10 People Who Changed The Comic Book Industry Forever

10. Gail Simone

The medium has changed a lot over the past two decades, and a lot of that change has come from external forces. Gail Simone, now a seasoned comic book writer and all around Twitter goddess, was once one of those forces.

That isn't to say that the writer hasn't imparted a massive influence with her comics either - she has (and to that end, you should all go read Birds of Prey and Secret Six right now) - but Simone's entrance onto the scene is notable for affecting the conversation surrounding the medium as a whole. This is because the writer, one of a few comic book commentators to take issue with misogynistic storytelling tropes in the medium, co-founded Women in Refrigerators - a key outlet that provoked wider discussions surrounding the depiction of women in the superhero genre at the tail end of the nineties.

Chronicling every de-powering, rape, murder or other instance where female characters were victimised in the medium, Simone reached out to dozens of prominent comic book professionals for their thoughts on the matter. The responses were telling (and you can read them here), but the group did more than just coin a phrase, they forced a conversation and drew attention to an issue few at the time were willing to acknowledge, let alone change.

Today, the medium is far more aware of these tropes, and while strides undoubtedly have to be made in regards to the representation of marginalised genders both on and off the page, change should soon be on the way.