James Tynion's Plans for Batman in 2021

[DragonPiece]

James Tynion sent out a newsletter last night with a lot of exciting info about his plans for the Batman and Joker titles.

There is a lot to take in, but here are some exciting bits I found interesting..

Urban Legends will spin out other gotham titles and mini series: "Urban Legends is going to be a real gift. A lot of storylines will be seeded in that title before they break out into their own titles… There are also more books to come in the Gotham line as the year goes on. Big moments in the core Gotham titles will set new runs in motion in other titles. Backups and shorts might turn into one-shots and miniseries and series, and we’re working to make sure it all matters."

On Batman's current wealth: "I'm bring him back to being a less problematic kind of Wealthy. Bruce Wayne, Millionaire, rather than Bruce Wayne, Billionaire. He’s not so rich that he could effectively buy Gotham City and fix it overnight. There are a bunch of much wealthier people than him in the city trying to maintain their power and influence and Batman is from their world and fighting against them, he doesn’t have the ability to just buy and sell them and walk away."

Planning the bat/cat dynamic: " I had a long chat with Ram V just the other day about how we can weave together a series of story threads between the Batman and Catwoman titles that are going to pay off incredibly when they all come together."


On the reaction to the Joker book: "I know there are a lot of folks who are going to have a knee-jerk reaction to there being a Joker book. If I weren’t writing it, I’d probably be one of them. Hell, back when it was first pitched to me, I said flat out that I wasn’t really sure how to make that work… And then I sat with it for a few weeks and said “okay, I know how to make it work, but it’s only going to work if we come at it from an unexpected angle.” And thankfully everyone in the Bat-Offices, and the DC offices bought into my angle. It is the scariest book I have written for DC Comics so far. And maybe the most human. I love writing Jim Gordon so fucking much. He’s been one of my favorite characters in all of comics for my entire life."

Backup Stories in Batman: "The Batman title is going have an unannounced backup features starting in April (After a two part ROBIN backup by my good pal Joshua Williamson and one of my favorite new artists, Gleb Melnikov, running between the March issues of both Batman and Detective) – I’ve been working with the artist on the next round of Back-ups since late this summer, and I could not be more excited to tell you about it. It is high octane manga-influenced action insanity, with an artist I love, and can’t wait to bring to into the Gotham fold."


Other small things:
-Next Batman arc is described as a cyberpunk horror story, introduces a new group caleld the unsanity collective
-Batman annual 5, that came out this week, sets up what's next for clownhunter's evolution
-He considers the current Batman era as roughly the midpoint between batman the animated series and batman beyond
-He has a 3 year plan for both the Batman and Joker titles, as always, it depends on how much people continue to support him on the titles

[MajorHoy]

Doesn't look like I'll be buying much in the Batman-line in 2021.

[Darkcrusade25]

Hoping to see backup stories involving Red Robin or Red Hood. Otherwise I don’t really see a reason to buy all this hype. Feels like adding more new characters like back in the Synder days.

[Astralabius]

I'm not going to buy anything that has batcat in it.

[Westbats]

Urban Legends will spin out other gotham titles and mini series: "Urban Legends is going to be a real gift. A lot of storylines will be seeded in that title before they break out into their own titles…

Backup Stories in Batman: "– I’ve been working with the artist on the next round of Back-ups since late this summer, and I could not be more excited to tell you about it. It is high octane manga-influenced action insanity, with an artist I love, and canÂ’t wait to bring to into the Gotham fold."

I noticed this as well when I read the newsletter, it sounds as if every back-up story will break out into their own title. In that case, Zdarsky's Red Hood will definitely looked at with anticipation. Hearing that it's manga influenced brings back his description of Ghost-Hunter, I wonder if that means that he's the focal point of the April back-ups and that he'll be getting a spin-off of his own?

As well, if back-ups lead to titles, does that mean an Punchline on-going starring Leslie Thompkins and Harper Row is in development? It strikes me as odd that after getting a special issue to start the story that Tynion is doing it as a backup in Joker and not just making it a limited-series on it's own. If Tynion's three-year plan is to end up with another Batman vs. Joker story at the end, then is his plan to stretch Punchline's trial three real-life years?

Either way, it'll be interesting to be reading a set of Gotham books that cannot rely on Joker being around for three years.

[DragonPiece]

I noticed this as well when I read the newsletter, it sounds as if every back-up story will break out into their own title. In that case, Zdarsky's Red Hood will definitely looked at with anticipation. Hearing that it's manga influenced brings back his description of Ghost-Hunter, I wonder if that means that he's the focal point of the April back-ups and that he'll be getting a spin-off of his own?

