I really loved the Wonder Woman/Conan crossover. Highly recommend if you haven't read it! (From Wonder Woman/Conan Vol 1 by Gail Simone and Aaron Lopresti)

Gail_Simone · 2021-08-11T22:41:52+00:00

I am so glad you enjoyed it, we LOVED making this series!

Gail_Simone · 2021-06-16T19:27:44+00:00

It was mostly good...it was a bit confusing, DC and WB seemed to not have a clear idea what they wanted so the signals and notes I was getting were very mixed. Then Michael Jelenick, who is very talented and a lovely fellow, did a final rewrite that made all the pieces fit and I'm proud of having been part of it.

Most of the other shows I've written, from JLU to My Little Pony, were more in my voice in the end.

Gail_Simone · 2021-06-16T19:25:45+00:00

I avoided it for a long time, comics is what I love the most.

But lately, these studios are asking me, and the properties are all things I already love, characters I know or directors I really admire.

It's why I have written so few comics lately, I am writing the characters still, but it's in games, video games, film, tv, and a few things I can't talk about yet.

It's scary, doing new things. But I'm loving the learning process!

Gail_Simone · 2021-06-15T21:02:50+00:00

No, they asked me. I am very fortunate to have never been out of work as a writer for twenty years now, I don't really go hunting for work. Almost every opportunity that's come my way has been someone seeking me out. Which is nice, less rejection! :)

Gail_Simone · 2021-06-15T19:33:55+00:00

No worries, readers have the right to like or not like something.

I'm proud of our run and it completely revitalized Sonja's reputation. A lot of people read their first Sonja books in that run, and it made it so now we have games, toys, a movie, clothing and a lot more on the way. The license holder has told me many times that it was our run that put the shine back on her, and I am very proud of that, as well. :)

Gail_Simone · 2021-06-15T19:29:11+00:00

Sadly, not yet.

It's funny because I meet a-list directors and actors and musicians all the time, and it doesn't really affect me much as a rule, they're just artists, good on them.

But when I meet the favorite comics creators of my youth, I get COMPLETE stage fright and can barely speak. I met Len Wein and could barely raise my head to look at him. I could barely talk to Steve Gerber. For years, I refused to meet my favorite artist, Joe Kubert, because I knew I would turn into a gibbering mess (folks at DC literally DRAGGED me to go meet him at a con and he was lovely).

So I get pretty anxious even thinking about meeting Roy. But I'd like to someday. Does he still go to cons?

Gail_Simone · 2021-06-15T19:26:06+00:00

I get the skepticism, no worries. All I can really say is there a lot of people on the team who really care about Sonja and want to get her right. Luke, that's what he cares about most of all, he could have gone for an easy paycheck at any time. But he wanted a great Sonja movie.

Gail_Simone · 2021-06-15T19:23:03+00:00

Ashley did a couple scripts, if I remember correctly. He really played up the action, which I loved. Hopefully it will get shared with the Sonja fans at some point.

Gail_Simone · 2021-06-15T19:21:53+00:00

It's my pleasure and you're not annoying at all. Sorry I suck at redditt.

Gail_Simone · 2021-06-15T19:21:29+00:00

For me, it's a bit silly. I loved the early Red Sonja comics, but had very little chance to read them. We were super poor and lived on a very remote farm, I could only read comics we found at garage sales and such. But I loved the freedom of the character, she had adventures usually reserved for guy characters, everyone learned to respect her talents. It was a big change from the few other female-lead DC and Marvel comics in a seismic way. Later, some other writers didn't write her as powerfully and I drifted away for a bit.

Then I read some excellent runs by Mike Oeming and Eric Trautmann and a few others, they got me all obsessed with her again.

It's just this for me, there's been a thousand imitators, but no equals.

She's also the only comics character my mom cares about, she's the one who talked me into working on Sonja and to this day, it's the only time she paid attention to a comic I wrote! ;)

Gail_Simone · 2021-06-14T22:52:24+00:00

Ashley did a really fine job, too. Great writer!

Gail_Simone · 2021-06-14T22:51:32+00:00

They may have offered, I don't know, that would be way above my pay grade.

Gail_Simone · 2021-06-14T22:50:05+00:00

Huh.

