While I was experiencing sensory overload at New York Comic Con, I had the luck of speaking with Gail Simone. We briefly discussed the Valkyries (“thanks for doing what you do, you guys are great!”), and what it’s like being a retailer (I love my job, and it is at times full of challenges), before our conversation turned to people new to comics.
LC: One of the first things I wanted to ask you is what you would recommend to new readers? Like, is there anything that you’re currently reading that you’d recommend?
GS: Well – laughs – for me, it is all about what people are interested in. You don’t want to recommend a horror comic book if someone doesn’t like that genre, but I think there’s some really great things that appeal to wide audiences like Saga, then we’ve got Lumberjanes, a good “entry-level/reading your first comic” type of story. There’s so much out there and there’s gonna be something they like based on what they’re watching on television or playing. With that, you’ll get the greatest success – someone else enjoying comics.
LC: That’s true! I love that feeling when you recommend something to someone, only for them to come back and ask for MORE. Speaking of fans, what’s your favorite fan response to something you’ve written?
GS: There’s been a couple of really cool things, and some of them center around cosplay. One of them is I was at FCBD in New Hampshire, and they had the Batcycle there, and we’re doing some photo ops and stuff, so I get on the bike, and all of a sudden I’m surrounded by all of these lovely, talented ladies dressed as female characters that I’ve written, so it was really amazing to feel and see that type of support and celebration. It was one of the happiest days and really stood out in my mind.
LC: What about on the negative side of things? I’m sure you’ve seen your share of criticism.
GS: You know, I had someone stand in line once and he comes up and says, “I don’t know you, I’ve never read any of your work, but I can tell from what my roommate says, that you hate men.” I was just kinda like, oh, okay, I didn’t know that, but thank you for telling me, so you know sometimes stuff like that happens, but it’s not very often anymore.
LC: That sounds….like a lot of energy to waste. – laughs-
GS: Yeah! -laughs- No kidding!
LC: Switching subjects here, I just read Red Sonja…at my store, we have Ladies Night, and it was one of our recommendation books with Black Widow, and I want to know if writing her affects your life for a little while, for example, after you get through writing an issue, are you in that warrior sort of mindset, with your voice raised, arms in the air, -barbaric yell- wielding pens/utensils as a sword?
GS: -laughs- When I’m sitting down to write Red Sonja, it goes kinda like this, because I love her character so much, and I love having the opportunity to bring new sensibility to her, so I’ll sit down and say, okay, I’m only going to have time to write a couple of pages in between doing these other projects, and I look up, and it’s twelve pages later! It’s that kind of thing. I get so lost in the story and what’s going on with her and how badass she is. I just completely lose track of time, which is unusual for me. I watch the clock a lot.
LC: I can only imagine. I’m sure it helps switching gears, especially since you have so many, varied projects going on.
GS: Yes! That’s why I like having so many different ones, in tone and style from each other, because if I was writing the same thing, it’d be so boring to me. Getting to exercise my horror side, or my funny side, or the more heroic side, it’s what I love about writing comics, to have that variety.
LC: Totally makes sense! Growing up, I read some of my dad’s Robert E. Howard books, and had my first brush with Red Sonja that way, and I just want to thank you for doing the reboot of her rape origins into something with more meaning. Strong characters do not have to stem from rape.
GS: Yeaaaah, that’s kind of a trope.
LC: An annoying one.
GS: It doesn’t really read very well in this day and age, and it was one of the conditions of me writing the character. We needed to lose that, and that she couldn’t sex with anyone unless she bested them in battle. That takes away a lot of choices, and to me, it’s not the way to prove her strength.
At this point, our time was running out, so I steered our conversation to the most important question of all.
LC: The fact that you’re a gamer is pretty widespread, is a Red Sonja game something you’d like to see come to fruition?
GS: Can you IMAGINE!? A game in that WORLD?
LC: YES. YOU COULD BE A TOTAL BADASS AND WORK YOUR WAY FROM THE BOTTOM AS THIS RAD WARRIOR.
