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L.A. Noire: The Collected Stories is available for free as an ebook!
Jun. 9th, 2011
So, as I noted here and elsewhere, I was not pleased with DC's announcement that they're restoring Barbara Gordon as Batgirl (for good reasons, read this or this)*.
When Gail Simone -- who has probably handled Barbara-as-Oracle as well as anyone since Ostrander and Yale, and who will be writing her in the new book -- announced on Twitter that she'd be doing an interview with Jill Pantozzi (who wrote the essay at the first link) to clarify things, I tweeted to both of them, "I'm looking forward to it; it's not hyperbole to say that it will determine whether I bother with DC come Sept."
(My issues with DC go way beyond just Batgirl, of course, but there comes a point at which one has to acknowledge that one of thestraws bricks has broken the camel's back.)
The interview is here.
As I said in one comment thread, much as I like Gail Simone, every comment she'd made implied that DC had made the decision, and the choices she had were to either write the book, or watch someone else do it. This interview pretty much confirms this. I'm still working out exactly how I feel about this. On the one hand, if (as she states, and I don't doubt) she hated this move as much as the fans did, refusing to participate and then publicly denouncing it would be the way to go. On the other hand, she's a freelance writer, and I haven't the slightest clue what refusing an assignment like this would do to her finances.
That said, that wasn't the important part of the interview for me. The big deal, of course, was how the change would be handled.
In all honestly, that's what needed to at least be partially addressed. And not only was it not answered, but Simone does the politician's response: "Jill, that's a fair question, and one I have some difficulty answering, to be honest, because as a reader, I think everything is in the execution. I'm also not allowed to spoil things at this stage. " Yes, she addressed the questioner by name, complimented her, and dodged the actual question.
In fairness, I suspect it's out of her hands. As she notes, she literally cannot talk about this (which makes agreeing to do the interview a little silly, of course). And I want to note that Simone's not the person I'm pissed at here (at least based on the interview); she clearly feels very strongly about Barbara as a character, and recognizes the impact on fans.
I'm pissed at the collective DC management, by which I probably mean Dan Didio (who has explicitly stated that it was his goal of reverting the DCU's Flash and GL to Barry and Hal, and who I assume is also behind Supergirl and this change). This decision -- as well as the follow-up decision to refuse to address fan concerns -- clearly stems from them.
All of which is to say, at this point, DC has pretty much ensured that they're off my radar. Just in case anyone was wondering.
(Note: The idea of the big old reboot itself doesn't bother me as much; I griped that they didn't do it back in '86, and I'm a big fan of event comics, and consider change to be neither a good nor a bad thing in and of itself. I just hate stupid changes**, or good ones handled poorly.)
(Also note that I don't consider this something I'm inclined to argue over, as I recognize it's an emotional issue. You're excited about Gail writing Barbara? Bully for you. Want to support Gail because she appears to be the only female DC writer? Go for it. Consider this to be not enough of a big deal to drop the five DC books you're interested in? Awesome. Convinced that Grant Morrison will finally find his writing mojo again? I admire that kind of faith. This is just me reacting to the info in those links.)
(Finally, don't take any of this as an endorsement of the state of the Marvel universe.)
*I'm also not pleased that DC seems to think that Rob Liefeld, Fabian Niceiza, and Scott Lobdell are ever a good idea. Does anyone else remember just how bad the early '90s X-books were? That's not to say there aren't good creators involved, of course, but the crappy ones tend to stand out.
**In fairness, many stupid, poorly-handled changes eventually lead to good outcomes. Like Kyle Raynor's debut or, come to think of it, shooting Barbara Gordon
When Gail Simone -- who has probably handled Barbara-as-Oracle as well as anyone since Ostrander and Yale, and who will be writing her in the new book -- announced on Twitter that she'd be doing an interview with Jill Pantozzi (who wrote the essay at the first link) to clarify things, I tweeted to both of them, "I'm looking forward to it; it's not hyperbole to say that it will determine whether I bother with DC come Sept."
(My issues with DC go way beyond just Batgirl, of course, but there comes a point at which one has to acknowledge that one of the
The interview is here.
As I said in one comment thread, much as I like Gail Simone, every comment she'd made implied that DC had made the decision, and the choices she had were to either write the book, or watch someone else do it. This interview pretty much confirms this. I'm still working out exactly how I feel about this. On the one hand, if (as she states, and I don't doubt) she hated this move as much as the fans did, refusing to participate and then publicly denouncing it would be the way to go. On the other hand, she's a freelance writer, and I haven't the slightest clue what refusing an assignment like this would do to her finances.
That said, that wasn't the important part of the interview for me. The big deal, of course, was how the change would be handled.
In all honestly, that's what needed to at least be partially addressed. And not only was it not answered, but Simone does the politician's response: "Jill, that's a fair question, and one I have some difficulty answering, to be honest, because as a reader, I think everything is in the execution. I'm also not allowed to spoil things at this stage. " Yes, she addressed the questioner by name, complimented her, and dodged the actual question.
In fairness, I suspect it's out of her hands. As she notes, she literally cannot talk about this (which makes agreeing to do the interview a little silly, of course). And I want to note that Simone's not the person I'm pissed at here (at least based on the interview); she clearly feels very strongly about Barbara as a character, and recognizes the impact on fans.
I'm pissed at the collective DC management, by which I probably mean Dan Didio (who has explicitly stated that it was his goal of reverting the DCU's Flash and GL to Barry and Hal, and who I assume is also behind Supergirl and this change). This decision -- as well as the follow-up decision to refuse to address fan concerns -- clearly stems from them.
All of which is to say, at this point, DC has pretty much ensured that they're off my radar. Just in case anyone was wondering.
(Note: The idea of the big old reboot itself doesn't bother me as much; I griped that they didn't do it back in '86, and I'm a big fan of event comics, and consider change to be neither a good nor a bad thing in and of itself. I just hate stupid changes**, or good ones handled poorly.)
(Also note that I don't consider this something I'm inclined to argue over, as I recognize it's an emotional issue. You're excited about Gail writing Barbara? Bully for you. Want to support Gail because she appears to be the only female DC writer? Go for it. Consider this to be not enough of a big deal to drop the five DC books you're interested in? Awesome. Convinced that Grant Morrison will finally find his writing mojo again? I admire that kind of faith. This is just me reacting to the info in those links.)
(Finally, don't take any of this as an endorsement of the state of the Marvel universe.)
*I'm also not pleased that DC seems to think that Rob Liefeld, Fabian Niceiza, and Scott Lobdell are ever a good idea. Does anyone else remember just how bad the early '90s X-books were? That's not to say there aren't good creators involved, of course, but the crappy ones tend to stand out.
**In fairness, many stupid, poorly-handled changes eventually lead to good outcomes. Like Kyle Raynor's debut or, come to think of it, shooting Barbara Gordon