The Official Ask Gail Thread

[Gail Simone]

If you ever decided to jump ship to Marvel, what character would you most like to take a whack at writing?

Spider-man. Um. Hmm. Punisher.

Some of the X-men but not the main book.

[Gail Simone]

How many times do you get the question "How can I become a skilled writer like you" and when you say practice, you can just tell they were hoping there's a trick to learning it over night?

All the time.

I get private letters and stuff that are these HUGE questions, out of nowhere, asking things like, "How do you become a writer?" or "How do you write characters?"

And many of them aren't even polite. It's frustrating.

[Gail Simone]

I know I've asked this before, but i really don't have any other question

Why isn't Speedy in Birds Of Prey?
there are many reasons why i ask this a lot
1: Its 100% logical given her connection to Black Canary and the story that got Canary back in the birds
2: There is probably no other female character at DC that would have a better time getting mentored by Oracle (Well maybe "Proxy")
3: she sure as hell didn't have anywhere else to go

Mainly because I'm just not super crazy about the character yet, to be honest. I think she belongs in Green Arrow, not BOP.

[Gail Simone]

Will you be answering this next batch of questions?

Oh and have you ever been asked to write one of those mega-crossover event?

I have, and it almost happened but I got distracted by Wonder Woman.

[Gail Simone]

It's weird that you feel this way about Wolverine, but you loved writing Wonder Woman. That's not a dig... I'm just saying that she's been changed and revamped so many times, I kinda think she's the same as Wolverine in that sense.

I have a tough time with DC characters because I find that the alter egos have nothing to them. In costume, they're wonderful. Out of costume, it's basically "meh." I feel, in the stories I've read, that it's always a rush to get the character back into costume and into action.

The thing I miss about Wolverine is the fact that he didn't give a fuck what you thought, he was going to do what he wanted to. That included smoking cigars and drinking booze. Because of his healing factor, smoking didn't do anything to him. When they decided to clean him up, because it's not a good influence on the kids... I felt he sort of lost that rebellious side to him. That and the fact that are now a billion other characters who have claws and it's watered-down the coolness of Wolverine, especially for new readers.

In a way, Wonder Woman's chaotic past is kind of in her favor for me, as opposed to Logan, who I'm simply bored with. She's not doing the same shtick in eighty books a month for decades at a stretch.

[Gail Simone]

Damn, I got forgetful and answered some questions twice. Poop.

Will get caught up after NYCC!

[JBK405]

Hello, long-time reader, first time poster (Hey, I just found this forum yesterday, cut me some slack).

A question that has been bothering me for quite some time, we're talking months here, is how Scandal views herself. I mean personally. What does she think of her life and actions? Does she believe that she is a "good guy"? Does she think she is a "bad guy"? Does she believe that the concepts of "good" and "evil" as commonly defined have no place in a complex world without asolutes, and thusly refuses to classify herself?

What got me thiking about this is how much of Secret Six is devoted to introspection and personal beliefs. The very first issue I read was Catman and Deadshot debating whether or not Catman had become a good guy while simultaneously foiling/participating in a convenience store hold-up. Throughout that conversation, and much of the series before and after it as well, it is obvious that Catman wants to be a hero. He wants to be the good guy, the role model, the All-American Face, but (As Deadshot so succinctly points out to him afterwards), he is not there. That's not who he is, but he wants that to be who he is.

Deadshot gets his own story later, visiting his priest as he tries to understand why he is so overcome with the compulsion to kill. Unlike Blake he does not want to be a hero, he does not feel guilt over his life of crime and has no urge to join the White Hats, but he does want to be in control of his life, to be evil (If he is evil at all) because he chooses to be evil, and not because of an urge he can't control.

What I'm wondering is where does Scandal fit into this? What does she want? Where does she see herself fitting in? If given the choice tomorrow would she chose to abandon the world of capes forever? Does she want to live a nice, quiet life with a 9-5 job? Does she want to settle down with Liana? Or does she enjoy her life as it is? Does she, maybe, want to be eviler?

It's at this point that I always come back to the ending of that wonderful cowboy Elseworlds issue. It ends, so simply, with the wish that, if only this time, they could have been the heroes.

I know how I feel about Scandal (Well, actually, I don't "know," since one of the things that makes for such a great character is the complexity that keeps my own interpretation constantly shifting), and I know how a lot of my friends/people online who I've never met feel about her, but how does she feel about herself

[bert]

Finally unlocked. . and yet I still never got an answer about getting "Boy" into the Birds

[michealdark]

Finally unlocked. I'll think of something later

[michealdark]

Okay, I got 2.

1) Are you and Bryan Miller collaborating until the new status quos are in place?

2) Are we going to see Wendy's evolution into the role of the new DCU info broker, and are we coing to see this spread out across the DCU/see her interacting more with other people, or will it be a strictly BOP and/or Batgirl thing?