Gail Simone And Wonder Woman

Talk about your non-issues. Starting in December, publications as noteworthy as The Straits Times, The New York Times, The New York Sun, The Chicago Tribune, The Globe and Mail, and Newsweek have hailed the fact that Gail Simone has taken over the writing of Wonder Woman.

They have used stupid headlines like "Holy Hot Flash, Batman! Make room in the boys’ club, Caped Crusader. After 66 years, a woman takes over ‘Wonder Woman.’" and "Wonder Woman gets a new voice, and it's finally female" in this effort.

The first one is just downright insulting to any comic book fan. And the second one is, at best, inaccurate, since novelist Jodi Picoult had a turn as writer. I have not read her issues, but reviews I have seen have implied that the issues were less than spectacular. Whatever - so it wasn't her cup of tea.

The main point here is...what's the big deal? Simone has written many comics over the years, and she is not a stranger to female characters, having written so many good issues of Birds of Prey. And stop mentioning that she used to be a hairdresser! Every article mentions this - it's not relevant since the articles are about her writing comics! She writes comic books (and very good ones at that) - give the woman her due!

Is it really so astonishing that a woman is writing comics, let alone Wonder Woman? It's true that WW has not been real good over the years. But the Greg Rucka issues were pretty good. This indicates to me that the real problem isn't one of the character needing a female writer...as much as it is the character needs a GOOD writer that will take Wonder Woman seriously.

Many men have written female characters in very positive ways. I think of Neil Gaiman's Sandman, Peter Milligan's Shade and Peter David's Hulk run when I write this. And the female writer isn't new to comics either. There was Jo Duffy, Ann Nocenti, Louise Simonson, Collen Doran, Christina Z (whatever happened to her?) and Devin Grayson.

Maybe there is a shortage of female writers in comics, but let's be honest...up until a few years ago, there was a severe shortage of female readers! In the 80s, it seemed the only place you'd find female voices in the (now forgotten) letters pages was in Cerebus and Sandman.

That is changing, ever so slowly...and the proliferation of independent comics will only fuel that fire. DC Comics has provided a forum as well. Grayson had a few good runs, on such noteworthy titles as Gotham Knights, Nightwing and Catwoman. As mentioned before, Simone did a great stint on Birds of Prey and produced the excellent Villains United miniseries. All of these works are very much recommended, by the way...

I would think that readers should celebrate the fact that a writer of Simone's demonstrated skill is writing Wonder Woman. The fact that she is a woman should be a secondary consideration...but given the amount of articles I've seen on the subject, that is, apparently, not the case. That's too bad. Nothing should overshadow a comic book that offers top-notch writing.