Marc Andreyko will take over writing duties on the Eisner and GLAAD Media Award-winning series ‘Batwoman’ with issue #25, following the stormy exits of former scribes J.H. Williams III and W. Haden Blackman.  Though many fans are outraged and some have even sworn never to buy another DC Comic book, the announcement that the openly-gay Andreyko, the former writer of ‘Manhunter’ another series starring a tough yet well-rounded female lead, has prompted a few to lower the volume on their anger and take a wait-and-see approach.

Andreyko took the time to address the controversy in an effort to assuage fans’ fears and to reveal a bit about his approach to the project.

Initially, DC put pressure on Williams and Blackman to scrap plans for Kate to marry her girlfriend Maggie Sawyer prompting accusations of homophobia, but Andreyko refutes that:

“I think part of the brouhaha was that the internet is always looking for the dirty story, and the lack of wanting the character to get married had nothing to do with their sexuality. It has to do with, you know, the New 52 is very young, very new, and having characters get married brings an inherent sort of age to the proceedings.  It was just a creative overview that marriage right now, at this point in the DC Universe, is not something they want to explore. And that’s a completely viable thing.

Any claims of homophobia against DC are completely ridiculous. I’ve been an out gay creator my entire career, and I’ve had nothing but support — and, if anything, pushing from DC to do more. So no, they’ve been one of the most consistently great places for not only LGBT characters, but for creators as well.

And you know, of course, as a gay man, I would never take a job — any job — where I thought there was homophobia or anti-gay subtext at all… I would be the first person to complain if that was the case, so I have nothing but praise for DC on this.”

This also doesn’t mean that because Maggie and Kate aren’t getting married, that their relationship will end.

“As far as Kate’s… relationship with Maggie, that’s going to be explored in great depth. But it will be the same way that, when Peter Parker was dating Mary Jane, their sexuality was explored.  There’s going to be all kinds of complications in their relationship, but that’s what relationships are.”

Andreyko pointed out how the series will change now that he is writing it:

“She’s definitely going to be much more integrated into the DC Universe proper. The book as it has been published so far has been kind of off in its own little corner of Gotham and the DC Universe, and not a whole lot of interaction with all the other heroes and villains, and all the great things that come with the rich tapestry of the DC Universe.

But it just makes sense, when there are these kinds of characters that are existing side-by-side — Gotham City’s only so big. They’re going to bump into each other. And it seems to me to be more of a distraction to not have that interaction than to have that interaction. But the interaction will always serve the story. It’s not going to be crossover for crossover’s sake.”

He also discusses working with artist Jeremy Haun on what was, under Williams brush, one of the most visually innovative comics ever published:

“We’re definitely going to take advantage of the fact that this book has an established artistic voice of being really experimental in its page layout. So to be able to continue that — not to be copying J.H. at all, because that’s a fool’s errand and an impossible task, but because the readers of the book expect an interesting page layout. I’m encouraging the artists on this book to stretch their wings and play and take advantage of this opportunity that isn’t really in a lot of traditional superhero books.”

You can read the full interview here, including his comparison and contrasting of Batwoman and his former hero Manhunter/Kate Spencer, how he plans on utilizing Batwoman’s supporting cast and his upcoming ‘Fairest’ story starring Cinderella.

So, do Andreyko’s statements make you more inclined to at least give the book a chance, once its originators’ last work has seen print?

Source: Newsarama