I was really only going to do this on one person...because, like...I've built her up from the beginning of the year and this seems like the best...it's Gail Simone

So, some pre-script: It's like, 3 in the morning, and I pretty much just got home from watching the new 007 film, Skyfall. It's amazing, like, go watch it. And Judi Dench's M steals the show. She's amazing. I wish I could just write this post on M, because she was such a bad-ass in the film. But I don't think I can. Besides, I would still much rather write about...

da-da da DA~

Gail Simone.

Ok, so, like...ugh, why don't more people already know about Gail Simone? Because, she's totally awesome. I feel like I shouldn't have to explain who she is; like everyone else should already just know, you know? 'Cuz she's so awesome.
Ok, so to begin.

 

Gail Simone

 

 

Gail Simone looks like this:                                                     













She's a comic book writer who currently works for DC comics and writes their Batgirl series. Now, I know it's a bit of a stretch to call comic books alternative. However, while a lot of the characters like Superman and Batman are incredibly iconic, and the books are pretty widely read and have a dedicated fanbase; most people aren't really familiar with them. Most people know comic book characters from movies or TV shows rather than the actual comics; and then, only the really big characters get to appear in those. So, even though the comics are the original source for a lot of these characters and stories, they still aren't as mainstream as the movies and stuff, so I consider them alternative. Also, most of the time when I get comics, the cashier gives me a paper bag and a black plastic bag, kind of like how porn is handled, like...most people don't really know it's there, like it's something that is kind of still a secret and club-like...so it's still kind of underground in a way or whatever. But yeah, for the purposes of this blog, let's all agree comic books are alternative media.

Gail Simone first really came into prominence in the comic community after starting a little website called Women in Refrigerators which was mainly a list of women in comic books who were beaten, raped, de-powered, killed, or otherwise victimized in order to add stakes or otherwise affect a male character. Being a long-time fan of comics who also just happened to be female, she couldn't help but notice how all the female heroines she really enjoyed reading about had all of these terrible things happen to them- and not in a Peter Parker way in which terrible things are just part of his life- but in a way that turned these characters she loves into plot elements to be used in a male character's story. In short, she noticed a lot of women in media being unfairly objectified and told the creators "hey, you're being really sucky towards all these women"; and made them listen. So that's kind of freakin' amazing.

The page that started "Women in Refrigerators". Green Lantern, Kyle Rayner's superpowered girlfriend is unceremoniously horrifically murdered because Kyle needed a plot.

After getting a lot of attention from WiR and other blog type projects and fanfiction and stuff, Gail went on to become an actual professional writer for comics, starting with Bongo's The Simpsons comics; but eventually moving to Marvel's Deadpool, creating the loony merc-with-a-mouth that has since become pretty big in the circles that know what's up in comics.

However, it's only after she left Deadpool and Marvel and went to DC that she would really become a unique and extremely important creative voice in the comics community...and I'm not just saying that because I'm more of a DC guy. It was after joining DC that Gail really started writing the characters that only she could to justice to, mainly the female superheroines that she had first become nerd-famous for championing. Starting with the all female team, The Birds of Prey, Gail has since written some of comics' most prominent females in her runs on Wonder Woman: the most famous female hero of them all; and Secret Six: a series about a team of villains-turned-mercenaries that starred Scandal Savage, who would become one of comics' most prominent lesbian characters. As I said earlier in the blog, Gail is currently writing Batgirl, and in her excellent run, has reintroduced the previously paralyzed Barbara Gordon into the role of Batgirl, and has invented new female and minority characters to the DC universe, such as Mary, an asian assassin who goes through a character arc involving her recuperation from brain-washing; that while still young, already have a growing fanbase.

Aside from just being a great writer overall, Gail Simone's greater importance to the comics industry is that she's a great female writer; one of the few that the industry has at the moment. In comic circles, Gail is *the* writer people talk to about writing female, minority and LGBT characters. She's one of the few women who has the perspective and talent to write some of the most famous fictional females as they deserve to be written, and can represent women in what is still a largely male dominated sub-culture. She's living proof that not only are there female comic book fans, but that they do want to be fairly represented, and that they do want strong female characters to look up to; just as the boys have strong male characters.

Gail Simone also has a totally awesome tumblr that everyone should check out. Aside from answering all sorts of questions about comics and overall being really awesome to her fans; she  highlights stories of white/male/heterosexual privilege and helps teach people about those kinds of things. She takes the more human types of problems her characters will face from comics and highlight where they come from in the real world.

So all that and way more is why Gail Simone is a completely awesome alternative voice in a medium that's really needed it for a long time. And in case anyone is highlighting this, I ship her with Scott Snyder. I don't care if he already is married and has kids.