BATMAN R.I.P.
End of an "era" I guess??
Okay, so the news is OUT!! My last issue of Batman will be #157, on stands in, I believe, February. I have two OFFICIAL STATEMENTS. One, the boring truth. And the other, a juicy story to get tongues wagging on the Internet! Here’s the first one:
I love Batman. It’s been a true joy working on the title. But some time in the spring I got the itch in the back of my brain to wrap things up. Partly because Jorge and I were finishing up the giant Failsafe/Zur story, but also because my amazing Bat-editor Ben Abernathy had left for Transforming G.I. Joes at Skybound. I also had a terrifying workload in front of me and had to make some hard decisions about what needed to be prioritized.
So, just before C2E2 in April, I let DC know that I was leaving. It was a tough call ‘cause I truly love the crew there (especially their EIC Marie Javins, an absolute light in this dumb industry), but they understood. They asked if I’d be willing to stick around for an arc starting in October and I said yes, because I wanted to do something special and contained for Jorge; beautiful, beautiful Jorge.
Speaking of Jorge, the absolute hardest part was knowing we’d no longer be working together. Many hugs were exchanged at C2E2 when he found out, which was great for me because he smells so nice and his arms are so strong yet tender.
Since that convention I dug in on our final arc with the new Batman editor Rob Levin and ended up loving working with him as well, so THAT became the SECOND hardest part of leaving! Maybe I made a huge mistake???
I’m super proud of our final story, though scheduling issues forced it to go to biweekly, which meant Jorge sadly couldn’t draw it all. But then OTHER scheduling issues put it back to monthly, but what are you gonna do? Comics be comickin’. At some point we’re all at the mercy of things like “the financial quarter” and “CEO MacGuffin has a plan.”
I won’t get all maudlin here ‘cause we still have issues coming out until February. This is me pre-maudling, priming the maudlin pumps!
Okay, now for the fake, JUICY story of what happened!
I walked down the dark hall of DC Comics’ Burbank office, a little unsettled at how dark it actually was since it was the middle of the day. “Batman comicsss are nighttime affairssss” said a tiny Associate Editor as they scurried across the floor from one room to another. Soon I was at the door marked “DC President.”
I opened the door and was blinded by the light. The room was big and opulent, with oversized posters of all the hit non-Batman DC movies, both of them, adorning the walls. A mysterious man sat with their back to me, clearly getting ready for a big reveal.
“Do you know why you’re here?” The voice said.
“Um, so you can give me a raise?”
“No. It’s so I can do … this.”
Just then, two Junior Assistant Editorial Interns ran in from either side and gently turned the chair so the man was now facing me.
“Surprised?”
“Not really, no.”
It was Mark Waid, grinning like the Catwoman who swallowed the Black Canary (non sexual). Honestly, it was nice to see him.
“Hey man, what’s new?” I cheerfully barked.
“I’ve been slowly integrating myself into DC Comics over the past few years, just for this moment. Writing bigger and bigger titles until I found myself here, in charge of the entire company.”
“Oh, wow! Congrats!”
“You’re fired.”
“Really? Ah, man, that sucks.”
Mark seemed a little confused and disappointed at my reaction.
“Aren’t you … I thought you’d be more upset.”
“Nah. I get it. You gotta admit, it was a pretty long run in this market.”
“And it will be even longer! With weird delays and increased schedules! Plus, Jim Lee is going to come back to the title, but not with you! Never with you! Ha ha ha! You’ll be so surprised when you find out who he’ll be doing the title with!”
“Jeph Loeb?”
“I … yes. How did you—”
“Honestly, makes total sense. I’d buy that.”
“Don’t you want to know why I’m doing this to you?” Mark was sputtering now, clearly worked up.
“Is it because I’m younger and more handsome than you?”
“What? No! You’re absolutely not more handsome! I’m going to call in all the editors right now and let them determine who between us is the handsomest!”
“Eep! Seems like a real HR violation, man. I don’t want you to lose this job just as you’re starting.”
Mark calmed down a bit, trying to stay on track.
“Look, here’s the real reason: you didn’t have Batman and Catwoman kiss enough. I’m a die-hard BatCat fan and I was furious that you didn’t make their faces come together more. Also, they should be married and have kids and grow old and die. And none of that poly X-Men shit, you hear? Monogamous!”
“Uh, you know, James Tynion also didn’t really have them kiss or get married.”
“I haven’t read those yet, but good to know.” Mark jotted some notes down before continuing. “Anyway, because you didn’t write what I wanted you to write, you’re bad. And needed to go.”
I kept checking my watch, because it seemed like this meeting was over and we were at the part where it was just going to devolve into idle chit-chat.
“Sure. Look, I actually think I can still make the next flight back to Canada. So, are we done, or…”
“I guess so.”
I turned and went to leave the office, but before I could get out the door, Mark called after me.
“One more thing.”
“Yeah?” I said this with as heavy a sigh as I could manage.
“Mark Waid died five years ago.”
