James Tynion IV’s Substack comics will arrive in print from Dark Horse

James Tynion IV has been building up a library of creator-owned comics on Substack since last year, when he was part of the first wave of creators to sign on to the platform. Through his Empire of the Tiny Onion newsletter, he’s released comics with Michael Avon Oeming, Tate Brombal, Isaac Goodhart, Kurt Michael Russell and many more, with at least one of them, The Closet with artist Gavin Fullerton, already making it to print via Image Comics.

Given his existing relationships with Image, BOOM! and even DC, it’s somewhat surprising to see that his remaining Substack comics will be collected and published by Dark Horse Comics. Blue Book will launch in February of next year, and The Oddly Pedestrian Life of Christopher Chaos will follow in June.

Tynion explained why he went with Dark Horse for these particular books:

“Why Dark Horse? Well, honestly, I’ve always liked being able to silo similar projects together,” Tynion said in his newsletter. “I think Blue Book, all the True Weird stories we’re looking to tell, and the world of The Oddly Pedestrian Life of Christopher Chaos fit very neatly on the shelves next to titles like Hellboy, Black Hammer, Norse Mythology, and a little-known series from Michael Avon Oeming called Powers (not to mention the whole Jinxworld library!). And like I told Dan Chabon and Tim Wiesch early in our conversations… I want a shelf of those gorgeous Dark Horse Library Editions. And as I’ve said to Tate a few times, now we can refer to the Chaosverse as the queer teenage cousin to the Mignolaverse!”

Blue Book, Tynion’s collaboration with Oeming and letterer Aditya Bidikar, told story in its first arc of Betty and Barney Hill, who in the 1960s said they were abducted by aliens. It’ll include the “True Weird” back-up tales Tynion has done on Substack with various artists, starting with a story drawn by Klaus Janson. The first issue will also have variant covers by Jill Thompson and Dave Johnson:

Look for the first of five issues on Feb. 22. Tynion promised more details on Christopher Chaos closer to its publication date.

“This isn’t an exclusive arrangement! As I’ve already announced, W0RLDTR33 is coming next spring from Image Comics, and we’ve got big plans for the future of SIKTC and Wynd at Boom! and Sandman Universe: Nightmare Country at DC. But I’m very happy to have found such a wonderful home for each of my series, and it’s great to be forging connections at these titans of the American Comic Book Publishing World,” Tynion said.