I like the idea behind Swords of Sorrow, even though none of the three pictured characters are special favourites with me, but I can't get over the artwork. Just not my kind of thing at all. To put it mildly.

Regarding writer Gail Simone, I haven't read much, but overall I have a pretty good impression of her work. I don't think she can be blamed too much for the artwork, given the nature of the business. It's very rare to hear any writer criticise the work of an artist he or she has worked with unless it's someone no longer active. They really can't be expected to say things like that since they have to work with these people, often with little influence on the choice of creative partners and it seems to me it could well be career suicide to burn bridges by acquiring that sort of reputation.

On the subject of Gail Simone being a hypocrite, I am not familiar with that subject. However, I do know that I was definitely entertained on her original lengthy run on the Birds of Prey series. Obviously, she had various artists illustrating for her. And the cheesecake illustrations definitely hit the high note when illustrators Ed Benes and Joe Bennett were working on the book with her, especially with Ed Benes. Ed Benes also initially held illustrating duties in the relaunch of Justice League of America after the Infinite Crisis big event. Brad Meltzer was the writer of that JLoA relaunch. Now if you compare the other artists in the Birds of Prey series (including Joe Bennett), Black Canary was illustrated from various angles with the exception of one angle, which is the worm's point of view. In the Justice League of America, you will lose track of counting how many times in the first several issues of how Ed Benes illustrated Black Canary from the worm's point of view, and somewhat of a fetish a multi-illustrated butt shot over and over, such as just viewing the Justice large computer screen. You just have to shake your head.

Getting back to Gail Simone, hey I was just entertained by her initial run on Birds of Prey and her work on Secret Six. I just loved the team chemistry in those books. And entertainment is all I'm looking for in a comic book.

EDIT:

I just wanted to add, that on the last several issues of her initial run on Birds of Prey, she was blessed with a female illustrator in Nichola Scott. Each character of that group was handled real well in the able hands of Nichola Scott. Cheesecake was limited, and her style complemented Gail Simone's writing duties. I particularly loved the drawn quiet moments of the group. And I grew to appreciate Kate (Manhunter), Cinda, and Big Barda as part of that ensemble group. 

I really miss Gail's "You'll all be sorry" column. It was hilarious, and Bongo comics did the right thing in giving her a shot at writing comics.

That's interesting. If someone does actually have a detailed discussion or even limited discussion on Gail Simone's writing, what would be your suggestion on the direction the person takes that discussion, and how should that person approach talking about Gail Simone's written work?

I thought Secret Six especially when you add in the two lead-in mini series was one of the best titles of the last few years of "Post-Crisis" DC. It was pretty solid DC super hero comics and she was able to tie in some nice previous characters and backgrounds to add to the ones she created. They did a story in Skartaris and it was good. The long running plot about "the card" was good too. It's the type of comic some of the other Bat comics 'should be' even though technically not edited by the Bat office.

I posted two pages of sequential story. There was no dialogue, but that story was written by Gail Simone. Forgive me if I can't bring myself to take this garbage serious enough to give it a detailed critique


About all the detail necessary is it's 22 pages of the same exact stuff she complained about when male writers did it.

I loved Simone's advocacy as a fan, especially her diplomatic approach that invited creators to comment on the issue rather than defend themselves. An angrier, more militant advocate would have just made creators entrench themselves. Gail was amazing at getting a real conversation going.

That being said, I don't think much of Gail as a writer. I felt like she gave just about every female character she wrote the same wry, sarcastic banter, and folks mistook that for rich feminist characterization. I read a lot of Birds of Prey and tried several other things she wrote as well, and I just never saw her doing anything deeper or more innovative than that.

As for what level of involvement she did or did not have in the cheesecake art that accompanied her writing, who can say? If I were Gail, I'd be bothered on the one hand, and wondering if that wouldn't entice more males to read about strong female characters on the other.