Straight from the offices of Publishers Weekly, it’s More to Come! Your podcast source of comics news and discussion starring The Beat’s own Heidi MacDonald.
In this week’s episode, Heidi and the rest of the More to Come Crew – Calvin Reid and Kate Fitzsimons – discuss Batwoman, J. H. Williams III, W. Haden Blackman and DC’s editorial interference issues, the revived Penny Arcade “Dickwolves” controversy and ramifications for PAX, iFanboy stops operations, Mark Waid turns print comics retailer, Heidi MacDonald gives a talk about less known influential graphic novels at the Library of Congress and much more in this podcast from PW Comics World.
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When the news broke earlier that co-writers JH Williams II AND W. Haden Blackman (and not just Williams, as some sites reported) had quit Batwoman due to editorial interference, it was clearly going to be a big issue for the day. What’s been most worrying THOUGH is how quickly people have attempted to spin this into a story about homophobia — rather than a story which is more accurately about editorial edict.Both are obviously issues, but they have different ramifications. By focusing on an issue which is only tangentially related to the real issue, we’re doing Batwoman’s creative team and even DC Comics a major disservice. This isn’t an outright attack on homosexuality, but an attack on creator-control. It’s important that we focus on what’s actually going on here, rather than escalating a false claim about DC as a company.
In the joint letter posted to their websites this morning, the co-writers specifically noted that their reason for leaving the book was because of editorial differences. They included several examples of such differences, which meant several of their storylines had to be altered – their planned Killer Croc origin storyline which had been in the works for months, their current arc on the series…. and the wedding between Batwoman and her fiancee Maggie Sawyer.
This has been the part of the letter most people have brought attention to. Yet when asked immediately afterwards by Andy Khouri, Williams made it clear that DC were unhappy with the MARRIAGE part of the storyline, rather than the GAY part.
This has been reiterated by DC themselves – when I asked them for comment, they sent the following response:
As acknowledged by the creators involved, the editorial differences with the writers of BATWOMAN had nothing to do with the sexual orientation of the character.
While DC has been guilty of many things, an anti-gay agenda hasn’t been one of them in recent years. Batwoman has been one of their most critically acclaimed books (making the creative change even tougher to take) winning several GLAAD awards along the way. While the gay character Bunker in Teen Titans hasn’t been without problematic portrayals, he was also an attempt to integrate the DCU.
On Twitter, the issue was discussed by Williams, journalist Andy Khouri and out writer Jim McCann:
While potential homophobia is a legit issue to question, it doesn’t seem to be the case, and it has diverted attention from what the real problem here would be – that DC appear to have an editorial system which is strangling creators, and forcing them to leave. Andy Diggle, Gail Simone, Joshua Hale Fialkov, Rob Liefeld and more have spoken at their unhappiness with DC’s editorial team over the last year, with the majority of them quitting books because of the problems. It’s got to the point where one prominent DC writer actually DMs his friends to say that his script hasn’t been edited.
Dark Horse’s Scott Allie also took to Twitter for a series of much-recommended posts about the subject, which you can find here. He points out that an anti-marriage policy isn’t a bad policy for a company to have – the problem is when editors don’t implement policy clearly. As has been stated by the creators but subsequently overlooked by many, the issue here is that DC’s editors allowed the story to move forward, when they knew ultimately it wouldn’t be allowed to go anywhere. As noted in conversation with Gail Simone:
While it’s tempting to dump on DC for everything they do, it’s important to stick to the subject here, a problem which is real and tangible, rather than a problem being trumpeted by various well-meaning people. LGBT representation is an important issue – but it’s a tangential aspect of this storyline, rather than the main focus.
In a letter posted to his website today, JH Williams III has announced that he and co-writer W. Haden Blackman have quit Batwoman due to editorial interference. He cites being blocked from telling several stories he wanted to tell as being the reason for leaving – most crucially that DC told him that he would not be allowed to show Batwoman’s wedding to her girlfriend.
Their last issue will be issue #26.
Blackman also has the statement on his website. In the statement, they write:
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.
The claim about the gay wedding being shuttered is going to be a very controversial topic over the next few days, I would imagine. On twitter Williams has suggested DC were more worried about the word ‘wedding’ than about the word ‘gay’. The character has been openly gay since the start, and plans to wed her to her long-term partner Maggie Sawyer had been in place within the series for the last few months.
DC have had a fair-constant wave of creators leaving their titles over the last few years, many – like Rob Liefeld – citing editorial interference in their work. Batwoman was one of their more acclaimed series, however, and it’ll be interesting to see if DC continue the series onwards now neither of her original creative team are on the project, as Greg Rucka left DC for similar reasons just prior to the New 52 launching.
I asked if this will affect Williams’ imminent run on Sandman Overture for DC, and he offered this response:
You can follow the creators on Twitter – W. Haden Blackman and JH Williams III.
[...] SOURCE: http://comicsbeat.com/podcast-exit-the-batwoman/ [...]
Can’t find any direct download options. Any tips for listeners without itunes?
“Can’t find any direct download options. Any tips for listeners without itunes?”
http://www.publishersweekly.com/binary-data/PODCAST/content/000/000/140-1.mp3
Thanks Nick.
It would be great if this link was available in the article post.
Had to hunt through the code for previous downloadables.
Probably won’t do that very often.
Dan, I’m sorry the post didn’t have an option that worked for you, I’ll keep that in mind when posting the next episode.
Thanks Kate
Glad to hear you guys (on the podcast) speaking out against creators who produce material that is blatantly crude and offensive, in an attempt to look hip and “edgy.”
This wasn’t cool when Frank Miller and Quentin Tarantino were doing it in the ’90s, but at least there was some novelty to it then. Now it’s just tiresome and overdone. But I guess some creators want to cultivate an audience of overgrown frat boys.