JH Williams III Quitting Batwoman, Taking All Sunshine and Rainbows on the Planet With Him

In yet another example of how seriously DC Comics needs better PR, JH Williams III, current writer for the popular Batwoman ongoing title, has announced his upcoming resignation from the series, citing an excess of editorial interference.

Williams made the announcement on his blog yesterday, expanding on the difficulties he and co-writer Haden Blackman faced from their editors. Sad but true, some of the demands that editors were making seem to speak for themselves:

“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.” [SOURCE]

Now, hey, editors being fussy and over-asserting creative control for the sake of a deadline? Sucks, but it’s part of the territory of working for either of The Big Two nowadays, and it really is DC’s loss for not showing more respect to both their fans and creators.

What makes this news truly troubling is the fact that Batwoman’s wedding to her girlfriend was not allowed to be depicted, despite how successful the series has been at inspiring LGBT fans and their allies and providing them with a positive and welcoming space in the comics fandom.

In a twitter conversation with ComicsAlliance Senior Editor Andy Khouri, Williams explained that the resistance he faced regarding Batwoman’s potential marriage seemed to come more from DC’s decision-makers disliking change, or at least anticipating that their readership would. That, and even before the unnecessary grit and dull edginess of the New 52, DC has never really been a fan of happy couples.

And while it has become fashionable to be permanently angry towards DC for the directions their narratives have taken, there are still plenty of other attempts they have made at including a more diverse array of characters, and currently do have several other ongoing titles that prominently feature female, LGBT and/or non-white protagonists that all deserve recognition and sales, such as Wonder Woman, Katana, Justice League Dark and the upcoming Harley Quinn solo series; just to name a few.

But even when giving DC Comics the benefit of the doubt, the choice against actively displaying an openly gay character’s wedding is problematic and hurtful to fans all the same. Readers and writers have worked together to generate decades worth of dick jokes and homoerotic subtext about Batman and his various Robins, but somehow, depicting the union of two female lovers isn’t fair game. Simply put, the editorial’s short-sighted refusal to allow so many of their characters marriage is preventing a much more important story from being told in the pages of Batwoman. And given that the fans are plenty capable of putting their money where their mouths are and have  kept up the series’ popularity with healthy sales figures, the editorial on high responsible for driving Williams to resignation are bound to notice the money talking…  and walking far away from their wallets.

Take the books you love and hold them closer today, no matter if they’re from DC, Marvel, or one of the smaller publishers. The comics industry is dark and full of terrors.