Gail Simone Fired From Batgirl via Email

Happenstance

http://uk.ign.com/articles/2012/12/09/gail-simone-fired-from-batgirl

Full story in the story above but she tweeted today that the new Batgirl editor had let her know that she was no longer the writer of Batgirl through an email.

DC's editorial these days just seems worse and worse and with more writers coming out and talking about it fans must be starting to get annoyed. I know im honestly tempted to drop Batgirl after this.

Here's a link to a load of responses over twitter

http://www.bleedingcool.com/2012/12/09/comic-creators-respond-to-gail-simones-firing-by-e-mail-off-batgirl/

This tweet especially is a bit worrying:

rebis

Classy. It's good that she didn't go all Leifield on them.

LibraryBoy

Wow, way to treat someone with one of the most loyal fanbases in all of comics today, DC. I'm sure that won't come back to bite you in the ass or anything.

CaptShazam

I have enjoyed the Batgirl title and I wish Gail the best. I hope she lands a new major title quicky. Sadly, i think email firings are the wave of the future in most industries. Management wants to avoid confrontation and interpersonal communication is a dying skill.

Mr_Cosmic

I only bought the book because of her writing. She has been doing a fantastic job and I'll be dropping the book as soon as she's done.

David_D

Yikes.

BlackUmbrella

Horrible news IMHO, but I don't drop a book I'm enjoying until it gets bad. Maybe they have a better project for her? Who knows. I'm willing to see what's next. Lots of good Batman family writers out there.

Justin_TheBuck

I know it's the digital age but somethings need to be done at the very least on a call. DC really doesn't like ladies writers do they? How many do they now and how many does Marvel have? I really don't know the #s but I'm interested now.

luke52

Harsh!

SolitaireRose

I think the only female writer they have is Ann Nocenti. I am not at all supportive of how DC is doing business and treating creators. Good thing is that many of them are turning to creator owned projects, which is a win-win.

Chuck_Melville

SolitaireRose said:

I think the only female writer they have is Ann Nocenti. I am not at all supportive of how DC is doing business and treating creators. Good thing is that many of them are turning to creator owned projects, which is a win-win.

And Ann Nocenti is no draw where I'm concerned.

Fortunately, there's still Christy Marx on Amethyst.

nweathington

Justin_TheBuck said:

I know it's the digital age but somethings need to be done at the very least on a call. DC really doesn't like ladies writers do they? How many do they now and how many does Marvel have? I really don't know the #s but I'm interested now.

If Cunningham wasn't in a position to call at the time—in an editorial meeting or something—and sent her the email to make sure she heard it from him before someone leaked it to a “news” (read gossip) site, and if he did call her later once he had time to talk properly, then I’d have very little problem with how he handled it. If it was just a matter of him wanting to avoid an uncomfortable situation, though, then it’s a pathetic way to do business, and it won’t help his relationships with his other writers going forward. Cunningham’s been at DC for a long time. I wonder if this is his standard operating procedure, or an exception.

But, frankly, this isn’t really anything new in terms of how DC treats its creators. This is a far cry from how Mort Weisinger treated his writers. Or the reason why Jack Schiff had Kirby blackballed at DC. And just ask Colleen Doran how she was treated at DC early in her career. DC is editorially driven, and always has been, and they aren’t afraid to let their creators know it.

I'm not saying all DC editors treat all their creators like crap all the time. Far from it. But things like this do happen more often than you might think, and it’s been that way for as long as DC’s been around. It doesn’t forgive the way this particular situation was handled, but it should come as no surprise either.

I don’t think we can judge whether DC “likes” female writers or not. I would think that DC as a company would prefer to say, “Yes, we have the best female writers in comics working for us.” That being said, who’s to know the biases of the people making the hiring decisions. Maybe they can’t find—or don’t think they can find—female writers who are willing and/or able to tell stories in the dark, violent way they want. And judging by her response to Mike Nelson’s tweet, maybe Gail Simone has been added to that list because of something coming up that she wasn’t happy with.

