You'll All Be Sorry!

by Gail Simone

Top comics writer Gail Simone shreds the sacred cows of comics in this first-ever collection of her humorous prose. In this mixture of new stories and classics from her long-running online column, Simone sends up websites, Watchmen, Whiteout, and Wizard, turning her sharp wit on characters, pros, and fans alike. Includes illustrations. Includes over 30 columns, freshly laid out, many with illustrations. Simone is joined by a number of her fellow comics creators, who provide illustrations or offer up their own Condensed Comics Classics. Says "This is a book that has been long-requested, mainly by myself, but also some random others, mostly demi-people who don't get out much and don't understand what real life is about. It collects some of my classic 'humor' columns, 'satirizing' an 'industry' I knew 'nothing' about, as well as some columns that just plain 'sucked.' I like it and I'm sure you (or others less discerning) will, also! *" * Surety not legally binding. Guarantee of chortles only valid if reader is naked and/or medicated and not in close proximity to Carrot Top. Do not use YABS as a suppository except in extreme emergencies or in high def. YABS is not meant to be a replacement for an iron lung. Any mention of Rob Liefeld is strictly for purposes of hilarity.

Genres: Humor, Comics

160 pages, Paperback

First published August 29, 2008

About the author

Gail Simone is a comic book writer well-known for her work on Birds of Prey (DC), Wonder Woman (DC), and Deadpool (Marvel), among others, and has also written humorous and critical commentary on comics and the comics industry such as the original "Women in Refrigerators" website and a regular column called "You'll All Be Sorry".

Reviews

[Cale · Rating 3 out of 5]

Comics as a medium are very temporal - while there are storylines that stand the test of time, many disappear entirely. And that goes doubly for comics criticism. Some portion of the collection (especially the Condensed Comic Classics) are in reference to titles or runs that have not survived the decade and a half since the book was published.
But most of the book isn't actual criticism. Simone has a lot of concept pieces, which is where she shines. Pieces like Conan & Hobbes and Lone Wolf and Cub: A Cricket Knows Not and The Runner in the Dark are highlights, as are the way too relatable Hockenberry and Fern blogs. There are some that don't work very well (Dave Sim criticism, Watchmen 'bloopers', Galactus blog), but more do than don't.
There are nuggets of Simone's later brilliance showing through here, but this collection stems from a strange point; before her Big 2 work, but after her best-know criticism ('women in fridges' only gets mentioned in the introduction). So it doesn't serve as the best repository of her work, but it does provide some nice features that are probably hard to find now. It's nice to have and nice to read, but not critical to appreciating Simone's larger body of work.

[Alana · Rating 4 out of 5]

Definitely as much of a reflection of the times as it is a skewering of the industry

[John Kirk · Rating 3 out of 5]

I originally read these columns online; they are still available, but the website has been dormant for a while so the layout isn't optimised for modern browsers. Aside from that, I enjoyed them at the time so I was happy to buy a copy of the book as a way to send some money to the writer.

The first thing to mention is that you don't get a complete archive here. In particular, I noticed that the "Powers" parody was missing, along with the story where Batman is alone at Christmas and goes hungry without Alfred to cook for him. That's a pity, and I don't know why they were left out.

If it was simply for space reasons, I'd have preferred to skip the "Condensed Comics Classics", where other writers did self-parodies of their own series. They relied on you being familiar with the source material, and that's not always the case for me. Also, while it's nice that the creators are willing to poke fun at themselves, I assume that if they really thought something was a bad idea then they wouldn't have done it in the first place. So, I didn't really find any of them funny, even when I knew what they were talking about.

Still, Gail Simone has written some good stuff here. I particularly liked the "Conan and Hobbes" story, which doesn't require much previous knowledge. As long as you know that Conan is a barbarian hero and that "Calvin and Hobbes" was a strip about a boy and his toy tiger, you're good to go. So, if you're generally interested in comics then this book is worth reading, particular if you missed the columns the first time around.

[Kevin Wright · Rating 4 out of 5]

Gail Simone broke into comics in an unusual way--by calling the industry out on their shit. YABS collects some of her sharpest satire of the comics industry from her blogging days. Adding to the fun, she even got some of the biggest names in comics to satirize themselves with their “Condensed Comics Classics.” It’s not just that Simone is funny, she’s also dead on about what was wrong with the comics of the time. Viewed with hindsight, YABS contains the seeds of what would become her greatness as a comic book writer: sharp wits, keen insights, attitude, integrity, and the ability to poke fun while still embracing human frailty. For some reason, it’s rare for a critic to also create. In Simone’s case, she would tear down the excesses and attitudes of ’90s comics only to become one of the key architects of the comics renaissance of the 21st century. Hers is a voice that the industry sorely needs, and here is where it all begins.

[Jenn · Rating 2 out of 5]

A collection of Simone's YABS columns. Like most collections, hit or miss. I didn't care for the recurring fan fiction columns, but the stuff about Alan Moore and Dave Sim was HILARIOUS. YMMV, depending on how into comic geekery you are--after all, some of the jokes won't make sense if you don't recognize the context.

[Matt · Rating 1 out of 5]

Even those giving good reviews make an exception of the fan fiction parody. It's not that it isn't funny, it's the way it's not funny. It is like watching the neighborhood bully pick on the retarded kid and I for one could not get past it to find the rest amusing. If you're the sort who finds that funny, laugh it up. It changed my view of Simone completely.

[Laura · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great bathroom book.

[Jdetrick · Rating 4 out of 5]

The ideas in here are brilliant and hilarious. A few go a little too long, but they're all great fun!