BATWOMAN Ongoing by J.H. WILLIAMS III Announced

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Batwoman #1 has a nice ring to it for a lot of fans. When Greg Rucka announced he'd be focusing on his creator-owned career and leaving work-for-hire behind, many believed that was the end of the GLAAD Award-Winning character's story for the time being. According to DCU Blog The Source this morning, Kate Kane won't just be around, she'll be getting her own ongoing series, both drawn AND written by J. H. Williams III.

Williams of course has been one of the chief stewards of Batwoman's life so far, as artist on her first big arc in Detective Comics.  He'll be the writer and artist of the first arc of Batwoman with co-writing by W. Haden Blackman, who in 2008 wrote both the video game and comic book adaptation of Star Wars: The Force Unleashed.

For arc #2, Williams and Blackman will continue to write, with Madame Xanadu's Amy Reeder handling the art. She mentioned her excitement on the blog, citing Williams as a major influence.

The co-writers also gave some comments on the launch of the new series.

"We want the reader to learn even more about who Kate Kane is as Batwoman -- showing why she is an important addition to the Bat Family of heroes beyond what has already been addressed. We are also wanting to really make sure we start building additions to her own rogues gallery," Williams said. He also mentioned he wanted to keep the tone of "adventure" with "heart and drama" established by Batwoman's run in Detective.

Blackman added his excitement saying, "The thing that really attracts me to Batwoman as a character is her combination of a really strong, personal story and a dark, superheroic one."

Newsarama Note: The headline originally erroneously reported "Summer 2010," but DC is currently announcing this project without a firm timeframe. More as it comes on the release of the new ongoing.