Lesbian Marriage Too Tough For Batwoman, Authors Leave

[Karloff]

Lesbian Marriage Too Tough For Batwoman, Authors Leave

J.H. Williams and W. Haden Blackman will leave after issue 26, in December.

"We're both heartbroken over leaving, but we feel strongly that you all deserve stories that push the character and the series forward," say Batwoman co-authors J.H. Williams and W. Haden Blackman. "We can't reliably do our best work if our plans are scrapped at the last minute." The authors put a lot of work into story planning, often working five story arcs in advance, but there were problems at the publisher. DC started putting its foot down over many plot points, including showing Batwoman, Kate Kane, and her girlfriend Maggie Sawyer getting married. This editorial interference forced the duo to drop story lines and plot arcs that had been a year or more in the making, and always "came at the last minute," according to a blog post by the writers. Frustration piled on top of anger, and before long the pair decided to ditch the title. Issue 26 of Batwoman, appearing in December, will be their last.

"We are extremely thankful for the opportunity to work on Batwoman," say the writers. "It's been one of the most challenging and rewarding projects of our careers." It's anybody's guess what will happen to Batwoman after December. The prohibition - as the writers describe it - against showing Batwoman's marriage presumably means it won't happen; or if it does, it will be off stage, and out of sight. It was the marriage, Williams confirmed [https://twitter.com/JHWilliamsIII/status/375495392592293888] that this problem won't stop him from working on Sandman or Vertigo projects.

Blackman is a writer of two decades standing, who has worked in videogames - Star Wars: The Force Unleashed - and co-founded an independent development studio, Fearless Studios, as well as working in comics. Williams is a comic books guy with a back in 2010 [http://www.comics.org/credit/name/J.%20H.%20Williams%20III/sort/chrono/]. It would seem the strong, personal story was something DC couldn't stomach.

Source: hadenblackman.com [http://www.hadenblackman.com/]


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[Dark Knifer]

I'm going to guess they didn't want to jeopardise their no 1 spot by doing anything remotely controversial and completely failed as the writers, rightfully, gave up.

It's time for stupid apparently.

 

[Erttheking]

Wow, that's a major dick move. I mean seriously D.C.? Ah well, if AT4W is anything to go by, they've been a bit of a mess for awhile now.

 

[TheDoctor455]

I'm going to guess they didn't want to jeopardise their no 1 spot by doing anything remotely controversial and completely failed as the writers, rightfully, gave up.

It's time for stupid apparently.

Erm... having a prominent, admirable, lesbian character wasn't controversial?

Anyway...

this is just plain stupid. And here I was, going to applaud DC for breaking their own mold for once, and diversifying their cast of heroes.

Silly me to give them any credit.

Its as if they didn't understand one of the main reasons the re-imagined character was so popular to begin with. Morons.

 

[Angelous Wang]

I never thought DC had a problem judging who its customers are and what's best to keep them.

Hey DC guess what? The majority of your customers are male and are otherwise the exact same audience lesbian porn is aimed at.

Lesbians = good for business.

On the other hand Homosexual males are bad idea, because same gender homophobia tends to be allot more common. Which is why gay Superman idea went down rather badly when they said they were making a major character gay. Then it turned out to just be thr Golden age Green Lantern, not really major.

 

[BartyMae]

I'm going to guess they didn't want to jeopardise their no 1 spot by doing anything remotely controversial and completely failed as the writers, rightfully, gave up.

It's time for stupid apparently.

Erm... having a prominent, admirable, lesbian character wasn't controversial?

I believe what TheDoctor455 was trying to say, is that in the publisher's quest NOT to do anything controversial, they failed miserably as the writers quit, publicized why they quit, and made a big controversy about it anyways. So...they still got a controversy, and now they don't have anybody to write for for them.

 

[Zhukov]

Batwoman is into chicks?

I did not know this.

Then again, I didn't really know there was a Batwoman. I thought she got paralyzed... or something? Or is this one of them alternate universe things?

