongoing assignment. And thank god. Having Ann Nocenti and Christy Marx aboard, as well as artists like Nicola Scott, is wonderful, but there’s still a ways to go. I don’t think anyone’s asking for parity at this point, but with the huge number of female readers and female creators out there, we need to do better. A DC women in comics panel could still be very interesting, as there are a good number in editorial. But putting together all of us that work on ongoing books as creators would still barely fill a dais, I think.

As for women-only events, I  don’t see the problem. Some women (and by that I don’t mean only cis-women, obviously) feel that a safe space at cons is still a very good idea. You needn’t read very many convention reports of females, particularly cosplayers, to see why. Let them have that space, it takes nothing away from you or anyone else.

I’m sorry I missed NYCC the past two years, and I hope they keep in mind next year that things like guest lists and representation still do matter. I suspect they will, it’s actually a very good group of people, in my experience.

cosplayingwhileblack:XCharacter: Mr. TerrificSeries: DC...

cosplayingwhileblack:

X

Character: Mr. Terrific

Series: DC Comics

Oh, wow…best Mr. Terrific ever!

I made a villain for him, Mr. Terrible, a guy who was bad at everything. Good fun!

I Died On A Cross-Trainer Getting In Shape For You: ESPN Just Did An Unscientific Poll

I Died On A Cross-Trainer Getting In Shape For You: ESPN Just Did An Unscientific Poll:

missdorotheabrooke:

thewhitemankilledthetruth:

gailsimone:

…that said 92% of NHL players support marriage equality.

92%.

Of NHL players.

I find that incredibly awesome.

I can’t help but think of what the backlash against the league would be if they did an actual poll

A) Welcome to Canada?

B)…

It’s true that more players are Canadian, but the same poll said a majority (if a smaller one) of the NFL ALSO supported marriage equality.

I know it’s small thing. But maybe it isn’t, maybe kids who look up to sports stars will get a different message than the non-stop jocks vs. non-jocks bullying that has taken place forever. Maybe bullies might even have a bit of pause…if the toughest, strongest, meanest athletes are pro-marriage equality, I don’t know, that might actually mean something in the long run.

Just a hopeful thought.

ESPN Just Did An Unscientific Poll

…that said 92% of NHL players support marriage equality.

92%.

Of NHL players.

I find that incredibly awesome.