The Back Half of 2025

The comic industry works far in advance on projects, which means that those of us pursuing freelance work also need to be working in advance and thinking many months ahead about our projects and workloads.

I am writing two projects right now, and waiting for five others to be drawn and lettered. By the end of June, the two projects I am writing will be done on my end and will just need to be drawn. “Well, great, why don’t you wait until July and start looking for new work?”

Mostly because the longer you wait to reach out…the longer it will take you to get work. These slots on these projects fill up fast. It’s only March of 2025, but at the moment, any work I get is going to come out at the end of 2025 or the start of 2026. That’s something to consider. I want to be on the shelves more so readers can get to know me and I can develop more of a following, and so publishers go, “Hey, people seem to like Dave consistently being on the shelves, let’s work with him.” So if I start letting people know now that I’m looking for work, maybe by the late spring/early summer that work will start coming in. If I wait until the start of the summer to start soliciting new work…the publishing year is already basically spoken for in full.

So yesterday, I went on Bluesky and told folks that I was open for business. I hoped that anyone I hadn’t worked with before who was interested might want to see my current samples. While I patiently wait for my newest samples to finish, and when those are done I will certainly be emailing the editors I’m already in touch with to show off my new work. Until then, I’m letting everyone else I am very much free.

In that spirit, I thought I might use this week’s Newsletter to remind people of a few of the projects I have done, that I have PDFs for, and that I would happily send to editors if they wanted to see them. You can contact me directly at [email protected] 

Man-Bat

The 2021 mini-series I wrote was drawn by Sumit Kumar, colored by Romulo Fajardo JR, and lettered by Tom Napolitano. It follows Kurt Langstrom following his worst episode as the monster Man-Bat that he’s ever had and how he needs to rebuild life or die because of the devastating long-term cellular damage the Man-Bat serum has done to him. An action story, a treatise on addiction, and a big DC comic with cameos and guest star appearances from Batman, The Suicide Squad, Harley Quinn, Scarecrow, and Wonder Woman. This mini-series tells a full story for Kirk Langstrom but also ties into many DC events and modern moments showing that I can play in canon very well. I love this mini-series and most folks who read it feel the same way.

TMNT: Black, White, & Green-Sin Sewer

Last year the great artist Riley Rossmo and I were asked to contribute a story to IDW’s Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Black, White, & Green anthology mini-series. The stories featured sixteen TMNT stories told by different creative teams and all the stories could only use three colors: black, white, and green. Riley and I told a story in issue 3 called “Sin Sewer”, a loving ode to Frank Miller’s legendary Sin City, that saw Raphael being asked for help by a mysterious green-haired woman named Esmerelda and Raph desperately wanting to be the dark avenging hero she’s looking for. An eight-page short story where I got to tell an adventure story but also stretch some noir muscles. And just a dazzling art tour de force from Riley.

Plastic Man & Wonder Woman “Man’s Underworld”

When I left DC Comics as an editor, I told them that if I ever got to return as a writer, I would love to write a Plastic Man story. Plastic Man is funny, has roots in crime fiction, and is just a character I felt like I could sink my teeth into. Last year DC gave me that opportunity with a two-part story in their Batman: The Brave & The Bold title in a story called “Man’s Underworld” where Wonder Woman asks Plastic Man to help him find the person who stole her Lasso of Truth. The story also gave me the chance to write Wonder Woman, which was awesome. I love team-up stories and I could have written these two for another four issues, but me, the wonderful artist Nikola Čižmešija, colorist Rex Lokus, and letterer Steve Wands told an awesome two-parter that I will always be grateful I got to do. And again, we got to touch on a lot of modern DC stories showing that I can play within and with continuity and lore effectively.

Superman/Shorts for DC

I have written twenty short stories for DC. Six of them have focused on Superman. I love Superman, and I feel like these six are some of the best stories I have done to date. They show me writing about one of the world’s greatest superheroes with six phenomenal artists: Riley Rossmo, Jorge Corona, Yasmine Putri (With Tom Derenick on breakdowns), Miguel Mendonca, and Sid Kotian.

The two other short stories I hear the most about are a Green Lantern (John Stewart) story I did called “Escape from the Dark Fortress” with artist Pablo M. Collar and a Green Arrow & Speedy story I did called “Earn it Back” with artist Mike Norton. I would happily send an editor any of the DC short stories I have done. They are all beautifully drawn, I worked with great editors, and I know I gave it my all each time, but those eight stories tend to rise to the top of the pile when I reach out to editors.

Part of being a freelancer means you are always letting folks know when you are available for work. It’s part of the job that I have had to embrace more than others. As I said above, I have been working consistently as a writer since the first week of 2025, and selfishly? I don’t want to stop.

I want as few weeks to go by when I don’t have a comic book script I am working on as possible. It’s why I posted on social media yesterday; it’s why I went in depth about my best samples today. I am putting it out into the universe that I love writing comics, I am good at writing comics, and I will do whatever it takes to continue to write them as consistently as possible. And, of course, I am ready to take on more challenges. I can write a short story like no one’s business. But I’m ready to pitch for one-shots, annuals, mini-series, and even an ongoing series if the chance comes up. This is me planting my feet in the ground, just letting the world know I’m here and I’m not going anywhere.

I love where I’m at, and I want to keep going, that’s the core message here.

Thanks for giving this a read. If you are an editor, or if you want to recommend me to one? Like I said, shoot me an email at [email protected] I have these samples ready to go. July- December of 2025 is wide open for me, and I want to fill that part of the calendar with great comic writing work.

Stay safe!

—Dave Wielgosz