Comic book writer Gail Simone, who has worked closely with Dynamite Entertainment on titles such as Red Sonja and The Death-Defying 'Devil, has issued a statement regarding the publisher's ties to ComicsGate."All right, I promised I would talk about Dynamite. This sucks, I'd rather not, it's extremely unpleasant and draining. I didn't post much earlier because the whole thing blows," Simone wrote in a thread on Twitter. "I know a lot of people were angry at me for not jumping on this by their timeline, but I say again, sometimes it takes me a while to fully articulate my feelings."RELATED: Red Sonja Writer Mark Russell Cuts Ties With Dynamite Entertainment

Simone explains that the situation is "a morass for [her] because [she] considered the guy running Dynamite [Nick Barrucci] to be not just a publisher, not just a friend, but damn near family." Ultimately, while Simone believes a company "can publish who they want," she says learning of the alleged connections between Dynamite and ComicsGate was "very disappointing to [her]."

"I know this is just going to end up being mocked on all sides, but when you have someone you care about and this happens, I really just can't articulate how much it sucks," Simone said. "There's two things going on, the public and the personal. The public thing is what it is. The personal is that this was a publisher I liked, who, when my house was robbed, immediately wrote to offer to loan me money if I needed it (I didn't, but that was stand up behavior)." While disappointed with Dynamite's ComicsGate connections, Simone says, "I want there to be a path out of this kind of shit, I want to believe that there's a way people can step up and make it back into the light. I don't want publishers to fold, that just makes everything worse. I don't know what that way is. But I want it to exist."

RELATED: Dynamite Pulls ComicsGate Cover Following Comics Creator Backlash

Simone also fired back at people who have claimed she remained silent on the controversy up until this point because she didn't want to "endanger her paycheck." In addition to announcing that she is not currently working with Dynamite, she also revealed she is "not going forward with a charity book to benefit comics shops [they] talked about." "I worked at Dynamite because I liked the people, I love the characters, I always have fun there," she said. "They have routinely asked for more work than I can do. But I don't need them and they certainly don't need me. It sucks, but it's the truth."

Simone says what happens in the future is "not for [her] to say," though she hopes "Dynamite comes out of this stronger and better." "[P]eople make mistakes, they trust the wrong people," she stated. "Nick did contact me today. We still haven't spoken. But I do believe he's heard a lot of what people here have had to say. I don't know any details beyond that... I feel like the story's still unfolding. I know a lot of people want me to be angry. But mostly I just feel sad. I'm an optimist by nature. I hope for the best. That's it. Have a good day, everyone."

RELATED: Dynamite Cancels Comic-Con@Home Panels Following ComicsGate Controversy

Earlier this month, Dynamite Entertainment came under fire for promoting a ComicsGate project with a variant cover, as well as for having ties to other creators affiliated with ComicsGate. The ComicsGate movement advocates against the "forced diversification" of the comic industry and is widely considered a hate group that has organized targeted harassment campaigns against marginalized individuals. Ethan Van Sciver, who's seen by many as the leader of the group, describes it as "a consumer-led revolt against what is clearly a left-wing dominance in the comic book industry" and "a response to a culture war."

Backlash to the cover promotion prompted Dynamite to pull the cover, but that action wasn't enough to prevent multiple creators from cutting ties with the publisher amid the recent revelations, including Red Sonja writer Mark Russell.