Ed Brubaker turned down a deal with Substack for one simple reason -- he doesn't have time.
Speaking to The Hollywood Reporter, the Winter Soldier co-creator explained why his current workload of creator-owned comics prevented him from accepting an offer to join Substack. Brubaker wanted to make sure that he prioritized maintaining his organic chemistry with frequent collaborator and Destroy All Monsters artist Sean Phillips. In his own words, Brubaker said, "I thought about it for a couple days and I realized I would have to be doubling my comic book output to do that. I wouldn't want to mess up what Sean and I have by trying to serialize our stuff that way."
Over the summer, the digital newsletter platform Substack began pushing for more comic book content. They hired Amazing Spider-Man writer Nick Spencer to oversee this initiative, who then recruited many of the biggest names in comics for new, original work. Some of the creators involved with the platform include Donny Cates, Chip Zdarsky, Ryan Stegman, Skottie Young, Scott Snyder, Al Ewing and James Tynion IV, who left Batman and DC Comics to prioritize his creator-owned titles. "It's an interesting phenomenon. People definitely made it sound like it was going to shake things up more than I think it's going to" said Brubaker.
The rise of Substack coincides with a renewed push for digital-first comics from both Marvel and DC Comics. DC recently announced a partnership with Webtoons to create original content based on its characters by using the latter's unique app. For its part, Marvel Unlimited recently began releasing its own line of Infinity comics from top-tier creators to providing an experience unique to mobile devices.
During his conversation with The Hollywood Reporter, Brubaker also addressed his now-infamous interview on Kevin Smith's Fatman on Batman podcast, where the author revealed that the Screen Actors Guild paid him more for his cameo in Captain America: The Winter Soldier than Marvel did for creating the Winter Soldier himself. That podcast inspired a larger industry-wide conversation about comic book creators' compensation rates, something that Brubaker feels optimistic about. "I’m hoping that there will be some kind of happy ending to it at this point because I feel like they definitely got the message."
Currently, Brubaker is working on the Reckless book series with Phillips. The pair own the rights to the property and have established a track record of quality titles, which has helped it find success in stores. "We're at the point where comic book retailers who used to order 200 copies of our first issue of something are now ordering 200 copies of our graphic novels for the first day." The writer also cited an industry-wide increase in sales as an added incentive to stay invested in print over Substack. Brubaker even joked, "I'm just too old for it. The offer was amazing."
Source: The Hollywood Reporter