DC Comics publisher: Batwoman can’t have a gay wedding as heroes ‘shouldn’t have happy personal lives’

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A DC Comics co-publisher has responded to the resignation of two writers of the Batwoman comic books over the character’s lesbian wedding which was “prohibited”, to say that the reason was really because “heroes shouldn’t have happy personal lives.”

Last week two Batwoman writers, J H Williams and W Haden Blackman declared they were abandoning their publisher after finding out the lesbian superhero’s marriage, first revealed in February, was to be “prohibited” as a storyline.

They claimed they had been asked to “alter or completely discard many long-standing storylines that we feel compromise the character and the series”.

DC Comics at first did not comment on the situation, but now co-publisher Dan DiDio has responded to debunk rumours that it the cancellation of the wedding storyline was over concerns about equal marriage.

Speaking at Baltimore Comic-Con, DiDio said: “Heroes shouldn’t have happy personal lives. They are committed to being that person and committed to defending others at the sacrifice of their own personal interests.”

“That’s very important and something we reinforced. People in the Bat family their personal lives basically suck. Dick Grayson, rest in peace—oops shouldn’t have said that,—Bruce Wayne, Tim Drake, Barbara Gordon and Kathy Kane. It’s wonderful that they try to establish personal lives, but it’s equally important that they set them aside. That is our mandate, that is our edict and that is our stand.”

Batwoman was first reintroduced as a lesbian by DC Comics in 2006, in a new title which aimed to reflect modern society more accurate than previous comics.

As Williams and Blackmore have resigned, DC Comics has hired openly gay Marc Andreyko, who will take over for December’s 25th issue.

In February, the comic seemed to make history as Kate Kane (Batwoman) proposed to her girlfriend Maggie Sawyer. This came amidst controversy surrounding the publisher’s decision to hire a writer with anti-gay views to write for another title.

DC Comics responded to criticism and calls for a boycott after it hired an anti-gay writer to work on a new digital first Superman comic book to be launched this year.

Marvel‘s Northstar, the first openly gay hero, tied the knot with his boyfriend Kyle Jinadu in an issue of ‘Astonishing X-Men’, last year, and recently the creators of Judge Dredd suggested that he could be gay.

 

 

 

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