Gail Simone

Gail Simone is an American writer of comic books. Best known for penning DC's Birds of Prey, her other notable works include Secret Six, Welcome to Tranquility, The All-New Atom, Deadpool, and Wonder Woman.

In 2011, she became the writer for Batgirl. Though fired from Batgirl in December 2012 by the title's incoming editor, Brian Cunningham, she was rehired on December 21st after DC received backlash from fans.

She became the writer for a new Red Sonja series in 2013 with Dynamite Entertainment.

Career

Early work

A former hairdresser who had studied theater in college, Simone first came to fan attention through Women in Refrigerators, a website founded in 1999 by a small group of comics fans, including Simone, in response to a scene in Green Lantern #54, in which the titular hero's girlfriend, Alexandra DeWitt, was murdered and her corpse shoved in a refrigerator for the hero to find. The site was dedicated to identifying female superheroes who had been killed, raped, or otherwise suffered traumatic indignities as a plot device for a male character. The site brought her into contact with many people working in the comics industry. Her column You'll All Be Sorry! appeared weekly on Comic Book Resources. Topics ranged from short, satirical summaries of comic books ("Condensed Comic Classics") to fan fiction parodies.

Simone worked for Bongo Comics, scripting many of their comics based on The Simpsons. Her contributions include stories for Simpsons Comics, an annual Treehouse of Horror special, and regular scripts for Bart Simpson Comics. Simone also penned many Sunday strips for the syndicated Simpsons comic strip.

Mainstream

Following her Simpsons work, Simone entered the comics mainstream with a run on Marvel Comics' Deadpool. When Deadpool was canceled and relaunched as Agent X, Simone continued as writer, but eventually left the series after a conflict with the series' editor. Simone returned to pen the concluding arc to Agent X, some months after the series' initial cancellation.

After the dispute with Marvel, Simone moved on to DC Comics, where she was given the Birds of Prey title (beginning with issue #56) featuring the all-female group consisting of Oracle, Black Canary, The Huntress and Lady Blackhawk.

Simone took over Action Comics after writer Chuck Austen, with John Byrne penciling. Simone continued her other projects, including the 2005 Villains United limited series - part of the "Infinite Crisis" crossover - in which she revitalized the Catman character. She also wrote a two-issue story arc that focused on the new Hawk & Dove for the third Teen Titans series, with Rob Liefeld penciling. While Simone maintained her usual enthusiastic stance, fandom was quick to lambast the promotional art Liefeld produced in tandem with the PR announcement. The controversy lay with Liefeld more than with Simone, a situation Simone acknowledged on the DC Comics message boards soon after the first Simone/Liefeld issue reached stores.

In 2005 Simone wrote a Villains United limited series spin-off, entitled Secret Six, which led to an ongoing series that debuted in September 2008 and finished with the rest of DC's titles prior to the September 2011 New 52 relaunch.

Other work by Simone includes a run on the Superman title Action Comics, a brief stint on The Legion, a Rose and Thorn limited series at DC Comics, and a revitalization of Wildstorm's Gen¹³. For Oni Press, Simone wrote Killer Princesses with co-creator and artist Lea Hernandez, Gus Beezer specials for Marvel Comics.

Simone also wrote an Atom series, based on ideas by Grant Morrison and penciled by her Action Comics artist, John Byrne and later Mike Norton. Other work includes a Gen¹³ series and a creator-owned project about a retirement community of super-heroes, Welcome to Tranquility, for Wildstorm. Simone was also a contributor to Tori Amos's Comic Book Tattoo.

On April 12, 2007, DC announced that Simone would be the new regular writer of the third volume of Wonder Woman, first scheduled to start with issue #13 but later changed to #14. Simone is notable for being Wonder Woman's longest-running female writer and has often erroneously been credited as the first woman to write the character, when she was in fact preceded by Mindy Newell, Trina Robbins, and Jodi Picoult. In early 2010 she was named as the writer for Birds of Prey under the "Brightest Day" banner.

Simone was replaced on Wonder Woman by J. Michael Strazcynski, right after the book is renumbered to issue 600, but remains writer for the ongoing Birds of Prey and Secret Six titles. A second Welcome to Tranquility limited series was also published in 2010. In June 2011, it was announced that Simone would be collaborating with co-writer Ethan Van Sciver on a revamped Firestorm series starring Ronnie Raymond and Jason Rusch and that her ongoing series Secret Six had been cancelled. She subsequently left Birds of Prey, and was succeeded by Duane Swierczynski.

In 2011 Simone contributed to The Power Within, a Kickstarter-funded comic book that focuses on teen bullying. That same year, as part of DC Comics' New 52 initiative, Simone wrote the new Batgirl title starring Barbara Gordon. The first issue of that series was published in September 2011, and in it, Simone introduced a character named Alysia Yeoh, who was later revealing to be transgender, making her the first major transgender character written in a contemporary context in a mainstream comic book.

Simone left The Fury of Firestorm, however, with issue #6 (February 2012) being her last issue.

