Jeff Lemire and Scott Snyder Named New Batgirl Co-Writers

Ok that's probably not true, but with Gail Simone's announcement that she's been bumped as series writer, one question remains. Who will be the next to write Bagirl?

Today Simone posted on Tumblr a message titled "I'M SO FRICKING FORTUNATE IT'S RIDICULOUS" confirming the Bleedingcool report that she was "fired by email."

"Okay, well, if you read the news on Bleeding Cool, I unfortunately have the sad duty to confirm that it’s true. As of Wednesday of last week, I was informed by an email from my new editor that I am no longer the writer of Batgirl.
I cannot express my disappointment at this. I think everyone is aware how important Barbara Gordon is to me, and how important it is to me that her stories be told with respect and care, both for the character and the readers.
We tried our very best to do that, and it was an honor to write Barbara for these many years."

Simone goes on to thank her fans and others in the Bat-offices for their support including various editors, artists, and Scott Snyder himself, calling him a friend.

Whoever takes over the title, has a lot of dots to connect as Batgirl #13 laid the foundation for an entire year's worth of stories that fans will be upset if left ignored.

As for Simone's future with DC, it's unclear. Earlier this week she asked her fans what characters from any publisher would they like to see her write. Responses varied, but Storm was a frequent answer.

Get ready for the angry fan battle cry. There's no bigger villain in comics to a Batgirl fan than DC Editorial.

You should be banned... for life....

I nearly spilled my coffee.

@briangsharon said:

You should be banned... for life....

I nearly spilled my coffee.

Seriously. That was just evil.

I don't know what they are planning on doing. Still baffled by the news.

@briangsharon said:

You should be banned... for life....

I nearly spilled my coffee.

Almost did the same

@derf_jenkins: DC will probably announce the new writer tomorrow when they release the March solicits for the Bat-family and the Dark group.

My money's on a writer from the Before Watchmen books moving over to the Bat-verse now that Before Watchmen has wrapped. I would like to see Azzarello's take on the character.

I did read a rumor that Lobdell was potentially taking over, but I REALLY hope that's not true.

You're a mean one, Mr.Grinch

Lol. Every man on here's dream was shattered!

But not mine.

I want a woman to write the series. We need more female writers.

I realize it's not true but for arguments sake lets say it was true. I wouldn't like it because I wouldn't want his work to suffer for doing to many books. Especially with Man of Steel coming out.

@Twentyfive:

Lol. Every man on here's dream was shattered!
But not mine.
I want a woman to write the series. We need more female writers.

I wouldn't want them to write Batgirl either, not because they're men though. They both have a tendency to drag on storylines FOREVER. While those stories are amazing. I don't have the attention span or interest in reading another mega-crossover title that can't get a single story told in four issues or less. Rotworld has essentially been going on since issue 1 in Animal Man and Swamp Thing, and it's still not done yet? Some titles need to be more episodic, and Batgirl is one of those titles for me.

I'm already mentally preparing to be on that damn island for a very long time when Lemire takes over Green Arrow.

We DO need more female creators, but I don't think it should be a prerequisite to write a female lead series. Bryan Q Miller did some phenomenal stuff on his run with Steph as Batgirl. Across the DC universe, Brian Azzarello is telling some of the best Wonder Woman stories we've ever seen.

I want more female creators across the board.

@jacksonvillewriter yeah that title of yours. That was just evil.

@jacksonvillewriter said:

@Twentyfive:

Lol. Every man on here's dream was shattered!
But not mine.
I want a woman to write the series. We need more female writers.

I wouldn't want them to write Batgirl either, not because they're men though. They both have a tendency to drag on storylines FOREVER. While those stories are amazing. I don't have the attention span or interest in reading another mega-crossover title that can't get a single story told in four issues or less. Rotworld has essentially been going on since issue 1 in Animal Man and Swamp Thing, and it's still not done yet? Some titles need to be more episodic, and Batgirl is one of those titles for me.

I'm already mentally preparing to be on that damn island for a very long time when Lemire takes over Green Arrow.

We DO need more female creators, but I don't think it should be a prerequisite to write a female lead series. Bryan Q Miller did some phenomenal stuff on his run with Steph as Batgirl. Across the DC universe, Brian Azzarello is telling some of the best Wonder Woman stories we've ever seen.

I want more female creators across the board.

Now personally, I've never been the biggest Gail fan. She's very hit an miss for me. Now I do agree that it would be cool to see more female writers in DC, but for some reason DC doesn't seem to want to bring in any female talent. I'm not so quick to chalk it up to sexism, but I am questioning a couple things. What sort of female talent is DC attracting? Is it good? Also I'm wondering, if DC is not attracting female creators, is it because female writers might not be interested in the overall gameplan of DC? There are so many variables as to why female writers are not flowing into DC Comics. I have a feeling though a lot of those factors involve DiDido. Whatever is going on there is something big going on at DC, and I don't think it's working too well.

-____________________________________-

I don't think that either of them will take on the title.Both of them are on too mnay titles to handle such a big character.

PURE EVIL!!!!

