Posted in: Comics | Tagged: eddie berganza, joe casey, Joshua Williamson

Joe Casey On Joshua Williamson Rewriting His Batman/Superman

Joe Casey on Eddie Berganza getting Joshua Williamson to rewrite his Superman/Batman run to add more punching

Published Tue, 12 Aug 2025 08:57:03 -0500

Last updated Tue, 12 Aug 2025 12:01:24 -0500

Article Summary

Joe Casey reveals his original Adventures of Superman ending was rewritten to add more action and violence.
Casey was frustrated by editorial changes, specifically from then-editor Eddie Berganza, without his consent.
He preferred a more emotional, cerebral climax to the storyline, matching his usual take on Superman and Batman.
Casey hints at sharing his original script version in a future edition of his Substack newsletter.

Joe Casey wrote Batman/Superman in 2009, with artist Mike Wieringo, intended to mop up a number of previous DC Comics events, such as Our Worlds At War. However his run didn't actually do a lot of that. His first issue, Batman/Superman #64, titled Prelude To The Big Noise: Three Months Away with Scott Kolins was meant to tease what would come his run in three months' time. Superman/Batman #68 drawn by Ardian Syaf, labelled a Our World's At War Aftermath issue… wasn't. And with Superman/Batman #72 he was gone, his final issue #71 written by some newcomer called Joshua Williamson. In his Substack newsletter, Joe Casey writes;

"That that whole thing was a bit of a tempest in a teapot, overall, not so much of a "falling out". The "Our Worlds At War" connection didn't bother me so much, since I was actually writing Adventures Of Superman at the time of said event and had a hand in planning it. I just thought it was bad marketing/branding, since adding that banner to the covers probably did a better job turning readers off than it did attracting any new readers to the book."

"I only called it out publicly because I was annoyed that my ending had been rewritten without telling me. The editor of that series (who has since left DC under an unsavory cloud of controversy over his personal behavior) didn't care for how I wrapped up the story… which, if I recall, had a more emotional, cerebral climax (maybe I should run my original ending in this newsletter at some point?)… which was in keeping with how I'd been writing both Superman and Batman up until that point. The editor wanted more punching, more senseless violence. The thing was, I'd already been paid in full for the script I'd turned in so there was really no way he could "force" me to rewrite it. So, when I flat out refused… well, first he hung up on me. Then he simply hired the nearest warm body to execute his "vision" and I only found out once the issue had seen print. I guess you could say I pulled an "Alan Moore"… in so far as I went public with one gripe, while keeping quiet about my true gripe. Until now, I guess…"

Obviously Eddie Berganza there… and Josh Williamson as a warm body. Here's one of those scenes…

The next issue everyone was replaced by Paul Levitz and Jerry Ordway. We look forward to Joe Casey running his original version in his Substack newsletter soon. And yes, I did originally get the wrong end of the stick here… but what ever did happen to Joshua Williamson?????

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