Posted in: Comics | Tagged: ben abernathy, chip zdarsky, james tynion iv, Tom King

Scoop: Ben Abernathy, Batman Group Executive Editor, Quits DC Comics

Batman Group Editor and DC Executive Editor, Ben Abernathy, has quit DC Comics for pastures news. Or so I am informed.

Published Tue, 09 Jan 2024 19:38:08 -0600

Article Summary

Ben Abernathy resigns as Batman Group Executive Editor at DC Comics.
His career journey includes roles at Marvel, Madefire, and DC Digital.
Abernathy's success includes hiring key talent for Batman titles.
Departure linked to LA office pressures and undisclosed new opportunity.

I began writing this at one am in what was once, an hour ago, Tuesday. Which for most of you reading this, it still is, but I live in London, which is in the future. And from the future, I bring you tomorrow's news headlines. With the news you may have gathered from the headline, that Batman Group Editor and Executive Editor at DC Comics, Ben Abernathy, has quit DC. I have had no response from DC or Ben Abernathy regarding this change of affairs, but I have had the news confirmed and corroborated by many people far closer to the situation than I.

Ben Abernathy broke into comics as an Assistant Editor at Dark Horse Comics in Portland in 1998 before jumping to New York to work as Creative Services Coordinator at DC Comics the following year in 1999. This began a long game of playing hokey-cokey at DC Comics. Because in 2000, he joined Marvel Comics in New York as Special Projects Manager for a year and change. Then, in 2002, he moved back to DC Comics as Group Editor of DC Comics Digital for an entire decade, from 2002 until 2012.

Then, in 2012, he took a big jump as co-founder and editor-in-chief of a new digital comics publisher, Madefire, with Liam Sharp, including writing the series The Heroes Club and bringing DC Comics to the platform. But when that closed in 2015, he returned to DC Comics. First as Director – Talent Relations in 2015, then as Batman Group Editor in 2019, which began with his hiring of James Tynion IV and Jorge Jimenez to take over from Tom King on the main Batman book, as well as later hiring Chip Zdarsky to replace Tynion. As a result of such successes, Ben Abernathy was promoted to Executive Editor in late 2021 (still keeping his Bat duties).

And now he is off. Why? I am told that it's partially the LA office situation at DC and other pressures coming to bear upon the Batbooks. But also that he has somewhere rather swish to go to next… I'll see if I can ferret out where that is next…

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