By now you've likely heard about a creative change happening in BATWOMAN. It was announced recently that Marc Andreyko is taking over the series after J.H. Williams III and Haden Blackman decided it was time to leave. The decision to have Andreyko begin with issue 25 was in part to tie the book into Zero Year and allow the book and new creative team to get to debut in the spotlight.

With BATWOMAN being one of the few New 52 books to still retain its original creative team, obviously there would be some question as to what a new creative team will mean for the book and character. We had the chance to ask Marc some questions to find out what he has planned and what will or will not change in the title.

Comic Vine: What's your take on Batwoman?

Marc Andreyko: Pretty much the take that's been done so far. I'm not going to come in and suddenly turn her into an alien or make her Two-Face's ex-girlfriend or anything like that. I'm going to try to have a consistency of character and continue on with the fully realized character that Greg [Rucka] and Haden and J.H. helped create. But also I'll bring to the table what I bring to the table. I'll try to bring a little Andreyko to the game.

She doesn't require a whole lot of fixing. This isn't like a reboot or a retcon or anything like that. This is just picking up the reigns from other creators and continuing along and hopefully creating a vivid and exciting journey for the readers.

CV: Your first issue is 25. Will you be concluding the Batwoman/Batman story?

MA: No. Issue 25 is actually a Zero Year tie-in. That issue is going to involve Kate Kane returning home to Gotham due to something that happens in Scott's book. It'll also plant the seeds for the woman who will become Batwoman. We're going to see where some of her inspiration comes from. We'll see, logically, how this girl becomes this great superhero.

CV: Will you be tying loose ends before moving forward? Like with the DEO, Kate's sister Beth, etc?

MA: Not initially. It was kind of agreed upon since we're going to start with a brand new arc in issue 26. That doesn't mean that the threads that have been left untied are going to be ignored.

Initially, me and the art team want to make a fresh break and start the book with us. We want to start with a bang and not a whimper. We'll essentially go back and wrap things up because if there's one thing I, as a reader or a writer, don't enjoy is dangling plot threads. But the initial arc is going to be a brand new one.

CV: We know Kate won't be getting married any time soon. Will we see any developments between Kate and Maggie or will that come later?

MA: Sure, absolutely. Just because they're not getting married doesn't mean they're not going to be in a long-term, committed relationship. I'm not even sure if gay marriage has been legalized in Gotham City. The idea of them might have only been a one in name only. They can definitely stay in a relationship. Like in any relationship, complications will arise. Complications can arise when you're a mailman married to a librarian let alone when you're a superhero living with a cop.

CV: BATWOMAN has always had a more supernatural feel to it, will that continue or will we see the book align more to the other Bat-titles?

MA: I'm not going to run away from the supernatural stuff but I'm certainly going to make the book feel a bit more in line with the rest of the books in the current Gotham City. There'll be a consistency of narrative and thematic qualities. I won't be running away from a supernatural story if the right supernatural story presents itself. But it's not going to be a 'supernatural Bat-book.'

CV: We recently saw a great team up between Batwoman and Wonder Woman. Any thoughts to teaming her up with another non-Bat character?

MA: Oh yeah! Absolutely, absolutely. I would love to have her interact, on a grander scale, with the rest of DC Universe as a whole. Are there plans right now to do that? No. Not right now. If it presents itself in a way that's organic, absolutely.

CV: What are you most looking forward to on BATWOMAN?

MA: I'm looking forward to getting to work with a bunch of great people. I've worked with Mike Marts and Rachel Gluckstern in the past and being able to work with them again, they're great editors, that's exciting to me. I'm really impressed with the way the Bat-offices run, the constancy of all those titles. So being able to jump into this book with a great support staff and a great group of people to inspire me is going to be super-fun. And writing BATWOMAN is going to be a blast. I'm a huge fan of the character, a huge fan of everything J.H., Haden and Greg have done with her. The responsibility weighs heavily on me but in a good way. I'm excited to be able to hopefully pick up where these guys left off and to continue to create rich, exciting and interesting adventures that the fans will respond to.

BATWOMAN #25 is scheduled for a November 20 release date.

It sucks about what happened before with the first creators but at least this series isn't cancelled.

I hope he can deliver

@g_man Didn't you mean Greg [Rucka]?

So the first thing he's doing is a Zero Year tie in, of course.

This guy is just being used as DC's puppet.

I can just hear Didio's snide voice saying "Get Batwoman into zero year and when your done get her the hell back into the New 52! This is what we want and our will shall be done!!"

Maybe not that dramatic but you get the picture.

If Andreyco was given the series under different circumstances, I'd be jumping in on this ( his Manhunter work was great ) , but after everything that has been said about how DC treated Williams and Blackman, I'm hessitant. It seems like there is going to be a lot more intervention and pressure to link the book to the rest of the Bat-verse more regularly. And given DC's intention to turn Snyder's EVERT FREAKING STORYLINE in a big crossover event, Batwoman seems bound to lose a big part of the autonomy the title had.