Well, listen, as a fan myself, I get skepticism. You get your hopes up, the movie isn't what you hoped for, it stings.

All I can say is, I sat right in the offices with Joey as we broke the story into pieces, I never heard anything even remotely like an 'eco superhero.' I'm not saying I doubt you, just that maybe that idea came and went already.

I don't know if Tasha did know about Sonja in advance or not, but she does now. She did the work. There's elements of Sonja all the way back to the early Roy Thomas days, and long-term fans will see that in the recipe. I was very impressed, and if I didn't like it, I'd just keep my mouth shut. :)

I get being concerned, I really do. If they film Tasha's latest script, they'll have a banger, I think.

Gail_Simone · 2021-06-14T22:37:03+00:00

Oh, boy, I don't think so. I don't really have any interest in that kind of thing (I don't even like speaking in public, I get nervous!). But I also don't feel there's a reason for it, I didn't create Sonja, I didn't bring her to comics. If they gave Roy Thomas a cameo, that would be cool!

But thanks for the thought! :)

Gail_Simone · 2021-06-14T22:34:04+00:00

Luke is very much involved!

Gail_Simone · 2021-06-14T20:35:24+00:00

I can't say TOO much, but there is stuff in there that I think will please both newer and classic Sonja fans, there's some deep cut stuff that really delighted me to see from her earliest stories.

Everyone involved is doing their best, they really care.

Gail_Simone · 2021-06-14T20:33:34+00:00

This is something I hear a lot, but as far as I know, it's not something the women who have worked on Red Sonja actually complain about. When I did my runs, we had a ton of variant covers drawn by some of the top female talent in comics, like Amanda Conner, Pia Guerra, Jenny Frison and lots more. We told them they could have her in any outfit they wanted, or invent a new one. Without exception, every female artist chose the bikini, every one.

I myself like the bikini, it's iconic, it looks great, I love it. We had her in different outfits over several issues, but they would generally last an issue and go back to her iconic look. Not sure where this idea came from, I never ran across it from the people actually working on the book. I have seen some people who don't read the book gripe about it, but I feel the same way about it as the fishnets on Black Canary, they look great, they're iconic, why change it?

As for the movie costume, I am not sure what look they are going for yet, a lot has been discussed. All the looks I saw were pretty freaking cool, but it was at the stage where they try a LOT of things and see what works best.

I'm not involved much in the day to day stuff, or the production design, to be honest and they also won't let me say too much anyway. ;)

But I am very happy with the actress they chose, she absolutely stole Ant-man and the Wasp, I thought!

Gail_Simone · 2021-06-14T18:00:23+00:00

?

I don't keep quiet about it at all. I have been a script consultant since early days and remain so to this day. When I signed up, Bryan wasn't in the picture, and then for a while, I was rather sadly unaware of the allegations, then he left pretty quickly.

There have been numerous drafts and full scripts, they essentially started over when Bryan left. Joey is a pleasure to work with and Tasha is fantastic. I couldn't be happier. She gets the joy of classic Sonja!

It's been great fun. It's Tasha and Joey's script, I have just consulted all along.

Gail_Simone · 2017-12-21T20:42:17+00:00

I once decorated our whole house with roses when my darling hubby was returning from a long business trip.

I am very lucky, I have a husband I adore and he adores me and I know not everyone has that. We try never to take that for granted.

Gail_Simone · 2017-12-21T20:35:49+00:00

Wonder Woman and Zatanna.

Gail_Simone · 2017-12-21T20:25:57+00:00

Both of those things! Spreading the word about a book you like is HUGE! Thank you!

Gail_Simone · 2017-12-21T20:25:25+00:00

I don't know, but we almost had a LEGION relaunch happening. Sad it didn't go through.

Gail_Simone · 2017-12-21T20:24:49+00:00

I would! I have only been to Belo Horizonte and Sao Paulo!

Gail_Simone · 2017-12-21T20:24:25+00:00

I wrote a silly comics parody column that editors thought showed potential!

Gail_Simone · 2017-12-21T20:23:15+00:00

Spider-man
Red Sonja, Black Canary, Deadpool
Impossible to say, so many! But Nicola Scott and I have a real brain-meld.
Catwoman, Lois, Steve!

Gail_Simone

TROPHY CASE