Gail Simone no longer the writer of Batgirl

[Captain Jim]

I'd still like to know what the reasoning behind taking Simone off the book is? Batgirl under her pen has been one of the most successful titles of the nu52 relaunch and has been pretty well received as of lately.

Presumably some sort of disagreement between Gail and the editor. We'll never know any more details than that.

[The_Greatest_Username]

Presumably some sort of disagreement between Gail and the editor. We'll never know any more details than that.

I'm sure something will surface.

[Xarcon]

I'd still like to know what the reasoning behind taking Simone off the book is? Batgirl under her pen has been one of the most successful titles of the nu52 relaunch and has been pretty well received as of lately.

I think it was probably that Simone was asked (or told?) to take the book in a certain direction, or to do some specific thing, and she didn't want to. Someone (I forget who) jokingly asked Simone on her twitter if she was fired because she didn't put enough women in refrigerators, and Simone replied with, "Funny you should mention that." So yeah, I'd lay my money on Simone disagreeing with editorial interference.

[batGRRRl4ever]

In all fairness, that could have been difficult. They pretty much either had to fire the editor or live with his decision.

This of course is one of those total after the fact hindsight possibilities totally unable to be known right now, but I wonder how DC may feel about living with the decision if the sales go down to a permanent lower plateau point (no offense to the incoming Mr. Fawkes, but he is a fairly unknown commodity), when they had a book with growing sales and the feather of it being stewarded by one of the incredibly few female talents at their agency.

[The_Greatest_Username]

I think it was probably that Simone was asked (or told?) to take the book in a certain direction, or to do some specific thing, and she didn't want to. Someone (I forget who) jokingly asked Simone on her twitter if she was fired because she didn't put enough women in refrigerators, and Simone replied with, "Funny you should mention that." So yeah, I'd lay my money on Simone disagreeing with editorial interference.

That much seems evident, of course I'd like to know the specifics which aren't likely to come out until later. I'm sure this editors new direction will cause this book to plummet to 30k sales and DC's higher ups will be kicking themselves for letting him go through with that decision.

[majormcmeat]

This of course is one of those total after the fact hindsight possibilities totally unable to be known right now, but I wonder how DC may feel about living with the decision if the sales go down to a permanent lower plateau point (no offense to the incoming Mr. Fawkes, but he is a fairly unknown commodity), when they had a book with growing sales and the feather of it being stewarded by one of the incredibly few female talents at their agency.

They'll probably use crossovers to boost the sales.

[batGRRRl4ever]

That much seems evident, of course I'd like to know the specifics which aren't likely to come out until later. I'm sure this editors new direction will cause this book to plummet to 30k sales and DC's higher ups will be kicking themselves for letting him go through with that decision.

I'm willing to bet dollars to donuts this will be the sad case, when they could have used an ounce of foresight instead and simply reverse the decision. That's what higher up's are paid and able to do, make the BIG calls when warrented.

But no, no doubt this book will fall down to 31K-29K territory in the coming months.

[FIFTY-TWO (52)]

This of course is one of those total after the fact hindsight possibilities totally unable to be known right now, but I wonder how DC may feel about living with the decision if the sales go down to a permanent lower plateau point (no offense to the incoming Mr. Fawkes, but he is a fairly unknown commodity), when they had a book with growing sales and the feather of it being stewarded by one of the incredibly few female talents at their agency.

Do you mean aside from tie-ins to line events Scott Snyder comes up with ?

[Vil_Dee]

But didn't Daniel and Finch have other work they were moving over to at DC?
We hadn't heard of anything else on the table for Gail, though it seems like there may be possibilities according to later postings.

Also, Daniel and Finch had books starring Batman, which are tougher to run into the ground . . . Gail was having quite a bit of success with a related Bat character. (Were any other books in the extended Batman line that didn't feature Bruce every month doing as well as Batgirl?)

Daniel and Finch are comic artists first. Popular artists can sell books by their name alone even if the story itself is crap. Even within the Batman line, the much maligned Tec and TDK consistently outsold the more critically praised Batman and Robin. Plus it's easier to throw an artist onto any random book then it is a writer. So DC made sure to have projects ready for them so they wouldn't go to another company.

I'm sure a lot of people checked out Batgirl because they were curious to see how they would explain how she can walk again, and I know Gail has a lot of fans who will check her stuff out, but the title's popularity has been waning with every issue save the tie in to Death of the Family. I imagine if Williams was consistently on Batwoman and wasn't leaving, that title would be ahead of it, as there were a few months where it was. In recent months, Nightwing has outranked it, and as far as female lead books go, Wonder Woman does better.

[the goddamn batman]

A comic books sales went down as the book went on? Say it ain't so...

[The Great Grape]

Most titles wane somewhat over time. If every female title DC has were selling like Batgirl, that would qualify as a positive.

[Coal Tiger]

Daniel and Finch are comic artists first. Popular artists can sell books by their name alone even if the story itself is crap. Even within the Batman line, the much maligned Tec and TDK consistently outsold the more critically praised Batman and Robin. Plus it's easier to throw an artist onto any random book then it is a writer. So DC made sure to have projects ready for them so they wouldn't go to another company.

I'm sure a lot of people checked out Batgirl because they were curious to see how they would explain how she can walk again, and I know Gail has a lot of fans who will check her stuff out, but the title's popularity has been waning with every issue save the tie in to Death of the Family. I imagine if Williams was consistently on Batwoman and wasn't leaving, that title would be ahead of it, as there were a few months where it was. In recent months, Nightwing has outranked it, and as far as female lead books go, Wonder Woman does better.

Nope. Batgirl has outsold Wonder Woman for most of it's run.

[net06]

I am SO not OK with this. This was my one indispensable book, even if I was flat broke I would find a way to get the money to buy it. I'm going to drop it because it's the one way I can poke DC in the eye. Even if I hear the replacement is awesome I'm just going to pic up the TPB.

[Morlock50]

I'm willing to bet dollars to donuts this will be the sad case, when they could have used an ounce of foresight instead and simply reverse the decision. That's what higher up's are paid and able to do, make the BIG calls when warrented.

But no, no doubt this book will fall down to 31K-29K territory in the coming months.

Well, I'm a fan of both Batgirl and Gail, so I will continue to buy the book to see how Fawkes does. But this definitely stinks on multiple levels. I was pissed when Simone left Wonder Woman, and this is actually worse because the sales don't justify the decision.

[Ed Sizzers]

As healthy as sales were, they have been consistently dropping since the book debuted. Fortunately, 'event' months have given the book a boost that have bumped it back up each time (NotO, #0 month, DOTF). But in the case of the the Owls and #0 boosts, sales started dipping again immediately afterwards.

All that said, the book was still a hugely long way from being in any kind of trouble, and there's no way of knowing where that consistent dip would have finally steadied itself. And, with DOTF down for the next few months, sales are inevitably gonna remain high. The question is, will the drop off be considerably quicker this time, with Gail's departure coming at a time when sales would have started falling again anyway?