Lack of female creators The launch of the New 52 was criticized for the lack of female creators, which had dropped from 12% to 1%, the latter figure represented by writer Gail Simone and
Amy Reeder, an alternating artist on
Batwoman who would not debut on that title until issue #6. This announcement became one of the most controversial aspects of the DC Comics relaunch. Supporters of Barbara Gordon in her persona as Oracle have expressed dismay over losing an iconic character for the disabled community. Journalist and blogger Jill Pantozzi, who is diagnosed with
muscular dystrophy, stated that: Simone responded directly by stating that at times when others had attempted to restore Gordon's mobility, she fought to keep her as a disabled character, even in light of requests from readers who also had disabilities that wished to see the character healed. However, part of her reasoning for reversing her decision and writing
Batgirl with Gordon as the title character was that: Former
Batman writer and editor Dennis O'Neil and Oracle co-creator John Ostrander expressed disappointment over the change. O'Neil stated that during his tenure at DC, "[W]e had hordes of people in spandex beating up criminals ... We didn't have anybody like Oracle, who overcame a disability and was just as valuable and just as effective in a way that didn't involve violence." However, he also stated that from an alternate point of view, "Barbara Gordon's perception in the mainstream public as Batgirl would be a very valid consideration." Ostrander continues to view Oracle as a stronger character than Batgirl, but has also expressed faith in Gail Simone's skills as a writer. He commented that "[t]imes change and characters and people evolve. I changed things when I wrote characters, including changing Barbara to Oracle. Others do the same for this era ... Gail Simone is a good friend and a wonderful writer and I'm sure her work will be wonderful."
Editorial controversies A number of editorial controversies emerged in the wake of The New 52, prompting
Topless Robot, a genre website owned by
The Village Voice, to publish an article in September 2013, "The Eight Biggest DC Creative Screw-Ups Since the New 52 Began". A number of these controversies concerned firings or resignations of creators which, in some cases, stemmed from conflicts between those creators and editorial decisions. Writer/artist
George Pérez, who left
Superman after six issues, explained his departure in July 2012 as a result of the level of editorial oversight exerted on the title. This included the inconsistent reasons given for rewrites of his material, the inability of editors to answer basic questions about the new Superman's status quo, such as whether his adoptive parents were still alive, and the restrictions created by not being told that
Action Comics, with which
Superman had to remain consistent, was set five years before
Superman, a situation complicated by the fact that
Action writer Grant Morrison was not forthcoming about their plans. In the following month
Rob Liefeld, who had been hired by DC to plot
Grifter and
The Savage Hawkman, and to plot and draw
Deathstroke, and who had indicated the previous month that his run on those titles would last into 2013, announced that he was quitting DC Comics, with his last issues being the #0 issues to be published that September. Though he characterized his experience on The New 52 as positive overall, he did not disguise his animosity toward editor Brian Smith, with whom he clashed, being among his reasons for leaving the company. Other reasons he cited were frequent rewrites of his material, and the overall corporate culture that was more prevalent now that both DC and Marvel were owned by large media conglomerates. Liefeld also referred to Scott Clark's artwork on
Grifter as "crap". In response to these events, artist
Pete Woods defended DC editorial, stating that the restrictions placed on creators was the result of a plan they had for all 52 of their titles that required them to be consistent with one another. Marvel's Senior Vice President of Publishing
Tom Brevoort and writer Gail Simone defended Brian Smith, disputing Liefeld's characterization of him, leading to a heated exchange on
Twitter between Liefeld and Brevoort, and eventually head
Batman writer
Scott Snyder as well. In late November 2012,
Rich Johnston of Bleeding Cool had noted the possibility of Gail Simone leaving
Batgirl and possibly DC Comics as a whole. In December 2012, Simone had revealed that she was no longer the writer of
Batgirl, despite the title being a consistent top-seller which had received favorable reviews. She had been informed by her new editor, Brian Cunningham, via e-mail of the creative change. Ray Fawkes would fill in for two issues,
Batgirl #17 and 18. Twelve days after being fired, Simone had announced that she had been re-hired as the writer of
Batgirl, and that she would return following Fawkes' issues. In March 2013, both
Andy Diggle and
Joshua Hale Fialkov announced that they would be leaving their writing duties at DC Comics. Diggle had previously signed as ongoing writer of
Action Comics starting with issue #19, following Grant Morrison's run on the title. However, Diggle later announced that he would be leaving the title before the first issue had been published, citing professional reasons. He is credited as the sole writer in issue #19. Series artist Tony Daniel finished Diggle's work on the title as a scripter. Fialkov was signed to write both
Red Lanterns and
Green Lantern Corps following
Geoff Johns's departure from the Green Lantern line, however, Fialkov left DC Comics without a single issue being written by him due to creative differences with editorial. In September 2013,
J. H. Williams III and
Haden Blackman announced their intention to leave
Batwoman with issue 26, citing last-minute editorial changes as the reason. Among these editorial decisions was a prohibition on having the title character marry her fiancée
Maggie Sawyer. Co-Publisher Dan DiDio explained that the major superheroes in the Batman family of books should not get married because finding true happiness would undermine the angst and turmoil that typify those characters, and their commitment to the superhero lives they lead. Writer
Marc Andreyko, who is openly gay himself, took over the title with issue 25, which featured a "
Batman: Zero Year" tie-in. This creative change interrupted the finale to Williams' and Blackman's work on the title; they had already written issues 25 and 26 prior to their departure. Andreyko resolved
Batwoman #24's cliffhanger ending in
Batwoman Annual #1. ==In other media==