Gail Simone ๐Ÿ’™๐Ÿ’› Profile picture
Oct 23, 2021 โ€ข 9 tweets โ€ข 5 min read โ€ข Read on X
Here is a thing about Dune.

It was inspired by a visit Frank Herbert made to my tiny little home town on the Oregon Coast. Not NEAR my hometown, my tiny hometown specially, which has some of the tallest sand dunes in the world.

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Frank Herbertโ€™s daughter lives here currently, and kindly donated her fatherโ€™s research materials to our relatively small, but still awesome public library, the Siuslaw Public Library, where itโ€™s currently on display.

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One of the reasons I love it here is the bizarre strata of natural landscapes..

It goes immediately from the ocean, with volcanic rock formations, to the tallest sand dunes in the world, then forests and lakes, all within just a couple miles, a bit further and itโ€™s mountains.
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Herbertโ€™s daughter hooked up our library and theater with Frank Herbertโ€™s grandson, who consulted on the new movie. The theater (which is awesome) is CityLightsCinema, and they are having a Dune/Herbert celebration until November 4th.

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Itโ€™s a wonderful little theatre run by genuine lovers of cinema.

If you are a big Herbert fan, or Dune fan, some of this stuff canโ€™t be seen anywhere else.

You might consider a day out here, come take a look at the dunes, they really are awe-inspiring.

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Itโ€™s very strange that this tiny town inspired both DUNE and STAR WARS, making it possibly the most important place in SF history.

I was born here.

We have three stoplights. We have no Indian food.

But we changed SF forever.

:)

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Population 9,000, inspirational birthplace of Paul Atreides AND Luke Skywalker.

Not too shabby.

:)

Have a great day, everyone.

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P.S. The very dunes that inspired Frank Herbertโ€ฆ?

Literally across the street from my house.

I used to pretend they were Arrakis or Tatooine.

A lot of people feel their home town is magical, but for me, IT REALLY WAS.

:)
P.P.S. The website for info on the celebration is citylightscinema.com!

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More from @GailSimone

May 12
I have a Roger Corman story. Itโ€™s fun, but weird, as I am gathering most Roger Corman stories tend to be.

I was a fan of his movies and his legend and legacy.

At the very beginning of my comics career, his office contacted me.

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I was very new to writing professionally. I didnโ€™t become a writer to make films, comics were not a stepping stone. And I had mostly been drafted, so my sense of value in myself as a writer was a bit shaky and tinged with a lot of, โ€˜how did I get here? Whatโ€™s happening?โ€™

2/
The idea that a legendary movie guy would contact me for anything made no sense. I still had my hair salon. I hadnโ€™t even written very many comics, and I was pretty sure it was all going to go away very quickly.

Then I get this call.

3/
Read 17 tweets
Apr 30
I remind everyone of this each year, apologies for repeating myself.

This Saturday, May 4th, is @Freecomicbook Day! Please go and enjoy and have a wonderful time. Some great shops have sales, cosplay, events, guests, even treats planned for you, PLUS FREE COMICS!

1/
Howerer, this is just a gentle reminder that, unlike what many think, the stores DO have to pay for the comics they give away for free. They pay for them in bundles. This year there are dozens of individual comics being given away...imagine how much that might cost!

2/
But that's not all. They also pay (often outrageous) shipping on all those books.

Stores often pay for extra employees, decorations, advertising, cosplayers, guests, and lots more. It is EXPENSIVE.

3/
Read 8 tweets
Apr 22
Here is my central core thought while writing Deadpool.

It is no secret that I don't like endlessly 'zany' Deadpool. He was described as 'serial killer Daffy Duck' to me early on, that's the version I don't care for.

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I also don't care for endlessly bleak, 'nothing matters,' kill everyone Deadpool.

I think that could be a thousand other characters, and it's far from the magic potion that makes Deadpool fun.

2/
So the Deadpool is a subverted version of both of those.

He is a goddamn loudmouth, whose humor comes from tragedy.

But he's so endlessly high energy that it saves him from being insufferable and dreary.

And ALSO so internally sad and broken that he's not a constant punchline.
Read 10 tweets
Feb 20
Today is @Dwayne_McDuffie's birthday. He would have been 62 today, if he hadn't passed unexpectedly one day after his 49th birthday.

To me, and most everyone who knew him, Dwayne was a light we all orbited in someway. There are many great creators.

Dwayne was a giant.

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I've told this story before but it can't be overstated. I absolutely would not have this career I love, and this life I love, without Dwayne.

I am far from the only person he lifted up and put on the stairway out. Out of poverty, out of an unfulfilling career.

2/
You may have heard some or all of this before. But to this day, when I think of Dwayne McDuffie, I am a bundle of terrible and wonderful emotions. I smile at the fact that I got to meet him at all, and then I cry because his loss is so vast, it still seems insurmountable.

3/
Read 30 tweets
Jan 28
I donโ€™t dislike the Star Wars sequels at all, I find them pretty antertaining and they did a lot right.

My objection is the things they set up and completely squandered.

Chief among them is Finn, whose story could have been an absolute banger.

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Finn leading a Stormtrooper rebellion, thatโ€™s massive, a sea change and a real evolution of ideas that could have expanded the lore tremendously.

But also Poe, his story isnโ€™t even a real story, thereโ€™s no arc.

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And the lead characters of the first three films all die with a desperate whimper.

Itโ€™s sad because all the elements were there. The set-up is magnificent.

But only the Rey/Kylo story really lands, and it lands by cheating a lot.

3/
Read 10 tweets
Jan 2
One time at SDCC, Dan DiDio invited me to lunch at a beautiful seafood restaurant on the bay. He had been given a list of properties that WB owned, many of which DC would have had the ability to adapt to comics.

It was STUNNING. I had no idea, I don't think Dan knew, either.

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He said that this list could do something for DC that hadn't really been the case in a long time, it could open up a ton of genres with already-popular IP.

Many were very dormant concepts, but many still had active fanbases, and some were huge.

And we could use them.

2/
So there were a lot of things people know, like MORTAL KOMBAT and the various Bugs Bunny-type things, but the list just went on and on and on, things like the Three Stooges and tons of toy lines and action movie franchises. It was an incredible list.

3/
Read 16 tweets

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