Christian Ward is ready for a change — and it’s more of a change than some might be expecting. Speaking at the recent Thought Bubble comic convention in the United Kingdom, the artist, known for work on comics like Black Bolt, Aquaman: Andromeda, and ODY-C, revealed that he’s got a specific plan in mind for the next few years.

“I’m working with James Tynion next, I’ve wanted to work with him for years, and it’s the perfect swan song for that part of my career,” Ward told the audience at Thought Bubble about his upcoming collaboration with the Something Is Killing the Children and W0rldtr33 writer. (It’s called Spectrograph, and it’s one of the first launches from DSTLRY; click on that link to find out more.) What’s of note, however, is the mention of his being a “swan song for that part of [his] career” — because, as far as Ward is concerned, it’ll be the last time he draws comics for other writers.

“From that point on, I want to write and draw my own comics, but comics are about collaboration, and I don’t want to lose that,” he continued. “So I’m going to write for other artists. Writers have the best part of the job, because they write something down and then they get an email with the art. As an artist, I didn’t think I’d find that magical, but I do. It’s amazing.”

Ward has some experience writing for other artists; in 2019, he wrote the series Machine Gun Wizards for Dark Horse Comics, which was illustrated by Sami Kivel (with colors from Dee Cunniffe), and last year, he co-created Image Comics’ Blood Stained Teeth with Patric Reynolds.

What does this mean for fans of Ward’s artwork? Well, likely that it’ll be appearing on stories more personal for him from this point forwards — and also that those wanting to see him work on mainstream Marvel and DC characters might want to think about commissions or crossing fingers about variant covers, just in case. That said, his current Batman series, DC Black Label’s Batman: City of Madness, is still running and only two issues in as yet…

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