Posted in: Batman, Comics, Comics Publishers, Current News, DC Comics | Tagged: Batman #157, chip zdarsky

Chip Zdarsky On His Decision To Leave Batman With #157 Next Year

Chip Zdarsky on his decision to leave Batman with #157 next year... as Jim Lee and Jeph Loeb come on board with #158

Published Tue, 22 Oct 2024 09:49:12 -0500

Article Summary

I chose to end my Batman run with issue #157 after getting the itch to wrap things up in spring.
Ben Abernathy's departure and a terrifying workload fueled my decision to leave.
Jim Lee and Jeph Loeb will take over Batman with issue #158 next year.
Scheduling hiccups led to delays, but our final Batman story is something special.

Chip Zdarsky has talked about Batman #157 being his final issue in the run on his Substack app. With a definite underlining that it was *his* choice to go. He writes, "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….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."

Indeed, Bleeding Cool pointed out just what that CEO decision was. But then Chip also provided a fake version of what happened for the internet. Which included Mark Waid (or is it?) firing him and then telling him about his final schedule,"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!"

I don't know, that kinda feels more realistic…

Batman #157
(W) Chip Zdarsky (A) Jorge Jimenez, Tony S. Daniel (CA) Jorge Jimenez
With the Court of Owls' plan revealed and the city in chaos, Batman must fid the strength to fight a war on multiple fronts and save Gotham from disaster. The fates of Jim Gordon, the Riddler, and all of Gotham rest in the hands of the Dark Knight in a climactic issue so big it takes two superstar artists to bring it to life! Retail: $4.99 In-Store Date: 2/5/2025

This cover has been cancelled because it will no longer come out in December.