@GailSimone (July 29, 1974) This Day In Comics

Gail Simone (July 29, 1974) This Day In Comics

Gail Simone is an American writer of comic books. Best known for penning DC’s Birds of Prey, her other notable works include Secret Six, Welcome to Tranquility, The All-New Atom, Deadpool, and Wonder Woman

Born July 29, 1974, Gail Simone, a former hairdresser who had studied theater in college, first came to fan attention through Women in Refrigerators, a website founded in 1999 by a small group of comics fans, including Simone, in response to a scene in Green Lantern #54, in which the titular hero’s girlfriend, Alexandra DeWitt, was murdered and her corpse shoved in a refrigerator for the hero to find. The site was dedicated to identifying female superheroes who had been killed, raped, or otherwise suffered traumatic indignities as a plot device for a male character. The site brought her into contact with many people working in the comics industry. Her column You’ll All Be Sorry!appeared weekly on Comic Book Resources. Topics ranged from short, satirical summaries of comic books to fan fiction parodies. Following her Simpsons work with Bongo Comics, Simone entered the comics mainstream with a run on Marvel Comics’ Deadpool. When Deadpool was canceled and relaunched as Agent X, Simone continued as writer, but eventually left the series after a conflict with the series’ editor.

After the dispute with Marvel, Simone moved on to DC Comics, where she was given the Birds of Prey title in 2003 featuring the all-female group consisting of Oracle, Black Canary, The Huntress and Lady Blackhawk. Other work by Simone includes a run on the Superman title Action Comics, a brief stint on The Legion, a Rose and Thorn limited series at DC Comics, and a revitalization of Wildstorm’s Gen¹³. For Oni Press, Simone wrote Killer Princesses with co-creator and artist Lea Hernandez, Gus Beezer specials for Marvel Comics. Simone is notable for being Wonder Woman’s longest-running female writer and has often erroneously been credited as the first woman to write the character, when she was in fact preceded by Mindy Newell, Trina Robbins, and Jodi Picoult.

Simone has been noted as being one of the most influential women in the comic book industry. Her blog, Women In Refrigerators, is noted for raising awareness of the representation of women in comics. Simone stated that the blog was not created to condemn the industry for its use of women, but to raise awareness of the tendency for female characters to be used as mere plot devices. Simone has stated that most female characters are targeted at male audiences through oversexualization and advocates the creation of female characters that are equals to male characters, a practice in which Simone herself has been recognized for engaging.