If you’ve been online at all today, odds are you heard the sad news: as of last week, Gail Simone was notified, via e-mail, that she is no longer the writer for DC’s Batgirl title.  Bleeding Cool put the news out there and Gail herself confirmed it via twitter:

On Wednesday of last week, new Batgirl editor Brian Cunningham informed me by email that I was no longer the writer of Batgirl.

— GailSimone (@GailSimone) December 9, 2012

She also talked about making a boat out of marshmallows, which was honestly a much more pleasant conversation.

The point is, Gail Simone isn’t writing Batgirl anymore and this has caused the internet to have FEELINGS.

Thor has a lot of FEELS on this, and he’s not even a DC character!

So, it falls on me, in my first piece for IHO Geek, to help you, loyal comic fans, learn how to survive in a world without Gail Simone on Batgirl.

First, I want you to know that the grieving process has several stages.   It starts with denial.  Then comes anger.  Anger leads to Hate, Hate leads to Suffering, Suffering leads to the Dark Side.

I should at this point remind you all that I am not a licensed therapist and no one should ever take any advice I’ve ever given at any point of time.  That was your disclaimer, folks.

Anyway, look, it’s natural to be angry about this.  DC drops the writer of, as Bleeding Cool put it, “the best selling female lead comic in the North American comics industry.”  And considering the uproar we female comics fans have been making it comes at a shocking time.  And it was done VIA E-MAIL, which just has “asshole” written all over it, right?

Being angry is okay.  But keep in mind a few facts:

First, we don’t know the whole story and speculation can only take you so far.  While we’re all curious as to why this happened, we don’t know and may never actually know and we might have to live with that fact.  Let’s not throw around hate and accusations, because honestly it probably won’t do much good.  Actually, the best thing you can do is vote with your dollars: send a message to DC by no longer buying Batgirl after Gail’s last issue (presumed to be this January).

Second, let’s not turn on each other at this point.  One of my joking responses to this whole thing on Twitter was to claim the fault obviously lies with “Fake Geek Girls.”  I was being sarcastic, and I labeled it as such because with the way things are going, it felt like someone out there was REALLY thinking something like that and would REALLY agree with it.  Gail Simone has been a defender of geeks of all types and a welcoming and inclusive figure in the internet world of comic geeks.  Keep that in mind and don’t attack each other.

Third, and most importantly, let’s keep our reactions in proportion to the issue, hmm?  I mean, while it might seem like a good idea to attempt to burn down DC’s headquarters over this whole ordeal, that is, apparently, illegal.  Or so I was informed by the very nice NYPD officer I met this summer after the whole Steph Brown kerfluffle from SDCC this past year.  He was a very charming gentleman who used very soothing tones with me and my only complaint is that he did not return my lighter after it was all said and done.

And really, Gail’s responses to all of this have been positive.  Her Tumblr post thanked her co-workers and fans for their support and she seems positive about the future.  Which makes sense, after successful runs on titles like Birds of Prey, Secret Six, Wonder Woman and more, it seems pretty easy to accept that we’ll be seeing Gail’s name on covers again soon.  If not from the Big Two, then definitely in more indie titles.  After all, she did recently run a successful Kickstarter campaign for a self published title with Jim Calafiore, Leaving Megalopolis.

Gail, we wish you the best in your future and look forward to whatever adventures you’ve got planned for us.

Also, seriously, say the word and I will burn DC down to the fucking ground and salt the scorched earth left behind so nothing will ever grow there again.