It's too bad the creators didn't come together and boycott this book, and any other dc book those dumb@$$ editors are ruining by destroying what the team was trying to do, what was most likely promised to them, and then yanking them off the book when they wouldn't agree with those broken promises.

Well, at least he sounds really excited about it. I am not sure what to think yet, with the obivous influence from the editors. Hmmm... food for thought.

Maybe

I know that I am supposed to be shocked and appalled that DC doesn't what their heroes married and that Blackman/Williams quit over it, but their storylines dragged on FOREVER.

I'm glad they are going and I'm hopeful that Andreyko can do something interesting with the series.

I feel bad for Andreyko as most of these "fans" who are in an uproar over this "travesty" have probably never read Batwoman.

This is sort of a damage control interview he is trying to say things will not change but we know that is not the case. First issue is a zero year tie in so right there we know the editors are running this show. Also his cop out answer about Kate and Maggie marriage annoyed me alot . Didio has made it clear he wants superheroes that have no personal life just crime fighting so Maggie is as good as gone.

^ jsphsmth gets it ^

"Decided it was time to leave"

You mean angrily walked out because they couldn't stand working there any more? The latest in a long line over the last few years? You make it sound like they wanted to get back to their gardening or something.

Perfect time to drop the book. Such a shame it has to be a tie-in to a storyarc that even Snyder didn't want.

Interesting.

I understand why they want to give Batwoman a Zero Year issue but they should have skipped JH Williams III and Haden Blackman's story for one issue, finished it, then give the series back to Andreyko as it's not fair on either Williams III and Backman or us the fans not to finish their arc for the sake of a couple of issues.

Dropping it as soon as Williams and Blackman's issue comes out. There's no way it will ever be as good, especially since she'll be more integrated with the Bat family.

Good. Hopefully the first thing they'll do is find her a nice job as a secretary, then she might have a chance of getting a good man to straighten her life out.

First thing I read about this. That sucks quite a bit. I loved wat Williams was doing when reviving Batwoman in the previous run of Detective Comics. That was the only reason I subscribed to the Batwoman ongoing. And I think that was the reason fans were so anxious when it took so long to get it off the ground..
I loved how it had the supernatural thing going on, I loved the unconventional artwork, I loved how storylines took longer that 3 issues to wrap up, so that you could get nice and comfortable for the somewhat longer ride..

I'll try this new direction they're trying to push this book in, but chances are I'm dropping this, like probably a lot of other fans.. : \

It's a real shame. It's currently one of my favourites on my pull list.

After rereading the issues of Batwoman I agree that story lines were dragged out and arcs took forever to wrap up. I am hoping maybe we can get some faster paced arcs and ya know....I understand his reasons for bringing her into the bat-verse a bit more. I understand that we don't want her to but as long as they make it organic, I could get behind it. I also understand their stance on marriage, I don't agree only understand, I just hope they keep Maggie and Kate a couple. I will pick up three to four issues to try it out.

I'm actually a little excited.

I'll 100% keep buying it as I love the character and the uniqueness of the book in the DCU but I feel the thing that made me enjoy it so much was Haden and Williams. Now they're gone we'll just have to see...

Well, at least he sounds like he's going to deal with some of the plot threads from Williams' run so that makes me happy. Still not pleased about that stupid Zero Year tie-in. Didn't we already see her being inspired to become Batwoman back in the World's Finest arc?

So DC is leaving an arc unfinished and fundamentally changing the aspects about this book that it's fans like? Nothing against Andreyko, he's been put in a crappy position, and he may very well do good work on the book. But I find it hard to believe anyone will be happy or excited about these changes.

But isn't the whole point that she's not a member of the Bat Family O.o

@alkusanagi: haha!

@thecheesestabber: yes.

@raggedscarecrow: Yeah, I think it was in the #0 issue. More importantly, I remember in a more recent comic her saying something to Bette that although she wore the symbol, that she didn't want to be associated with Batman. Hopefully they at least give us a compelling reason why the hell she suddenly changed her mind.

So, I'm drawing the conclusion that, since Williams and Blackman thought their last issue would be 26, that 26 was originally supposed to end this arc and now it's not.

Guys, if there was anything I was ever anticipating in the comic book world, more than any issue of any series or any single event, it was this showdown between Batman and Batwoman. I am both sad and angry.

@exia009: Then why would he..

@thecheesestabber: Because that is what DC dictates: Force as many Zero Year tie-ins and links to Batman as you possibly can even if it makes no sense whatsoever.

Not happy hearing that Batwoman is being made to tie-in to the other Bat-books more. Less happy that Williams' and Blackman's arc is being cut short.

