Gail Simone's Blog, page 94
October 17, 2016
Hey, Gail. I just wanted to ask, since you're a writer for the comics, what level of a college degree did you need to have?
A college degree is not necessary, I don’t think anyone cares what your education is, it’s far more about what you can do.
October 15, 2016
thatjayjustice:
I am a comic book fan.
I am permanently disabled.
I use a mobility scooter if I...
I am a comic book fan.
I am permanently disabled.
I use a mobility scooter if I have to walk long distances or stand for long periods of time.
I am working at New York Comic Con and only able to see 1 or 2 panels, so I was really excited for them.
I was removed from my seat at the Women Of Marvel panel because they are unable to accommodate two wheelchair users in one aisle.
Because there were wheelchair users in every aisle at this point I had to leave the panel.
I had waited in line and went to the front to see all of the talented women I look up to so much. I made sure that I wasn’t in anyone’s way. Unlike other conventions, there is no dedicated wheelchair seat, you just have to pull up to the end of an aisle and try not to be an inconvenience.
Moments before the panel was to begin, a convention staffer in a blue t-shirt told me that they could not have two wheelchairs in the same aisle. She didn’t see who had arrived first. I believe we had been there nearly the same amount of time.
The other person asked if she could perhaps sit closer. That was refused as a solution. All of the other front row seats were full or would not accommodate a wheelchair. Neither of us wanted to sit in the back of the panel room. The staffer decided that I would be the one who was ejected, because I was alone and had no one else who would be inconvenienced, whereas the other person had a friend seated next to her.
This was a very disappointing end to my NYCC experience. I don’t post this to vent or complain, but to provide awareness to this problem and encourage the con to develop solutions to prevent this from happening to anyone else.
New York Comic Con needs to have dedicated reserved wheelchair accessible seating in every single panel room. This is not difficult to implement. Remove a chair from the end of the first six aisles. Place a disabled logo on the floor. There are MANY fans with disabilities. Without a doubt these spots will be filled, and without inconveniencing others with having to walk around a wheelchair in the aisle.
I hope New York Comic Con 2017 is more accessible for everyone. Thanks for listening.
ETA: Yes, I have already begun a discussion of this incident with the convention organizers. There is no need for you guys to contact anyone on my behalf. I appreciate the support and kind words. I will update you as soon as there is more to share.
I am sorry to hear this, Jay. I understand your wishes and completely respect them, but I also know those organizers well, and am more than ready to provide back-up or approach them directly to get this changed. I have already spoken with them (they are good people and do tend to take these things seriously) about carpeting that makes some large booths inaccessible to wherlchair users, and they made that fix. If more voices are needed, I know a lot of us will jump in at your request.
As always, you remain my hero for a million reasons.
October 12, 2016
October 11, 2016
Do you support the proposed plebiscite on same-sex marriage in Australia?
I am just now hearing about it. If I understand correctly, the left supports marriage equality but thinks a public vote would be traumatic to LGBTQ people?
I don’t know much about it. I am 100000% for Marriage Equality. It has had zero bad effects anywhere it’s been made legal and it’s the right thing to do.
Other than that, I don’t know the specifics. Do you have a suggested link?
THE BATMOBILE EFFECT
So, I was on Twitter this morning, talking about a thing I like to call the ‘Batmobile Effect,’ and some friends like the great Ian Rankin and the wonderful Ed Brubaker jumped in, it was great fun.
The Batmobile Effect seems to hit every pro writer who works on licensed characters at some point or another, I don’t know anyone who is immune. I have heard similar statements from editors and artists, as well.
It goes like this. You get a pro assignment working on a character you loved as a kid, and the first time you are working on that character, some small thing that is part of their mythos suddenly SMACKS YOU IN THE FACE AND YOU REALIZE YOU ARE WRITING BATMAN (or Spider-man, or Godzilla, or whomever it is that you loved as a kid).
For bat-writers, it’s almost always the first time they write the word 'batarang (which it was for Ed Brubaker and Devin Grayson)’ or maybe the word 'batmobile, (which it was for me).’
It’s this amazing feeling, like a HOLY SHIT moment. No matter how cynical you fancy yourself, no matter how jaded, when you realize you are writing that character that meant so much to you as a younger reader. And the triggers are often very small…who would think grown men and women would shout out loud over the word 'batarang?’ But we do, and we’ve almost all done it.
Ed said it also happened to him the first time he wrote Cap throwing his shield. It’s happened MANY times for me…Batgirl, Red Sonja, Oracle, Justice League, Wolverine, Kato, just on and on. It still happens and I am coming up on having written 500 comics!
I think, if I may wax goofy for a moment. I think it’s more than just, WOW, look at how my dreams came true!
I think it’s also a direct, electrical charge, like a time machine. In a passing word that represents a physical manifestation of a concept we loved, we are communicating directly with our previous selves.
Maybe Batman helped us get through tough family times, maybe Superman was a father figure, maybe the X-men helped us be okay with our sexuality, whatever. When we finally get to write those characters, we are, in some small way, talking directly to ourselves at a time when those characters were a big part of the joy in our lives, and maybe even a reason to go on living.
Beyond that, there’s also this amazing feeling of the tapestry, the huge lineage that goes back decades, maybe more, all the way back to the original creators of the characters in question. When you type the word 'batmobile,’ you are putting yourself in a room with all the people who wrote or drew that weird car all the way back to Bill Finger, including Neal Adams, Denny O'Neil, Frank Miller, and hundreds of others. You’re in, you’re an inside man or woman.
And finally, I think there’s a dim awareness that we suddenly realize that there may be thousands, maybe tens of thousands, of people out there who may be reading this character for the first time, or maybe this is the story that makes THEM feel what WE felt years ago. And maybe someday THEY type 'batmobile’ on whatever brain software Apple has declared mandatory in the year 2030. :)
I don’t know anyone who hasn’t experienced it at least once. For some pros, maybe it’s not Gotham City that turns that switch, maybe it’s a Legion Flight Ring, or a web-shooter, or any of a thousand other little joyful explosions back to childhood. Maybe it’s video game characters, or rpg charts, or who knows what else.
But I don’t know anyone who Is immune. We’re all infected by that joy at some point, even if we don’t want to admit it.
The Batmobile Effect.
So my question to pro creators out there…
Have you ever had a Batmobile Effect moment, and if so, what was it over?
October 10, 2016
My Catman Cosplay!
The mask turned out a bit bigger than I would have liked and the wig was often unruly, but overall I think it turned out pretty good and people responded well to it.
God DAMN that’s cool! GREAT JOB!
what's your favorite kind of music?
Probably alt rock, I guess?
I don’t care for country or jazz.
Soooooooooooooo, I'm about to run a Mutants and Masterminds game and after reading up on it, it's pretty much writing a comic book only half the dialog and action are written by other people(ie the players). I'm kinda nervous. Was wondering what type of
1) Have a plot twist
2) Don’t reveal it right away
3) Laugh when the players freak out at the plot twist
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