Gail Simone's Blog, page 974
July 17, 2012
I was reading that Batwoman portfolio post when a thought occurred to me. Is there ever going to be a place in the Big Two for niche artwork again? In the 80s and 90s there were a lot of comics with art that defied traditional conventions. But it seems lik
This is true, that there was a bit more wiggle room for non-‘traditional’ artists in the past. It’s still true to some degree, artists like Cliff Chiang and Travel Forman do wonderful work and have good followings.
Again, the tendency is to blame this on mean publishers. But if readers are buying mainly slick/scratchy stuff, those are the books that sell and that becomes the message.
I have tried to get some of my favorite eclectic artists on books in the past, it’s hard to make happen, sadly.
cam-cooper:
combonight:
garethgraves:
STILL one of my top 3...
STILL one of my top 3 favorite pages of any comic book EVER!
Gail Simone, you know how to hit my funnybone while making me want to and not want to turn the page simultaneously (of course the art helps, Calfiore rules - but the words and actions you write, SNAP!), and I love you dearly for that!
Secret Six was… ugh, it was a PERFECT comic book!
King Shark is the best shark.
King Shark rules.
Some people say King Shark is an otter, but I say he is a SHARK.
Insight into the Comic Book Industry
selkiesiun submitted:
This is not so much a critique post as it is a conformation of how absurd the standards of art in the comic book industry have become.
I traveled to San Diego Comic Con this year and participated in the portfolio reviews they where holding from Thursday to Sunday. Although I will admit I am not the best artist in the world, I really wanted to try and show them that comic book art could be done in a realistic manor while still keeping the superhuman aesthetics of the art form.
[image error]
This Batwoman piece was the work that I gained the most flack for from all the companies because the anatomy was as they quoted ‘not industry standard.’ At one company (which I shall choose to not name) I was given a full critique on the anatomical incorrections as the following.
“Her breasts are much too small and do not have the lift that superhero women should have. Her jawline is fat and her neck much too long. The style of her hair is clunky and does not flow in a sense that a super human would. Her hips, waist and thighs are too big and she honestly looks fat. No one is going to want to read a comic with a fat female protagonist. I honestly recommend looking at issues of Sport’s Illustrated to get the right anatomy. Those women are the peak of human perfection, and that is what we want in this industry.”
Peak of human perfection? I don’t know about you, but I don’t see living on salad and dietary pills as perfection.
I would like to say this was just the opinion of one editor from one company, but I found similar opinions at almost every review I went to. By the end I was pretty upset, having been following this blog for very long and trying hard to make my anatomy believable and human. But this is not something the comic book industry seems to want, and it’s something that I thought everyone deserved to be informed on.
Again, this is not to bring attention to me and my own art, but rather inform the community of just what their artistic standards are, and why so many what we deem ‘bad artists’ are able to get full careers working for these companies.
Your Batwoman pic is awesome, and it’s not like you didn’t give her curves or anything and her breasts aren’t small. What do they think swimsuit models look like in a costume anyway? And honestly, your piece is a lot closer to that SI cover than a lot of the “industry standard” art, but it is interesting that they consider Sports Illustrated swimsuit models as what superheroines should look like (even though they don’t end up looking like SI swimsuit models either.)
It doesn’t surprise me though, but it’s sad that that is considered the “peak of human perfection” though. I think they’re confusing “what I find attractive in women” and “a woman at the peak of athletic perfection” much less “human perfection.”
(As a note, I don’t think we should assume that professional models necessarily exist on diet pills and salads, nor that thin people are necessarily unhealthily starving themselves. Also, SI images probably are quite touched up too.)
Huh. Weird.
I’ll be honest, I like that Batwoman piece very much. I don’t know what the rest of the portfolio is like, but if you can tell a story as well, I would work with you any time.
July 16, 2012
When I Almost Cried At Comicon
…was when they were showing lgbtq characters at the massive Gays In Comics panel on the huge screen, and Scandal Savage got one of the biggest hands of the night.
Go, SCANDAL!
Corny, maybe, but it made me happy.
Trying not to do sadness: Clearing up some misconceptions
Hello all. I’m not used to having any controversy on this blog. It’s been a rather non-argumentative one and I haven’t dealt with much anger or confusion from people. This has changed, so I’d like to take a few moments to clear up a few common misconceptions on my Batgirl post that I’ve seen…
Wait wait wait…
Oh, NO.
That was YOU?
Are you kidding? I LOVED you guys!
