Gail Simone's Blog, page 1166

I still haven't read any of these three books. I picked up Voodoo at a store but haven't read it yet. The other two have been sold out.

So all I can speak in is generalities.

Sexual agency can be an indicator of empowerment, absolutely. The question is going to be how it is executed. Is it pure bullshit for the hetero male gaze, with no humanity behind it, and an impossible characterization and ridiculous scenario?

Or is it real human characters acting on their own decisions for reasons that don"t diminish them?

It's all in the execution. The same basic scenario: This woman seduces this man, as written by two different writers, can be inspiring and brilliant, or cheap and insulting.  So the situation ITSELF isn't enough to get irked by, the execution would have to be bad. And I try not to read things out of context—I just keep seeing the same single page of each book over and over.

I am a Vic Sage fan. This is a case where I can see both sides of the fence…in some legacy situations, I'd much rather have the new person, in one or two, I prefer the original.

But after reading Greg's version of the Question, I came pretty quickly to prefer Renee. After writing her briefly, I became sure of it. So I would prefer to have Renee be the Question, definitely.  I get that a lot of Renee fans disagree. But I think she's an awesome Q.

I don't, I'm sorry.  With the relaunch and the secrecy involved, a lot of information like this doesn't filter to the writers who aren't directly involved in those characters in the same way it used to. I had no idea there was going to be a Suicide Squad book, for example.

The good part is, it has allowed storylines to actually not get leaked months in advance, for the most part. But the bad news is, we don't necessarily know in advance where characters will be appearing.  We find out when we ask if they are available.

The previous two books I was writing had lots of DC characters…I could use secondary characters like the Question and have them fit in pretty easily. Doing Firestorm and Batgirl, it's a little harder to use the guests who don't have their own book.

But I'm working on it. ;)

Thank you very much!  I'm delighted that that book had that meaning for you.

My goal with Secret Six wasn't to write villains or anti-heroes or reluctant heroes. It was to write a series about desperate people who were all broken in some way, as human being. It's tossed around a lot, that some super teams are a 'family,' and I never thought of the Six that way, exactly. But they did end up relying on each other despite a consistent lack of trust in others.

It was a lot of fun to write, I miss it terribly.

I don't want to reveal the exact scene yet, but it would become revealed to Deadshot through a set of circumstances. My first thought was Deadshot reacting in a bit of shock, which seemed to make sense going by Deadshot's character.

But then I thought about it, and I think it's MORE his character that he knew or suspected and didn't give a ****.

I can't use the exact scene I had in mind, so I can at least reveal that bit. But the rest is still in play the next time I get to write the two of them together, which Dan has assured me, is very much on the table.

This is always the worst answer ever, but we will be getting to those things in story. Some things have adjusted in the new DCU, some time things have been shifted around in particular.

But at this point in her life, she had moved back in with her dad, more for him than for herself.

gaveedra-7:

itsinthetrees:

That sound you just heard was me screaming.

But are we actually going to see him with another man? Or is he just bisexual in implication, but always with a woman?

I have no problem showing him with another man.  No pun intended, but I don't seen any reason to pussyfoot around it. It's not going to be a secret.

invisiblemoose:

gailsimone:

itsinthetrees:

That sound you just heard was me screaming.

Heh.  I think if you look through the book, there are definite hints. Like everything in the Six, we find out their private lives only reluctantly…they're not big on sharing.

I'm about to go to sleep but remind me to tell you how it was going to be revealed…it was kind of awesome.

This makes me happy.

I'm glad!  It just felt weird keeping it a hidden plot reveal at this point, when it may be a while before Catman gets a regular book slot again.

However, it will mean a lot more when I finally get to come out and say it, which I will, the very next time I get to write Catman.

Tremor is asexual. The plan with the book was to have the Six work for Waller, reluctantly, and Tremor would join the team as official liaison,

itsinthetrees:

That sound you just heard was me screaming.

Heh.  I think if you look through the book, there are definite hints. Like everything in the Six, we find out their private lives only reluctantly…they're not big on sharing.

I'm about to go to sleep but remind me to tell you how it was going to be revealed…it was kind of awesome.