In November 2012, a new cycle of rumors began, centered around the end of Simone's exclusivity clause with DC. These rumors had her leaving Batgirl, and possibly DC altogether. On December 9, 2012 Simone revealed that rather than leaving voluntarily, she had actually been fired off Batgirl the preceding Wednesday, via an email, by the book's new editor, Brian Cunningham. By December 21, Simone was back writing Batgirl.

In February 2013 DC announced The Movement, a new series by Simone and artist Freddie Williams II, which Simone calls, "a book about power â€" who owns it, who uses it, who suffers from its abuse." The following month Simone began writing a new ongoing Red Sonja series for Dynamite. The first issue was released in July 2013. That same year, Simone was listed first on IGN's list of the "The Best Tweeters in Comics" for the "enthusiasm and thoughtfulness" of her Twitter posts.

Other media

Simone penned the Justice League Unlimited episode "Double Date", which features Question, Huntress, Green Arrow and Black Canary in a romantic adventure tinged with revenge and jealousy. Originally, Simone wrote the episode to feature Batgirl Barbara Gordon. After Gordon is injured while working a case, Batman forbids her from continuing. She contacts Black Canary and the Huntress to finish the case. Neither heroine meets Gordon in person. Due to the animation rights for the Batgirl character being tied up at the time, Simone replaced Batgirl with Green Arrow and The Question. Simone stated that she was interested in working on the show again, having in mind a "Queen of Fables" story which she felt would look good animated.

She also wrote a 2010 episode of Batman: The Brave and the Bold titled "The Mask of Matches Malone!", which features Black Canary and Huntress from the Birds of Prey, as they try to remind Matches Malone that he is Batman.

In August 2007, Simone created and wrote an episode of GameTap's Re\Visioned: Tomb Raider Animated Series, entitled "Pre-Teen Raider".

Awards and recognition

Simone has been noted as being one of the most influential women in the comic book industry. Her blog, Women In Refrigerators, is noted for raising awareness of the representation of women in comics. Simone stated that the blog was not to condemn the industry for its use of women, but raise awareness of the tendency for female characters to be used as mere plot devices. Simone has stated that most female characters are targeted at male audiences through oversexualization and advocates the creation of female characters that are equals to male characters, a practice in which Simone herself has been recognized for engaging.

In 2009, she was inducted into the Friends of Lulu's Female Comic Creator’s Hall Of Fame.

In 2010 and 2012, Simone was nominated for a GLAAD Media Award for Outstanding Comic Book through her work on Secret Six.

In July of 2014, Simone was awarded the first ever True Believers Comic Award for Roll of Honor/Comic Excellence at London Film and Comic Con

