Why do people try and micromanage Gail Simone? Don't they know she can't be contained? Don't they know she is unstoppable? Don't they know that the only thing you can do is guide the force of Gail Simone and watch as magic is done?

Heh.

Well, that’s the weird thing.  Editorial policy is a tricky thing and it’s often mandated by forces from above, so it can be a very, very difficult job being an editor.  I couldn’t do it, I would be terrible at it. That is not a backhanded insult, I genuinely think it’s just a hugely difficult job and even at the best of times, SOMEONE always seems to be mad at you, often for things beyond your control. You have to keep a million balls in the air and you get blamed for anything that goes wrong even if it’s my fault or the penciler’s fault or a publisher’s fault or whatever. It’s rough. 

But in general, the prevailing thinking has always been if you hire someone for their particular point of view, and their audience, you want them to actually express that. It’s part of the selling point. No one hires, say, a Grant Morrison or a Brian Bendis without wanting those people to be themselves. 

Great editors are ALWAYS about hiring the right person and helping them do their best work. And not to compare myself to those two guys, but I have a POV and an audience. 

But some editors don’t work that way and that makes things much more difficult. It may work for others, for me it’s really quite impossible. It hasn’t happened a LOT, but when it does, it’s devastating. 

I should also add that in some editorial/creator conflicts, the creator is to blame, not the editor, I am not proud to say that has happened with me a couple times (I have since apologized).