Fans of James Tynion IV’s work on Batman and The Joker may need to check their pull lists for the upcoming year, as Tynion revealed he’s leaving all superhero work starting this year. Revealed over his newsletter which you can read here, Tynion revealed Batman #117 will be his last issue out in November while The Joker #14 will be his last issue on the series which is set to release in April 2022.
Per Tynion’s newsletter:
I am going to be leaving BATMAN with Issue #117 in November, and THE JOKER with Issue #14 next April, with no immediate plans to write any other superhero comics in the near future.
This is all a means to an end to be able to create without publisher overlords telling him what to do, more or less. As Tynion put it, “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 details the road that lead him to this decision in the newsletter, I recommend reading it as it gets into great detail, and how juggling creator-owned work along with Batman revealed he was happiest when he had creative control.
This is all part of a larger move of comics creators moving their work to Substack, detailed in the New York Times article published today. This migration of creators, which includes Saladin Ahmed, Jonathan Hickman, Molly Ostertag, Scott Snyder and James Tynion IV, is lead by current Amazing Spider-Man writer Nick Spencer who has been a liaison between Substack and creators. The plan now is for Substack to publish new comic book stories, essays, and how-to guides from these creators.
Tynion revealed his release schedule to Substack which includes the following:
SEPTEMBER – OPERATION SKYLIGHT
OCTOBER – OPERATION ZOOBOOK
Q4 2021 – OPERATION TOPLOCK
Q1 2022 – OPERATION NIGHTMARE
SUMMER 2022 – OPERATION DIAL-UP
Operation Skylight is actually a book called Blue Book, which is by Tynion, Michael Avon Oeming, and lettered by Aditya Bidikar.
The cover to Tynion, Oeming, and Aditya Bidikar’s ‘Blue Book.’
As detailed in Tynion’s newsletter, these comics will require you sign up for $7 a month subscription, a $75 a year subscription, or a $250 a year subscription. Each comes with bonuses and incentives, like the $250/year Founders Tier which gets you everything plus six exclusive covers from six different projects sent to readers throughout the year.
For $7/month, you get access to everything. Every comic. Every post. Early-bird access to special covers and merchandise, etc.
It’s a huge day for Substack news, as Scott Snyder’s new Comics Writing 101 course was announced via his newsletter, as well as Saladin Ahmed’s Copper Bottle pop-up imprint. Jonathan Hickman also revealed big plans for Substack. Read all about those plans here.
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