By Kate Kotler
Gail Simone is a champion of women in the comic industry AND women in comics, themselves. In 1999 Simone came to the attention of comic fans after penning a letter and list (which later became the basis for the website Women in Refrigerators) that posited the question: “Is it safe to be a female character in a comic book?”
The list gathered in one place all the female super-heroines and female characters who had been depowered, raped, abused or killed (and, in some instances, cut up into pieces and stuck in a refrigerator) because of their gender; and, often as a plot device for a male character.
The reaction to the list was threefold: Simone (who posted the letter and list on Comic Book Resources, where she later penned a column titled “You’ll All Be Sorry!“) was violently flamed by the pinheads of the innerwebs (no shock there), fans and creators started responding to Simone with additions to her list; and, finally – a general conversation about why female characters are so degraded and abused began which has resulted in more woman-character/super-heroine driven stories in the comic world.
Since WiR captured the attention of comic fans over a decade ago, Simone has gone on to a vibrant career as a comic book writer, herself. She has penned such epic titles as Birds of Prey, Secret Six, Deadpool, Welcome to Tranquility and -here’s the biggie- Wonder Woman.
GGotS was lucky enough to catch up with Gail for a brief chat while at C2E2:
Kate: I’m here in Chicago at C2E2, talking to amazing writer, Gail Simone – so, hi Gail!
Gail: Hello Internet-land!
Thanks for taking the time to talk to us. I wanted start off by asking you: How does it feel to be back on Birds of Prey after leaving that book behind for a while?
It feels incredible. I feel like I’ve come home, although it’s not the exact same Birds of Prey, we have some new member and a new location. A little bit different tone; and, [the characters] are a lot more prominent and important to the entire DC Universe at this point, so I’m extremely excited! And, the more art that comes in, I get more and more excited.
Fantastic! So when I was reading up about Birds of Prey just to refresh myself, I read that the initial series was considered kind of dark – but that now, because the book is part of the “Brightest Day” campaign, that BoP is “brighter and lighter.” How bright and light is it?
It’s part of The Brightest Day because we have the group back together and there’s a lot of really positive; but, that doesn’t mean that there aren’t going to be stories that have high stakes, conflict and energy. They’re coming out of the brightest day and looking to the future…
Can you give us any kind of spoilers about exciting twists that are coming up?
I think most people know by this point that Hawk is joining the team. Some people are okay with that and some people are not. We’re going to get to explore his character much more in detail and I’m really excited about that, it’s shaping up to be really great. Also there is a new villain that appears on the last page of the first issue — so no peeking at the last page when you read it! I’m really excited about [the villain], it looks amazing and is entirely terrifying.
So I was thinking about Women in Refrigerators and I was wondering about, it’s been over a decade since that site went live and you posted your initial thoughts about [female characters in comics] being maimed or decapitated or chopped up as plot devices in comic stories. I was wondering if you had any thoughts on how the portrayal of women in comic books has changed for the better in the last ten years?
It’s changed incredibly, though I do think it was changing at the time that the site went up. I think that the writers, today, care a lot about the female characters and see how important they are to comic books, in general. And, at DC, specifically you have characters like Black Canary and Wonder Woman and Cat Woman 
and Bat Girl who are important to the entire DC Universe. So it’s changed, the prominence has changed, the strength of the characters has changed and the quality of the writing is incredible right now.
Do you think that is attracting more women readers back to super hero comics?
I think it’s a contributing factor. However I wouldn’t want to assume that because you are a woman that you read the woman super hero characters /books – you Spider Man might be your favorite character – you know?
I do think that what’s changing and is helping it to change is that the Internet has evened the playing field. Feminine voices are really strong in comics right now and the new creators coming up – I think that the balance has changed in terms of the gender of those creators. I talk to a lot of young females who are aspiring to have a career in comics. That has changed a lot in the last ten years. As well as the attendance [at comic conventions] if you look around it’s no longer a crazy freakish thing to see a female here on their own – they’re everywhere – they are fans of many different things now, not just one thing that is considered “girly.” There is a great lineup of female creators, you can walk around and see that here. It’s amazing and it’s a good sign – because to cut out 50% of your clientele who might buy your product is just crazy.
It seems like your career kind of started because you were invested in the portrayal of women in comics…
I wouldn’t say it exactly that way, because I didn’t come into [comics] with an agenda like that, per se. In fact, it was almost the opposite, I resisted writing female characters predominantly because I didn’t want to be typecast as the “writer who only writes female characters.” I wanted to have a broader…
Right, you did some Simpsons…
I did some Simpsons, I did Deadpool, I did Superman and I did some Action Comics and some JLA stuff… The Secret Six is full of lots of testosterone.
Yes, it is!
I do feel good that once I did get the job writing Birds of Prey that I did have the agenda that I wanted to prove that there could be a book that could be successful – that had high readership – that was a predominantly female cast. A [cast of women] that were strong women, who got along, who weren’t constantly fighting over boyfriends and having cat-fights — that they actually like each other.
That’s why I like it. I was thinking of Marvel Divas – when they pitched that to the press they spun it as “Sex and the City meets super heroes!” I thought, that’s not what I want to read in a super hero comic!
I’m excited that they’re at least getting work to the female creators, though. There are some brilliant creators out there who deserve to show their work [in that format]. And, that is exciting. I think to assume that all of female readers like the same thing is a mistake. I was asked early on to write a book that had a “Sex and the City” vibe; and, I said that I don’t care for SatC and [the publishers] were kind of shocked. I told them that I don’t think you can assume that entire female readership likes the same kind of thing.
I also noted that you’re going to start working on Welcome to Tranquility again…
I have been working on it – I’m on the third set of six – and, the first issue of that set comes out in July.
Fantastic!
Yeah, I’m really excited about it! We get to see Sheriff Thomasina and find out the reason she became a cop and why I showed her in the hospital early on, what happened. And, two of the super heroes in the town had a child so we’ll see how they’re doing.
Oh that’s cool, super babies! I only have one last question for you: The first time that I became aware of you as a writer was when I picked Wonder Woman and noticed that it had been revamped and that there was a female writer on the book. And, I was going back through my issues [of Wonder Woman] before I came out here and I was just wondering, where the idea to make Diana Prince a CIA-esque covert agent come from?
That was Allan Heinberg, actually – who started that – before I took over. It was a very cool idea to get her out of her princess-ness and the fame that kind of limited what [the character] could accomplish in stories.
Very cool! Well thank you for your time, Gail – we at GGotS appreciate it!
You’re very welcome!
[Photos via DC Comics and Kate Kotler]
