Gail Simone on Secret Six, DC You, and Female Representation in Comics
Gail Simone recently had an interview with The Daily Dot where she shared her thoughts on where Secret Six fit in to the “DC You” campaign. She also touched on some points about representation in comics and how responsible she feels about that as a comic creator.
When asked about Secret Six and where it fits in the DCU, her answer was simple. She said:
Secret Six has always had a special place in the DCU, just because they’re the misfits. The content is a little bit different than the rest of the mainstream titles. It has a completely different tone than any of the other books out there.
She even got specific and talked about how the characters she’s brought into Secret Six are a reflection of the changing cultural landscape within and without comics.
Secret Six has always been a book that’s about the edge, the outskirts of the DCU. We have a character like Ventriloquist, I believe, definitely—when we were creating her, the New 52 version of Ventriloquist, the whole point was to kind of reflect something modern… We’ve always pushed the content, the stakes, all of it. It’s always reflected at least the darker sides of modern society—whether it’s prison systems or father relationships, etc.
And when it comes to female representation in comics? To her, that’s simple, too. She wants to tell the best story she can.
What I feel responsible for is, if my name is on a comic, I want it to be the best-written comic that I can possibly do. I want it to include some new things we haven’t seen before, new story ideas, new characters. Quality, quality art, all those kinds of things. I don’t feel responsibility or pressure from the movie industry to do a certain type of comic. The company may have those. I’m not really in their—my position on this spectrum is to write and tell the best story that I can.
Simone has become something of an icon, someone to rally around when it comes to trying to find good, solid representation of women in comics. She pushes the boundaries and is helping to change the landscape of comics and its culture into something that more fairly reflects its diverse fanbase. Between Secret Six and her new Image title, Crosswind, there’s plenty to look forward to in comics thanks to her.
Make sure to check out the full interview with Simone over at The Daily Dot, where gets into even more detail about the characters of Secret Six and its upcoming story arcs.
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