@jacksonvillewriter: Them being men has nothing to do with me not wanting them to write the ongoing. Those two sentences were independent of each other. Brian Azzarello and especially Greg Rucka know how to write women better than any man in the industry. Sadly, Rucka's done with the big 2, and Azzarello is tied up with other engagements. I want to read more stuff by people who aren't concerned with muscle-bound men in tights and exaggerated sex scenes, which is more often than not a woman.

@TDK_1997:

I don't think that either of them will take on the title.Both of them are on too mnay titles to handle such a big character.

That was the point of my blog title. I was making a joke about how Snyder and Lemire seem to be taking over the entire DC Universe one book at a time.

From what I read, the "guest" writer for March will probably be taking over the book. Ray Fawkes, co-writer of Justice League Dark, is listed as that writer in the recently released solicits.

This is pure speculation, but it seems that the new editor may be going for a writer he can control better than Gail Simone.

wow this was cold. Really really cold. I was about to hop back on Batgirl if this was true.

Now whoever the new writer is can't possibly live up to my expectations now

@jacksonvillewriter said:

This is pure speculation, but it seems that the new editor may be going for a writer he can control better than Gail Simone.

More than likely, the editor is looking for a "yes man". From what little we know so far, Gail and her editor had a small disagreement over something, something that she thought could easily be fixed, but instead of compromising he just fired her. We won't know the whole story until someone elaborates, but for now that's what we have to go by.

@Twentyfive All apologies if I misread the intention of your original comment. I think we can both agree that DC is doing a disservice to its readers by not providing more books with female creators behind them.

@Delphic It's not working at all, and DC Editorial firing one of three female writers by email isn't making things better. I understand if they want to go in another direction with a book that isn't selling, but that doesn't seem to be the case.

I doubt DC has a "rule" against bringing in more women as writers. I don't think they're purposely sitting in their offices and saying "Women don't read comics, so they shouldn't write them either." However, they don't seem to be recruiting very many either, and the ones they do bring in are being put on books like Amethist series with very little mass appeal.

@jacksonvillewriter said:

@Twentyfive All apologies if I misread the intention of your original comment. I think we can both agree that DC is doing a disservice to its readers by not providing more books with female creators behind them.

@Delphic It's not working at all, and DC Editorial firing one of three female writers by email isn't making things better. I understand if they want to go in another direction with a book that isn't selling, but that doesn't seem to be the case.

I doubt DC has a "rule" against bringing in more women as writers. I don't think they're purposely sitting in their offices and saying "Women don't read comics, so they shouldn't write them either." However, they don't seem to be recruiting very many either, and the ones they do bring in are being put on books like Amethist series with very little mass appeal.

Wasn't there something about DC moving it's company over to the West Coast a while back? Perhaps they are downsizing? I mean surely DC editorial can see the fan reaction and would not purposefully cause their own line to go down in flames.

How can any writer with respect for the craft take over this title after what DC did to Simone?

Also I wish everyone could be as open as Liefeld. Love him or hate him, when he leaves a job he goes out the way everyone wants to, with guns blazing all over twitter!

@jacksonvillewriter: No worries here. I just hope Simone writes some other DC book. She is too good of a writer for a company like DC to let go.

Especially since (in my opinion) they are hardly putting out anything worth reading.

Honestly please change the title or take it down.. still haunting.

@Shamelesslysupportinaznballers: I wouldn't blame the new writer. Blame the editor, Brian Cunningham. I can't guarantee that I'll keep reading the book after Gail leaves.

@jacksonvillewriter: Well this is the way I see it. You wouldn't boot Gail off a book that is doing pretty well unless you already have a writer lined up willing to take this assignment. So most likely the writer was in on this or knew of this before hand too. Especially if it is already an established writer.

we can only pray that it's not Ann Nocenti

Lol. Every man on here's dream was shattered!

But not mine.

I want a woman to write the series. We need more female writers.

@Markus_Langbourn: What?

No no. I was just stating that I preferred Batgirl to be written by a woman. I know that any gender can write a good story. Shame, though. The guest writer for march and april is some guy that I never heard of. He might be good though. I hope he is, because I wouldn't mind seeing new talent.

@ Shamelesslysupportinaznballers. That Gail was stopping at the title for sure, how and why. Not so much.

@Markus_Langbourn said:

@Twentyfive said:

Lol. Every man on here's dream was shattered!

But not mine.

I want a woman to write the series. We need more female writers.

Good writers are the goal, regardless of gender. Snyder is not good, for instance.

what?!?!?!?!

@SUNMAN said:

@Markus_Langbourn said:

@Twentyfive said:

Lol. Every man on here's dream was shattered!

But not mine.

I want a woman to write the series. We need more female writers.

Good writers are the goal, regardless of gender. Snyder is not good, for instance.

what?!?!?!?!

That's what I'm saying. Lol.

Ban OP for life plz.

I'm honestly not sure who will take over Batgirl if Fawkes is only temporary, but I'd bet whoever it may be used to be huge in the 90s!

@briangsharon said:

You should be banned... for life....

I nearly spilled my coffee.

+1 to that.

I read something about Scott Snyder leaving Swamp Thing, and was thinking maybe Scott Snyder would take on Batgirl. It would open doors to do a lot of things with the two Bat characters which could have a lot of potential, but might leave him overworked too.

Then I see this...