James Tynion IV quits DC15438
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| Batman writer James Tynion IV quits DC for creator-owned comics By Chris Arrant 1 day ago James Tynion IV dumps Batman to create his own comic books  DC's Batman writer James Tynion IV has announced that he has turned down an offer to continue on the flagship DC title, and will be leaving it - and all of superhero comics - to work full time on his own comic book projects. In the August 9 edition of his e-newsletter The Empire of the Tiny Onion, Tynion announced his final issue of Batman will be November's Batman #117, and that he'll wrap up his run on The Joker with April 2022's The Joker #14. Thie decision comes as Tynion already has four successful creator-owned titles competing for his attention; The Nice House on the Lake (DC/Black Label), Wynd (Boom! Studios), Something Is Killing the Children (Boom! Studios), The Department of Truth (Image Comics), the latter two in development as TV series. According to Tynion, his 'exclusive' contract with DC ends this year - and while he was offered a three-year renewal with plans for him to be "working on Batman for the bulk of that time" - he had to choose between that and another contract from the subscription newsletter platform Substack, which recently announced plans to publish original comics through its platform. Why did James Tynion IV choose creator-owned with Substack over DC? "[Substack's contract is] the best I've ever been given in a decade as a professional comic book writer," writes Tynion, who has worked for DC, Marvel Comics, Image, Boom!, and others. "A grant from Substack to create a new slate of original comic book properties directly on their platform, that my co-creators and I would own completely, with Substack taking none of the intellectual property rights, or even the publishing rights." While DC's 'exclusive' contracts generally allow creators to work on outside projects if it doesn't interfere with DC's assigned work (and isn't with a direct competitor), Tynion says he couldn't realistically handle the workload of both. "Instead, I'm going to dedicate my whole brain to building a bunch of really cool stuff on my own terms, without having to get permission from any publisher to make it," Tynion continues. So now Tynion is in effect becoming a publisher himself with his company Tiny Onion Studios. Launched last year to release his horror magazine Razorblades, Tiny Onion Studios will now be publishing that and this new line of creator-owned comics that will debut on Substack but would assumedly, eventually be available in other digital platforms and in print. Amazing Spider-Man writer Nick Spencer was the first comic creator announced to be working with Substack, however terms of what it means for creators weren't disclosed. Tynion's announcement is more forthcoming. James Tynion IV's Substack comics line The first Substack comics project Tynion is launching is a UFO-themed series called Blue Book with artist Michael Avon Oeming and letterer Aditya Bidikar. Blue Book is scheduled to launch in September. There are four additional Tynion/Substack comics underway, although details on those are limited. While their official names aren't being announced, he has codenames for them - and also when he anticipates them debuting. They are: Operation Zoobook (October 2021) Operation Toplock (Fourth quarter 2021) Operation Nightmare (First quarter 2022) Operation Dial-Up (Summer 2022) "One of these is a non-fiction comic. One of these projects will be a prose/illustration series that will tie into one of my existing books. One of them is a novella. One of them is a long-form horror project. One of them is a project that I started dreaming up back when I was a student of Scott Snyder in college," Tynion continues. "Two of them I'll be bringing on some very talented writers to work on with me. All of them have incredible art… And it would be honest and true to tell you all of those things." So how do I read Tynion's upcoming comics on Substack? Tynion's current newsletter will be the throughline for these Subtack comics. While the newsletter itself will remain free, the upcoming comics (and other features) will require a subscription fee. The base tier is $7/month or $75/year, which will give you access to all of the Substack comics and additional written posts beyond what the free tier provides. If you're a Tynion super-fan, for $250/year you can get all of that plus six print comic books with variant covers exclusive to people at this tier. What does this mean for James Tynion IV's other creator-owned comics? As of right now, there are no plans for Tynion to discontinue his current non-Substack creator-owned comics - even The House on the Lake with DC. As he frames it, the time he spent writing two issues of Batman a month and an issue of Joker for DC, he'll instead be using that time for these Substack comics. |
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Josh7945 private msg quote post Address this user | |
| I think he will contribute to DC books, but I think the main focus will be his IOP. He’s just looking for a the best way to distribute. I don’t think this is the way unfortunately. He needs to make it collectible as well. I’m leaning towards the Comic Tag. I think that’s the direction all publishers will go now. It has the best of both worlds. | ||
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 I AM... THE Bat-Manuel
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MurrayC private msg quote post Address this user | |
| I don't think he's a "bad" writer, but I am tired of the long-winded stories he tells in Batman without and real conclusions, and I am NOT looking forward to "Future State". And I was also getting tired of all the bazillion new characters he was creating which was clearly an attempt to capture lightning in a bottle that would be the next Harley Quinn. | ||
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monjoody private msg quote post Address this user | |
Quote:Originally Posted by MurrayC I agree with you, but wonder how much of this is him vs DC's expectations. Dept of Truth and Wynd are more focused and directed storylines that reach conclusions much more quickly than the Batman run (although I've really enjoyed the retooling of Scarecrow). |
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 Captain Accident
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the420bandito private msg quote post Address this user | |
| Yeah he is better off doing unestablished characters. Probably a wise move considering the success Jeff Lemire has had in the independent comic space. | ||
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 I called CGC about the giveback benefit.
