Posted in: Batman, Comics, Comics Publishers, DC Comics | Tagged: Batman, harper row, james tynion iv, Punchline

James Tynion IV On Bring Back Harper Row and Leslie Thompkins

So, as well as launching his self-publishing-in-a-week empire, James Tynion IV also talked about his current run on Batman on his Tiny Onion newsletter. I'm not even going to link it this time, I do it every time, what's wrong with Google?

So James Tynion IV talked Punchline…

In this issue, we also finally got the first in comic appearance of Punchline where she's drawn by her co-creator, Jorge Jimenez! I love the personality he gives her. And we're only getting started… Just wait until she gets her rematch with Harley Quinn in a few issues. Jorge knocked it out of the PARK. He knocks every issue out of the park.

James Tynion IV talked Clownhunter…

Next issue, you all get to meet Clownhunter. He is my other weird baby, and I love him. The above is the Derrick Chew variant of Batman 99, and it looks SO COOL! There's going to be a lot of Clownhunter stories between now and the end of the year, so I hope you all love him as much as I do. The story in Joker War Zone that I got to write for James Stokoe is a particular favorite of mine, and starts to reveal more about who this kid is until his mask. Clownhunter isn't a bat-family member, he's a teenager who's grown sick as hell of a city that keeps letting the Joker attack again and again and again. He's decided to solve the clown problem in a more permanent way. He has a history with clowns, and absolutely hates them. You won't learn that full history for a little while yet, but it's coming.

And James Tynion IV talked Ghost-Maker.

I also talked a bit about Ghost-Maker in a few interviews I did for Joker War. He's got a brief cameo appearance in 100, before he comes into play in a big way with the story arc that starts with 102. I am very excited about this character. There's a big part of me that just wants to drop the design of the character into this newsletter, but I think DC PR would send its ninjas to come decapitate me in the night. You'll see it a bit closer to the . There's a lot to say about him, but the core concept has been sitting with me for a long, long time. This character is Batman's teenage rival. When they were both young men, they were going around to the greatest crimefighters in the world to learn their craft. Ghost-Maker thought Batman was a spoiled rich kid with childish views of right and wrong. He still thinks that. They've had an uneasy truce for years to not interfere with each other, but after Joker War? Ghost-Maker thinks its time for Gotham City to have a new hero.

Has anyone got the skills to create a James Tynion IV Character Generator? I bet you could… there do seem to be a lot of portmanteaus in use. But it's not just new characters, he's bringing back Harper Row, Bluebird, do you remember her? But it looks like it's not in Batman…

The other thing I let slip in one of those interviews is that I'm going to be bringing back Harper Row, Bluebird, in a project I can't talk about directly yet. She and her brother Cullen serve as a perfect mirror to the sort of work I'm looking to do. Joker War is designed to change Gotham City, and I need more characters in hand that serve as the voice of the "man on the street." Another character I'm excited to be giving more play is Leslie Thompkins.

She has a history that might need rewriting. And expect more of them.

We've got plans. That's the thing about you all meeting these new characters. I've already co-written a oversized one-shot about one of them, written an annual for another, and we're pitching something in the digital space for a third… And that's not counting the plans for the characters in 2021. We're making big crazy plans. I made these toys to play with them, and I am very, very excited to play with them! Now I want people to make actual toys and statues of them so I can ACTUALLY play with them!

I think that's what Christmas is for, right James? Oh go on, here's that newsletter link, I didn't mean it…

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