The critically acclaimed, Eisner-nominated comic series The Legend of Wonder Woman has been cancelled by DC Comics, because of what a spokesperson for DC called “a challenging relationship” with the husband and wife team behind the series.

Artist Ray Dillon and writer Renae De Liz had created nine issues of The Legend of Wonder Woman, telling the story of the Amazonian from her origins on the planet Themyscira to arriving on Earth to become a superhero. A digital-first series, a collected edition was released in hardback on 13 December.

DC had previously announced that the series would continue with a second part to come out in 2017. De Liz told Nerdist.com as recently as last week that more work was coming, saying it would be about a Wonder Woman who “still struggles with trying to find her place beyond the hero in her new world”.

Since the cancellation was announced, fans have been wondering whether it was due to poor sales, or studio sexism towards Wonder Woman. However, the DC spokesperson told the Guardian that though “we loved the book and we were very excited to work on the collected volume”, the studio was concerned about Dillon’s public comments about other teams at DC on social media.

In a series of now-deleted tweets, preserved online on Bleeding Cool, Dillon criticised the writing in another DC series, Wonder Woman: Earth One, and complained when DC approved future volumes of Earth One while he was waiting to hear about the future of his own series.

On hearing the news that Kevin Grevioux had been confirmed to write a series about the Amazonians, titled The Odyssey of the Amazons, Dillon alleged that he and De Liz had already pitched a similar idea to DC but had never heard back about it. De Liz also complained, tweeting that while she was happy the series would happen, she “felt I could have added a lot as a female creator”.

“It is an unfortunate situation. We tried hard to make it work,” the DC spokesperson said.

Dillon said: “I wish no negativity on anyone, and support DC and the people who work there 100%. I’m just looking forward to getting through the hurdle of sudden loss of finances during a crucial time and moving forward to an exciting, productive new year.” He said that he and De Liz were now focusing on their creation, the superhero Lady Powerpunch.

When the cancellation was announced on Thursday, De Liz took to Twitter to say she was “surprised and devastated” the series had been cancelled. She also revealed that she is pregnant with her fourth child, tweeting that the announcement had fallen at a difficult time of year, just before Christmas.

I am very grateful to DC for the opportunity to work with such an iconic character over the last few years, that was a joy like none other — Renae De Liz (@RenaeDeLiz) December 16, 2016

After being encouraged by fans on Twitter, De Liz set up a GoFundMe page to accept donations for her family. It has already raised more than $5,000 (£4,000) at time of writing, exceeding its initial $2,000 goal in less than 24 hours. More than 400 fans have signed a petition on Change.org, demanding that DC reinstate the series.

In an update, De Liz thanked supporters and said the money would not only help her family at Christmas, but also gave her and Dillon more creative freedom. “No matter what we do, I’ll always be pushing for creating adventures for all ages that are uplifting, fun, and full of examples of diverse, strong characters, especially for young girls to look up to, and show them that they too are capable of doing anything,” she wrote.

DC has historically been sensitive to public criticism from their creators. In 2009, Justice League of America writer Dwayne McDuffie was fired after making comments on a DC Comics discussion board about his frustrations with the project, while Fairest writer Chris Roberson was told specifically that he had lost his role on the DC title for “one tweet which questioned the ethics of the company”.

It has not been a good week for the comic-book character, who turned 75 this year: Wonder Woman also lost her job as the UN ambassador for empowering girls and women after less than two months. More than 45,000 people signed a petition criticising the appointment, saying: “It is alarming that the United Nations would consider using a character with an overtly sexualised image at a time when the headline news in United States and the world is the objectification of women and girls.”