Why Did DC Erase Gail Simone From the ‘Birds of Prey’ Legacy?

Gail Simone was left out of DC Comics Super Heroines 100 Greatest Moments in what can only be described as a gross and bizarre oversight. Simone is a comic book writer best known for her work on DC Comics, especially those relating to Birds of Prey and Wonder Woman. While Simone did not create the Birds of Prey, she was the first female writer to take over the series after its initial run by Chuck Dixon. The character of Huntress, who is practically synonymous with the Birds of Prey, was first added to the team by Simone.

She truly popularized the team, and throughout the team’s 27-year history, her run has remained a fan favorite. Since her run ended, the series has been muddled with cancellations, reboots, and relaunches. Simone added over 50 issues to the Birds of Prey series, offering the team its most cohesive, female-focused, and vibrant run. She grew the Birds of Prey, solidified team dynamics, and blended superhero fun, dark and gritty content, and sassy and sexy undertones to frame the all-female team in a way that did them justice.

Simone’s legacy extends far beyond Birds of Prey, as she also took over writing for Wonder Woman, becoming the series’ longest-running female writer. Additionally, she created Alysia Yeoh, one of the first major transgender comic book heroes who was supposed to make her live-action debut in Batgirl. Given her history, it seems like a no-brainer that her name would pop up multiple times in any work detailing DC’s superheroine’s history. However, DC Comics Super Heroines 100 Greatest Moments doesn’t include her at all.

Why isn’t Gail Simone in the DC superheroines reference book?

Simone took to Facebook to share that there’s something very odd about DC Comics Super Heroines 100 Greatest Moments. This book was published in 2018 and was written by Robert Greenberger. Greenberger spent several years as assistant editor and Senior Editor for Collected Editions at DC Comics. One would assume he was knowledgeable about the various female comic book writers at DC Comics when piecing together this work. However, one can’t help but ask why a man is tackling the history of superheroines in the first place.

It was back in 2019 that Simone first skimmed through a copy of the reference book. However, she recently reshared the moment to confirm that it “still kinda bothers” her because of how bizarre the situation was. She acknowledged the book was subjective, and she agreed and disagreed with some things. Still, she found it odd that all of the book’s greatest superheroine moments seemed to come from male writers. Then, she realized that she was listed nowhere in the book. Considering how well-known she is for Birds of Prey, Huntress, and Wonder Woman, it’s very strange that her name wouldn’t come up. Not only that, but she noticed that sections would cover the run before her but skip her and move on to the run after her. Her run was arguably the most important in Birds of Prey, so why would it skip over her run?

Simone emphasized that she doesn’t usually pay attention to things like this, and she wasn’t mad at anyone. She simply wanted to point out how bizarre this is. This is an official DC reference book from someone close to DC Comics. Meanwhile, she’s one of DC’s most outstanding female writers, and it’s completely baffling how a reference book could even tackle Birds of Prey‘s history without mentioning her. Was this an intentional exclusion? And, if so, why? It’s not just bizarre but truly insulting that it would gloss over Simone’s contributions.

It’s not the first time Simone hasn’t been given the respect she deserved, as she was also temporarily fired as Batgirl‘s writer in 2012. Regardless of what a book or DC says, though, fans will never forget Simone’s enormous contributions to DC Comics.

(featured image: DC Comics)