Heh. I was having a phone meeting about a very cool film project, it was something I’d really prepped for, and we live in the Oregon boonies on a quite remote lake, picture windows everywhere. I’m giving my presentation on the phone, and I look up from my notes and there’s a huge bear outside my back window, just staring right at me. Then it started trying to get onto my patio and I chased it away, all the while the execs on the other end probably were thinking I’d lost my mind.

  Some really funny twitter folks decided the bear had eaten me and taken my job and…

  …human. Never mind, I’m human. Just human. Honest. Although I do love salmon. But human for sure.

  Perfect. That question was just to calibrate our lie-detector equipment. Please keep that in mind while you answer the following questions.

  Where were you on the day Inez Temple was created? What could possibly have motivated you to do such a thing? In short, Ms Simone – what were you thinking?

  Probably something along the lines of, “Please don’t let me mess this up”. It was for my first issue of Deadpool, which was my first mainstream comics assignment, and I was told that if we couldn’t raise the sales, it was likely to be canceled. No pressure, right?

  But I had always told myself that if I ever did get a chance to write comics, I would try my best to add some kickass new female characters… I didn’t want to replace the older characters as I really love them. But I wanted there to be more characters who weren’t just spin-offs.

  Marvel is so much about New York. I’m from a small town, I’d never been to New York when I started writing comics. It might as well have been Atlantis or Latveria. So I started with the idea of someone who came from somewhere very different, and that got me thinking of Texas. And I wanted someone who could take care of herself in a scrap… not as an elite martial artist, just someone tough and durable, someone to really test Deadpool. And Inez was born, and to this day, she’s still my favorite of the characters I have created at Marvel. I like that she’s fierce, and fun-oriented, but with a hint of sadness underneath.

  What about Inez, Neena, Rachel, and the Posse are special to you? No matter how many other projects you’re working on, I see those three pop up in your social media a lot.

  They do, and partly it’s the joy of their chemistry. Marvel’s had a ton of great writers but until recently, the vast majority have been guys, and it’s hard not to see that inform the female characters a little. So, I wanted the Posse to be friends, like, those friends you discover late in life and somehow you can’t believe you ever managed to live without them.

  I mean, there have been, what, hundreds of super hero comics that have focused on a buddy friendship, or a mostly male dynamic, and that’s great. I love those books. But it’s still pretty new and fresh to present that with female characters. So I chose to pick some rowdy ladies in those three, and I dearly love the mix. The first goal is always entertainment, meaning, do you want to hang out with these characters? Do you want to learn more about them? If we don’t have that, nothing else really matters.

  If our fabulous audience wants to read more about Inez and the Posse, where can they start? What are your favorite stories with them?

  Outlaw is pretty easy, most of her stories have been in the two recent Domino mini-series, which I wrote, and the Deadpool and Agent X stories collected in Deadpool Classics volumes nine and ten!

  Your comics have a wide emotional range, but I think the thing that’s most consistent across them is a sense of fun. How do you manage to keep that sense of levity, and keep it appropriate for the story being told?

  I am not 100% certain that I do keep it appropriate, I think that’s part of the fun, going right up the cliff and seeing if you fall over. I like comics that are safe and cozy sometimes, but the really memorable ones have a point of view, and some risk is being taken.

  For me, that risk is often showing heroes in their less glamorous and charitable moments. I like showing them when things have gone hopelessly awry. I also like them to have flaws and needs.

  Outlaw likes a drink and a fight and a roll in the hay, that already makes her a lot of fun to write.

  You’ve worked with more iconic characters than I could count. What’s your research process for starting with a character you haven’t created? How do you make sure you get it right?

  Oh, I promise, no one gets it right every time, that’s why Marvel invented the No-Prize! But I do immerse myself in a character’s lore before I start writing them. I tend to be drawn to the characters who have lost focus a bit, and I always find it delightful if you can sort of spotlight what made them great in the first place.

  It’s usually a matter of finding a key element, something that you love about them, and just… sharing it, illuminating it. It’s easier with less iconic characters, but I find if you really dig, you can still find something new to say and do with the A-listers, which is very rewarding.

