News: DC’s Didio refutes homophobic claims
Many of you might have read yesterday about the creative team behind DC’s Batwoman were going to leave the series after disputes with the Editorial team could not be resolved! The issue between creators and editors came down to the relationship between Kate Kana aka Batwoman and her partner Maggie Sawyer, with the creators eager to not only develop the relationship with an engagement but to go even further and have Maggie and Kate marry – this was a big ‘NO’ from DC!
After the announcement that Halden Blackman and J.H. Williams III would walk away on these grounds, many bloggers, journalists and fans lashed out at what they felt was homophobia in the guise of an editiorial decision, this was despite the fact that Williams III stated “Not wanting to be inflammatory, only factual- We fought to get them engaged, but were told emphatically no marriage can result. But must clarify- was never put to us as being anti-gay marriage.”
Today Dan Didio, DC Co-Publisher has come forward and tried to explain DC’s position on the matter!
“We are still early into the world of the New 52 and we want to keep all story opportunities open.”
Addressing the issue of homophobia within DC, Didio remarked; “That’s a completely misinformed statement, and don’t forget that Batwoman has been a lead character for DC since 2006 with her own stories in Detective Comics and her own series. Please let me know if there is any other publisher as committed as that.”
The issue here isn’t the LGBT identity or homophobia, it’s the creative process versus editorial constraints and while as a gay geek it’s nice to see people quickly jump to the defence of the gay community, it is just as important to remember that there are always two sides to these stories and not to jump to conclusions before both have been made clear!
Editor-in-Chief, part-time super villain and hoarder of cats. If you can’t find me writing, I’m probably in the kitchen!