About a month ago the two writers for DC’s Batwoman comic series quit over creative differences, specifically citing DC’s refusal to let them write a storyline where the titular heroine would have married her long-time girlfriend. According to DC, their policy was less about gay marriage and had more to do with their commitment to making their characters as miserable as possible.
During New York Comic Con, Marvel writer Marjorie Liu had some choice words for DC’s editorial decision. According to The Atlantic Wire, Liu called the policy “lazy storywriting” to the cheers of the crowd.
Liu, who wrote the issue of Astonishing X-Men where Northstar married his boyfriend, also went on to question whether DC was honouring its LGBT characters and storylines, asking “What kind of stories are you telling?”
There’s a difference between creating believable dramatic tension that, once overcome, will make your character a more whole person, and trapping your characters in an inescapable swirling vortex of conflict in order to make them seem dark and brooding. The former makes narrative sense, while the latter confuses “character nuance” with “unrelenting sadness.”
I’m not saying comic book characters have to be realistic, but as a writer, you do still have to treat your characters as human beings. They have wants, needs, flaws and everything else that makes a complete person. Throwing them to chaos is just a cheap way to craft a complicated anti-hero.
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