Two of Marvel’s biggest female writers now are Kathryn Immonen and Kelly Sue Deconnick. One is married to one of Marvel’s top artists, the other to one of Marvel’s top writers. Is that a coincidence? Personally, I loved Kathryn’s Hellcat mini-series, as well as the creator-owned projects she and Stuart have done together. I haven't read anything by Deconnick, so I can't judge her talent, but I’m sure she’s good enough to make the grade. But I wonder if they would have been given a fair chance to prove themselves at Marvel if not for their significant others. I'm not making a judgement, just throwing the question out there.

Torchsong

Harsh move on DC's part, as Simone has a helluva big fanbase (myself included). Hopefully they're moving her to another project or something. I won't drop Batgirl until it starts getting really bad. It hasn't yet.

Planeis

CaptShazam said:

I have enjoyed the Batgirl title and I wish Gail the best. I hope she lands a new major title quicky. Sadly, i think email firings are the wave of the future in most industries. Management wants to avoid confrontation and interpersonal communication is a dying skill.

Ive never known anyone to be fired this way. But is she really "fired" or is she just being reassigned? Does she not work for DC anymore or are they just ending her run on Batgirl?

chrisw

Someone like Gail Simone deserves a phone call, at the very least. I can't imagine they'd boot, say, Grant Morrison, off a title via e-mail.

WetRats

Wow.

No class at all.

At this point, I can't wait to see the Triumvirate turn upon each other.

CaptShazam

Planeis said:

CaptShazam said:

I have enjoyed the Batgirl title and I wish Gail the best. I hope she lands a new major title quicky. Sadly, i think email firings are the wave of the future in most industries. Management wants to avoid confrontation and interpersonal communication is a dying skill.

Ive never known anyone to be fired this way. But is she really "fired" or is she just being reassigned? Does she not work for DC anymore or are they just ending her run on Batgirl?

Batgirl was the only DC title she was currently working on. This does not appear to be a reassignment. It looks like a we wish you the best in your future endeavors situation.

CaptShazam

WetRats said:

Wow.

No class at all.

At this point, I can't wait to see the Triumvirate turn upon each other.

I am looking forward to this too. I think Johns and Lee will push out Didio. Then Lee will just get bored and move on. Johns will be this era's Paul Levitz.

spid

I think "firing" is harsh way to look at it. Creative staffs are shuffled all the time. If the editorial staff wants to take a book in a different direction I am not sure what the problem is.

Torchsong

A post from Gail:

Guys, I am being told that some people at DC are receiving nasty emails addressed to them personally. PLEASE do not do this. It helps no one. DC and I are not enemies, we're still talking about other stuff. I appreciate the kind thoughts, but please, please, please, don't email or post mean personal things at anyone, okay?

Emboldened stuff by me. So I don't believe we've heard the last of Mizz Simone on a DC title. And wisely so...

WetRats

CaptShazam said:

WetRats said:

Wow.

No class at all.

At this point, I can't wait to see the Triumvirate turn upon each other.

I am looking forward to this too. I think Johns and Lee will push out Didio. Then Lee will just get bored and move on. Johns will be this era's Paul Levitz.

Or this era's Robespierre. ;)

Krescan

I may not be in the majority here but I think Batgirl was the very best of the New 52. I would think most people would put it in the top15 at least. I'd like to know what the reasoning behind getting her off that title could be.

Well I guess I'll just be mad about it until Leaving Megalopolis shows up on my doorstep.

And thanks to the article being on ign and blocked at work I'll have to wait to find out more haha.

fredzilla

Bought the first issue and just ordered the first trade. This is a bummer.

LibraryBoy

The upside to this, such as it is, is that Gail is obviously talented, respected, and well-liked. Getting other gigs won't be a problem (hell, look at her Twitter feed, it's a who's who of the industry saying "pitch me something" or "write something I can draw for you"), and she has creator-owned stuff on the horizon besides. And the industry and fandom alike all saw how she was treated, which you have to imagine is going to affect that editor's future dealings more than it will hers.

Planeis

spid said:

I think "firing" is harsh way to look at it. Creative staffs are shuffled all the time. If the editorial staff wants to take a book in a different direction I am not sure what the problem is.

