The Rundown: JH Williams III vs. Villains Month, ComiXology vs. Discounts, and more

Welcome back to The Rundown, our daily breakdown on news stories we missed from the previous day. Have a link to share? Email me at david@multiversitycomics.com.

– Villains Month from DC has been all the rage this week, but speaking of rage, it appears that JH Williams III, the co-writer and sometimes artist of Batwoman who doubles as one of the most talented people comics have ever seen, was blocked by DC from participating in Villains Month AND finishing the story that he and W. Haden Blackman intended to tell in Batwoman. You hear this type of thing a lot in rumor mills or after people have left DC, but this story? This is an actively working creator, and one who is bigger than just about anybody working on their books. It’s a terrible thing, and something Williams doesn’t seem excited about but because he’s a pro, he works through.

Either way, this is another case of DC hamstringing even their most gifted creators. And that is a damn shame.

– Strangely, it appears ComiXology has made a major policy change without letting anyone know. That policy change? While previously, ComiXology would drop the cost of comics that were 4 weeks old down $1, now it seems that 8 weeks is the number. While this isn’t huge deal to some, adding a month to the wait for people to get books when they’re waiting for that $1 discount is a pretty big deal. Not only that, doing it without announcing it? Kind of sketchy. My question is whether this was a call by ComiXology or the publishers, and that is frankly something I don’t know. Either way, it pretty much sucks.

– In much happier news, you can buy Pam from Archer’s hand puppet as a San Diego Comicon exclusive. Which, of course, is totally awesome.