James Tynion IV (born December 14, 1987) is an American comic book writer. He is best known for his work on the Batman franchise at DC Comics.
Early life
James Tynion IV was born December 14, 1987, and grew up in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, where he attended Marquette University High School. While studying creative writing at Sarah Lawrence College, Tynion met and began studying under Scott Snyder, in the nascent years of his comic book writing career. Following school, he became an intern for the Vertigo imprint of DC Comics, working under Editor Shelly Bond, among others.
Career
After a few years working in advertising, Scott Snyder asked Tynion to co-write the back-up features for the New 52 relaunch of Batman, in the midst of the acclaimed “Night of the Owls” comic book storyline, starting with Batman #8. In this comic, he tied the Court of Owls mythology to Alfred Pennyworth’s father, Jarvis Pennyworth, working with noted American Vampire artist, Rafael Albuquerque. Tynion went on to co-write Batman Annual #1 with Snyder, for artist Jason Fabok, which reintroduced classic Batman villain Mr. Freeze into the present day continuity. Continuing on the back-up stories in the main Batman title, Tynion launched a spin-off of the Night of the Owls storyline with the ongoing comic series, Talon, which ran for 18 issues. Tynion followed up Talon with a brief stint on the title Red Hood and the Outlaws in which he re-introduced a number of members of The League of Assassins back into Batman continuity.
In 2013, Tynion paired with artist Jeremy Rock to co-create his first original comic series, The Eighth Seal, for Mark Waid‘s digital comic publisher Thrillbent. The series, an apocalyptic blend of political intrigue and body horror, was nominated for the 2013 Ghastly Award for Best Web Comic. Tynion followed up the series with an additional digital horror comic for Thrillbent, The House In The Wall, co-written by Noah J. Yuenkel and drawn by Eryk Donovan.
In 2014, Tynion launched his two biggest series to date. He was named as one of the head writers of Batman Eternal, a weekly Batman comic series designed to explore the full scope and cast of Gotham City. The series would bring classic Batman characters like Carmine Falcone, Hush, Vicki Vale, Stephanie Brown, Cassandra Cain and the original Azrael, Jean-Paul Valley, into the New 52 DC continuity. He also launched the original series The Woods, for BOOM! Studios, with artist Michael Dialynas, which proved to be the highest selling original series at that publisher since Mark Waid’s Irredeemable, with the first issue selling out on a distributor level. The series was given an unprecedented full series order, guaranteeing that it will run to its planned conclusion at issue #36. He followed up The Woods with a three-issue apocalyptic horror miniseries for BOOM! Studios, titled Memetic, which paired him with artist Eryk Donovan once again.
In 2015, Tynion was announced as one of the co-writers of the new Constantine: The Hellblazer series alongside Ming Doyle and artist Riley Rossmo, as a part of the DCYou publishing initiative at DC Comics. Tynion also was announced as the writer of the Batman/Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles crossover with DC and IDW Publishing, the first meeting between the two franchises. The series launched in December 2015 as DC Comics’ sixth best selling title for the entire year. He also launched two new creator owned series through Boom! Studios, UFOlogy, co-written by Noah J. Yuenkel with art by Matt Fox, and Cognetic, the spiritual sequel to Memetic with artist Eryk Donovan.
At Wondercon in 2016, James Tynion IV was announced as the writer of the biweekly Detective Comics for DC’s Rebirth initiative. The new series launched in June of that year with the classic numbering restored starting with issue #934, and featured Batman and Batwoman as co-leads alongside an initial team of Red Robin, Spoiler, Orphan and Clayface.
Tynion has worked on a number of additional titles for DC Comics, BOOM! Studios, Marvel Comics, IDW Publishing, and Thrillbent. Tynion became the new writer for Batman as of (vol. 3) #86.
In September 2020, DC Comics announced that Tynion would be among the creators of a revived Batman: Black and White anthology series to debut on December 8, 2020.
Personal life
James Tynion IV is openly bisexual.
[Latest Update: May 28, 2022]
