It would appear as if the powerhouse writing staff on the Batman books isn’t as set in stone as it once appeared. DC announced today that after four issues, writer/artist Tony Daniel will be taking over for Judd Winick and Mark Bagley on Batman. Bagley will be moving over to Justice League of America to join writer James Robinson. Judd Winick will, presumably, be showing up on another book.
This is disappointing news because, as much as I enjoyed Daniel’s work on Battle For the Cowl, I am a huge Judd Winick fan and absolutely loved his first issue of Batman last month.
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Agreed, though I wasn’t as big a fan of Battle for the Cowl as you were. It wasn’t a bad series, but I felt like it was very by-the-numbers. Tony Daniel had a couple plot points to hit, and he pretty much just did the bare minimum. I had a way better time with the Battle for the Cowl tie-ins. And while I wasn’t a huge fan of Winick’s last Bat-run, I loved his work on Green Arrow, and I really liked last month’s issue.
When I read the story at Newsarama, I understood it as saying that Daniel would only be on for six issues. Hopefully that’s true, and we get someone a little more experienced afterwards.
He gave Robin AIDS….
That doesn’t surprise me at all. Either Winick did something to piss off Didio or he did something stupid in his writing to pull him off the book. Maybe with Daniel on as writer I will give the book a shot.
@TNC or he may be on another project that hasn’t been announced yet
Jeez, that was quick. I’m only reading B&R and ‘Tec due to budget but for someone who’s first issue was pretty well recieved, it sucks. In the interviews it sounded like a longer run. That said, Tony Daniel really couldn’t do too much in BftC. It was basically a filler event until Batman Reborn.
I only read a little bit of Winick. Is losing him on Batman a real loss? I mean provided he still has a job somewhere.
Maybe they didn’t like where he was trying to take the book. But I’m enjoying all things Batman right now almost, ALMOST regardless of whose writing.
Yeah Winick isnt doing anything other then this right?
@peicepaul: I am like a Nostradamus of the comic book industry. I try to find information threw bullshit. 🙂
@TheNextChampion I think that’s a bit of a rough assessment. Judd Winnick writes his politics into everything, that’s true, but so do most other writers. While it seems like he inevitably tells some sort of AIDS story or gay bashing story, he does a lot of quality work that doesn’t relate to his chosen platform.
Definatly Droping this book once Judd Winick is gone
Is Winick going the way of Devin Grayson?
He’s a great guy or seems like, at least. Hope he sticks around.
He is gone faster than a Piston’s head coach. Yikes Battle was a dud for me very nervous now.
Winick was pretty explicit that he was not going to give anyone AIDs or anything.
I’m trying to think of a joke that’s more tiresome than the Winick/AIDS joke, but I can’t.
Agreed.
TOTALLY exited for Daniels art! but his writing……. ehh not so much
In the vein of what josh did on the podcast a couple of weeks ago…..my comment was a cheap shot. I feel bad about it, but at the same time I dont.
Okay Winick doesnt do AIDS for all of his stories. But what he does dish out (as of late) has been very medicore. Especially when you read his early independent work. I think he should take a break from writing and come back with some fresh ideas. Cause his run of GA/BL fizzled out and now he’s kicked off a title that we were told would be a long run of his.
So sorry again for that joke but I still am not surprised at what happened.
@TNC: Are you privy to some information that we’re not? How do you know he was kicked off of BATMAN?
Winick is on the book for the first 4 issues, then it changes hands to Tony Daniel for 6 issues. Daniel is apparently only sticking around as writer/artist for 6 issues. None of the changes are longterm.Winick might come back once Daniel does his 6 issues
http://dcu.blog.dccomics.com/2009/07/06/some-batman-news-to-kick-off-the-week/
@Rando: Yep, that’s the same blog post linked in the article.
@conor: It’s just all spectulating at this point. I know just as little as anyone else when it comes to this story.
