Batman Writer Tackles UFOs in First Creator-Owned Series After DC Exit
Current Batman writer James Tynion IV is teasing his upcoming Substack series Blue Book, which will explore UFOs. Tynion’s upcoming exit from his DC Comics contract to focus on creator-owned works was a huge deal to the comics industry. After Tynion announced his move to Substack, a flurry of other popular creators followed. These creators are drawn to the Substack platform due to its paid subscription model. Just like DC and Marvel, issues of these new books will be released month by month, yet they don’t have to worry about sales due to readers being subscribed on a monthly payment model. It’s the comic book industry’s version of Netflix.
Blue Book marks James Tynion IV’s first venture after he leaves DC Comics for the world of creator-owned comics. Considering the large following that he’s gathered over the years, Substack titles like Blue Book are bound to do well financially. Tynion and artist Michael Avon Oeming will have complete creative control of the project, which will explore their childhood fascination with UFOs.
Tynion recently sat down and interviewed his collaborator, Michael Avon Oeming, about their work on Blue Book for his Tiny Onion newsletter. The two creators have an interesting, extensive conversation about their influences. It all seems very personal to both of them, as they reveal that the series is influenced by films that they watched in their formative years like E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial and Close Encounters of the Third Kind. Both of the creators also note that they haven’t seen UFOs personally, but they’re drawn to it because of the people they know who have and how passionately they believe in what they saw.
Blue Book will adapt “true life stories of UFO encounters with an eye to capturing the strange essence of those stories.” Additionally, Oeming notes that the series will take a journalistic approach, which would have never worked in the direct market. Notably, Blue Book is built on an interesting stylistic concept of using a limited color palette. As it name suggests, it primarily is centered around the color blue. The idea has been explored before, even by DC Comics, which has been publishing Superman: Red & Blue recently. However, Blue Book is drawn completely in analog, which is another choice that would have possibly been disregarded over at DC or Marvel.
While it's a shame that he's leaving Batman and DC Comics, it's exciting to see Tynion begin the next era of his career as he shifts towards creating new original content that he owns. His creativity is bound to be greater than ever thanks to the endless possibilities at his disposal. It's unlikely that Substack will set any guidelines as to what James Tynion IV can and can't publish, as that's the whole idea behind this new phase of comics, that begins with the release of Blue Book this fall.
Source: Tiny Onion