DC And Marvel Creators Reportedly Talking Sh*t About ‘Absolute Batman’, But Still Desperately Pitching Books To Scott Snyder
Though one might imagine that the gangbusters success of Absolute Batman would be celebrated across by mainstream comic book creators for bringing their industry back from the brink of death with a much-needed shot of adrenaline, a new report suggests that a handful of both DC and Marvel Comics’ more notable creators have taken to creating a ‘mini whisper network’ centered around decrying Scott Snyder’s latest work while simultaneously trying to pitch him their own books.
Word of said group’s two-faced behavior was first raised on January 14th by comic writer Patrick Kindlon, who most recently penned Image Comics’ Gehenna Naked Aggression and is next set for their upcoming Tigress Island Vol. 1 series, in a video posted to his personal YouTube channeled bluntly titled ‘Stop Snitchin’/
“Recently, a big writer, sorry to blind item this, a big writer was outed as a big snitch, a fellow that tries to hurt other people’s career by virtue of going to the guy that can hurt your career and exposing you for having opinions,” he explained. “So, some people got jammed up on this, because they thought that they were among friends and could speak freely, but it turns out that they couldn’t.”
This particular statement that would catch the attention of Bleeding Cool’s Rich Johnston, who in his report on Kindlon’s original video would assure his readers that, in his capacity as an industry insider, “Obviously, I am looking this”.
And it appears Johnston was ultimately successful in his fact-finding endeavor, as he would return to the story just a few days later on January 19th with his discovery of the aforementioned whisper network.
Per Johnston, the backstabbing decried by Kindlon centered around “a private comic creator Slack channel populated by some of the biggest names in creator-owned and corporate comic books.”
However, one notably absent creator was Snyder, and it was his omission that apparently led some members to consider the group chat as an appropriate place to start “bitching about Absolute Batman and the Absolute Universe line from DC Comics, which have been getting extraordinarily high sales of late.”
“Firstly, its quality, but also arguing that this was sucking all the attention away from smaller creator-owned books like theirs. Now, to be fair, that was an argument I heard last year from some executives, taking in the impact of [Marvel’s] Ultimate and [Image/Skybound’s] Energon Universe lines as well. But Absolute Batman has recently put all their sales in the shade, and all without a blind bag to do it.”
To this end, Johnston then explained that the ‘snitching’ discussion arose after “a number of people on the Slack then shared screencaps of the discussions with Snyder.”
“Kindlon knows of one, and I know the one he means as well, but it would be unfair to shame him individually, as a number of others did the same. It was basically an Orient Express situation. But it could have been any of the members of group”
Per the Bleeding Cool EIC, in addition to Kindlon, notable group members included:
- Matthew Rosenberg (Image Comics’ What’s the Furthest Place From Here?)
- Chip Zdarsky (Captain America Vol. 14, Daredevil Vol. 6/7)
- Gerry Duggan (Godzilla Destroys the Marvel Universe, X-Men Vol. 6)
- Si Spurrier (The Flash Vol. 6)
- Frank Barbiere (Image Comics’ Author Immortal)
- Deniz Camp (Absolute Martian Manhunter, Ultimates Vol. 3)
- James Tynion IV (Batman Vol. 2, Image Comics’ Exquisite Corpses, )
- and Kelly Thompson (Absolute Wonder Woman, It’s Jeff! Infinity Comic)
Further, Johnston found that a number of the very same creators who were talking sh*t on Snyder’s Absolute efforts “had also been ‘pitching’ to him, both for the Absolute universe and for DC Next Level [the publisher’s next line-wide initiative] books.
Since the drama first unfolded, the group has reportedly been closed completely, the decision notably made against the urging of Snyder himself, who “did not wish the Slack closed and requested it remain open instead” and has continued to give vocal social media support to some of the same creators who “were bitching and pitching him at the time.”
