I read Tynion’s newsletter and it sounds like he might be planning to go completely creator owned once his Batman run is done (which won’t be for at least another year so he may change his mind). It made me realize just how badly DC needs new blood. Looking at their lineup:
Snyder is stepping back after Death Metal. He may do a Nightwing BL book but there’s been zero indication he plans on doing another ongoing. He wants to focus on his creator work and it wouldn’t surprise me if his next superhero book is at Marvel.
Morrison is gone after TGL. He only came back because of Didio, and with Didio gone I’m not sure if he’ll come back again. He’s already pretty much done all he can at both of the Big 2, I see him sticking to live action stuff, maybe writing a book just to tweak Moore’s nose
Johns made the switch completely to TV/movie stuff, don’t expect anything beyond the occasional BL book from him.
Rucka is back to his creator owned work, dunno if he’ll come back again.
Tynion is talking about making the switch from Big 2 stuff to creator owned stuff aside from Batman. He may be planning to bounce once he’s done with Bats.
All those guys gone... who is really positioned to take over as DC’s next big superstar?
Williamson is perhaps the obvious choice, as he’s a Snyder pupil same as Tynion, and he’s coming off his Flash run and still onboard for stuff like Batman/Superman. He’ll probably stick around.
Ram V is definitely the closest DC has to a Ewing in my eyes. Dude is fantastic and I can see DC putting him on the bigger books.
Taylor does nothing for me but he sells well. If I wasn’t certain Bendis will get JL next I’d have said he was the obvious next choice. He works for both companies though, and neither likes to give their big books to someone not locked down with an exclusive.
Bendis is someone whose Superman stuff I’ve enjoyed, but he’s clearly not the sales force he once was, and he’s hasn’t been for a long time. I think he’ll get JL, but I also think he’s lost a lot of leeway with Didio and Harras leaving. I don’t know how long his time at DC will be.
My point with all this is while I don’t think many of the creative
stories will have big impacts on the mainline in the future, I absolutely think many of the
creatives themselves involved in Future State could become major players in DC’s future. The old guard that pretty much ran DC from the 90s to now are finally either moving on or being pushed out. The 2020s stand to be another shift for DC, like the 10s were for Marvel. Frankly I think that’s a good thing, I hope we’ll get some good stories out of this event and I hope those who do well are rewarded with mainline books.