A Lament: Williams and Blackman Leave Batwoman

The comic book world got some sad news a few days ago when J.H. Williams III and W. Haden Blackman announced that they would no longer be working together on Batwoman after issue #26 in December. This kind of announcement happens all the time in comics and would be easy to swallow if it was not for the fact that the reason Williams and Blackman cited for leaving the book was “editorial decisions.”  Translation: DC approved the story they wanted to tell and then completely changed their minds. You can read their full farewell to fans on Blackman’s website.

This run was special. All great stories, no matter how complex they may seem, can be broken down into one simple idea. Animal Man may be the Avatar of the Red battling threats from the Rot and fighting for animal rights, but when you break it down his story is just about a man struggling to reconcile his family life with his chosen profession. All of the action and conflict derives itself from that concept. Breaking Bad is about a man striving to prove his significance. Macbeth is the ultimate mid-life crisis. The mission statement of Batwoman says “Kate Kane survived a brutal kidnapping by terrorists that left her mother dead and her twin sister lost. Following in her father’s footsteps, she vowed to serve her country and attended West Point until she was expelled under ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.’ Now she is many things: estranged daughter, grieving sister, proud lesbian, brave soldier, determined hero. She is Batwoman.”  This idea can be broken down into an even simpler form: A vulnerable woman bounces back to prove her strength.

That’s what Batwoman did: kick ass.  She battled the supernatural, worked with Wonder Woman, took down Killer Croc, and fell in love. The fact that they were lesbians was the least important part of Kate Kane’s relationship with Detective Maggie Sawyer. It was a classic love story and the moment Kate proposed to Maggie was one of the most emotionally gratifying moments of the series. Now we are hearing that the straw that broke the camel’s back for Williams and Blackman was DC Comics decision not to let them write Kate and Maggie’s wedding. 

The coolest part of the series was the artwork of J.H. Williams III. There have been very adequate fill-in artists like Amy Reeder, Trevor McCarthy, and Francesco Francavilla but none of them can lay out a page quite like Williams. His panels almost flow into each other and create a truly unique storytelling experience. He was also constantly changing his art style to fit the mood of each scene.

The sad truth is that while these two men may have poured their hearts and souls into Batwoman, the character did not ultimately “belong” to them. That is the trade-off that comes with creating mainstream comics. Batwoman is just one of many toys in the DC sandbox. Being in a shared universe, the events of one title can have effects and consequences that can be seen across dozens of other titles. Most of the time that idea is really cool, but other times not so much.  You can be sure that DC will put another creative team on Batwoman. In fact, over the next 50 years, plenty of different writers and artists will take on the character and many of them will probably do her justice. All of them will be developing and building off of the incredible foundation that J.H. Williams III and W. Haden Blackman have laid down together. It is just unfortunate that they will not be able to end their run on their own terms.