  You’ve worked with plenty of established characters. You’ve also created plenty and set them loose in the world. Characters like Inez Temple. Is it exciting to see other people tell stories with them? Alienating? It sounds like it would feel tremendously weird, to be honest.

  I love this question, Tristan. The truth is, I have never lost my sense of being a fan, even when I’m right in the middle of writing these books. I still love to read a great, beautifully drawn Spider-Man story, for example. I love when a new voice pops up and takes over some book I’d been overlooking. And the thing I love, love, love about the Marvel Universe is, it really is this incredibly luminous tapestry, it goes in every direction and on every timeline.

  I was so thrilled the first time I got to write the Punisher or the Hulk, it felt like I was helping at the loom, you know? So to me, it’s a big deal when a great writer, like yourself, cares enough about a character I created to carry on with the weaving. It means a lot.

  Outlaw having a cardboard life-size standee in the second Deadpool movie, it just made me happy. That is part of my tiny contribution to this universe that meant so much to me. I am always thrilled.

  You’re a master of media. You’ve worked in comics and television, and from dark graphic novels to a delightful Princess-content-rich episode of My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic. That’s astounding versatility. How do these different forms affect your writing style? How does the how of storytelling affect what gets told?

  This is another great question… it’s something I try to convey to new writers all the time. Winning the lottery as a writer for me is getting to do work that makes you happy. I have been so fortunate that way, and what makes me most happy is getting to tell a story with characters I love. Sometimes you have one great, say, Captain America story. I love that feeling, come in, do your story, put everything you have on the table, and then move on to another thing entirely.

  I’ll never forget, I was asked to do Mortal Kombat and My Little Pony stories at the same time, two different employers, and so all morning I would research Rainbow Dash, and all evening I’m decapitating ninjas.

  I loved it. That’s how I keep fresh, I don’t want to stay on a book past where I can really keep surprising the readers.

  Where can people find out more about you and your work?

  Most of my social media is on Twitter, I talk about all subjects, including bear issues, and am happy to answer all questions.

  I love this job, I am always delighted to talk about it! I’m @gailsimone on Twitter.

  These words will be appearing in Outlaw: Relentless in September, 2021. What’s up next for you?

  I’ve always said that comics were my dream job, and it’s true. But the past couple years I have signed on to some huge projects in other media and they make it difficult to keep doing regular monthly comics, although I hope to be doing some soon.

  I am currently a consultant on the upcoming Red Sonja film, I am developing a couple series and some animated things, I have a novel in the works, some game projects… there’s a lot and very little I can talk about.

  I am busier than ever, which is a gift. The best thing is, a lot of these projects, I’m still working with the comics characters I love, they’re just in new mediums, and that’s a joy to be part of.

  Table of Contents

  Cover

  Outlaw: Relentless, A Marvel Heroines Novel

  Copyright

  Dedication

  Prologue

  One

  Two

  Three

  Four

  Five

  Six

  Seven

  Eight

  Nine

  Ten

  Eleven

  Twelve

  Thirteen

  Fourteen

  Fifteen

  Sixteen

  Seventeen

  Eighteen

  Nineteen

  Twenty

  Twenty-One

  Twenty-Two

  Twenty-Three

  Aconyte Extra!!

  Explore our World Expanding Fiction

  Table of Contents

  Cover Page

  Outlaw: Relentless, A Marvel Heroines Novel

  Cover

  Outlaw: Relentless, A Marvel Heroines Novel

  Copyright

  Dedication

  Prologue

  One

  Two

  Three

  Four

  Five

  Six

  Seven

  Eight

  Nine

  Ten

  Eleven

  Twelve

  Thirteen

  Fourteen

  Fifteen

  Sixteen

  Seventeen

  Eighteen

  Nineteen

  Twenty

  Twenty-One

  Twenty-Two

  Twenty-Three

  Acknowledgments

  About the Author

  Aconyte Extra!!

  Explore our World Expanding Fiction

 

 

  Unknown, Outlaw: Relentless, A Marvel Heroines Novel

 

 

  Thank you for reading books on GrayCity.Net
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