But dont you find it odd that there were no news of Winick stating he was only on board for 7 issues when he was annouced to take over? That he barely had his scripts finished by the time this annoucement was made that Daniel was replacing him? Also that by all accounts, he is being replaced by a talent that is a notch (or two) below his?
Sure Daniel did ‘Battle for the Cowl’, but why is Daniel taking over a writer with much more experience then him? Plus you also gotta factor that Winick was reported to do the fore mentioned mini series before Daniel took over. Now all of a sudden the same thing is happening again for the Batman solo series. coincidence? Maybe…..but it’s a lot to think about.
Or maybe he just got a job on an animation project he decided he’d rather take. We don’t know anything, and random speculation based on zero facts is sort of useless.
@conor: Yeah and it says Winick leaves after 4 issues, not 6. Tony Daniel is only sticking around for 6 issues, but your article doesn’t mention that he won’t be on the series for long. I just wanted to clear that up. Not trying to sound dickish or anything I’m just new here
@TNC Maybe there was a deal to keep Daniels on at DC and this was the plan all along. If Winick said that he was only doing 6 issues of Batman the next question would be "Then what are you doing?".
It’s more likely DC wants to announce a Winick project at SDCC. They released this now to create speculation and to not let the Daniels news get buried under everything coming out at SDCC.
All and all this just feels very rushed. Okay I am talking out of my ass but this doesnt sound like something DC just planned to do. If they did, well they certainly would’ve annouced Daniel’s involvment now wouldnt they? Or at least hinted it at best,
Not just state Winick has the job and then two/three quick months later he suddenly isn’t sticking around for the long haul. Or even stating he is just for the first four issues.
Winick’s first issue is strong enough in reception both critical and popular that I can say with strong speculative confidence (which is worth less then paper) I seriously doubt this was a carpet being yanked out from under him.
My guess is that this is part of the over all plan, of some sort.
I think I might drop the book when Winick leaves. BFTC was ok. but, the tie-ins were much better IMO and i’m not sure i’d want to read his Batman every month.
i’m sorry but tony daniel could copy a good story word for wod and it will still be terrorible
Speculation aside, this change is a bit disappointing simply because I like to see creative teams build some momentum. It doesn’t matter why Winick’s off the book — it represents a shorter sight. One of the things I’ve loved about the "soft relaunch" of the Bat book is that it feels like every book has a clear direction and the writers appeared to approached this direction with at least year-long plans in mind. Several of the writers have mentioned "a year." That, to me, suggests that they’ve been given the berth to play and plan. Same goes for the Superman books right now. It feels like they’re all working together to plan the entire year of Superman’s corner.
Seeing a change like this… well, it worries me. It may come to nothing, but… it’s just a question mark right now.
That said, this move doesn’t affect me personally, because I chose not to pick up Batman. 😉
You gotta be kidding me, Battle for the Cowl was one of the worst Batman comics I read in a long time. It was full of the most generic and overused plot and Daniel had the absolute worst characterizations of Tim, Damien and especially Jason Todd(WTF was he thinking when he wrote this garbage?). Daniel should really stick to drawing. Once Winnick wraps up his arc, I’ll dropping this book and until a quality team returns to the book, Batman & Robin, Streets of Gotham and Detective will have to suffice my Batman appetite
I don’t know about Winnick, but I hate Tony Daniel’s writing and I’m not a big fan of his art either. He’s a very bad writer and a decent artist in my opinion. Not enough for Batman.
I loved winnick’s previous batman run (even bringing Jason Todd back as a villain) and was really looking foreward to another prolonged run. I’m not particulary excited for daniels either for art or writting.
I really did hate Winnick’s last run on Batman, so I’m not shedding a tear, but I don’t think that my current Bat book pull list which right now is just Batman and Robin and Detective, will change any time soon
Well, at least that’s one less book I’ll have to buy. what’s ironic is that Winick’s one issue of Batman (the recent one) did everything Battle for the Cowl needed to do, but much, much, much better, and in only one issue.
