Revisit Uncanny X-Men's Gail Simone spotlight panel from WonderCon 2024
The Birds of Prey, Red Sonja, and Secret Six writer talks about her upcoming projects like Uncanny X-Men, and more.
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Gail Simone has been a mainstay of the comic book industry for more than two decades at this point, with fan-favorite runs on titles including DC’s Batgirl, Secret Six, and Birds of Prey, Marvel’s Domino, and Deadpool, and even some time on Jessica Jones and Red Sonja. This summer, she’s part of Marvel’s X-Men: From the Ashes relaunch — in fact, she'll be the first woman to write Uncanny X-Men as an ongoing concern as part of it — but before then, she has been a part of this weekend'sWonderCon 2024, and Popverse is there.
And… so were you. Well, if you followed along with our liveblog from Simone’s 'Spotlight on Gail Simone: From Batgirl to Bears' panel on Saturday afternoon, that is. If you weren't, you can reviist the entire panel with our play-by-play below:
Our live coverage of this event has finished.
Howdy everyone! This is Jules Chin Greene here, and I'm looking forward to the Spotlight on Gail Simone panel here at WonderCon!
There is a bear at the panel, beyond Gail herself.
Gail admits that because her husband is moderating and they are doing a slideshow for the panel, she's incredibly nervous, citing that her husband knows everything about her and is unpredictable, with a wry smmile.
Gail discusses the origin of her identity as a bear, talking about how she is from the Pacific Northwest. She was on a Zoom call with movie executives when she sighted a bear climbing over the fence of her house, and headed towards her.
Now fans believe that Gail is the bear trying to break into her own house.
Gail insists that she is not afraid of bears, and Scott her husband concurs.
Scott reveals that Gail got her start as a hairdresser, and she rose to prominence with her posts about comics on the internet, and started writing The Simpsons comics.
Gail will finally be able to discuss things that she has not been able to discuss publicly for the past year and a half, Scott says.
At one point Gail was writing "five comics a month," before taking a break. Gail explains that she was starting to do some video game writing before COVID quarantine hit. She was able to work on AAA video games.
Gail has also been consulted about high profile characters she has written that are making the leap to adaptations, whispering "Wonder Woman" playfully.
Scott reveals how Gail used to write murder scenes in Secret Six in her pajamas.
What made Gail return to writing comics was the invitation to write Uncanny X-Men. She is incredibly honored, and the series will consist of 18 issues for the first year.
Gail is also writing her second novel.
"It feels very surreal, and you kind of have a little argument with yourself, because on one hand, these are my influencers from when I was reading comics as a young person," but it's also very easy to experience Imposter Syndrome, Gail says, about being on a panel about comic book writing with Marv Wolfman, Steve Englehart, Steve Orlando, and more.
Gail initially wasn't a Red Sonja fan, but it wasn't until after she discussed being offered the opportunity to write Red Sonja with her mother, who then revealed that Red Sonja is her favorite character, that Gail decided to take on the gig.
Gail's mother loved the fact that Red Sonja was "a redhead who kicks ass."
Writing Red Sonja was when Gail fell in love with the character, which has now led her to writing a Red Sonja novel.
Writing a novel is "a lot of work, y'all," Gail says. She feels like she is "besties" with Red Sonja now, and writing a novel about her is an opportunity to really walk in the character's shoes.
"Comics is my first love of writing," Gail says. She enjoys the condensed form of writing that comic book writing requires.
Cheers break out in the room at the mention of the two omnibuses of Gail Simone's Secret Six.
The omnibuses will include additional material from Nicola Scott, Brad Walker, and other artists on Secret Six. The books will also include script pages.
Scott asks the audience who their favorite X-Man is, people scream out "Sunspot," "Madelyne Pryor," "Wolverine," and "Gambit."
Scott notes that Gail is the first solo female writer on Uncanny X-Men, and that he's never seen her happier while writing a group. Gail has been a fan since Chris Claremont's run as a young person.
Gail finds the X-Men very relatable because of them having something inside that makes them feel different and alienated from other people, which is relatable to us as non-mutant humans existing in the world.
You will see Gail and artist David Marquez's work on Uncanny X-Men for the Free Comic Book Day "From the Ashes" sneak peek.
Gail and Scott's son describes the X-Men as "a little bit like Pokemon." There's a ton of characters, many of whom may be obscure. Gail jokingly notes that she picked the "most kissable ones" for her team.
Each X-Men book will be taking place in a different part of the world, and will have a different tone from each other, which Gail finds very attractive.
Gail says that Eve Ewing's X-Men book is "so good, it's going to be a TV show, y'all"
Gail says that her Uncanny X-Men is a creepy Southern Gothic tale set in Louisiana, in a house where Gambit spent a lot of time in. There will be FOUR new young mutants who show up to the door.
Gail's "new mutants" are based on "hidden disabilities" represented through mutation. Their powers aren't obvious, like "popping claws."
Gail and Scott got one page to show from David Marquez's art, which shows Wolverine sulking by a motorcycle while Rogue and Gambit swoop in with a smile.
"Everyone is my favorite while I'm writing them, this is why it's been so fun to write this" -Gail
David Marquez excels on both big action pieces and small emotional scenes, Gail says.
Each X-Men book will stand on its own, you don't need to understand continuity in order to jump in to this story, Gail says.
At Gail's first San Diego Comic Con, she was rushed from the plane and placed between Peter David and Chris Claremont.
Scott has opened the floor for fans to ask questions.
"If someone says that it takes them four days to write a [comic book] script, I'm going to argue with them," Gail says.
Gail has watched a little bit of the new X-Men '97 show.
"You dared to ask that question?!" Gail playfully says when a fan asks if she likes writing Red Sonja or Wonder Woman better. She loves the visceral nature of Red Sonja, but loves the "compassion and empathy" of Wonder Woman. She says it depends on the mood she's in.
Gail mentions that she's still writing Wonder Woman, just not in comic book form, to "ooooh"s from the audience.
Gail loves writing "broken-down" and "loser" characters like Catman, who need to rise above the difficult circumstances they begin in.
Scott offers up Cyclops as the most "loser-ish" X-Men that Gail would love to write. Gail asks that no one tell Jed MacKay that.
Gail is working on a comic called Misty that was a character from the 1970s United Kingdom. The 2024 Special will feature a cover by Tula Lotay.
Misty was part of a series aimed at female readers originally, that found success outside of that demographic, and has a spooky feel to it.
Misty will feature art by Aly Fell and more. The stories will be creepy, but not rely on gore.
Gail is excited to write "another badass female character."
Gail notes that she really enjoyed Zack Snyder's movie, Rebel Moon. She thinks Bae Doona's character, Nemesis, is an incredibly cool-looking character. She got a phone call telling her that Zack Snyder wanted to talk to her about writing Nemesis.
Gail will be writing a story expanding on a character from Minor Threats who is a humanoid crab.
Gail's Minor Threats spinoff will feature an "A-List artist" that fans will "freak out" about when the news drops.
Scott hints at Superman in Gail's future...
Thank you so much for following along everyone!
