“Batwoman” Writers Quit After DC Comics Prohibits Gay Marriage

Two writers behind DC Comics’ Batwoman series have announced their departure from the company after the comic giant refused to allow the character to get married to her girlfriend.

The two writers, JH Williams III and W. Hayden Blackman, were behind the character of Batwoman, who was first lesbian superhero with her own solo title.

Back in February, Kate Kane aka the Batwoman asked her girlfriend, Maggie Sawyer, to marry her but it looks like now the proposal will go no further. Batwoman is seen to be the highest-profile gay character in DC’s history.

Writing on his personal blog, Williams broke the news of his departure, writing:

"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 [Kane, Batwoman] and Maggie [Sawyer, her fiancée for the last six months] 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."

Williams then later clarified on Twitter:

Recently DC Comics have seen many high-profile stars exit the company including James Robinson who left Earth 2, the series about an alternate universe where he introduced a gay Green Lantern.

Artist Rob Liefield also left DC along with Josh Fialkov who quit before he even started.

So what’s the future for the Batwoman series? Who knows. DC Comics have yet to comment.

Pic via DC Comics