I was so happy to meet you, it was one of the highlights of the con…my husband took your picture, and you came back several times, right? We specifically asked you to come back when it was less busy, correct, so we could talk again?
Damn, this sucks. I am very, very sad to hear this, holy shit. I thought you guys were awesome, you made my day.
Terribly disappointed to hear that that did not come through…
Damn it.
Now I am REALLY depressed.
I just asked my husband and he remembers you, too, you guys were SPARKLING to us.
He says he gave you a free comic, right?
Holy crap, this is HORRIBLE. We thought you two were absolutely adorable, a highlight of the entire con.
Bleah. I give up.
Trying not to do sadness: Clearing up some misconceptions
Hello all. I’m not used to having any controversy on this blog. It’s been a rather non-argumentative one and I haven’t dealt with much anger or confusion from people. This has changed, so I’d like to take a few moments to clear up a few common misconceptions on my Batgirl post that I’ve seen…
Wait wait wait…
Oh, NO.
That was YOU?
Are you kidding? I LOVED you guys!
I was so happy to meet you, it was one of the highlights of the con…my husband took your picture, and you came back several times, right? We specifically asked you to come back when it was less busy, correct, so we could talk again?
Damn, this sucks. I am very, very sad to hear this, holy shit. I thought you guys were awesome, you made my day.
Terribly disappointed to hear that that did not come through…
Damn it.
Now I am REALLY depressed.
I saw your piece on prism, and I was wondering if they had any asexual focused comics?
Wow. That is an excellent question, and I am not entirely positive of the answer…I have a ton of Prism comics and I don’t remember any ace characters off the top of my head. But my memory sucks. My suggestion is, going to prismcomics.com and ask, or @prismcomics on Twitter!
Well it's nice you said we had good taste. I think this is true in all media. I mean if you look at the most popular books you'll often find stuff that is astonishingly badly written, and often the really good books that go on to be classics are taken much
Well, yeah, I agree. But you know, even when they DO try very hard to make elite readers happy, all that comes back from some quarters is negative. DC put Dustin Nguyen, one of THE hottest artists in the biz, on Batgirl. They put Artgerm, one of the most in demand cover guys anywhere, on the book. They tried.
With Secret Six, they gave us three years of ongoing and two minis and a special, almost fifty issues of stuff altogether, with a series starring CATMAN for God’s sake.
The idea that the companies don’t want to do good books and stories is just an internet myth, it’s silly. Even people doing books people hate are trying to do good work, for the most part.
laughingatwhiteprivilege:
inaequalitas-et-intolerantia:
PoC (pack of cunts), you are doomed. Your...
PoC (pack of cunts), you are doomed. Your anti-white movement will ultimately end in one of two ways.
1. You will become the majority and whites the minority. As is the case wherever blacks are the majority, society will descend into chaos and barbarism. Once great nations will quickly begin to resemble your ancestral homelands, and you will know only misery.
The worst part is, with all the white people gone, there will be no one left to blame but yourselves; though in such a degenerate and dysgenic environment, you’ll probably still struggle to make the connection.
2. You will one day go too far, and push the white man too far. If there’s anything you should be absolutely terrified of, it’s the formation of an angry, white consciousness. When blacks are collectively outraged, they riot. They break, they steal, they loot, they beat, they rape. At the end of the day though, their rage is impotent, and is shut down the moment authority decidedly reacts to it.
When the white man has a collective consciousness, millions perish, continents are conquered, races are enslaved.
It has already begun, and the more you fight, the more you will feed it.
White delusions are something else.
Oh, sure, right, like the angry white mass consciousness doesn’t exist already. It shows up every time we are momentarily overshadowed or inconvenienced.
What a crock of horseshit.
APE IN A CAPE: Books You Should Buy At the PRISM COMICS BOOTH
Prism Comics is THE resource for lgbtq comics of all kinds, they have been doing great work for years, and they publish fantastic books to appeal to all types of readers.
They publish comedies, dramas, love stories, erotic stories, fantasies, they do it all, and by some of the most talented…
Bold Riley is by Leia Weathington, a homeslice of mine from back when we made stupid fashion decisions in high school. Her book is totally rockin’ and YOU SHOULD PICK IT UP. I will be checking out these other books as well!
Kathryn no shhhh don’t talk about the vinyl days…
Oh, wait, now I definitely want to talk about the vinyl days!
Gail Simone's Blog
- Gail Simone's profile
- 1223 followers
