DC Comics Refuse Batwoman’s Same-Sex Marriage Story Arc; Artist & Co-Writer Leave

Batwoman artist JH Williams and his co-writer, W. Haden Blackman have officially announced that they will be walking from the critically acclaimed Batwoman series after editors have made pretty significant changes to their stories, many of which have been in the works for over a year.

The final straw?

Editors left Williams and Blackman with a story that was missing many key components, despite the significant time spent planning most of these origins and endings. The killing blow was DC Comics refusal to actually show Kate (Batwoman) and Maggie’s marriage.

“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.”

Given the recent events in the arc (Kate proposing to Maggie), the fact that DC Comics refuses to portray the actual act of marriage is crushing to Williams and Blackman, and their fans. However, via Twitter, Williams said that he didn’t believe that it was move was telling of anti-gay marriage.

@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

Batwoman’s marriage isn’t the only one that has faced such an axe–Superman, the Flash and Green Arrow have all had marriages undone by DC Comics.

The origin behind Batwoman touches on homosexual issues and equality, including serving in the military as a lesbian. The series coincided with increased support of gay rights in the United States.

William and Blackman’s final issue will be #26, which will ship in December.

Given the relevance of homosexuality to Batwoman’s story, what do you think? Does DC need to get with the times and start acknowledging that characters are going to start reflecting the current culture? Or are Williams and Blackman overreacting? Leave your comments down below.