Eh, comics.

 

[Legion]

Batwoman is into chicks?

I did not know this.

Then again, I didn't really know there was a Batwoman. I thought she got paralyzed... or something? Or is this one of them alternate universe things?

Eh, comics.

I am not into comics either but my understanding is that there is Batwoman, who is the character being referred to, and several Batgirls.

I know one of the Batgirls is the police commissioners daughters from playing the Arkham games (she was shot and paralysed, hence the wheelchair) and I know of one other called Cassandra Cain, but beyond that I am clueless.

 

[Zombie_Moogle]

well, there goes one of the few reasons I had left to pay any attention to DC

 

[Vivi22]

Was Batwoman married in the old continuity? It might be simply that DC didn't want to have such a permanent move made with the character. I mean they mad Alan Scott gay in the New 52 so I'm finding it hard to believe they're a bunch of raging homophobes.

Thing is, acknowledging that homosexuals exist isn't all that controversial these days since it's basically a fact known by everyone, including actual homophobes and people who are against it. But if you haven't noticed, gay marriage is still a bit of a touchy subject. In the US anyway. Most of the rest of the first world got over themselves and moved on.

If it was a simple matter of not wanting her married for story reasons, it could have been far more interesting to have them get married but see the relationship slowly unravel because being married to a superhero can't be easy. But that the writers had to fight to get her engaged to begin with, then were told in no uncertain terms not to have her get married? That reeks of editorial mandate meant to avoid controversy to me. Because let's face it, if the book was popular and the writers were writing good stuff, there's absolutely no other reason to tell them they can't do it. It's not like Batwoman is a big enough character that her being married is likely to have a major impact on a future crossover event or some other silly bullshit that another writer has planned.

But what confuses me is why they'd think that showing a gay marriage would be a problem. Marvel already did it last year and DC is putting their foot down against it? Seems an odd choice to me. Then again, I wouldn't expect reasonable story decisions from a company that reboots it's continuity every five to ten years or so and usually leaves things in an even bigger mess than they started in.

 

[teebeeohh]

Was Batwoman married in the old continuity? It might be simply that DC didn't want to have such a permanent move made with the character. I mean they mad Alan Scott gay in the New 52 so I'm finding it hard to believe they're a bunch of raging homophobes. So before we break out the torches and pitch forks can we at least consider for a second that this might have to do with story issues. They also broke up Superman and Lois Lane. Remember when Spidey got married? Pretty awful. DC could just be trying to avoid that.

sure...
DC avoids doing things that would result in stupid stories. have you read any new 52 at all?

at this point i will just stop reading DC. they either cancelled the books i liked or made stupid story decisions that made stop caring about the books.

 

[CriticalMiss]

I was actually on the verge of buying all of the New 52 Batwoman comics on Comixology, now I'm not going to bother and will probably just invest in some Marvel comics instead. Good move DC.

 

[ninjaRiv]

I think it's less that DC are bigots and more that they don't want to rock the boat. They have a successful book here and if there's anything DC excel at, it's keeping a book stuck in one place and letting it go stale for as long as the money comes in. It's like expecting people to pay to read the same issue over and over again, I guess.

DC aren't exactly full of great ideas these days... The whole editorial is a mess. This is just the latest in a long line of stories from creators who are sick of it.

 

[Ukomba]

Peter Parker, Mary Jane, One More Day

That is all.

 

[masticina]

A shame really I know it is early I know there are still 30 year old hateful religious douchebags but.. somewhere it has to start. Let Catwomen be happy!

 

[itsthesheppy]

As long as we take no risks and push no boundaries, maybe comics will stop their slow decline into obscurity!

After all, nothing ropes in the kids and new readers like avoiding issues they deal with in their everyday life.

 

[Evil Smurf]

I'm glad these artists are sticking to their guns. Also who knew the kinky, leather bound, cat lady was into chicks? It was guessable enough.