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Gail Simone had done in all in her first 20 years in the North American comic book industry, writing everything from Wonder Woman to Deadpool, with the Simpsons, Red Sonja, and Birds of Prey in between. In the last few years, however, Simone's credits in comics were few and far between as she focused more on writing for television and video games. But as we learned Saturday in Simone's WonderCon 2024 spotlight panel covered by Popverse's Jules Chin-Greene, that was on purpose.

Why? Gail Simone had quietly quit comics for the most part.

Although Simone wrote short comics in various anthologies for Marvel and DC when asked, Simone was working primarly in the video games industry, including working on an as-yet-unnannounced AAAA video game, with her last ongoing comics writing gig being 2020's The Death-Defying 'Devil for Dynamite.

Why did Simone leave comics as a full-time career? She said at one point she was writing "five comics a month" and felt burnt out, so took a break in 2019. But that all changed recently, when she got the offer from Marvel to write Uncanny X-Men.

Related: After 61 years and 700 comics, Gail Simone is Uncanny X-Men's first solo female writer

At her WonderCon 2024 spotlight panel, Simone said whe was incredibly honored to be writing Marvel's Uncanny X-Men - which is being relaunched this summer as part of a massive revamp of the X-Men franchise.

Simone says that she became a fan of the X-Men during Chris Claremont's first run with the title in the '80s, and finds the franchise very relatable because of the characters' inherit uniqueness that can make them feel alienated from others - something she says is relatable to each of us.

In addition to Uncanny X-Men, Simone is relaunching the British comics title Misty with Rebellion.

Simone's X-run run begins with a story in May 4's Blood Hunt / X-Men #1 for Free Comic Book Day, then a short in June 5's X-Men #35, before taking over the title with a relaunched Uncanny X-Men #1 on August 7 with artist David Marquez.

Get into the vibrant world of comics with our guide to buying digital comics, how to make the most out of comic shops, our comprehensive guide to the upcoming comics, manga, and graphic novels you should be looking for, and everything you need to know about Free Comic Book Day and Local Comic Shop Day.