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Terry Hooper-Scharf

Friday 6 September 2013

'Batwoman' Creative Team Quits After DC Comics Nixes Lesbian Marriage Storyline

Interesting piece of news. First we had this:

" Harley Quinn is no stranger to a little breaking and entering for a good time and now, she’s going to help one talented artist break into comics with DC Entertainment’s Open Talent Search. That’s right, we’re looking for someone to draw one page of HARLEY QUINN #0 alongside some of comic’s most amazing talents, including Amanda Conner, Paul Pope, Bruce Timm, and a few other surprises, maybe even you!!

Beginning this November, Jimmy Palmiotti and Amanda Conner will be writing the madcap adventures of Harley Quinn and they’ll need all the help they can get to handle her, so they’re opening the invitation to one undiscovered talent to join them. If you think you’ve got what it takes to be published in this special issue, then put on your working hat and start drawing now, because an opportunity like this doesn’t come along very often.

Submissions can be Pencils, Pencils & inks or Pencils, inks & colors. Please keep in mind, the level of your work should be of professional-quality, so don't feel the need to ink or color your work if you're only confident in penciling.

Oh, and did we mention that we’ll be reviewing the submissions ourselves to personally select Harley Quinn’s new creative accomplice?

Harley Quinn. One page. Published work. Breaking into comics was never this fun. ;)

— Jim & Dan

Here’s how to enter:

Read the rules & regulations listed below to confirm that you are eligible to enter DC Entertainment’s Open Talent Search and agree to the terms and conditions.

Read the following script page and give us your original artistic interpretation of what those four panels should look like on a single page:

PAGE 15

4 panels

PANEL 1

Harley is on top of a building, holding a large DETACHED cellphone tower in her hands as lightning is striking just about everywhere except her tower. She is looking at us like she cannot believe what she is doing. Beside herself. Not happy.

PANEL 2

Harley is sitting in an alligator pond, on a little island with a suit of raw chicken on, rolling her eyes like once again, she cannot believe where she has found herself. We see the alligators ignoring her.

PANEL 3

Harley is sitting in an open whale mouth, tickling the inside of the whale’s mouth with a feather. She is ecstatic and happy, like this is the most fun ever.

PANEL 4

Harley sitting naked in a bathtub with toasters, blow dryers, blenders, appliances all dangling above the bathtub and she has a cord that will release them all. We are watching the moment before the inevitable death. Her expression is one of “oh well, guess that’s it for me” and she has resigned herself to the moment that is going to happen."

 

Now we get this. DC Comics really needs to get its finger out of its ass.


batwoman gay lesbian maggie proposal engagement wedding

"Batwoman" comic writers say DC Comics prohibited a wedding between the female superhero and her girlfriend.

The co-writers of "Batwoman" are leaving DC Comics at the altar.

In a blog post late Tuesday, artist JH Williams III and writer W. Haden Blackman announced their split from DC — alleging that it prohibited their female, openly gay superhero from getting married.

"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," Williams and Blackman wrote.

They cited a number of "eleventh-hour" changes that included, "most crushingly," instructions to never show Batwoman tying the knot with fiancé Maggie Sawyer.

"Batwoman" relaunched in 2011 as a five-part series telling a new origin story for the female Caped Crusader.

The comic follows army brat Kate Kane who is expelled from West Point after rumors surface saying she is a lesbian. She briefly meets Batman and embarks on a mission to protect Gotham City from a growing contingent of supernatural criminals.

batwoman maggie
Batwoman's fiancé, Maggie Sawyer, is a policewoman in Gotham City.

Since its start, the comic has served as a pillar of LGBT advocacy. In the ground-breaking Issue 17, Batwoman proposed to girlfriend and policewoman Maggie Sawyer. It marked the first lesbian marriage proposal in mainstream comics history, according to The Hollywood Reporter.


She isn't the first gay character.
DC's Green Lantern came out of the closet last summer, and Marvel's Canadian superhero Northstar and his boyfriend got hitched in a 2012 issue of "The Astonishing X-Men."

According to Comics Alliance, Batwoman's origin was inspired by the U.S.'s "controversial real-life policies concerning homosexuals serving in the armed forces."

a brief encounter with Batman inspired Kate to embark on a crime-fighting mission to clean up the streets using gear stolen from the military - See more at: http://www.dccomics.com/characters/batwoman-in-comics#sthash.W3Cm4Vpn.dpuf a brief encounter with Batman inspired Kate to embark on a crime-fighting mission to clean up the streets using gear stolen from the military - See more at: http://www.dccomics.com/characters/batwoman-in-comics#sthash.W3Cm4Vpn.dpuf a brief encounter with Batman inspired Kate to embark on a crime-fighting mission to clean up the streets using gear stolen from the military - See more at: http://www.dccomics.com/characters/batwoman-in-comics#sthash.W3Cm4Vpn.dpuf

The character ultimately belongs to DC Comics, so when Williams and Blackman felt cornered, they walked.

"We felt that the series and characters should always be moving forward, to keep changing and evolving," the co-writers said in their blog. "We’re both heartbroken over leaving, but we feel strongly that you all deserve stories that push the character and the series forward."

Williams responded to an outpouring of support from fans on Twitter, and addressed the marriage refusal on DC's part.

@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 He clarified that DC is not "anti-gay marriage," but anti-wedding.
@andykhouri But must clarify- was never put to us as being anti-gay marriage.
— J.H. Williams III (@JHWilliamsIII) September 5, 2013 Gail Simone, a fellow DC writer, made her best guess as to why DC would keep Batwoman and Maggie apart, tweeting:
@GailSimone @theJohnChihak Gail is right, but it still should not be a story to be avoided, but embraced fully.
— J.H. Williams III (@JHWilliamsIII) September 5, 2013
The pair seemed to be referencing DC's recent editorial moves to sever relationships between super-couples, including Superman and Lois Lane, the Flash and Iris West, and Green Arrow and Black Canary, according to Comics Alliance.
Other "Batwoman" changes DC allegedly ordered: ditch plans for Killer Croc's origins, alter the original ending of the current story arc, and abandon long-standing plot lines that "compromised the character and the series."
Williams and Blackman's last issue, #26, hits shelves in December.

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