Halloween Five-Pack Part 2: The Candy Thieves

Happy Halloween! You should watch out for these characters in part two of the Halloween Five-Packs. I say should, but in the end, they're still going to get your treats.

Peter Venkman
Pete Venkman’s a guy that can get things done. What’s he going to get done? Removing a chunk of your candy from your possession. It won’t be out of malice. Pete just wants your candy because candy is good. You can try to hide it, but he’s a resourceful guy. He’ll find it. So expect a raid on your secret stash.

Juggernaut
For most of his life, he’s been a bully. He’s been a villain and a hero. He’s traveled around the world. He’s beat up heroes and villains alike and has been beaten. Do you know what he wants right now? Your Reese’s. And he’s going to have them.

Clown
He’s already wearing what could be considered a Halloween costume, so why doesn’t he just go trick-or-treating? Because he’s lazy and wants YOUR candy, that’s why. He’s a nasty, vile demon who’s going to take everything you have. If you resist, he’ll probably turn into Violator and eat you too. You’ve been warned.

Catwoman
Do you really need a reason why Catwoman would steal your candy? Of course not, because she’s a THIEF! Diamonds may be a woman’s best friend, but so is chocolate. I take her for a caramel lover too. And really, who doesn’t like caramel? You can expect her to do it with some style. You might be too focused on the fancy whip trick she just pulled to even care about your candy. But that’ll fade and the sadness will set in.

Quentin Quire
Deep down, Quentin might want to go trick-or-treating. What’s the likelihood he would if no one else would find out? That could potentially hold his interest. But he can do it all without leaving the mansion. He’ll make fun of you for partaking in all the Halloween festivities then wait for you to come back just to steal your candy! He may not even bother using his powers to separate you from your tasty haul. And he might not be alone. It’ll be “Riot At Xavier’s” all over again.

Williams and Blackman Depart Batwoman Over Editorial Interference

Last night, J.H. Williams III, writer and artist on DC's Batwoman, posted on his blog he and co-writer W. Haden Blackman will be leaving the highly-praised title due to editorial conflicts. Their final issue will be Batwoman #26. In the series, Batwoman a.k.a. Kate Kane is set to marry girlfriend Detective Maggie Sawyer. This is where the conflicts seems to arise.

Here's an excerpt from William' post where he details the problem:

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.

You can read the post in its entirety on Williams' blog. You have to wonder about the argument against showing same-sex marriage. We've seen it before with Kevin and Clay in Archie Comics' Life With Archie #16 and Northstar and Kyle in Marvel Comics Astonishing X-Men #51. I was happy both occurred, but obviously that's not a wide-spread sentiment.

I've spoken highly of this book several times on Twitter. Of the few DC books I read, Batwoman has been one of my most-anticipated each month. Williams and Blackman have penned an incredible journey for Kate Kane, who's sexuality hasn't been the whole of her character. The writers have expressed an authentic portrayal of lesbian characters while avoiding the gimmicks, which ironically have plagued some of the other New 52 titles.

The book also stands out on a visual level. I can't say enough how much I've enjoyed the unique layouts used throughout the run thus far. The tag-team effort of Williams, Amy Reeder, Trevor McCarthy, Pere Perez, Rob Hunter, Walden Wong, Sandu Florea, Richard Friend, Francesco Francavilla, Guy Major, Dave Stewart, and Todd Klein have given gorgeous life to the adventures of Kate Kane and her supporting cast. I didn't look up the names of everyone involved, so the rest of those names were lifted from the blog post.

It's been just over two years since DC Comics relaunched nearly the whole of its universe, dubbed the New 52, in an effort to cut down on continuity and spark new readership. As expected, it was a move met with much skepticism. Questions surrounded many decisions made since the beginning. It seems DC Comics has Twitter on fire just about every other week, and usually not for positive reasons. One need only look at the portrayal of Catwoman in her solo series and as well as Starfire in Red Hood and the Outlaws to get an idea of why fans are upset. For more on those issues resd this and this.

This new controversy is another battle in the war of creator vs. editor at the long-running publisher. Those have included George Perez leaving Superman, the firing and re-hiring of Batgirl writer Gail Simone and the public feud involving Rob Liefeld.

With the writing team's last issue still months away, we likely won't hear who'll be taking over for some time.

I'm not one to say they're trying to mess up, but even I'm left scratching my head looking at the decisions made. We know you can't please everyone with every move you make, but there are many odd activities going on at DC. What's your take on all the problems? Let me know.