APE IN A CAPE

My Fun Weekend

Sat, 25 May 2013 07:03:41 -0400

So, I am having a lovely time in New Zealand, met lots of readers at Armageddon Expo, here in Hamilton.

Down here and in Australia, cons are a little different from what I am used to, most of the attendees come for the celebrities, I think. And I don’t normally get all that excited about meeting actors. I respect their art and all, but the celebrity thing doesn’t usually hit me the same way—I don’t watch television, I don’t keep up with celebrity gossip, I usually have no idea who people are on the covers of magazines.

THIS time, at this con, I’m afraid I have fangirled QUITE A LOT, actually.

First, had a lovely long visit with Mitch Pileggi, who was one of my favorite parts of the X-files. Then I got to meet and chat with Yeardley Smith.

I can’t explain what a big deal this is to me…of all the characters I write, Lisa Simpson is one of the most important to me personally, I just adore her, and Yeardley is of course the biggest reason why.

Also, Yeardley herself is absolutely adorable, she doesn’t look like she’s aged a day since Herman’s Head, and she’s an immaculate dresser…we talked about Lisa and Bongo Comics and it was pretty much wonderful.

Today I had a nice long chat with Lance Henricksen, Mitch Pileggi, and Sylvester McCoy in the green room and they all just could not have been nicer or more entertaining.

The final straw in my fangirl overload was that Karl Urban came to the con, not as a guest, but so his kids could enjoy the convention, so met him in the green room. That was pretty much a I FORGOT HOW TO DO WORDS AND TALKING moment…Dredd, McCoy, and Eomer all in one lovely dude!

Funny. I could meet Tom Cruise or whoever and not really be affected one way or the other, but these particular people all do work I have loved so much. It’s hard to stay impartial. :)

Highlight of the con, Sylvester was telling a story about filming the Hobbit and suddenly stopped to do a perfect, flawless, Ian McKellan impersonation.

Life is pretty great!

waynereewrites: This rather bad-ass looking anthology by women...

Sat, 25 May 2013 06:52:03 -0400

waynereewrites:

This rather bad-ass looking anthology by women creators features a story by Audrey and Gail Simone. For that reason alone, I absolutely insist that every single one of you orders at least one copy.

(Singaporeans, shipping to our neck of the woods is a bit spotty, but if you can work out an alternative way of grabbing a copy – or five – please do so.) (The rest of you have no excuses. Quit gawkin’ and start orderin’.)

It was my honor to work with the very talented Audrey Chan!

I noticed that The Flash #20 was dedicated to Carmine Infantino. Are you going to do that with a future issue of Batgirl?

Sat, 25 May 2013 06:50:28 -0400

Crap.

You know, that didn’t even occur to me. Dang.

Hi Gail, I just thought I'd let you know that I watched the "Independent Lens" special on feminism as seen through the prism of Wonder Woman with my 8-year-old, Anya. I wasn't positive it would hold her interest, but she loved it. The only person she recognized was you. She remembered your kind words about her Huntress Halloween costume. After looking up Birds of Prey on Wikipedia, she has settled on Lady Blackhawk this year. I have no idea how we will pull that one off.

Sat, 25 May 2013 06:50:06 -0400

I don’t know, but there had BETTER BE PHOTOS! :)

Ms. Simone, I just got home from a long semester of college and I went straight to my comic store to pick up my books. I ended up spending a lot more money than I could afford because I'm not getting the hours that I want at my job. So, I decided to weed out some books to make my list more manageable. I decided that I would read Batgirl #19 decide if I would keep it. I just wanted to tell you that it made it easily. It was phenomenal. Thank you so much for writing beautiful, strong characters.

Sat, 25 May 2013 06:49:30 -0400

AW!

Thank you, you made my night. :)

Did you have any hand in making Infinity from the later BoP run? I always thought she was really cool, but there isn't much about her anywhere.

Sat, 25 May 2013 06:48:34 -0400

I did not, not sure who created Infinity, now that you mention it!

I believe I have determined the greatest line of dialogue you have ever written or probably ever will. "OH, GREAT BLAZING BAGS OF CRAP." from Villains United #6. Am I correct? :)

Sat, 25 May 2013 06:48:00 -0400

I have a couple favorites:

HIPPOLYTA: Amazons…DEFEND!

and

RALPH WIGGUM: I can taste it with my sniff-sniff!

jordanorsomething: CRYING WHAT? LIFE CANNOT BE THIS PERFECT.

Sat, 25 May 2013 06:40:22 -0400

jordanorsomething:

CRYING

WHAT? LIFE CANNOT BE THIS PERFECT.

anarcheluxemburg: billdegrassenyeson: In today’s episode of...

Fri, 24 May 2013 16:03:29 -0400

anarcheluxemburg:

billdegrassenyeson:

In today’s episode of “Is Richard Dawkins a revered intellect or a guy I went to high school with?”

