Status Quo, and writer resignations- DC fucks up again.

[The Romulan Republic]

https://businessinsider.com/batwoman-cr ... ory-2013-9

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.

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 - See more at: http://www.dccomics.com/characters/batw ... 4Vpn.dpufa brief encounter with Batman inspired Kate to embark on a crime-fighting mission to clean up the streets using gear stolen from the military - See more at: http://www.dccomics.com/characters/batw ... 4Vpn.dpufa brief encounter with Batman inspired Kate to embark on a crime-fighting mission to clean up the streets using gear stolen from the military - See more at: http://www.dccomics.com/characters/batw ... m4Vpn.dpuf
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."

Williams responded to an outpouring of support from fans on Twitter, and addressed the marriage refusal on DC's part.

@andykhouri Not wanting to be inflammatory, only factual- We fought to get them engaged, but were told emphatically no marriage can result.

— J.H. Williams III (@JHWilliamsIII) September 5, 2013
He clarified that DC is not "anti-gay marriage," but anti-wedding.

@andykhouri But must clarify- was never put to us as being anti-gay marriage.

— J.H. Williams III (@JHWilliamsIII) September 5, 2013
Gail Simone, a fellow DC writer, made her best guess as to why DC would keep Batwoman and Maggie apart, tweeting:

@GailSimone @theJohnChihak Gail is right, but it still should not be a story to be avoided, but embraced fully.

— J.H. Williams III (@JHWilliamsIII) September 5, 2013
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.

Sigh... I don't think DC knows how not to fuck up any more. Two writers driven off the franchise, because God forbid any of their characters ever grow, change, or be happy.

[Majin Gojira]

This is from 2013. And it's been one of many fuckups DC has done in that time, this was because of reasoning similar to why Spider-Man sold his marriage to the devil over at Marvel.

They have a lot of decisions that are more 'artistic' that work against them as a business.

[The Romulan Republic]

The date aside, I don't think its something DC has learned from, because its a recurring problem with DC, and comics in general. They did the same thing with Bruce and Selina's marriage too, IIRC. And, yeah, the infamous Spiderman example.

Which Marvel got roundly derided for. You'd think these companies would learn, eventually.

This is also a big part of why I tend to prefer the films to the comics, and don't follow comics that closely- because a film series is allowed to have a beginning and end, but in comics its just an ongoing story, with the result that the status quo tends to end up being maintained, or reset. Don't want to risk changing your profitable characters or, God forbid, having an actual conclusion to their story.

[FaxModem1]

You forgot breaking up Clark Kent and Lois Lane, so that they could see if it would be better to have him date Wonder Woman.

Luckily, everyone agreed that was a bad idea, Rebirth happened, and now the Kents have little John Kent flying around having awesome adventures with Damian.

Part of that is also due to pop culture response. Say what you will about the DCEU, and you can say A LOT, but the couples of Diana and Steve Trevor, and Clark and Lois Lane became pop culturally important again. So much so that the DC Straight to DVD animated universe course corrected and made sure to have those two couples bring to the table everything good about those two pairs:




Seeing Clark and Lois having serious talks shows real chemistry between them.



We also have Steve Trevor being Steve Trevor, the perfect boyfriend for Diana, able to support her in her hour of need.

I was really impressed with Bloodlines, in that they successfully introduced a lot of wonderful supporting characters from Wonder Woman's pages. I mean, who remembers Ferdinand, the minotaur chef that cooks at her embassy during the Greg Rucka run? It's getting over the awkward narrative choices that they started with, because that was how the Nu-52 had, and they aping such things. Now it's much more fleshed out and you can tell that they're trying to keep the good parts of the past few decades of comics.

[The Romulan Republic]

Yeah, Superman is probably somewhat shielded from this shit in that he and Lois as a couple is pretty firmly established in the public consciousness. Whereas Batman has had many love interests, and while Catwoman is probably the most established, their being a couple is not entrenched in pop culture to the extent Lois and Clark is. Much less a more obscure character like Batwoman.

[TimothyC]

Luckily, everyone agreed that was a bad idea, Rebirth happened, and now the Kents have little John Kent flying around having awesome adventures with Damian.

He's actually flying around in the 31st century these days after getting time distorted into mid-late teens, and Conner has taken back up the mantle of superboy.

Yeah, Superman is probably somewhat shielded from this shit in that he and Lois as a couple is pretty firmly established in the public consciousness. Whereas Batman has had many love interests, and while Catwoman is probably the most established, their being a couple is not entrenched in pop culture to the extent Lois and Clark is. Much less a more obscure character like Batwoman.

Dude, we had five years of that bull, (and this is the important part) Of which your article is smack in the middle of.