Clearing Out My Ask Box A Little Bit

I get a lot of asks, some of them are dupes of things I've answered previously, some I answer quickly…and some sort of sit there because the answers are long, or complicated. So I figured I would try to answer  a few this week, as time allows.

The lovely and talented Ealperin asked me, what I was most proud of. That seemed open ended, so I asked if she meant in my life, my work, or my career.

Of course the answer came back, "ALL THREE."

YIKES.

Okay, it always feels a little weird talking about these things. It's not what I'm good at, but let's give it a shot since it's come up a few times here, in various ways.

In my life, my personal life, I'm proud of a few things—I'm proud that I married the right guy. He's kind, strong, smart, funny as hell. I got lucky, and we are stuck for life. He's one of those guys who does the right thing, whether or not anyone is watching.

I'm proud of my son. I can't take credit for him, he seemed to do everything on his own, somehow. But he's this six foot blond kid with perfect teeth, he's a black belt in Okinawa Shuri-Te, he speaks and writes fluent Japanese and has taught himself some proficiency in several languages, he plays several instruments with remarkable talent, he reads classics in foreign languages for fun, he hates bullies and bigots, I just adore him. I know I'm biased, but he's just a remarkable kid. He has some social anxieties, and it's been a struggle for him to do some things other kids do without a thought. But he's working on that, and I admire his courage.

I'm proud that even after school and a decent career as a hairstylist, I did the bungee jump off the cliff to become a writer even though the idea scared the hell out of me.

As for my work. I've given this some thought.

I think it's possible that the thing I'm proudest of is giving Diana a human voice in Wonder Woman. Even people who didn't like the run seemed to feel empathy for her, to regard her as a person, in a way that they hadn't seen her before. There have been lots of great Wonder Woman writers in the past…but I think we humanized her. It may all be retconned out now, but I'm proud of that.

In a larger way, I'm proud that a lot of people felt that way about a LOT of the female characters I've written. I think I was part of a wave of writers that worked hard to make female characters more than just male gaze fodder or pointlessly violent rage-monkeys. I am pretty proud of my work with Wonder Woman, Lois Lane, Oracle, Batgirl, Black Canary, Shiva, Huntress, Lady Blackhawk, Scandal Savage, Knockout, Tommy and Seresa Lindo, the Killer Princesses, Misfit, Black Alice, Rainmaker, Fairchild, Freefall, Outlaw, Kho Kharhi, the Queen of Fables,  etc. I think, if you look at those characters, you don't see the same character over and over. None of them exist only in relationship to male characters. It sounds freaky, but there really was a time when no one thought a female character could lead a book, that guys wouldn't read it. But everyone one of those characters has fans all over the gender spectrum. I'm proud of that.

I'm proud that (with lots of great artists and other creative people), we proved a girl team book could not only be a hit, but be a hit TWICE, and never lose its audience even after years. I don't know if people realize what a trailblazer bop was, in some ways.

As for my career, I'm proud of several things. I'm proud of working with a lot of my heroes, people like Dwayne McDuffie, George Perez, Keith Giffin, Paul Cornell, Dan Jurgens, Adam Hughes, Kevin Maguire, Phil Jimenez, Michael Golden, Mike Grell, Dan DeCarlo, Jill Thompson, dozens of others.

I'm proud of still being here when many predicted that a female writer couldn't hold an audience in mainstream comics.

But two things stand out for me above the rest, at least in my mind at this moment.

One had nothing to do with me, I was just honored to be there. That was the counter-protest to the Westboro Bapstist church hate-mongers at Comicon. I was there, and chanting and laughing and singing with that group was one of the proudest moments of my life. They turned that other group's hate into love for everything great in the world and in the comics community.  They were funny, wickedly smart, and just the most amazing damn people anywhere. I can't describe the catharsis of having a guy in a perfect Bender costume say into a microphone, drowning out the Westboro homophobic bullshit, "BITE MY SHINY METAL ASS."

I was never prouder to be a comic book fan, honest to god. I get misty thinking about it. And the WBC left early with their tails between their legs, and guess what? They haven't RETURNED to Comicon, either. :)

Okay…I am leaving the number one career pride moment for another post, to follow shortly!

Thanks for your patience. :)