A Tribute to Gail Simone
The comic world is buzzing with the news of Gail Simone’s departure from DC’s popular line Batgirl. Simone was notified by email that she will no long be a writer for the line that has become her baby since DC’s reboot. Simone seemed to be as shocked as her fans when she released a few tweets about the experience.
As a huge fan of Batgirl I have to say I was not happy with this news. Despite my divided opinion on rebooting Barbara Gordon as Batgirl rather than Oracle, I really liked the direction that Simone took this character with the reboot. She’s the same optimistic Barbara but with a bit more realism too her. Simone has focused on Barbara’s recovery from her near-paralysis and fear of guns as well as her anger over her relationship with her mother in a poignant and relatable way. Batgirl #6 is one of my favorite issues of all time; Simone paints a beautiful picture of the relationship between Barbara and Bruce that any fan of the Batfamily would love.
Looking back, Simone’s career has been a string of impressive works. She started off penning strips of The Simpsons and later moved on to Marvel’s Deadpool (which was changed to Agent X). When Simone moved to DC Comics she began writing for the Birds of Prey title and also took on Action Comics. Simone is also responsible for the 2005 Villains United (part of the Infinite Crisis crossover) and its spin-off Secret Six, which led to an ongoing series. She has been involved in many other titles as well including Rose and Thorn and The Legion. Simone has also written series on Atom and Gen13.
In 2007 Simone became a regular writer for the third volume of Wonder Woman and went on to become Wonder Woman’s longest-running female writer. She also continued to write for Birds of Prey and Secret Six. With the New 52 reboot, Simone left Birds of Prey to write Batgirl. Simone has also written episodes for the animated television series Justice League Unlimited, Batman: The Brave and the Bold, and the Tomb Raider Animated Series.
I know that writers come and go in the world of comics but this particular change has left me with a heavy heart. Gail Simone is a much-loved writer and her sudden discharge has left many fans scratching their heads. Batgirl has been popular but for whatever reason DC has decided to continue the series with another writer. Despite being told she was fired via email (seriously, who does that?), Simone has remained gracious and humble so far during this ordeal. I hope she can continue to find work that matches her talent and I know that I for one will not stop reading anything she produces.
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Gail Simone is a titan in the industry and someone who knows Batgirl inside and out. Her reboot was one of the best in the DC 52 and was met with critical, commercial and financial success. If DC did indeed want to split ways with Gail they owed it to her to give her a proper and respectable send-off. This was both disheartening and classless and only further drives the rumors of DC’s conflicting management.
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Oh, PS – Great article
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Thanks!
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DC is running a very strange game right now. For instance, while the cancelled books of the new 52 have been on the low side of the charts, they were still keeping worse selling books. I wonder if it was a price thing. Sometimes these entertainment companies drop someone as popular and influential as Simone because they cost too much and their sales aren’t covering their salary..
Anyways, as a big fan of Deadpool, I really liked her run on the book and she made the best of weird situation when they made it Agent X. I loved Villains United and almost all of the Secret Six stuff (it kind of petered out at the end though).
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That’s a nice tribute, she’s a wonderful person and her firing makes no sense.
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