“Okay.”
“I’m actually….” Mark grabbed under his chin and started to pull one of those Mission: Impossible masks off in a way where it definitely wasn’t reusable. What a waste, I thought. “…Dan Didio.”
Sure enough it was Dan Didio, smirking at me.
“Okay, cool.” I walked out of the office and out into the street and the L.A. sunshine. A black car picked me up from out front of DC and we slowly made our way to the airport. The driver was a friendly sort, asking me what I did for a living.
“I write—sorry, wrote—Batman comics.”
“Whoa! Like the movies?”
“No, the comics.”
“They still make those?”
“Yes.”
We drove in silence for a bit after that, until the driver pulled over to the side of the freeway. They turned around to face me.
“Look, I can’t keep doing this, leaving you in the dark.” The man pulled off their Mission: Impossible mask, but carefully, so they could re-use it later. Nice. Already, I liked this dude. But it wasn’t a dude at all. It was Marie Javins, EIC of DC Comics.
“Marie! What are you doing here?”
“Well, with Mark taking over, someone had to actually make sure the books come out. So I’ve been operating behind-the scenes, like a shadow government. I just wanted to let you know that I tried to fight for you, but Mark is such a BatCat guy…”
“Makes sense, considering his…”
“…lack of romantic life!” We both said it at the same time, laughing until tears fell.
“Anyway,” Marie wiped her eyes clear. “Thanks for being understanding. If you want to write some Aquaman or Green Lantern, let me know. I’ll be here, in the shadows. I’m whatever DC needs me to be—”
“The Dark Knight.”
“What?”
“Oh, sorry, I thought you were quoting The Dark Knight.” After an awkward pause I opened the door and said, “I’m gonna walk the rest of the way, clear my head. Oh, by the way, Mark Waid is Dan Didio.”
“Yeah, I know. That was weird.”
I waved goodbye to Marie, and started the long trek to the airport. The Incredible Hulk closing credits music started playing, which probably meant I was going back to Marvel. But who knows in this economy?
All I truly know is that I’m still a fan of Batman. He’s pretty cool, and, most importantly, single.
This past weekend was NYCC and it was WILD! I met so many amazing readers and some cool shit happened and I’ll be able to let you know more about it shortly, but the highlight was finally meeting my Daredevil artist Marco Checchetto! A wonderful man and such a massive talent. And while I was at the show, THIS was released:
a VERY SPECIAL MANGASPLAINING where we talk about a NON-manga comic! Get ready for our deep dive into DAREDEVIL: BORN AGAIN!
And this week, finally, ZDARSKY COMIC NEWS #3 is out everywhere! Tell your retailer to keep ordering! They can charge customers if they want! No one is stopping them!!
Special shout out to our first ever ADVERTISERS! Your support means everything to us at ZCN! Please check them out!
THE INDIRECT MARKET: An insightful newsletter about the comic industry from a retailer’s perspective!
CHALLENGER COMICS: The best damn comic shop in Chicago!
PESTO COMICS: A cool indy comics publisher that has a new Kickstarter coming in November called BIG SMOKE PULP!
Thanks all! You COMPLETE ME
I gotta go as this newsletter is already hella long, so I’ll just say that I’ll talk about this photo more NEXT TIME
Okay!
Bye!
UPCOMING BOOK
ZDARSKY COMIC NEWS #3 — Oct 23
ZDARSKY COMIC NEWS #4 — Oct 30
PUBLIC DOMAIN #10 — Nov 6
BATMAN #154 — Nov 6
THE DOMAIN #5 — Nov 13
TIME WAITS #2 — Nov 13
ZDARSKY COMIC NEWS #5 — Nov 20
BATMAN #155 — Dec 4
ZDARSKY COMIC NEWS #6 — Dec 18
DAREDEVIL OMNIBUS VOL 2 —Jan 1
THE ALL-NIGHTER VOL 3 — Jan 22
PUBLIC DOMAIN VOL 2 — Feb 19
THE DOMAIN VOL 1 — Mar 26
UPCOMING SIGNINGS
THOUGHT BUBBLE (Harrowgate) — Nov 16-17
Oooh, I smell an Image sequel. They are now married with kids, the Sex Averse Criminals!
Haaaaaaaaaaaaah! Ohhhhhh Chip. Chip chip chipper, I needed that laugh this morning. So thanks for that. Sincerely.
In hindsight, I absolutely get why you would feel complete after wrapping up the Zur story (even if you never did reveal what happened to the other two damn jokers, but whatever) so I get the feeling of closure here. Though I confess I am pleased that things are wrapping up the vandal and court business before you leave, so thanks for remembering that on the way out the door.
I do hope though that this will not be the end of work for you at DC, Chip. Really hope you might find something in the line, or even in the new Absolute universe (I think you would do amazing work writing an Absolute Aquaman) so I look forward to seeing if we get more from you here. Or at Marvel.
This ride has been great, Chip, and I look forward to seeing how it all wraps up!