But I'll give the guy a chance. No promises I'll give him more than an issue to make me happy. But I'll at least give him that.

im gonna viiss the amazing art of jhw3

Don't think I'll be picking this up when Andreyko takes over he sounded like a corporate puppet and he's not gonna continue the supernatural element

I loved Rucka's Batwoman. Up until the relaunch, I was following Batwoman in every one of her appearances. Her and Montoya were my favorite characters. It was the first time I'd opened a comic book and thought it was "cool" to be gay. I'm not gay, but being "gay" in the media just never feels like anything real. At least until that relationship. They both seemed like real people that were really in love. Sure, they messed up from time to time, but that is what relationships are all about. No one is ever completely lovey dovey. Stories in the media have a habit of progressing things to fast because they see relationships as some sort of lovey dove fantasy. In reality, there are tons of bumps and hills along the road and there are secrets in every relationship. Writers need to remember these are two completely different people with completely different lives. For some reason, people believe relationships make two characters one. That isn't true. Sure, they care about each other and each other's lives, but only when it concerns them. My girlfriend isn't going to come to work with me every day, but if she finds out I have a fling with my co-worker, you can probably guess she'll confront both the fling girl and me. Otherwise, our business is our business. That's why moving in is such a big deal. It's because the business is shared more and more. Even when married, married couples aren't connected at the hip. They help each other out from time to time (because they're more like roommates). In the end, a married man or woman is no different than a best friend in comics. Even when Lois was going out with Clark, they were essentially just best friends. If there aren't "best friends" or "supporting characters" in a book, it's probably a bad book.

New 52 on, it didn't feel like the same book. It was trying too hard to be the book it was in Detective. The art was still amazing, but the story-arcs got too complicated, the dialogue was too long (for a comic book) and it just seemed kind of boring.

Overall, I'm happy this is moving in a new direction. I hope it keeps the dark tone and I hope it doesn't go downhill. We see books like this go downhill all the time. Then again, I stopped reading it anyways. No skin off my bones if it does terrible. I still love the character though. Would love to see more development.

Can't read anything Batwoman-related that I get instantly sad. By far my favourite DC book alongside Wonder Woman

...

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@kraya: the book sales were dropping so making a tie-in to zero year will boost sales up more at least that what dc is hoping for

This doesn't sound reassuring, but I can't say I'm surprised. I don't understand how dropping the last two issues of the arc and just moving on is supposed to work.

Hmmmm, I like how Andreyko has said that he's gonna bring the book more in line to what is going on in Gotham. Still am sad about the change-up in creative teams, however.

Well it sounds good anyways. I sure hope they can keep it going the same speed and not ruin everything.

It is so frustrating reading that they're not going to wrap up the story line right away. Andreyko can plan to come back to it all he wants. Hayden and Williams planned it, too, and look where that got them. The worst part is that they are so clearly forcing it to change beyond what makes sense for the character. I am interested to see how everything unfolds, though. The only possible explanation I can think of is that it may be one of the lower selling bat-books and they want to tie it closer to the rest of the bat-family to try and buoy its sales numbers, but I don't think financially it was ever on the chopping block.

CV: Your first issue is 25. Will you be concluding the Batwoman/Batman story?

MA: No. Zero Year blah blah

CV: Will you be tying loose ends before moving forward? Like with the DEO, Kate's sister Beth, etc?

MA: LOL Nope

Oh what the frig

CV: We know Kate won't be getting married any time soon. Will we see any developments between Kate and Maggie or will that come later?

MA: Sure, absolutely. Just because they're not getting married doesn't mean they're not going to be in a long-term, committed relationship. I'm not even sure if gay marriage has been legalized in Gotham City. The idea of them might have only been a one in name only. They can definitely stay in a relationship. Like in any relationship, complications will arise. Complications can arise when you're a mailman married to a librarian let alone when you're a superhero living with a cop.

I'm actually hopeful on this: that Maggie sticks around and we keep seeing them maturing and growing ever closer, so when DC's editorial pulls its head out of its posterior, then we get to see the wedding take place -- and we'll have years of storyline to form the anchor for that overdue wedding.

Although seeing that amazing proposal hurts now.

Sorry for being so late; I was letting time lessen the sting. Still mad, but I'm still buying the series; if anyone can pull this off and satisfy the nags at DC but also not alienate us, it's Andreyko.

I think the best thing to do is drop the book now and wait until we get what's promised in the interview - namely the going back to tie up loose ends after the so called "clean break".

If sales plummet during the Zero year and opening arc under the new team, then they might get the message.

SPOILERS:

Issue 24 doesn't just end on a cliffhanger, it ends right in the middle of the fight between Batman and Batwoman, with neither backing down and both readying themselves for a final round. If Issue 26 begins with something totally different and no end to the fight, then I'm not buying until I see the issue that does continue it. I'll skip the Zero book and everything after it until the story returns to the second half of that fight.