Sad news for readers and fans who enjoy the latest run of Batwoman. JH Williams and W. Blackman the authors of Batwoman both of whom started writing her since the New 52 started has announced that the upcoming issue #26 would be their last issues. Both of them decided to quit the title because they’re not allowed to tell certain stories they wanted to tell by DC, namely Batwoman’s marriage to her girlfriend.
JH Williams III and W. Haden Blackman elaborated on the matter:
“We felt that the series and characters should always be moving forward, to keep changing and evolving. In order to live up to our mantra and ensure that each arc took Batwoman in new directions, we carefully planned plotlines and story beats for at least the first five arcs well before we ever wrote a single issue. We’ve been executing on that plan ever since, making changes whenever we’ve come up with a better idea, but in general remaining consistent to our core vision. 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. We’re both heartbroken over leaving, but we feel strongly that you all deserve stories that push the character and the series forward. We can’t reliably do our best work if our plans are scrapped at the last minute, so we’re stepping aside. We are committed to bringing our run to a satisfying conclusion and we think that Issue 26 will leave a lasting impression.”
DC Comics News would like to thank both JH Williams III and W. Haden Blackman for their spectaular run on Batwoman in the New 52 and wish both of them the best in their future endeavors.
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Source: W. Haden Blackman