GS: Especially if they had Smell-o-Rama, cause one thing I love about writing barbarian stuff is that it’s all in the dirt, and in the mud, and in all the elements, and it’s completely grounded, the opposite of superhero stuff. It’d be a blast, and I’d play the hell out of that!
Our time at an end, I bid goodbye to Gail, and made a beeline for the Dark Horse merch line as there was an Avatar: The Last Airbender item with my name on it. Many thanks to the great guys at Dark Horse and Gail herself for taking the time to speak with me!
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Top 10 Comics of 2017
If you’ve been online at all today, odds are you heard the sad news: as of last week, Gail Simone was notified, via e-mail, that she is no longer the writer for DC’s Batgirl title. Bleeding Cool put the news out there and Gail herself confirmed it via twitter:
On Wednesday of last week, new Batgirl editor Brian Cunningham informed me by email that I was no longer the writer of Batgirl.
— GailSimone (@GailSimone) December 9, 2012
She also talked about making a boat out of marshmallows, which was honestly a much more pleasant conversation.
The point is, Gail Simone isn’t writing Batgirl anymore and this has caused the internet to have FEELINGS.
Thor has a lot of FEELS on this, and he’s not even a DC character!
So, it falls on me, in my first piece for IHO Geek, to help you, loyal comic fans, learn how to survive in a world without Gail Simone on Batgirl.
First, I want you to know that the grieving process has several stages. It starts with denial. Then comes anger. Anger leads to Hate, Hate leads to Suffering, Suffering leads to the Dark Side.
I should at this point remind you all that I am not a licensed therapist and no one should ever take any advice I’ve ever given at any point of time. That was your disclaimer, folks.
Anyway, look, it’s natural to be angry about this. DC drops the writer of, as Bleeding Cool put it, “the best selling female lead comic in the North American comics industry.” And considering the uproar we female comics fans have been making it comes at a shocking time. And it was done VIA E-MAIL, which just has “asshole” written all over it, right?
Being angry is okay. But keep in mind a few facts:
First, we don’t know the whole story and speculation can only take you so far. While we’re all curious as to why this happened, we don’t know and may never actually know and we might have to live with that fact. Let’s not throw around hate and accusations, because honestly it probably won’t do much good. Actually, the best thing you can do is vote with your dollars: send a message to DC by no longer buying Batgirl after Gail’s last issue (presumed to be this January).
Second, let’s not turn on each other at this point. One of my joking responses to this whole thing on Twitter was to claim the fault obviously lies with “Fake Geek Girls.” I was being sarcastic, and I labeled it as such because with the way things are going, it felt like someone out there was REALLY thinking something like that and would REALLY agree with it. Gail Simone has been a defender of geeks of all types and a welcoming and inclusive figure in the internet world of comic geeks. Keep that in mind and don’t attack each other.
Third, and most importantly, let’s keep our reactions in proportion to the issue, hmm? I mean, while it might seem like a good idea to attempt to burn down DC’s headquarters over this whole ordeal, that is, apparently, illegal. Or so I was informed by the very nice NYPD officer I met this summer after the whole Steph Brown kerfluffle from SDCC this past year. He was a very charming gentleman who used very soothing tones with me and my only complaint is that he did not return my lighter after it was all said and done.
And really, Gail’s responses to all of this have been positive. Her Tumblr post thanked her co-workers and fans for their support and she seems positive about the future. Which makes sense, after successful runs on titles like Birds of Prey, Secret Six, Wonder Woman and more, it seems pretty easy to accept that we’ll be seeing Gail’s name on covers again soon. If not from the Big Two, then definitely in more indie titles. After all, she did recently run a successful Kickstarter campaign for a self published title with Jim Calafiore, Leaving Megalopolis.
Gail, we wish you the best in your future and look forward to whatever adventures you’ve got planned for us.
Also, seriously, say the word and I will burn DC down to the fucking ground and salt the scorched earth left behind so nothing will ever grow there again.
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