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beastboy1980 private msg quote post Address this user | |
| i have not read anything yet by him. can anyone recommend a jumping off point ? |
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Captain Accident
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the420bandito private msg quote post Address this user | |
Quote:Originally Posted by beastboy1980 This is a good place to start:  |
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willieCPA4646 private msg quote post Address this user | |
| Substack has been getting a lot of press in the last few days: New York Times: clickable text (NOTE: You may need a NYT subscription). SYFY: clickable text " - [T]his isn't simply a case of a group of creators deciding they'd like to use a subscription-based service to launch new comics, and going with Substack because it's a big name. This is an investment on the part of Substack as well, as cofounder Hamish McKenize outlined in a post accompanying the announcement." |
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Kinsella5 private msg quote post Address this user | |
| JT did post a follow-up newsletter to articles such as this to clarify he still is open to working with DC in the future, and that DC will continue to publish NHOTL as he mentioned that title is just getting started and he and DC have big plans for it. He wants to do more creator-owned stuff and who can blame him, he's one of the hottest writers out there right now and will now be free to do what he wants and have more creative control. The Substack thing with different tier subscriptions could be the start of something bigger for creators, I saw that Jonathan Hickman announced one on Monday as well also with $250 top-tier offering per year. | ||
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I called CGC about the giveback benefit.
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beastboy1980 private msg quote post Address this user | |
Quote:Originally Posted by the420bandito thanks will pick this up |
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 How do I know this? Because I've done it myself.
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lawguy1977 private msg quote post Address this user | |
| I liked his work on Detective Comics before he switched to Batman. I do agree that his Batman work feels a bit drawn out, but I do like how he's developed his Punchline character. And I've also enjoyed his re-tooling of Scarecrow, but at the same time, I've been looking for a "jumping off" point for Batman books simply because I'm not a big fan of Future State. I'll probably focus more on the Black Label Batman books or collect trades instead of single issues at this point. | ||
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Pocketrevoltech private msg quote post Address this user | |
Quote:Originally Posted by beastboy1980 1. Something is Killing the Children 2. Nice House on the Lake 3. Wynd All really enjoyable books from him with different themes. |
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BrianGreensnips private msg quote post Address this user | |
Quote:Originally Posted by beastboy1980You can pick up the trades and binge read them. I have Department of Truth and SIKT in trades. This way I don't have to worry about handling them carefully being that the early issues are worth big bucks right now. I heard Wynd is good. I will have to check it out. I also liked his run on Batman. I think he was much better than what Tom King did with Batman. |
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Kinsella5 private msg quote post Address this user | |
Quote:Originally Posted by beastboy1980 Another thing you can do IF you want is rather than picking up the three softcover trades that collect the first 15 issues, you can get one deluxe hardcover that is coming out that collects the first 15 issues as well. It will be released October 6th. They were will be two versions released, the standard hardcover, and a deluxe hardcover which is basically the standard HC but it comes inside a slipcase and this slipcase will only be for the deluxe edition first printings. Once those sell-out, and more than likely they will, the slipcase itself won't be offered again. Here the links if you just want to see the differences: Standard Hardcover: https://www.tfaw.com/jun211086-something-is-killing-children-deluxe-ed-hc-book-01.html Deluxe Hardcover: https://www.tfaw.com/jun211087-something-is-killing-children-deluxe-ed-slipcase-hc-book-01.html You can find them on Amazon, Barnes and Noble, etc. however I actually found TFAW to have the lowest price on them (so far).... |
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Doc_Cop private msg quote post Address this user | |
| I am enjoying Department of Truth and see that it could easily translate into a Netflix series. | ||
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 I had no way of knowing that 9.8 graded copies signed by Adam Hughes weren't what you were looking for.
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drchaos private msg quote post Address this user | |
| Looks like Mark Waid is coming to DC to fill the void. | ||
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Kinsella5 private msg quote post Address this user | |
Quote:Originally Posted by Doc_Cop Department of Truth has been picked up as a television series from the creators of the Chernobyl series, I could see it ending up on Netflix as well. |
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