Wholly backtrack, Batman!

When DC Comics announced Black Label, their newest series, this past March, it was marketed as a collection that would feature “big name creators, big name superheroes and big helpings of creative freedom,” according to Polygon.

But when its first issue, Batman: Damned #1, created by Brian Azzarello and Lee Bermejo, was released, Black Label was hit with a bit of controversy. The issue featured full-frontal nudity.

The conversation around the new series became more about its maturity level, rather than the new tone and style of work. So, quickly backtracking, DC censored the nudity and removed the offending image in all later digital and print editions of the comic, pegging the illustration as “production errors.”

For the record, nudity is only featured in three panels of the comic, at a moment when Batman/Bruce Wayne heads back to the Batcave and takes off his Batsuit. What can be seen is an artistic rendition, dimly lit and mostly silhouetted. Although for DC, it seems like the issue became more about whether the nudity added to the story.

Nevertheless, this week, at New York Comic Con, DC Comics copublisher Jim Lee said, “I think we made some choices after it went out and there were some production errors that led to the book being published the way it was ... that ended up being a big story. But thankfully, people were very pleased with the story and the content, the beautiful art, and the story that Brian and Lee had come up with really resonated with readers.”

“It’s made us look at what Black Label is and think about whether these elements are additive to the story,” Lee said. “And that’s something that we’ ll be mindful of going forward.”

His co-publisher, Dan DiDio, agreed, going so far as to say, “It’s something we wished never happened because it really took the attention away from what we thought was quality storytelling, and that’s not the way we see this imprint. As a matter of fact, we’re excited by all the books that we have under Black Label. It’s an important line for us.”