There’s never been a better time to be a comic book fan. You can say that pretty much every year, but it was especially true in 2021. While the industry was hardly immune to the effects of the pandemic, we still got a steady stream of great stories week after week, and more than a few big surprises along the way.
From the unexpected rise of Substack to the resurgence of iconic franchises like Batman and the X-Men, these were the headlines that shaped the industry in 2021.
In the old days, a career as a comic book creator was all about working your way up to the big guns like Batman and Uncanny X-Men. These days, the real money is in creator-owned comics. Just ask Robert Kirkman.
While plenty of creators are still turning to traditional publishers like Image Comics, 2021 also introduced a very unlikely new player on the scene - Substack. That’s right, the company that specializes in subscription email newsletters is now a digital comics publisher.
Substack has already assembled quite a roster of talent. The Amazing Spider-Man writer Nick Spencer left Marvel to spearhead Substack’s talent outreach. Batman writer James Tynion IV was among the first to sign an exclusive contract with Substack, netting an upfront payday of roughly half a million dollars, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
Tynion describes Substack’s offer as one he couldn’t refuse, calling it “the best I’ve ever been given in a decade as a professional comic book writer.” Plenty of other high-profile writers have followed Tynion to Substack, including X-Men writer Jonathan Hickman, cartoonist Molly Ostertag and Miles Morales: Spider-Man writer Saladin Ahmed.
That’s not to say everyone is thrilled with Substack’s move into comics, whether because of Substack’s own history with controversial political figures or because of what some creators see as a policy that prioritizes writers over artists.
Black Lightning: Year One artist Cully Hamner told Inverse, “The announcement and its seeming dismissal of the idea of artists as creators… only highlights the continual misunderstanding, by those outside the craft... as to what it is that artists — visual creators in a medium that hinges on a visual vocabulary — actually contribute to what we know as a comic book.”
As 2022 dawns, it remains to be seen whether Substack will find a lasting foothold in the industry. Many of these creators are still in the early stages of launching their new projects. But as long as the money keeps flowing, expect Substack to be a major competitor to traditional publishers.
DC had a rough go of it in 2020, with a number of longtime employees being laid off as part of larger cuts at parent company WarnerMedia. Still, with a new editorial team in charge and a new outlook following the conclusion of the Dark Nights: Death Metal crossover, things quickly started to look up for the company this year.
DC kicked off 2021 with Future State, a crossover that jumped ahead ten years in the DC timeline to introduce new versions of iconic heroes like Superman, Batman and Wonder Woman. Future State paved the way for Infinite Frontier, which is less a crossover than an open-ended story direction and guiding philosophy for the DCU.
Even though the DC timeline has returned to the present, characters like Jon Kent, Jace Fox and Yara Flor are still embracing their newfound roles. They just aren’t replacing the regular heroes, as was rumored to be the case with DC’s canceled 5G relaunch. Instead, we’re seeing a new status quo where multiple generations coexist. Jon Kent is the new Superman of Earth while his father fights to liberate Warworld. Jace Fox protects New York City while Bruce Wayne focuses on Gotham City.
These younger heroes have already started to make an impact, even beyond the scope of the comics themselves. Superman: Son of Kal El made headlines with the news that Jon Kent is coming out as bisexual. A Yara Flor-focused Wonder Girl series was in the works at The CW… at least until it was shelved. Still, it seems as though this new generation is here to stay.
2019’s House of X and Powers of X dramatically reinvented the X-Men franchise as we know it, and we’re still seeing the fallout of those changes two years later. Marvel continued to expand on the X-Men’s new status quo in 2021, even as the original architect of that story has moved on to other projects.
For most of 2021, the X-Men line has been united under the Reign of X banner. We’re seeing the X-Men at the peak of their newfound power, ruling over the island nation of Krakoa and even creating a second home on the terraformed planet of Mars. Marvel even held a fan vote to decide the roster of the newest X-Men team.
But it’s not all smooth sailing for mutantkind, as we’ve seen again and again over the course of this saga. Cracks in the mutant nation have started to appear in books like The Trial of Magneto. House of X writer Jonathan Hickman is back with Inferno, a series that pushes this overarching story to its next key phase.
The bad news is the franchise is entering a more uncertain state heading into 2022. Hickman is leaving his position as “Head of X” after Inferno wraps, in part to focus on his Substack book Three Moons, Three Worlds.
But as Hickman himself explained, he’s leaving to allow current writers like Gerry Duggan, Tini Howard and Vita Ayala more room to explore the current status quo. What was once intended to be a several-year storyline has become bigger and more open-ended. Only time will tell if that’s the best move for the franchise. For now, we’re just enjoying the ride.
There have been several periods in the comics industry where horror has eclipsed superhero stories as the dominant genre on the stands. It might be a stretch to say that trend returned in 2021, but this year was packed full of great horror comics.
