Posted in: Batman, Comics, Comics Publishers, DC Comics | Tagged: Batman, Batman '89, james tynion iv, Tom King

James Tynion IV On How His Batman Will Have "A Lot More Energy" to Tom King's

Published Mon, 17 Feb 2020 10:30:03 -0600

James Tynion IV came to Batman following a long run from Tom King that divided fandom, rather. I was on the 'YAY' side. But I am also enjoying Tynion's run, a couple of issues in. But how to separate it? Tynion IV wrote a letter to Jorge Jimenez, artist on the upcoming Joker War, and laid out what he was up to – and how his stories would differ from King. And took to his mailing list to share it;

The two words I keep using to describe this run is "Action Horror." We're doing big scary vehicles, a bloody joker, and letting the villains be as scary as they can be, but all in a kind of over the top fun way… After the Pathos of the Tom King run, we're trying to do something with a lot more energy. Our colorful characters are going to do horribly violent and colorful things, and we're going to make that fun to read. We want to scare people, and have them cheer a bit. We're introducing exciting new vehicles, and as you'll see below, new villains.

We're not going camp or tongue-in-cheek, but I think the key is tapping into the fact that people love the horror side of Batman stories and not enough comics tap into it. It's being a bit grindhouse. Leaning into the blood and sex and vehicles and gadgets. Big scary colorful villains, doing big scary colorful things. Not in a gross, exploitative way… But also not in a deconstructed, meta way that saps the life out of it. Joker's going to be doing all of this in a bright purple suit.

As well as telling us about his plans for where and when Joker War will twist…

DC Solicits for May came out this past week, and the JOKER WAR I've been hinting at (er, directly referring to) for a while just got officially announced. It'll be running in Batman from issues #95-100. There's a very dramatic hook at the end of #94 (and not the one hinted at on the cover), and that dramatic hook is going to invert the usual dynamics of a major Joker attack on Gotham. Joker's got the resources to attack the city and Batman beyond anything he's had before.

So prepare yourself accordingly.