BATGIRL writer and artist weigh in on the Batgirl cover controversy

On Friday, DC Entertainment released several Joker variant covers for their June comics. Among them was this homage to “The Killing Joke,” drawn by Rafael Albuquerque, for BATGIRL #41.

The backlash was immediate and fierce. Since October, when Batgirl got both a new costume and a new creative team, the comic has tonally been aimed at female teens and young women. Having Barbara in tears at the hands of a man who crippled, tortured, and perhaps sexually abused her was considered off-base by many, HitFix Harpy included.

DC Comics and the creative team behind Batgirl agreed and, at the request of Rafael Albuquerque, pulled the cover. One of Batgirl's writers took to Twitter to explain the decision.

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To those fans who were concerned about censorship of artistic expression, he had this to say.

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He also assured fans that Rafael was not in trouble with either himself of DC in general.

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Stewart took to Twitter again after some confusion about DC”s muddled wording in regards to threats received in the wake of the controversy. Specifically this line: “[…]Threats of violence and harassment are wrong and have no place in comics or society.”

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Rafael Albuquerque also tried to ward off any misunderstanding of the language used in the official statement.

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Neither DC nor anyone on Batgirl”s creative team have yet said if Albuquerque will create another Joker variant for the issue or if BATGIRL #41 will simply be variant-less this June.