Daniel? Way to kill a buzz!
@Jim: Couldn’t agree more. I still feel that when taken in a vacuum, Battle for the Cowl was an entertaining mini-series, but when you think of the ground covered and read the last issue of Batman, I can’t help but feel as though DC put out Battle for the Cowl to give a seperation between the new and the old "Batverses". I was still amazed that Batman and Robin #1 was published before Batman #687. Seemed like #687 was all set up for Batman and Robin. The only thing I can think of is that they wanted their first book "back" to be the strongest.
How do we know that Winnick was "kicked off" the book? Maybe he ws only supposed to do the first arc all along. He did already have a long run on Batman. Maybe he was just brought in to set up the new status quo and then move on.
What if Tony Daniel took over Winick’s whole life? Like he had to wear his clothes and drive his car and sleep in his bed? And everyone had to pretend like nothing was different.
Like Face Off or something…
@JohnV- good hypothesis, kind of like how Quitely was only set to do the first arc of B&R and then come back for the third (sorry to bring it up Connor, we know how you feel on it :), but if that was the case then why, was it not announced earlier like the Quitely move?
I’ve not read much of Winnick’s work, and I did not read his previous Batman run, so I didn’t find much problem with his first issue this time around. However, I was not a fan of Tony Daniel on BftC, so I will give it one chance and then its decision time. I’m also reading B&R so I’ll still get a monthly fix.
It occurs to me that, as a reader of most of the Batman and Superman family books on the shelves these days, if I were to cut any two of them, they would likely be the eponymous "Batman" and "Superman."
I’m fine with this, but that’s me, honestly I’m loving the Bat Books and if Tony Daniels has ideas then I’m fine, we’ll see how it goes. Yay
Regardless of the reason(s) behind Winick’s leaving the book, I’m disappointed. I thought the first issue was great, and Daniel pulling writing/art duties leaves me concerned for the quality of the book overall, even if it is just for six issues.
When Battle for the Cowl was first coming out, they (Daniel & DC) both let it be known that Daniel was going to be doing work in the Bat-books again soon afterward, anyway. So I doubt this was a big coup. He was presumably going to be at least drawing a book again by the fall anyway. He’s a slower artist, so he probably started drawing his first issue by the time we got BftC #3 in our hands. Who knows, though, whether Winick was supposed to be the original writer/scripter for Daniel’s story, though. I would think that DC was waiting for reaction to Daniel’s writing/story on BftC, and I guess they weren’t too turned off by the massive sales figures–I mean, uh, "criticial acclaim"–that Daniel’s 3-issue story gave them.
Well, as long as I get to keep reading half the people calling him "Tony DanielS", I’ll be entertained. One of the Bat-books can afford to be action-oriented, so I’ll check this out.
Maybe Winick was killed in order to become a Black Lantern. Is Geoff Johns responsible? You decide.
Any of you think Tony Daniel has some incriminating evidence on D. Dido? Holding it over Dido’s head and demanding work. What’s next, Tony Daniel wielding his power to write the next Crisis in DC Comics?
I Really like the idea of Winick being a Black Lantern.
What is so bad about Tony Daniels? I thought the art in R.I.P. kicked a lot of ass and Battle For The Cowl is a decent filler story. I’m sure whatever Daniels is writing probably just serves a greater purpose of following Morrison’s major Bat-outline anyway.
Winick is superior to Daniels but I haven’t cared about anything he’s done since Under The Hood brought Jason Todd back. Batman #687 didn’t do anything for me. It’s not like we are losing Grant Morrison or even Paul Dini, then I’d be pissed!
To be honest with you, I thought Confidential was better then #687 last month so I am not that worried about this. I’ll just drop it like I did with Mon-El in Superman and just read everything else if it’s no good. This is just a fraction of everything else.
