Posted in: Comics | Tagged: batgirl, Batman, dc comics, Mairghread Scott, scott snyder

Mairghread Scott On Not Attending Bat-Summits When Writing Batgirl

Published Wed, 24 Jun 2020 06:30:23 -0500

Mairghread Scott is a writer with a history working on the Transformers and GI Joe cartoons and comic books, writing Justice League, Marvel Rising, Star Wars, Spider-Man and Avengers cartoons, writing and producing the Guardians Of The Galaxy cartoon and writing the Justice League Apokalips War and Justice League Bloodlines feature-length animated movies.

As well as Transformers comics, she also wrote Guardians Of The Galaxy, Lantern City, Toil and Trouble and two graphic novels, Science Comics: Robots and Drones and The City on the Other Side.

For DC Comics she has written a number of short stories and a twelve-issue run on Batgirl. And it's that which has come to note right now. Mairghread wrote Batgirl through 2019, from #25 to #36. Last night, she tweeted what went down, and why she left the book.

You know the day I knew I'd never be able to make it big in comics? The day I bumped into another writer in an airport and accidentally learned he was heading to DC's Burbank offices for a Bat-family summit. I was writing Batgirl at the time. I wasn't invited.

Bat-summits are big meetings held at DC Comics' offices when the writers and editors on the Batman books meet to discuss upcoming plotlines, to synch everyone's plans and get some consensus moving forward. This isn't restricted to Batman, other major comic book franchises with multiple titles have similar meetings, and attendance signifies that your voice is wanted, or you are considered important enough going forward. The time period mentioned would have included the fallout of the Batwedding and the run-up to the City Of Bane event on the Batbooks. Mairghread continues;

I had just started the gig and I desperately wanted to believe it was timing. I begged my editors to let me come in, for free, and at least sit in on summits that dealt with my characters. I was literally working up the street at the time. It didn't matter. There was at least one more summit I know about that I wasn't invited to. I suspect more than one given how whole storylines of mine would be thrown out to accommodate a new event my characters were in without my knowledge, inclusion, or opinion.

I was expected to shut up and execute. To chase and beg "higher up" writers who couldn't be bothered to even let me know they were about to blow up months of work, then write revision after revision with no extra pay. It got so bad I literally couldn't afford to work there any more because my pay was so low. I quit. I still blame myself for that. I thought I could be good enough to break through it, even if I knew it wasn't about merit.

I'm not doing this to blow up anybody. I just want young women out there to remember that when someone tells you "I support women," you look around and see if there are any f-cking women near him that he's actually supporting. Because if there aren't, he just supports himself.

The account has gone viral at this stage with other comic creators sharing their support, and suggesting similar stories. Bleeding Cool has reached out to DC Comics for comment.