Batwoman creators leave the title after creative differences with editors at DC Comics but not over gay marriage as originally reported…
The launch of the New 52 by DC Comics has been met with some applause and some disgust depending on which comic book fan you talk to on any particular day.
Some new titles were received with open arms and critical praise while other reboots were cancelled or panned by reviewers, but that’s just the ebb and flow of the comic book industry in general—DC just got hit with more of it at once because they chose to reboot the entire line and release 52 brand new titles.
One of the most acclaimed titles during the run, however, was Batwoman headed up by co-authors J.H. Williams III and W. Haden Blackman. The book has been one of the most successful titles for DC as well as one of the most well reviewed books for the comic book giant, but a recent dust up over creative differences has forced the writers to leave the title all together.
As first posted on Williams’ personal blog (which he had to take down due to overwhelming traffic), he and Blackman opted to quit working on Batwoman after the editors at DC nixed several storyline changes most notably the wedding between lead character Kate Kane and her police officer girlfriend Maggie Sawyer.
Now when the story was first reported, the actual facts were misconstrued based on Williams’ original post on his blog. Here’s the statement as he released it on Thursday:
“Unfortunately, in recent months, DC has asked us to alter or completely discard many long-standing storylines in ways that we feel compromise the character and the series. We were told to ditch plans for Killer Croc’s origins; forced to drastically alter the original ending of our current arc, which would have defined Batwoman’s heroic future in bold new ways; and, most crushingly, prohibited from ever showing Kate and Maggie actually getting married. All of these editorial decisions came at the last minute, and always after a year or more of planning and plotting on our end.
“We’ve always understood that, as much as we love the character, Batwoman ultimately belongs to DC. However, the eleventh-hour nature of these changes left us frustrated and angry — because they prevent us from telling the best stories we can. So, after a lot of soul-searching, we’ve decided to leave the book after Issue 26.”
It was being reported just after the post went up that Williams was quitting because DC was not allowing a gay marriage to take place in their book. This of course raised a storm of controversy given the hot button subject right now, but as it turns out the directive from DC had nothing to do with gay marriage at all—only marriage in general.
Williams took to Twitter on Friday to explain himself and the editorial decisions made by DC that ultimately led to his exit from Batwoman.
@andykhouri Not wanting to be inflammatory, only factual- We fought to get them engaged, but were told emphatically no marriage can result.
— Beware, A Mad Wizard (@JHWilliamsIII) September 5, 2013
Williams then further clarified that the order about marriage had nothing to do with the character being gay or straight—the editors just didn’t want the character married at all in the book.
To reiterate: Were NEVER told they could not marry because of gay marriage. AT ALL —
— Beware, A Mad Wizard (@JHWilliamsIII) September 5, 2013
While the initial post that was picked up by several high profile sites including The Hollywood Reporter and Huffington Post, where it was stated that the duo quit the book because DC wouldn’t allow a gay marriage just wasn’t true.
Creative differences certainly did lead to Williams and Blackman leaving the book, and this isn’t the first time DC’s been accused of being heavy handed with creators in terms of editorial decisions, but this wasn’t over a social issue like gay marriage.
Comic book creators have been notoriously tough on marriage in general with characters because it seems to slow down the creative flow of where stories can go and how other relationships develop. Even one of the most famous marriages in comic book history—Peter Parker (Spider-Man) and Mary Jane Watson—was obliterated for the sake of story telling in the infamous “One More Day” series from a few years back.
Williams is leaving Batwoman but did say he would continue to work on the new Sandman title from writer Neil Gaiman titled Sandman: Overture that is scheduled for an October release.
