Letting Go of Superman: When DC Editors Are Worst than the Legion of Doom

What the hell DC?

I don’t remember a time in my life when I have ever said that and really really meant it as much as I do now.

And it’s not the character directions or story arcs. It’s the management.

With J.H. Williams III and W. Haden Blackman announcing they are leaving Batwoman because of “creative differences” they join a string of comic-book writers and artists recently parting ways from a DC owned title.

While some have been axed like Kevin Maguire (Justice League 3000) and others like Andy Diggle (Action Comics) and Amy Reeder (Batwoman) have left siting creative or professional differences, your kind of starting to ask whose the insufferable giant jerk at DC right now and why haven’t they been fired yet?

Because that person seems to be firing and pissing off the wrong people, DC.

I mean the firing and then rehiring of writer Gail Simone from Batgirl a while back was just straight out embarrassing, making the company look like an indecisive teenage boy.

But if the comments of Paul Jenkins (Dark Knight) and George Perez (Superman) are of any indication, it isn’t one person. It’s a disorganized and interfering editorial structure that is making last minute decisions or completely disregarding the vision and time that their talent have and need.

Batwoman’s J.H. Williams III and W. Haden Blackman echo the same sentiment in their statement:

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.

The Twitter conversation between Gail Simone and Williams points suggests that DC is not anti-same-sex marriage as much as anti-marriage in general right now.

While that might be the case, all the other signs are at least pointing to DC earning a reputation more for stifling creativity and disregarding their talent.

And as more of the talent that have helped breath life to these superheroes walk away, that reputation might hurt our DC heroes more than any super-villains ever could, making the current Forever Evil story arc just a little funny and meta.