This is very ridiculous, but I got really sour on Tony Daniel after he threw a very childish tantrum on the internet when he accidentally leaked the (pretty obvious) ending of "Battle for the Cowl" and said he was never going to talk to no one ever ever again and proceeded to close his blog. After that I couldn´t separate his whiny-ness from the book. I like his effective art, though.
I was just thinking yesterday how odd it was that Daniel was off the Batbooks after finishing R.I.P. and Battle for the Cowl. I can’t say I’m surprised he’s back, though I’m impressed he replaced Winick.
I’m happy for him – great opportunity, and I’m sure he’ll make the best of it.
I just care about reading some winick/bagley batman stories. after they leave i’m dropping. the whole two face as batman thing seem’s off putting for some reason.
@Paul To write like him, he must become him.
@Paul: That would be more entertaining then the Face/Off film that was hyped to me.
Also, Tony Daniel is a beast to take over writing AND art on a monthly book.
What if..
DC just does what it does because it does? Because it doesn’t really matter how much trashing you do here on an unreleased book, at this stage it still has the opportunity to prove you wrong. I’ve got a great deal of respect for Tony Daniels. I suspect his work will be on par. Wasn’t the second ish’ of Battle for the Cowl PICK OF THE WEEK?!
Tony Daniel has, so far, shown himself to be a weak comic scripter and his art seemed to suffer when he was trying to pull double duty. I’m not looking forward to this.
Poor Mark Bagley! The "news" we should focus on is what he does, not these peasants like Winick or Daniel.
Too bad. I love Winick and was really glad to have him on Batman again. His first issue showed real promise. As for Daniel, ehh, his stuff with Battle for the Cowl was good, and I enjoyed it, but it wasn’t great, and to have him replace Bagley is also a shame. I thought Bagley’s art really worked well in the first issue of Batman he did. Again, Daniel’s Batman art was good, but just the notch below the current creative team, IMO.
That sucks
@FACE – yes, Battle for the Cowl #2 was conor’s POTW.
@FACE/FACE(?) – that was a great fk’n book!
@FACE – I’ll say.
@FACE/FACE(?) – you know.. I just finished Batman #688 and I was a tad disappointed. Maybe Daniel taking over for Winick ain’t such a bad thing?
@FACE – not if speculation and people who don’t read the title have anything to say about it.
@FACE/FACE(?) – but can you really trust blind suspicion?
@FACE – dude, this is the internet. Of course you can.
THE END?
I’m not willing to throw myself down a set of stairs before I at least give Daniels a try. Cowl I believe was his first major kick at the writing can and I think it wasn’t great but it was respectable. I’ll let the man work and judge the results.
@Crucio: It wasn’t, Daniel had written a lot of comics before BATTLE FOR THE COWL.
Am I the only one who imagines C-3PO typing up those scripts?
"Oh, it’s not the same–"
Nope, you’re not alone.
i do miss tony daniel though. i loved his battle for the cowl work
This is disappointing. Winick’s last two issues have been really good. I’m there is a solid business reason for this, and Tony Daniel is no slouch. I’m still on board.
Very disappointing news. And sad though it is to say I probably won’t be staying around after Judd leaves. I’m a big Winnick fan, spawned from his time writing eXiles, and I’d loved the two issues so far. I’ve always found the Bat-franchise so damned difficult to just jump into. This Reborn relaunch has resulted in me taking in each title. Winnick’s Batman was probably my favourite of the bunch, just above Morrison’s Batman & Robin. But if creative changes are going to happen this early on I’ll drop that title and leave it be.
I’m not sure if this is the best place to post this, seeing as it’s been over a week now, but DiDio just said that Winick will be coming back after Daniel’s arc. Bagley of course will be busy with JLA, so some other artist will be on the book, but it’s good to hear that Judd wasn’t just completely ejected for unknown reasons.
You can find the quote as the answer to question #5 here: http://www.newsarama.com/comics/070916-Dan20.html