As well, if back-ups lead to titles, does that mean an Punchline on-going starring Leslie Thompkins and Harper Row is in development? It strikes me as odd that after getting a special issue to start the story that Tynion is doing it as a backup in Joker and not just making it a limited-series on it's own. If Tynion's three-year plan is to end up with another Batman vs. Joker story at the end, then is his plan to stretch Punchline's trial three real-life years?

Either way, it'll be interesting to be reading a set of Gotham books that cannot rely on Joker being around for three years.

Yeah, he hasn't been coy about ghost-hunter getting his own type of solo story on twitter, so it wouldn't surprise me if the backups are centered around him. Very curious to see who the artist will be. I'm also curious about if Harper can get a ongoing after the punchline story, the fact that she's even getting any shine is good. Wish she could have been part off the 2021 batman variant Jorge did though.

[Stars & Stripes]

Yeah, he hasn't been coy about ghost-hunter getting his own type of solo story on twitter, so it wouldn't surprise me if the backups are centered around him. Very curious to see who the artist will be. I'm also curious about if Harper can get a ongoing after the punchline story, the fact that she's even getting any shine is good. Wish she could have been part off the 2021 batman variant Jorge did though.

Is there even a high demand for a Bluebird solo aside from us few? Just curious.

[DragonPiece]

Is there even a high demand for a Bluebird solo aside from us few? Just curious.

No, but it's not like Harper has had a lot of apperances to even build up that kind of demand.

[km_sus]

So I assume Urban Legends and the backups are where characters like Tim, Cass and Steph will live? That's cool, I like the sound of interconnectedness ala the Dixon era of Batbooks (and I know Tynion grew up during that era). Surprisingly, I'm actually interested and planning to pick up more than half of the bat line.

I wonder how strong the Bat/Cat relationship will be in the future? I get the impression that both Tynion and Ram V aren't that interested in the relationship and are only doing it because DC's new kick is actually paying adherence to their recent continuity.

[Stars & Stripes]

No, but it's not like Harper has had a lot of apperances to even build up that kind of demand.

True that. There was a four year (2016-2020) gap between appearances for the character, who was largely forgotten once other writers got their hands on Gotham.

[Frontier]

So my takeaway:

- Urban Legends will lead into a lot of things...new Red Hood book? Harley's solo is a given. Maybe more stuff with Grifter and the Foxes.

- "Big moments in the core Gotham titles will set new runs in motion in other titles. Backups and shorts might turn into one-shots and miniseries and series, and we’re working to make sure it all matters." So maybe a Bluebird one-shot or Batgirls series?

- To be honest, Bruce's wealth doesn't sound all that different because I don't think anyone felt like Bruce could just buy the city, but maybe that's just me. I guess now that he's not the richest man in Gotham Bruce might seem more normal and less problematic? I dunno.

- People disappointed about how things ended with Selina in Joker War should be happy to see the upcoming interplay between the Batman and Catwoman books.

- I'm guessing Tynion latched onto the Joker series as a stealth Jim Gordon ongoing.

- Tynion really bringing his love of manga to the forefront. I wonder if the Unsanity Collective is that group of people Batman is chasing after in the Batmobile in the Jorge Jimenez preview art.

- B:TAS to Beyond, huh? I guess Beyond is a better future than Future State.

[Citizen Kane]

James Tynion sent out a newsletter last night with a lot of exciting info about his plans for the Batman and Joker titles.

There is a lot to take in, but here are some exciting bits I found interesting..

Urban Legends will spin out other gotham titles and mini series: "Urban Legends is going to be a real gift. A lot of storylines will be seeded in that title before they break out into their own titles… There are also more books to come in the Gotham line as the year goes on. Big moments in the core Gotham titles will set new runs in motion in other titles. Backups and shorts might turn into one-shots and miniseries and series, and we’re working to make sure it all matters."

On Batman's current wealth: "I'm bring him back to being a less problematic kind of Wealthy. Bruce Wayne, Millionaire, rather than Bruce Wayne, Billionaire. He’s not so rich that he could effectively buy Gotham City and fix it overnight. There are a bunch of much wealthier people than him in the city trying to maintain their power and influence and Batman is from their world and fighting against them, he doesn’t have the ability to just buy and sell them and walk away."

Planning the bat/cat dynamic: " I had a long chat with Ram V just the other day about how we can weave together a series of story threads between the Batman and Catwoman titles that are going to pay off incredibly when they all come together."


On the reaction to the Joker book: "I know there are a lot of folks who are going to have a knee-jerk reaction to there being a Joker book. If I weren’t writing it, I’d probably be one of them. Hell, back when it was first pitched to me, I said flat out that I wasn’t really sure how to make that work… And then I sat with it for a few weeks and said “okay, I know how to make it work, but it’s only going to work if we come at it from an unexpected angle.” And thankfully everyone in the Bat-Offices, and the DC offices bought into my angle. It is the scariest book I have written for DC Comics so far. And maybe the most human. I love writing Jim Gordon so fucking much. He’s been one of my favorite characters in all of comics for my entire life."

