News of further DC Comics editorial interference has hit the Internet today, and it hits hard. J.H. Williams III, possibly the most brilliant artist working in comics today, has announced that he’s leaving the critically acclaimed Batwoman series because DC won’t let him marry Batwoman and her fiancee, Maggie Sawyer, among other reasons. And that is just monstrous. Batwoman is the only comic from the Big Two publishers to star an openly gay character, and has even won two GLAAD awards for its portrayal of gay characters. Yet this is the stance DC is apparently taking.

Williams clarified on Twitter that DC isn’t necessarily opposed to gay marriage. They simply told him Batwoman and Maggie can’t get married. Considering what DC did to Superman and Lois Lane, they might just be opposed to any of their characters being married. But forbidding these two in particular from tying the knot is a horrible move.

This should win the Mtv Best Kiss Award!

Williams made the announcement on his blog last night. He said his final issue will be #26 in a few months. Both he and co-writer W. Haden Blackman will be leaving the title.

Here is an exert from Williams and Blackman’s letter explaining their departure:

Unfortunately, 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. 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.

We’ve always understood that, as much as we love the character, Batwoman ultimately belongs to DC. However, the eleventh-hour nature of these changes left us frustrated and angry — because they prevent us from telling the best stories we can. So, after a lot of soul-searching, we’ve decided to leave the book after Issue 26.

You can read the full text here. Or if that link is still broken, you can check it out here.

This is horrible news. Batwoman has been one of the consistently great books coming out of DC since the New 52, and the romance between Batwoman and Maggie Sawyer has been an absolute treat to read. It’s one of my favorite relationships in all of comics these days, and that marriage proposal was one of the most romantic comic book scenes I have ever read! I want to see this couple soar, and marriage seemed exactly where it was leading.

I would have loved a nice, romantic, heartfelt wedding between Kate Kane and Maggie Sawyer. But DC apparently had to be twerps about it.

Williams later clarified on Twitter: “Not wanting to be inflammatory, only factual – We fought to get them engaged, but were told emphatically no marriage can result.”

He also Tweeted: “But must clarify – was never put to us as being anti-gay marriage.”

So I think what we’re looking at here is DC just doesn’t want any of their characters to be married. They broke up Superman and Lois Lane in the reboot, along with Barry Allen and Iris West. Ralph and Sue Dibny are nowhere to be seen. The only character I can think of who is married at all is Aquaman. Why does he get a pass?

Because he’s written by Geoff Johns, obviously.

This news is just depressing. Batwoman is one of DC’s best books, and the relationship between Batwoman and Maggie Sawyer is one of the best and sweetest romances in all of comics.. Williams and Blackman have created something wonderful between those two characters, whereas DC can’t seem to get their heads out of their asses long enough to make Superman and Wonder Woman anything more than a PR stunt.

This is far from the first time DC has been taken to task by its creators for poor editorial management. DC has gone through half a dozen Superman writers in less than two years because of creative interference from the higher-ups. They had a huge marketing push when writer Andy Diggle took over Action Comics, but Diggle walked off the series before his fist issue even hit the stands. Rob Liefeld left the company in a flurry of laughs and accusations. And one of the new writers of the Green Lantern franchise dropped out before the work even started.

But this one might be the worst. Williams’ art is like nothing else in comics, and it made Batwoman a true standout. His creative direction on Batwoman has been nothing short of brilliant (except for that one, non-linear story arc).

This is a true shame.