Hang on, are *you* a woman?

GAIL: I actually have the required female equipment, yes. That's an interesting point, because I know that some female friends of mine try to avoid working on girl-centric books for fear of being typecast, and their fears are well-grounded. I'm sort of fortunate because people mostly know me from Deadpool, and he's every goofy male cliche (good and bad) wrapped up in a red and black costume. But with these books, they were just books I really wanted to do, so it's worth the risk. Birds Of Prey features two of my all-time favourites and is one of the few 'street-level' DC books that has a lot of elbow room available for interpretation. And the editor, Lysa Hawkins -- she and I just instantly formed a bond. She's really exceptional. So I had to do it. She-BoP!

And Rose and Thorn, there again, it's the challenge of doing something completely new to me. There's no humour in the book, it's actually pretty grim going. The subject matter of the fractured psyche is enormously appealing to me. I like the damaged characters, the ones with the histories that aren't (pardon me) rosey. Mike Carlin is editing it, and he's been fantastic. Great idea man, great at getting the best out of the creative team.

RICHARD: Female equipment? Can I buy them in a hardware store? And planning on anything starring the principal men of the DC Universe?

GAIL: Funny you should ask. Yes. I was recently asked to do something big in the DCU. I'm extremely excited about it, but that's all you get, you nosey Parker. And you can buy female equipment, but it's expensive and you have to pass a battery of personality tests.

RICHARD: What else? Vertigo? Wildstorm? More Image? MAX? Epic? CrossGen? AiT/Planet Lar? Dreamwave? Dark Horse? (and realise that I'm including all these names so the Dynamic Forces people can put loads of shilling hyperlinks in.) [ED. Note: Done, Done, Done, Done, Done, and Done]

GAIL: Not yet, maybe, no, no, no, no, no, and no. My workload right now is very large indeed, if not quite Geoff Johns-ish, but much of it can't be announced yet. I'm going to say people will be very surprised. I can't wait to yap about the upcoming stuff. After a couple of current assignments, I'll be doing a creator-owned book, hopefully for Oni. And as always, I do as much Bongo work as I possibly can. Great, great company.

RICHARD: And, bearing in mind what you said earlier, Gail, I'll leave you with the observation that apparently it's a really bad time in the industry for comics featuring Julia Sawalha off of Absolutely Fabulous wandering around the place in her underwear. Just thought you should know, in case you were trying to think of ideas for Epic pitches.

GAIL: That's very helpful. So you're not asking about Yabs?

RICHARD: Well, I was going to link to it. Why the return?

GAIL: It sounds corny, but mostly just as a tiny thanks to people who have been reading my stuff since Yabs started. It also gives me a chance, like the past couple weeks, to promote some books I like, some creators who may not be getting their fair credit with online readers. And finally, because of the weirdness of scheduling, even though I'm writing three books a month plus assorted shorts, there's a small window where there are no comics coming out with my name on them, so this was just a goofy way to fill that space a bit. Columns are difficult. How long have you been doing them, Rich?

RICHARD: Ten years. I need a shoulder, Gail.

GAIL: It's time to grow up, Rich. You had a good run, but no one cares any more who vomited on whom. You should do a one-man show! Rich Johnston IS Rich Johnston in: THE CRAP I CAN'T TELL YOU! Actually, let me ask YOU a couple questions, okay?

RICHARD: Actually, I am doing that kind of show at Bristol, LIVE-ING IN THE GUTTERS. But ask away, please. Just don't turn Joe Quesada on me...

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