The Four Color Media Monitor

The pretentious Polygon site wrote a sugary interview with Gail Simone, and a partnership deal she made with eBay:

To celebrate the release of Captain Marvel on International Women’s Day, eBay announced a partnership with comics creators Gail Simone and Cat Staggs. Their project, “Superheroine HQ,” curated a page of vintage comics, vinyl figures, and other collectibles featuring female superheroes past and present.

Since eBay’s early days as an online auction site, many comics collectors have turned to it when looking to fill gaps in their collections. It makes sense, then, that the platform wants to continue courting that market — even as it aggressively expands to take on big players like Amazon.

And that market seems to be growing. According to eBay, sales for merchandise related to female superheroes have jumped by 34 percent, with an even bigger spike — 63 percent — specifically around Captain Marvel.

Still keeping up the fantasy that the Captain Marvel movie is the biggest blockbuster of all time, even though it's underperformed and sold considerably less than several other previous productions, and less women attended than Wonder Woman's audience. It may have earned nearly a billion dollars internationally, but stateside, it's still losing audience pretty fast. The "woke" messaging clearly isn't winning people over back in the country of origin.

For Simone, at least, what this collection represents is way more meaningful than just a place to browse out-of-print comics or snag a new toy. She told Polygon that when eBay approached her about partnering on a hub for female superheroes, it brought tears to her eyes. “This was something that I never would have imagined when I was a little girl ... the thought that some parent can buy their little girl [a gift related to] their favorite superheroine anywhere in the world makes me cry,” she said.

Many fans of female superheroes (and female fans of superheroes) can relate to that feeling of possibility — I told Simone that I started tearing up when I saw the images going around Twitter of a young girl, decked out in Captain Marvel gear, looking up in pride and awe as Brie Larson signs her comic. She agreed, saying “That is gonna change someone’s life, just like seeing Batgirl on television changed my life.”

Yup, I'm sure it's changed things quite a bit. Made people aware there's anti-white sentiment and as much man-hating as woman-hating in Hollywood. Naturally, you couldn't possibly expect these sugar-gushers to take an objective view of the movie's story merit, or how there were lady critics who did pan Captain Marvel, and didn't bind themselves to political correctness as the studio wanted.

She was quick to point out, though, that it’s not just young girls who are enthusiastic about superheroines. As women steal the spotlight both in comics and, finally, on the big screen, Simone has started seeing more middle-school-aged boys come through her signing lines at conventions. “They’re so excited to talk about Batgirl,” she says, “asking, ‘How did you make her so badass?’” But they’re not surprised that it’s a woman who’s powerful — they want to be just like her.

There's something peculiar about the above. Boys want to be just like a woman?!? What are these, LGBT activists they're talking about? Whatever happened to rooting for a bold woman, and wanting to be just like a well-written male hero? Come to think of it, why should we believe somebody whose comics are selling as low anything else is being honest about signing lines either? What's less clear is whether any girls attend her desk at conventions. Could it be they're turned off by her politics?

Simone has long been vocal about the importance of representation in comics — for young girls and young boys. In recent years, fueled by the success of Wonder Woman and now Captain Marvel, the industry has started catching up to her. When she started out writing at DC, she says, she was mainly assigned to properties that were struggling and in danger of being cancelled, most of them featuring female characters. Undaunted, she set out to prove them wrong. “I’m gonna prove to you that your female characters are just as important as your male characters,” she recalls thinking.

One of those titles was Birds of Prey, which she helmed for over 50 issues. The now-beloved series is getting a film adaptation of its own in 2020.

This is also baffling. There IS representation in comics for young boys - Robin stands out as a leading example of a teen crimefighter, whom Chuck Dixon turned into more than a sidekick when he wrote the original 90s solo book starring Marv Wolfman and Pat Broderick's creation of Tim Drake. Speaking of which, interesting they don't mention Dixon was the guy who pitched BOP in the first place back in 1996. If it weren't for him, there likely wouldn't be a BOP title for her to build on. They're not giving credit where it's due.

Gail Simone is the perfect representative for Superheroine HQ because she’s not only a legendary writer of female superheroes, she’s also their biggest fan. [...]

She may have written a few of the most notable superheroines, but she's far from "legendary" if none of her past books sold sky high. BOP sold little more than 35,000 copies at best when she took it up in the mid-2000s. At this point, she's all but washed up, and, as the following tweet from 2012 makes clear:

@NateHood257 The tentpoles that hold up the industry are white, cis, straight, able-bodied and male. It's okay to chip away at that.

— GAIL SIMONE Thinks the Punisher Should Smile More (@GailSimone) June 1, 2012

She's little different from Brie Larson in her own approach to PR. I was stunned when I found this. What she said back then was practically an assault on Stan Lee. With that kind of vision, it's no wonder she's not what the MSM make her out to be.

In addition, it's a terrible shame International Women's Day had to be saddled with these kind of liabilities that don't do anybody favors.

Labels: dc comics, marvel comics, moonbat writers, msm propaganda, women of dc, women of marvel