Understanding Superheroes with Gail, Greg, and Kurt

Tomorrow, I'll be understanding superheroes just a little bit better, thanks to three of my favorite DC Comics writers. You’ll recognize their books and their names immediately and wish that you were me. Ha!

I saw Gail Simone on a Comic-Con panel Prism Comics was hosting at the 2006 (i think!) convention, but never in room smaller than an airplane hanger. Gail's been a supporter of and has given a voice to many important causes within the comics industry, from Women In Refrigerators to her championing writer John Ostrander's (Wasteland) campaign against blindness.

Simone's a strong lady, in many ways similar to the heroines of her two DC titles, both of them among my top monthly pics. Among my favorite five titles is Simone's Secret Six. With Six, the main characters are villains played as heroes, and the fine line that separates the two is a ultra-fine line indeed. Nicola Scott, one of the few female penciler's in comics, is Gail's co-creator on the book, and her artwork is just as impressive as Gail’s writing. [ And perhaps given the few women artists in comics, sometimes even more impressive.] Talk about a lady who knows how to make every character completely real and totally sexy at the same time!

Simone's other monthly, Wonder Woman, continues to bring depth and pathos to the Amazon, and since the title's restart three years ago, Simone's hands have proven the most capable. I'm truly looking forward to meeting her.

If I had to vote for my favorite Wonder Woman writer, I'd probably skip the polls all together. I mean, how can one really choose between Simone and Greg Rucka. Rucka is the comics world's Tom Clancy. He's a former WW scribe, the co-creator of Whiteout (the OGN on which last September's feature film was [poorly] based), Queen and Country, Gotham Central, as well as the current writer of DC’s longest running books: Action Comics and Detective Comics starring the new Batwoman. [Notice I didn't mention she's the lesbian character everybody talked about?]

Last but certainly not least is the one guy I've yet to see, hear, or shake hands with. Ironically, I've been reading his comics and have known his name far longer than Simone's or Rucka's. Heck, I've even met know one of his childhood friends, Scott McCloud. McCloud was one of the two professionals who taught the Comics Creation and Storytelling course I took four (five?) summers back at the University of California at Fresno. Actually, he's the reason I even enrolled in the course.

If not for Fresno, I'd never know that McCloud was the man who first put a comic book in Kurt Busiek's teen-aged hands. At least, that's how the legend goes. The picture it paints is a brave one, and I wish Dan Clowes would make a movie out of it.

Kurt Busiek's been at the helm of such notable works as the pivotal Marvels with Alex Ross, the brow-busting weekly DC series Trinity, as well as his creator-owned Astro City, for which Busiek's probably best known. In fact, he’ll be signing my copy of the newest Astro City mini -– Astra -- tomorrow; he just doesn't know it yet.

Busiek joins Simone and Rucka the University of Oregon’s Understanding Superheroes conference when it continues for its second and final day tomorrow, October 24th. All three writers will be present for a topical Q&A from 11am until about 12:15pm on the U of O campus. The presentation's aptly called Writing the Contemporary Superhero, and bar none, it's the highlight of my weekend.

I’ll post a more thorough review of the conference, or perhaps something less comprehensive but equally stimulating, on the blog by Sunday. But I'll say this now: For a guy who's been away from home for as long as I have, Understanding Superheroes came as a very unexpected but certainly welcome surprise. Even Springfield has a little magic, I must admit.

If you want to start Understanding Superheroes, go here. And for bios of all the conference's guest speakers, including Simone, Rucka, and Busiek -- the U of O has made available a downloadable PDF here. More to come.