Guy Fawkes
Anbu Operative 🎭
- Joined
- Apr 10, 2013
- Messages
- 3,011
- Reaction score
- 178
'Batwoman' Creative Team Quits After DC Comics Nixes Lesbian Marriage Storyline
"Batwoman" comic writers say DC Comics prohibited a wedding between the female superhero and her girlfriend.
The co-writers of "Batwoman" are leaving DC Comics at the altar.
In a blog post late Tuesday, artist JH Williams III and writer W. Haden Blackman announced their split from DC — alleging that it prohibited their female, openly gay superhero from getting married.
"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," Williams and Blackman wrote.
They cited a number of "eleventh-hour" changes that included, "most crushingly," instructions to never show Batwoman tying the knot with fiancé Maggie Sawyer.
"Batwoman" relaunched in 2011 as a five-part series telling a new origin story for the female Caped Crusader.
The comic follows army brat Kate Kane who is expelled from West Point after rumors surface saying she is a lesbian. She briefly meets Batman and embarks on a mission to protect Gotham City from a growing contingent of supernatural criminals.
batwoman maggie
DC Comics/J.H. Williams, III
Batwoman's fiancé, Maggie Sawyer, is a policewoman in Gotham City.
Since its start, the comic has served as a pillar of LGBT advocacy. In the ground-breaking Issue 17, Batwoman proposed to girlfriend and policewoman Maggie Sawyer. It marked the first lesbian marriage proposal in mainstream comics history, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
She isn't the first gay character.
DC's Green Lantern came out of the closet last summer, and Marvel's Canadian superhero Northstar and his boyfriend got hitched in a 2012 issue of "The Astonishing X-Men."
According to Comics Alliance, Batwoman's origin was inspired by the U.S.'s "controversial real-life policies concerning homosexuals serving in the armed forces."
a brief encounter with Batman inspired Kate to embark on a crime-fighting mission to clean up the streets using gear stolen from the military
The character ultimately belongs to DC Comics, so when Williams and Blackman felt cornered, they walked.
"We felt that the series and characters should always be moving forward, to keep changing and evolving," the co-writers said in their blog. "We’re both heartbroken over leaving, but we feel strongly that you all deserve stories that push the character and the series forward."
The pair seemed to be referencing DC's recent editorial moves to sever relationships between super-couples, including Superman and Lois Lane, the Flash and Iris West, and Green Arrow and Black Canary, according to Comics Alliance.
Other "Batwoman" changes DC allegedly ordered: ditch plans for Killer Croc's origins, alter the original ending of the current story arc, and abandon long-standing plot lines that "compromised the character and the series."
Williams and Blackman's last issue, #26, hits shelves in December.
You must be registered for see images
"Batwoman" comic writers say DC Comics prohibited a wedding between the female superhero and her girlfriend.
The co-writers of "Batwoman" are leaving DC Comics at the altar.
In a blog post late Tuesday, artist JH Williams III and writer W. Haden Blackman announced their split from DC — alleging that it prohibited their female, openly gay superhero from getting married.
"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," Williams and Blackman wrote.
They cited a number of "eleventh-hour" changes that included, "most crushingly," instructions to never show Batwoman tying the knot with fiancé Maggie Sawyer.
"Batwoman" relaunched in 2011 as a five-part series telling a new origin story for the female Caped Crusader.
The comic follows army brat Kate Kane who is expelled from West Point after rumors surface saying she is a lesbian. She briefly meets Batman and embarks on a mission to protect Gotham City from a growing contingent of supernatural criminals.
batwoman maggie
DC Comics/J.H. Williams, III
Batwoman's fiancé, Maggie Sawyer, is a policewoman in Gotham City.
Since its start, the comic has served as a pillar of LGBT advocacy. In the ground-breaking Issue 17, Batwoman proposed to girlfriend and policewoman Maggie Sawyer. It marked the first lesbian marriage proposal in mainstream comics history, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
She isn't the first gay character.
DC's Green Lantern came out of the closet last summer, and Marvel's Canadian superhero Northstar and his boyfriend got hitched in a 2012 issue of "The Astonishing X-Men."
According to Comics Alliance, Batwoman's origin was inspired by the U.S.'s "controversial real-life policies concerning homosexuals serving in the armed forces."
a brief encounter with Batman inspired Kate to embark on a crime-fighting mission to clean up the streets using gear stolen from the military
The character ultimately belongs to DC Comics, so when Williams and Blackman felt cornered, they walked.
"We felt that the series and characters should always be moving forward, to keep changing and evolving," the co-writers said in their blog. "We’re both heartbroken over leaving, but we feel strongly that you all deserve stories that push the character and the series forward."
The pair seemed to be referencing DC's recent editorial moves to sever relationships between super-couples, including Superman and Lois Lane, the Flash and Iris West, and Green Arrow and Black Canary, according to Comics Alliance.
Other "Batwoman" changes DC allegedly ordered: ditch plans for Killer Croc's origins, alter the original ending of the current story arc, and abandon long-standing plot lines that "compromised the character and the series."
Williams and Blackman's last issue, #26, hits shelves in December.
((thoughts? Do you think they were right for quitting? Or do you think that they should just make their own Gay superhero and leave national treasures be?))