Backup Stories in Batman: "The Batman title is going have an unannounced backup features starting in April (After a two part ROBIN backup by my good pal Joshua Williamson and one of my favorite new artists, Gleb Melnikov, running between the March issues of both Batman and Detective) – I’ve been working with the artist on the next round of Back-ups since late this summer, and I could not be more excited to tell you about it. It is high octane manga-influenced action insanity, with an artist I love, and can’t wait to bring to into the Gotham fold."


Other small things:
-Next Batman arc is described as a cyberpunk horror story, introduces a new group caleld the unsanity collective
-Batman annual 5, that came out this week, sets up what's next for clownhunter's evolution
-He considers the current Batman era as roughly the midpoint between batman the animated series and batman beyond
-He has a 3 year plan for both the Batman and Joker titles, as always, it depends on how much people continue to support him on the titles

So basically, DC is going to slap the "Batman" label across the covers of a ton of spin-offs for fan-submission characters that barely got their noses wet in the Batman mythos, while little to nothing is going to be happening in the main Batman titles. What a disappointment. And "manga-influenced action insanity"? What!?

I don't mind the cyberpunk vibe that Tynion wants to move towards, but it seems to be a bandwagon move rather than a natural progression—I also just simply prefer the gothic nature of Gotham. If anything interesting comes of it, I might pick up a trade, but there's nothing Tynion's said so far that has me excited for this current lineup. See you in 7 months.

[Avi]

That there will be more conversation between creators sounds good. I can see different people working more closely together like Ram V & Tynion and Taylor & Tamaki.

If BatCat returns to continuity it'll be interesting to see how Ram V will include it in his Catwoman run.

[silverlantern]

I find Tynion a really talented writer whose Batman has been bland so far. From my understanding, a lot of his plans were changed due to the scrapped 5G plans and the coronavirus shutdowns, so he's only really been able to have free reign in the title starting in March. (As far as we know, he was meant to be the fill-in writer on the title until issue 100, where Tim Fox was going to take over that John Ridley was probably gonna write). The newsletter also implies that Jorge Jiminez is the main monthly artist so at the very least the art will be top - notch.

Speaking of Tim, the three year plan comment does have me thinking. If we're going off three years after March 2021, that should bring us to the year 2024. That year was rattling around in my head for some reason until I realized that the "canon" year of the Future State books for the Bat-line was 2025, the year where Tim takes the Batman mantle and Future State: Nightwing, Catwoman, Sirens and Red Hood all take place. 2024 would also be the 85th Anniversary of Bruce's debut and could serve as his temporary send off. I don't know how long term the DC editorial office is planning but maybe we have to take them at their word and Tim will in fact be the "next" Batman starting then.

[Bad Witch]

I find Tynion a really talented writer whose Batman has been bland so far. From my understanding, a lot of his plans were changed due to the scrapped 5G plans and the coronavirus shutdowns, so he's only really been able to have free reign in the title starting in March. (As far as we know, he was meant to be the fill-in writer on the title until issue 100, where Tim Fox was going to take over that John Ridley was probably gonna write). The newsletter also implies that Jorge Jiminez is the main monthly artist so at the very least the art will be top - notch.

Speaking of Tim, the three year plan comment does have me thinking. If we're going off three years after March 2021, that should bring us to the year 2024. That year was rattling around in my head for some reason until I realized that the "canon" year of the Future State books for the Bat-line was 2025, the year where Tim takes the Batman mantle and Future State: Nightwing, Catwoman, Sirens and Red Hood all take place. 2024 would also be the 85th Anniversary of Bruce's debut and could serve as his temporary send off. I don't know how long term the DC editorial office is planning but maybe we have to take them at their word and Tim will in fact be the "next" Batman starting then.

Tynion was absolutely only going to get to 100 and this future junk was going to be the new norm for years (it would of tanked ) thankfully didio was fired and they were smart enough to say future state (they paid for the work might as well use it for a few months) was a possible reality spinning out of death metal. They made it so they have options.

I don't think tynion will get three full years. I think he may get to the end of 2021 or midway through 2022 before the plug is pulled. Morrison got dicked around, king did as well. I don't think tynion will be able to keep the sales up. I totally expect a reboot in late 2021 or 2022. My dream would be to get zdarsky to come over and take over batman. I'd def settle for Taylor or priest. I'd even be down for a tomasi fill in run after tynion..

Future state is garbage and everyone deep down knows it. It's just some people are more optimistic. In two months this place will be filled with threads about how stupid it was...book it!!