Gail Simone no longer the writer of Batgirl

[mrrightnow]

She wasn't in that many episodes of BTAS. IMDB says it was just 6. There's still The Batman which gave her 22 appearances, but hardly crushing BOP's 13 episodes.

That info is wrong. I have the boxed set of the fourth season and Batgirl's in more than six episodes in just that one season.

[The_Greatest_Username]

Plus Birds of Prey wasn't exactly a successful TV show.

I really don't understand the e-drama around DC 'firing' Simone and why people are so upset about it (keep in mind that Simone is not a DC employee - she's essentially a contractor). She's not some minimum wage worker laid off from a factory. She's a highly respected comic book writer. All this talk about unions and worker rights is utter nonsense. She will have a job - she still has a job in fact. She's not going to go hungry for christmas, she's not going to be lining up for welfare checks, she's not going to be forced to live on the streets... Feeling pity or anger for her situation is almost offensive to all those workers who actually ARE facing real un-employment and a bleak holiday season.

I don't think anyone is feeling sorry for her being fired, but they're upset in the way she was fired. BatGRRRRl4ever was talking about being pro-union as in supporting a local comic shop.

[JasonTodd428]

What would hurt me a lot more would be to compromise my moral principles of the belief in treating all people with fairness, dignity, integrity, and respect. To do that simply to save a few bucks or to do what is convenient would make it hard for me to look at myself in the mirror daily for what is in my life my own moral truths. I only speak for myself in that, but I have to do what I feel is right and what I feel is right is to not support the unprofessional manner in which new editor Brian Cunningham chose to wield his power with his contracted employee. For me it's as simple as that.

You should always do what you feel is right and what is best for your own moral purposes. However, I don't believe that this alone will make anyone at DC stand up and take notice myself. They'll just simply see a drop in sales post Simone as Barbara Gordon/Batgirl not being a viable property for them to sell, which I don't think is what you want to happen either. That could have the effect, worst case, that DC decides that "Batgirl" as a character should be canned in favor of something new or that possibly some other past or brand new character as Batgirl would work out better. A better, more direct and probably more effective option for letting DC know of your displeasure would be to write letters to both Cunningham and Didio about their treatment of Simone. (Yeah I know they probably won't listen but still it's better than simply boycotting the book alone.)

[Serpentor]

I think at the end of the day this will probably have little effect on the books sales, for every person who drops it because Simone is off there is probably someone who wasn't happy with the book right now and decides to give the new team a chance. And yes the BOP TV show had tons of problems and it did nothing to help Oracle get a more mainstream push. It's a shame DC/WB never took the opportunity to use the Oracle character outside of comics and the short lived show. The couple of games she's been in have been minor appearances anyway I do think if she had the same level of exposure as she did as time as Batgirl the decision to put Bab's back in the Batgirl role would have been more of a big deal. Yes I miss Oracle and I stand by that the editors feelings that she made Batman less of a detective just comes down to poor understanding of both characters and weak writing, and that the return of Barbara Batgirl was as much about potential sales as it was about reliving the silver age (Hal Jordon and Barry Allen came back already, Clark's time as Superboy was brought back, Batgirl was the last major Silver age theme for DC to bring back.)

I am curious to know however what this change of direction is going to be for Barbara that Simone was likely now down with that had this new editor remove her from the book in favor of someone else. That will be the big factor on if the fans stick around, a quick look at some of his past work doesn't exactly leave one with much hope. I don't get it really if these editors really think they know better why don't they just write the books themselves.

[GoldStarz]

Hey, who let a reasonable person into a Batgirl thread?!!

So if we were Oracle fans that tried to like the book and failed, we're unreasonable, okay, thanks for the information!

Actually, your third reason is precisely the reason I am dropping the book. Your reasoning that Simone's depiction of Batgirl is "awful-to-average-to-eventually quite good" and that matching it won't be a huge challenge indicates that you don't have the necessary understanding of her fans and the impact of the book to make that argument.
I will lay it out for you but, honestly, since you don't really think much of the book, you aren't going to get it.


...


These characters are in many ways interchangeable and the only thing that makes one better is the ability of the writer to make the character interesting and the plot memorable. Take away the writer, and you get Red Hood and Birds of Prey.

I have seen people outright say they were only reading the book to support Simone.

[sidekick77]

Lol, you actually used the "everybody else does it" argument? That said, it's incredibly easy and practical to simply not buy a comic book, it's not like I'm attempting to set up a picket line at the DC offices. If one doesn't live up to one's personal set of principles, what's the point in having them in the first place?

I think the relevance here is that many writers have been fired from DC, some in worse fashion than Gail's situation and they were public, yet YOU still bought from this company.

I don't doubt your sincerity in wanting to see Gail treated right, but I don't think it's all about a moral compass, so much as its about her being your precious boo. Nothing wrong with following Gail out the door if your the type to follow writers, but god, take the sanctimonious speech down a couple notches.

[Brack360]

That info is wrong. I have the boxed set of the fourth season and Batgirl's in more than six episodes in just that one season.

Barbara was in 6 of the original 85 episodes that aired on Fox (released on DVD as Vols. 1-3), and only 3 of those episodes were as Batgirl. She had a more prominent role in the final season that aired on the WB Network and appeared in about 15 of 24 episodes.

[Shimarenda]

So if we were Oracle fans that tried to like the book and failed, we're unreasonable, okay, thanks for the information!

That's not what I said, and the negative does not follow necessarily from the positive in this case. I was largely praising the tone of his post. I've generally found your posts to be reasonable, aside from this one.

[Fate's Faith]

I'm not upset about Simone leaving Batgirl. I have thought for a bit that while some have thought she captured Barbara's voice so well that what she had done was substituted her own voice for Barbara's. I don't dislike Simone because I find he rather humorous on Twitter but I've noticed that her Twitter feed sounds too much like Barbara's internal dialog which just never seemed right to me.

[MajorHoy]

I'm not upset about Simone leaving Batgirl. I have thought for a bit that while some have thought she captured Barbara's voice so well that what she had done was substituted her own voice for Barbara's. I don't dislike Simone because I find he rather humorous on Twitter but I've noticed that her Twitter feed sounds too much like Barbara's internal dialog which just never seemed right to me.

I'm also not that upset with Simone leaving Batgirl, but the part of how it's happening doesn't sit right with me.

[PennyDreadful]

I am curious to know however what this change of direction is going to be for Barbara that Simone was likely now down with that had this new editor remove her from the book in favor of someone else. That will be the big factor on if the fans stick around, a quick look at some of his past work doesn't exactly leave one with much hope. I don't get it really if these editors really think they know better why don't they just write the books themselves.

I am reminded of what George Perez said recently: "They didn't want a writer. They wanted a typewriter."

Nothing says "you're just a peon" quite like being fired by e-mail.

[Fate's Faith]

I don't have an opinion about her being fired by email because I'm not sure how such a working relationship is supposed to function. But I think all the books would improve if they did have editors and writers in the same room. Then whatever problems with the material each are having with the other could be ironed out quickly. Because I have the impression that this email working relationship is something like these boards. A few snarky comments to each other then the one with authority gets mad enough to fire the other. And there's no one there to moderate them.

[Phantom Blot]

That info is wrong. I have the boxed set of the fourth season and Batgirl's in more than six episodes in just that one season.

I am glad someone took the time to point this out. Babs/Batgirl's a major, THE major sidekick in many of these episodes. She and Supergirl even team up.

[Captain Jim]

And the discussion continues here...

http://forums.comicbookresources.com...Batgirl-Writer