Bibliography

• Killer Princesses #1-3 (with Lea Hernandez, Oni Press, December 2001 - April 2003) collected as:
  • Killer Princesses (96 pages, February 2004, ISBN 1-929998-31-7)
• Deadpool #65-69 (Marvel Comics, May - September 2002)
• Agent X #1-7, 13-15 (Marvel Comics, September 2002 - March 2003 & November - December 2003)
• Rose and Thorn #1-6 (with Adriana da Silva Melo, DC Comics, February - July 2004)
• Action Comics #827-831 & 833-835 (with John Byrne, DC Comics, July - November 2005 & January - March 2006) collected as:
  • Superman: Strange Attractors (192 pages, May 2006, ISBN 1-4012-0917-3)
• Villains United #1-6 (with Dale Eaglesham, DC Comics, July - December 2005) collected as:
  • Villains United (144 pages, January 2006, ISBN 1-4012-0838-X)
• Secret Six #1-6 (with Brad Walker, DC Comics, July 2006 - January 2007) collected as:
  • Six Degrees of Devastation (144 pages, March 2007, ISBN 1-4012-1231-X)
• Birds of Prey #56-90, 92-108 (DC Comics, August 2003 - July 2007) collected as:
  • Of Like Minds (with Ed Benes, collects Birds of Prey #56-61, 144 pages, March 2004, ISBN 1-4012-0192-X)
  • Sensei & Student (with Ed Benes, collects Birds of Prey #62-68, 168 pages, February 2005, ISBN 1-4012-0434-1)
  • Between Dark & Dawn (with Ed Benes, collects Birds of Prey #69-75, 176 pages, March 2006, ISBN 1-4012-0940-8)
  • The Battle Within (with Joe Bennett and Ed Benes, collects Birds of Prey #76-85, 240 pages, October 2006, ISBN 1-4012-1096-1)
  • Perfect Pitch (with Joe Bennett and Paulo Siqueira, collects Birds of Prey #86-90 and #92-95, 224 pages, February 2007, ISBN 1-4012-1191-7)
  • Blood and Circuits (with Nicola Scott, Paulo Siqueira and James Raiz, collects Birds of Prey #96-103, 208 pages, August 2007, ISBN 1-4012-1371-5)
  • Dead of Winter (with Nicola Scott, collects Birds of Prey #104-108, 128 pages, February 2008, ISBN 1-4012-1641-2)
• Welcome to Tranquility #1-12 (with Neil Googe, Wildstorm, February 2007 - January 2008) collected as:
  • Volume 1 (collects Welcome to Tranquility #1-6, 160 pages, December 2007, ISBN 1-4012-1516-5)
  • Volume 2 (collects Welcome to Tranquility #7-12, 144 pages, May 2008, ISBN 1-4012-1773-7)
• The All-New Atom #1-15, 17-18, 20 (DC Comics, September 2006 - April 2008) collected as:
  • My Life in Miniature (collects The All New Atom #1-6, 160 pages, ISBN 1-4012-1325-1)
  • Future/Past (collects The All New Atom #7-11, 128 pages, ISBN 1-4012-1568-8)
  • The Hunt For Ray Palmer (collects The All New Atom #12-16, 128 pages, ISBN 978-1-4012-1782-2)
  • Small Wonder (collects The All New Atom #17-18 and #20-25, 198 pages, ISBN 978-1-4012-1996-3)
• Wonder Woman vol. 3 #14-44 & vol. 1 #600 (DC Comics, January 2008 - July 2010) collected as:
  • The Circle (with Terry Dodson, collects Wonder Woman #14-19, January - June 2008, 144 pages, hardcover, November 2008, ISBN 1-4012-1932-2; trade paperback, September 2009, ISBN 1-4012-2011-8)
  • Ends of the Earth (with Aaron Lopresti, collects Wonder Woman #20-25, July - December 2008, 144 pages, hardcover, March 2009, ISBN 1-4012-2136-X)
  • Rise of the Olympian (with Aaron Lopresti, collects Wonder Woman #26-33, January - August 2009, 208 pages, November 2009, ISBN 1-4012-2513-6)
  • Warkiller (with Aaron Lopresti, collects Wonder Woman #34-39, September 2009 - February 2010, 144 pages, May 2010, ISBN 1-4012-2779-1)
  • Contagion (with Aaron Lopresti, Chris Batista, and Nicola Scott, collects Wonder Woman #40-44, March 2010 - July 2010, 128 pages, October 2010, ISBN 1-4012-2920-4)
• Secret Six #1-14, 16-36, DC Comics, September 2008 - August 2011) collected as:
  • Unhinged (with Nicola Scott and Doug Hazlewood, collects Secret Six #1-7, 144 pages, August 2009, ISBN 1-4012-2327-3)
  • Depths (with Nicola Scott and Carlos Rodriguez, collects Secret Six #8-14, 168 pages, April 2010, ISBN 1-4012-2599-3)
  • Danse Macabre (with Jim Calafiore, Peter Nguyen and Doug Hazlewood, collects Secret Six #15-18 and Suicide Squad #67, written by John Ostrander, 128 pages, October 2010, ISBN 1-4012-2904-2)
  • Cat's in the Cradle (with Jim Calafiore, R.B. Silva and Alexandre Palamaro, collects Secret Six #19-24, 144 pages, January 2011, ISBN 1-4012-3021-0)
  • The Reptile Brain (with Jim Calafiore and Pete Woods, collects Secret Six #25-29 and Action Comics #896, written by Paul Cornell, 144 pages, May 2011, ISBN 1-4012-3166-7)
  • The Darkest House (with Jim Calafiore, Matthew Clark and Ron Randall, collects Secret Six #30-36 and Doom Patrol #19, written by Keith Giffen, 176 pages, to be published January 2012)
• Birds of Prey vol. 2, #1-13 (DC Comics, July 2010 - August 2011) collected as:
  • End Run (with Ed Benes, Adriana Melo, and Alvin Lee, collects Birds of Prey #1-6, July 2010 - January 2011, 160 pages, hardcover, May 2011, ISBN 1-4012-3131-4;)
  • The Death of Oracle (with Ardian Syaf, Guillem March, Inaki Miranda, Pere Perez, Jesus Saiz, collects Birds of Prey #7-13, February - August 2011, 200 pages, hardcover, October 2011, ISBN 1-4012-3275-2)
• Welcome to Tranquility: One Foot in the Grave #1-6 (with Horacio Dominguez, Wildstorm, September 2010 - February 2011) collected as:
  • Welcome To Tranquility: One Foot in the Grave (collects Welcome to Tranquility: One Foot in the Grave #1-6, 144 pages, July 2011, ISBN 1-4012-3175-6)

Notes

References

• Gail Simone at the Grand Comics Database

External links

• Bloodstains on the Looking Glass Gail Simone's blog.
• Gail Simone at the Comic Book DB
• Gail Simone at the Internet Movie Database
• Warn, Sarah (April 6, 2009). "Interview with Wonder Woman’s Gail Simone". AfterEllen.com.

Interviews

• CAPE 3 Gail Simone Interview
• "The Simone Files I: Birds of Prey". Newsarama, January 24, 2007
• "The Simone Files II: The All-New Atom". Newsarama. January 25, 2007
• "The Simone Files III: Welcome to Tranquility". Newsarama. January 29, 2007
• "The Simone Files IV: Gen13". Newsarama. January 31, 2007
• "The Simone Files V: Nicola Scott". Newsarama. February 6, 2007
• "The Simone Files VI: Readers Axe The Questions". Newsarama. February 12, 2007
• Gustines, George Gene (November 27, 2007). "Wonder Woman Gets a New Voice, and It's Female". New York Times.