Funny. I thought new atheists were all about not blindly believing something from a book.

Another embarrassing statement from a guy I used to really admire.

tradition: i think something got lost in translation...

Fri, 24 May 2013 15:47:17 -0400

tradition:

i think something got lost in translation here.

Catman is not fluent in diplomacy.

xdivinechaosx: The Movement fanart. Tremor, Virtue &...

Fri, 24 May 2013 15:38:14 -0400

xdivinechaosx:

The Movement fanart. Tremor, Virtue & Mouse.

My favorite characters so far… I imagine I will love the entire team by the end of issue two.

Remember,
i.c.u. ;)

WOW!

Spectacular!

This is beautiful!

lcosta1973: bentcon: Live nude model drawing fund raiser from...

Fri, 24 May 2013 11:34:56 -0400

lcosta1973:

bentcon:

Live nude model drawing fund raiser from your good friends at Bent-Con. Saturday, June 1st starting at 4:30pm at the L.A. Glaneur Art Gallery in Los Angeles. For reservations, contact: salvador@bent-con.org

Sounds fun.

arkhamboundz: It’s not done yet but this is close. I will have...

Thu, 23 May 2013 17:14:19 -0400

arkhamboundz:

It’s not done yet but this is close. I will have to do some modifications on the mask (maybe) and these leggings aren’t the ones I’m going to use. Oh, and my hair is a mess and not red (yet).

HEY! YOU IN THE LEGGINGS!

QUIT BEING SO DAMN PERFECT!

Misfit is back!

Hello Gail! I've been dying to ask this since forever and finally gathered my courage: would it be possible for me to send you my Batgirl #1 by mail to get it signed by you? I absolutely adore your work and it would mean the world to me - I live in northern Europe and my chances of actually meeting you in real life are slim to none. ):

Thu, 23 May 2013 17:12:00 -0400

I am so, so, sorry, but I can’t do this. I live in the boonies, our mail is unreliable, books get rained on, or they get mangled, and I can’t make it to the post office in a timely fashion so it NEVER works out and I always end up feeling bad. I’m so sorry!

I will be in Wales, Dublin, and Norway this year, I realize that is probably still very far, but maybe someday I will be at a con and I will HAPPILY sign your books for you.

I am so sorry, I feel bad, but it just never works out.

hey gail, are you at all a stephen king fan?

Thu, 23 May 2013 17:01:08 -0400

HUGE Stephen King fan. LOVE Stephen King. Favorite King novel is The Dead Zone, but I have a ton of books of his that I love.

I love his son’s work, as well, the great Joe Hill. Everything he touches is gold!

He was kind enough to send me his new novel long before it came out, Nos482, to read and give an opinion on. I loved it…he even thanked me in the forward. :)

Amazing that a family could produce more than one writer that good!

When Virtue tells you to go… …it’s best to...

Thu, 23 May 2013 16:52:34 -0400

When Virtue tells you to go…

…it’s best to just go.

Hey Gail, have you heard about Pope Francis's recent speech? I'm not a Catholic, or even a Christian (more of a Deist, really), but I was close to tears hearing what he said, at Mass, no less!

Thu, 23 May 2013 16:27:19 -0400

I have not but it sounds like I’d better!

I Feel Weird Even Saying This, But...

Thu, 23 May 2013 16:22:08 -0400

…no, it’s not odd if you are not female and you still like or prefer female-identifying characters. It’s not odd, it’s awesome.

Like what you like, love what you love, be who you want to be. There are always going to be people who are hung up on goofy nonsense and outdated gender politics. It’s their problem, not yours.

If you love Lara Croft more than Solid Snake, and you love Batwoman more than Batman, and you love Buffy more than Blade, good for you, they are wonderful characters and I am delighted that they exist, because when I was a teensy girl, there were not a lot of badass female adventurers, at least not where I could find them in my teensy Oregon town.

If someone has a problem with you liking female characters, what in god’s name does that say about THEM?

Hi! First off, I want to warn that this ask contains spoilers for BtVS. Cool? Cool. Gail, what's your take on the fridging of characters when it pertains to queer relationships (ie Tara's death catapulting Willow into a rage and grief fueled magical meltdown and subsequent villain-ness?) Is it still fridging if it advances another female character? I'm interested to hear your thoughts!

Thu, 23 May 2013 15:58:25 -0400

To this day, I have only seen two episodes of Buffy The Vampire Slayer. The zeitgeist completely missed me on that, sorry!

thedailypop: Batgirl by Ryan Sook RYAN SOOK I LOVE YOU.

Thu, 23 May 2013 15:47:43 -0400

thedailypop:

Batgirl by Ryan Sook

RYAN SOOK I LOVE YOU.