Leading the charge were Scott Snyder and James Tynion IV, both of whom have pivoted away from DC to focus on creator-owned horror comics. Snyder launched an entire imprint this year called Best Jackett Press, and debuted no fewer than eight new digital-first books on comiXology Originals. As for Tynion, ongoing series like Something Is Killing the Children and The Nice House on the Lake are currently dominating Best of 2021 lists.
And that’s just scratching the surface. 2021 gave us new horror comics like Jeff Lemire and Jock’s Snow Angels, Michael Walsh’s anthology series The Silver Coin and a truly excellent new Swamp Thing series by Ram V.
But perhaps no horror gift was more welcome than Monsters, a graphic novel from Weapon X’s Barry Windsor-Smith that was no fewer than 35 years in the making. Let’s just say it was worth the wait.
Batman wound up having a pretty great year in 2021, despite losing most of his fortune and toys in the fallout of last year’s Joker War crossover. By bringing the Dark Knight back to basics, DC has managed to reinvigorate the entire Batman line.
This year marked the epic conclusion of James Tynion’s Batman run, with the series introducing new heroes and villains to Gotham City and culminating in the massive Fear State crossover. Most impressive is the fact that artist Jorge Jimenez managed to draw almost every issue of Batman in 2021, a very rare feat nowadays. And while Tynion is on the way out, former The Flash writer Joshua Williamson is stepping in to fill the void.
2021 also gave us the long-awaited Batman/Catwoman, the final act in Tom King’s sprawling Batman saga and the series that finally brings the Phantasm into DC’s comic book continuity. Thanks to Clay Mann and Liam Sharp, you’ll be hard-pressed to find a better-looking superhero comic on the stands.
But forget about Bruce Wayne. 2021 is the year DC finally put Dick Grayson back on track. Injustice: Gods Among Us writer Tom Taylor and artist Bruno Redondo have revamped the monthly Nightwing series, resulting in one of the best superhero books on the stands and earning plenty of well-deserved comparisons to Matt Fraction and David Aja’s Hawkeye.
Between those books and promising new series for characters like Damian Wayne, Cassandra Cain and Stephanie Brown, the entire Bat-franchise is firing on all cylinders lately. Let’s hope that momentum continues in 2022.
For more on the year to come in entertainment, find out what to expect from DC in 2022 and our most anticipated movies of Winter 2022.
Jesse is a mild-mannered staff writer for IGN. Allow him to lend a machete to your intellectual thicket by following @jschedeen on Twitter.
Continue reading...
From the unexpected rise of Substack to the resurgence of iconic franchises like Batman and the X-Men, these were the headlines that shaped the industry in 2021.
Substack Shakes Up the Industry
In the old days, a career as a comic book creator was all about working your way up to the big guns like Batman and Uncanny X-Men. These days, the real money is in creator-owned comics. Just ask Robert Kirkman.
While plenty of creators are still turning to traditional publishers like Image Comics, 2021 also introduced a very unlikely new player on the scene - Substack. That’s right, the company that specializes in subscription email newsletters is now a digital comics publisher.
Substack has already assembled quite a roster of talent. The Amazing Spider-Man writer Nick Spencer left Marvel to spearhead Substack’s talent outreach. Batman writer James Tynion IV was among the first to sign an exclusive contract with Substack, netting an upfront payday of roughly half a million dollars, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
Tynion describes Substack’s offer as one he couldn’t refuse, calling it “the best I’ve ever been given in a decade as a professional comic book writer.” Plenty of other high-profile writers have followed Tynion to Substack, including X-Men writer Jonathan Hickman, cartoonist Molly Ostertag and Miles Morales: Spider-Man writer Saladin Ahmed.
That’s not to say everyone is thrilled with Substack’s move into comics, whether because of Substack’s own history with controversial political figures or because of what some creators see as a policy that prioritizes writers over artists.
Black Lightning: Year One artist Cully Hamner told Inverse, “The announcement and its seeming dismissal of the idea of artists as creators… only highlights the continual misunderstanding, by those outside the craft... as to what it is that artists — visual creators in a medium that hinges on a visual vocabulary — actually contribute to what we know as a comic book.”
As 2022 dawns, it remains to be seen whether Substack will find a lasting foothold in the industry. Many of these creators are still in the early stages of launching their new projects. But as long as the money keeps flowing, expect Substack to be a major competitor to traditional publishers.
DC’s Infinite Frontier
DC had a rough go of it in 2020, with a number of longtime employees being laid off as part of larger cuts at parent company WarnerMedia. Still, with a new editorial team in charge and a new outlook following the conclusion of the Dark Nights: Death Metal crossover, things quickly started to look up for the company this year.
DC kicked off 2021 with Future State, a crossover that jumped ahead ten years in the DC timeline to introduce new versions of iconic heroes like Superman, Batman and Wonder Woman. Future State paved the way for Infinite Frontier, which is less a crossover than an open-ended story direction and guiding philosophy for the DCU.
