Heidi MacDonald wrote a good summary of the recent news that has been shared across the New York Times and various creator newsletters.

In summary, it has been known for some time that Nick Spencer had signed a big deal with Substack – the paid newsletter service – to develop the comics arm of the company. It turns out that it was Spencer himself who came up with the idea to create an alternate distribution method and reached out to Substack during the pandemic. Spencer’s role has been recruiting talent from his comics network and connecting them with the start-up.

James Tynion IV has announced that he’s leaving his DC work entirely, with his work on both Batman (the industry’s top-selling title) and the Joker series coming to an end soon. In his newsletter, Tynion discusses how he was deliberating on DC’s offer to extend his exclusive contract for another 3 years when he received the Substack offer and realized it was the best deal he had ever seen before.

Jonathan Hickman has described a new shared universe title he is launching with Tini Howard and Al Ewing as co-writers. There are already rumors that Jonathan Hickman will also be leaving the X-Men line.

Based on how this story continues to develop, this could be the most significant major superstar creator exodus since Image was founded.