Popverse's top stories of the day

• Dune: Prophecy creators promise to bring the "complexity" and "grand scale" of Frank Herbert's books and Denis Villeneuve's movies to TV
• Marvel's TV head says there's "absolutely" a future for Jon Bernthal's Punisher after his Daredevil: Born Again appearance
• Meet the Grim Reaper of The Walking Dead TV show cast, and what goes into killing someone off in the show

Things are about to be shaken up across DC’s comic book universe, with writer Joshua Williamson — the architect behind both the publisher’s 'Infinite Frontier' and 'Dawn of DC' eras — leaving two titles in the near future. In the latest release from his newsletter, he’s shared that he’ll be leaving both Batman & Robin and Green Arrow in the next few months.

“I love these books and I’m proud of the work we did on them,” Williamson shared, adding, “I got to write two dream books these last two years. I wanted to write these since I got started at DC Comics and it was nuts to finally work on these characters. I’m thankful for that time, but also how the fans respond to the series.”

Of Batman & Robin, he wrote, “I’ll miss writing Damian. One of my fav characters of the last twenty years that I’ve always felt a bit protected of. He’s so much more than the “brat” people sometimes see him as. I wanted to show different sides of Damian, but also showcase that as much as he’s this amazing fighter/assassin and one of the smartest characters in comics…he’s still a KID.” Both Bruce Wayne and Damian “have had a hard time the last few years, so I wanted to take it easy on them with some fun stories,” he explained. His final issue of that series will be #13, released in September.

When it comes to Green Arrow, he wrote, “I’m going to miss writing Ollie and the Green Arrow family. My goal was to reunite the family, while telling Green Arrow stories you don’t normally see. To take a street level character and throw them into a space and time adventure was a blast. I’m incredibly proud that Green Arrow went from a six-issue mini-series to 12 issues to then an ongoing that will continue after my time.” He’ll leave that series with October’s #17.

Leaving the series was his choice, he emphasized — “one that I lose some sleep over” — but something that was necesssary to reduce his workload, and open up time for new comic projects and something that he teased were “opportunities in front of me that were different and interesting in surprising ways.”

Two things are worth pointing out in this news: firstly, this isn’t Williamson cutting ties with DC — he makes a point of talking about how big his next Superman arc will be, after the upcoming Absolute Power tie-in issues — and, two, both titles are continuing after his departure. “I know who the creative teams are next, and they are very exciting,” Williamson promised.

Between this, Ram V’s departure from Detective Comics, and Tom Taylor and Bruno Redondo leaving Nightwing, it certainly looks as if a number of ongoing DC books are going to be looking for new creative teams this fall… right around the time Absolute Power is drawing to a close. Interesting…! Keep your eyes peeled on Popverse for more information when the news breaks.

Get ready for what's next with our guide to upcoming comics, how to buy comics at a comic shop, and our guide to Free Comic Book Day 2025.