Even though the DC timeline has returned to the present, characters like Jon Kent, Jace Fox and Yara Flor are still embracing their newfound roles. They just aren’t replacing the regular heroes, as was rumored to be the case with DC’s canceled 5G relaunch. Instead, we’re seeing a new status quo where multiple generations coexist. Jon Kent is the new Superman of Earth while his father fights to liberate Warworld. Jace Fox protects New York City while Bruce Wayne focuses on Gotham City.
These younger heroes have already started to make an impact, even beyond the scope of the comics themselves. Superman: Son of Kal El made headlines with the news that Jon Kent is coming out as bisexual. A Yara Flor-focused Wonder Girl series was in the works at The CW… at least until it was shelved. Still, it seems as though this new generation is here to stay.
The Age of the X-Men
2019’s House of X and Powers of X dramatically reinvented the X-Men franchise as we know it, and we’re still seeing the fallout of those changes two years later. Marvel continued to expand on the X-Men’s new status quo in 2021, even as the original architect of that story has moved on to other projects.
For most of 2021, the X-Men line has been united under the Reign of X banner. We’re seeing the X-Men at the peak of their newfound power, ruling over the island nation of Krakoa and even creating a second home on the terraformed planet of Mars. Marvel even held a fan vote to decide the roster of the newest X-Men team.
But it’s not all smooth sailing for mutantkind, as we’ve seen again and again over the course of this saga. Cracks in the mutant nation have started to appear in books like The Trial of Magneto. House of X writer Jonathan Hickman is back with Inferno, a series that pushes this overarching story to its next key phase.
The bad news is the franchise is entering a more uncertain state heading into 2022. Hickman is leaving his position as “Head of X” after Inferno wraps, in part to focus on his Substack book Three Moons, Three Worlds.
But as Hickman himself explained, he’s leaving to allow current writers like Gerry Duggan, Tini Howard and Vita Ayala more room to explore the current status quo. What was once intended to be a several-year storyline has become bigger and more open-ended. Only time will tell if that’s the best move for the franchise. For now, we’re just enjoying the ride.
The New Horror Renaissance
There have been several periods in the comics industry where horror has eclipsed superhero stories as the dominant genre on the stands. It might be a stretch to say that trend returned in 2021, but this year was packed full of great horror comics.
Leading the charge were Scott Snyder and James Tynion IV, both of whom have pivoted away from DC to focus on creator-owned horror comics. Snyder launched an entire imprint this year called Best Jackett Press, and debuted no fewer than eight new digital-first books on comiXology Originals. As for Tynion, ongoing series like Something Is Killing the Children and The Nice House on the Lake are currently dominating Best of 2021 lists.
And that’s just scratching the surface. 2021 gave us new horror comics like Jeff Lemire and Jock’s Snow Angels, Michael Walsh’s anthology series The Silver Coin and a truly excellent new Swamp Thing series by Ram V.
But perhaps no horror gift was more welcome than Monsters, a graphic novel from Weapon X’s Barry Windsor-Smith that was no fewer than 35 years in the making. Let’s just say it was worth the wait.
Batman’s Big Year
Batman wound up having a pretty great year in 2021, despite losing most of his fortune and toys in the fallout of last year’s Joker War crossover. By bringing the Dark Knight back to basics, DC has managed to reinvigorate the entire Batman line.
This year marked the epic conclusion of James Tynion’s Batman run, with the series introducing new heroes and villains to Gotham City and culminating in the massive Fear State crossover. Most impressive is the fact that artist Jorge Jimenez managed to draw almost every issue of Batman in 2021, a very rare feat nowadays. And while Tynion is on the way out, former The Flash writer Joshua Williamson is stepping in to fill the void.
2021 also gave us the long-awaited Batman/Catwoman, the final act in Tom King’s sprawling Batman saga and the series that finally brings the Phantasm into DC’s comic book continuity. Thanks to Clay Mann and Liam Sharp, you’ll be hard-pressed to find a better-looking superhero comic on the stands.
But forget about Bruce Wayne. 2021 is the year DC finally put Dick Grayson back on track. Injustice: Gods Among Us writer Tom Taylor and artist Bruno Redondo have revamped the monthly Nightwing series, resulting in one of the best superhero books on the stands and earning plenty of well-deserved comparisons to Matt Fraction and David Aja’s Hawkeye.
Between those books and promising new series for characters like Damian Wayne, Cassandra Cain and Stephanie Brown, the entire Bat-franchise is firing on all cylinders lately. Let’s hope that momentum continues in 2022.
For more on the year to come in entertainment, find out what to expect from DC in 2022 and our most anticipated movies of Winter 2022.
Jesse is a mild-mannered staff writer for IGN. Allow him to lend a machete to your intellectual thicket by following @jschedeen on Twitter.
Continue reading...