Sigh

[yendi]

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 the straws 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

Comments

[lurkerwithout.livejournal.com]

I will ignore your slurs on Niceiza owing to his x-books being awesome. But looking over the big roll-out of #1's the only one that really attracts me enough to give it a go is the Paul Cornell Stormwatch. And the worst looking thing from it that I've seen is the Jim Lee redesign on Harelquin on the Suicide Squad cover...

Or maybe the re-conceptulizing of the various members of the planned Teen Titans...

[yendi]

I want to like Cornell, but his bit in (the entirely superfluous) Young Avengers Dark Reign book in which Norman Osborne revealed that every business card he gives to anyone releases a stream of nanocambots everywhere was quite possible the dumbest thing I've ever seen in a Marvel book, and I've read both Clone Sagas.

That said, I like Cornell's dialogue, and I've got a soft spot for Stormwatch (which I still put up there with Transmet as my favorite Warren Ellis work).

[amokk]

So Jim Lee, Rob Liefield, and Fabian Niceiza are part of this? It took 20 years for DC to get Marvel's 1990s lineup or something? Are all the DC heroes going to be future clones of their past children now or what?

[emilytheslayer.livejournal.com]

I haven't been following this super-closely, but I *did* see the Harley redesign and. . .ew.

[yendi]

Oh, wow. I hadn't seen that before. She was already one of the sexiest DC characters fully clothed. Wonder who thought having her mostly naked would improve her (although I do give props for getting her away from Joker). And my longtime-love for Suicide Squad makes this doubly frustrating.

[yendi]

In fairness, Lee's been a part of DC for a decade now. But yeah, it's like they're balancing every interesting creator with two people who offer nothing.

[asim.livejournal.com]

I'd have to 2nd lurkerwithout. I've been reading/watching Cornell's works since his first DOCTOR WHO novels, and he's been consistently amazing. One suspects Editorial Interference in the nanobot case...

This is the first I've heard of him writing STORMWATCH. It and the MR TERRFIC works are the only ones that intrigue me. Not sure if they do enough to make me buy them, though.

[asim.livejournal.com]

And I'm very much in your bucket around the BATGIRL reboot. I think we're seeing, once again, what happens when Fanboys of a Certain Age get their hands on the reigns of power. Why write Something New when you can re-write your childhood?

(UGH. UGH! Dammit!)

[ex-gnomicut.livejournal.com]

I...I just can't anymore. I can't even.

I understand that Gail Simone has to please management, but I just want her to stop talking, because everything she says about disability shows that she has learned anti-privilege language but not anti-privilege concepts.

It's funny, because Birds of Prey has been the only DC title I have bothered with since I gave up on Vertigo shortly after college.

[yendi]

Yeah. I read the letter to the readers Didio wrote on the return of Barry where he acknowledged that bringing Barry and Hal back was his long-term goal, and wanted to reach through the paper (and time) and smack him. And I was as huge a Barry Allen fanboy as there was in the '80s. But I grew up, and so did Wally.

[yendi]

Yeah, and I'm not sure she really has to please management. There are plenty of folks who can call publishers on their bullshit (or their perception of bullshit), and gladly do so (think Peter David during the Captain Marvel years, or Kirby at just about any point in my lifetime). If she really feels that she can't talk, she shouldn't do the half-assed thing, as it only makes things worse.

I'm also still trying to process how Gail can say, essentially, "I appreciated Barbara because she was a redhead like me, therefore, I get why her disability is so important to many people." That's not to dismiss her childhood bullying, but she's creating an equivalence that doesn't even work at face value.

(And yeah, I remember seeing the Barbara action figure in your office the first time I had a meeting with you.)

[yendi]

Yeah, I did like his overall story in YA (even if, as I said, it was a completely pointless series that did nothing to advance Dark Reign, and was clearly designed to get extra money out of completists). And I have enjoyed his work on Doctor Who, too.

[amokk]

Lee's artwork is awesome. The rest of them... I mean, really, DC heroes need feet, Liefield.

[phantom_wolfboy]

Is it a real reboot? Will there be all new versions of the characters with no link to the current continuity? Or are they just re-numbering the books?

[radiumhead.livejournal.com]

I agree with you about Oracle, but whats wrong with bringing back Barry and Hal?

They way they got rid of Hal in the first place was total bullshit, and totally out of character. Bringing him back was just repairing a horrible fuck up.

[yendi]

Agreed completely about how they handled Hal's death, but I look at the next fifteen years of Kyle (well, after Marz left) as being right behind Oracle as an example of getting something great out of an awful decision. He'd come into his own as a character, and was certainly the A-list GL by the mid-2000s.

As for Barry, he was my all-time favorite hero growing up, but he died a noble and heroic death, and Wally had more than established himself as The Flash. Barry really served a better purpose as a dead hero that others could admire than he has since he's been brought back. And again, the decision undermined all the good writing that went into the character over the years.

(Not that any of this matters with the reboot.)

[yendi]

It looks to be mostly column a, but no one's sure for now.