I agree. I mean, maybe they shouldn't have made the change via email. I don't know. Do these people work in the same office or what? Is Gail writing at home or in her own office and sending stuff in? How does that work?

But if this were a television show and they told a writer they were going to let someone else work on a few episodes, it wouldn't be a firing... would it? Especially since she seems to be saying now they are going to try and find something else to do? Maybe they just want her to bring some good writing and buzz to another title if they feel like Batgirl is in good shape.

nweathington

Planeis said:

spid said:

I think "firing" is harsh way to look at it. Creative staffs are shuffled all the time. If the editorial staff wants to take a book in a different direction I am not sure what the problem is.

I agree. I mean, maybe they shouldn't have made the change via email. I don't know. Do these people work in the same office or what? Is Gail writing at home or in her own office and sending stuff in? How does that work?

But if this were a television show and they told a writer they were going to let someone else work on a few episodes, it wouldn't be a firing... would it? Especially since she seems to be saying now they are going to try and find something else to do? Maybe they just want her to bring some good writing and buzz to another title if they feel like Batgirl is in good shape.

She most likely works from home. It's possible she rents an office space, as some writers find working at home too distracting. But she's definitely not writing in the DC offices. She does, however, have a phone. The editor couldn't fire her face to face, but he could have told her voice to voice at the very least.

And this is a firing. To put it in television terms, it's like saying, “You're no longer writing for our show. We like your writing, but not for where we want to take the show from this point on. But let’s see if we can get you writing for one of our other productions.” Simone is a freelancer, so if she's not writing for DC, she’s not getting paid by DC. That's not to say she won’t be hired tomorrow to write a different book, but for now she is without a job at DC. If they wanted her to bring buzz to another title, it would have been lined up before they took her off Batgirl.

korn1157

Batgirl was one of the first books that I picked up when I started reading again. It was one of the titles I wanted to read with my 10 year old daughter and I quickly became a huge fan of the book myself long after she quit reading. I will admit that I hace recently considered dropping this book as I feel that the constant incorpartion into other series cross over have made it difficult for the book to have it own voice. Gails strong writing was the only thing that kept me coming back. I will tell I will give anything with her name on it a chance from here on out.

Ultimately this seams to be just another of a long line of self destructing decision's that has stalled and is beginng to reverse DCs momentuem.

DoctorDoom

Torchsong said:

A post from Gail:

Guys, I am being told that some people at DC are receiving nasty emails addressed to them personally. PLEASE do not do this. It helps no one. DC and I are not enemies, we're still talking about other stuff. I appreciate the kind thoughts, but please, please, please, don't email or post mean personal things at anyone, okay?

Emboldened stuff by me. So I don't believe we've heard the last of Mizz Simone on a DC title. And wisely so...

I'm surprised she didn't expect her fanbase to come out in droves.

Or maybe she did...

spid

Planeis said:

spid said:

I think "firing" is harsh way to look at it. Creative staffs are shuffled all the time. If the editorial staff wants to take a book in a different direction I am not sure what the problem is.

I agree. I mean, maybe they shouldn't have made the change via email. I don't know. Do these people work in the same office or what? Is Gail writing at home or in her own office and sending stuff in? How does that work?

But if this were a television show and they told a writer they were going to let someone else work on a few episodes, it wouldn't be a firing... would it? Especially since she seems to be saying now they are going to try and find something else to do? Maybe they just want her to bring some good writing and buzz to another title if they feel like Batgirl is in good shape.

Yeah, I think the biggest thing is not calling, but if anyone has read Bleeding Cool last week you can see rumors and stories were flying out everywhere during those meetings. So maybe the editor thought he was doing her a favor by trying to get her the news to her before she heard it through the internet.

Torchsong

I would think the email was probably followed by a quick phone call from Gail to her editor. We'll likely never know every nuance and specific of what actually happened, or the emotions or whatever behind what happened. At least it gives the fanboy nation something to cluck about! :)

DoctorDoom

Torchsong said:

I would think the email was probably followed by a quick phone call from Gail to her editor. We'll likely never know every nuance and specific of what actually happened, or the emotions or whatever behind what happened. At least it gives the fanboy nation something to cluck about! :)

Bakaw.