Mike Sterling's Progressive RuinWhere legends live since 1969

The third and final look at your 2011 predictions…yes, I’m done with them, finally.

§ January 16th, 2012 § Filed under predictions § 7 Comments

Okay, let’s just jump right and wrap it up…part the third of our look back at your 2011 predictions. Again, if I give an incorrect answer to any of these because there’s something I missed, please jump in and correct me in the comments.

• Hulk Finn (fantastic user name by the way…HULK FINN SMASH PUNY RAFT) predicts
  

  Someone’s gonna die by the end of Fear Itself. I say Cyclops. He seems to be a prominent figure in the whole She bang.

  A major character apparently did “die,” but not Cyclops. Look for that character to come back in the next big crossover event or, you know, whatever.

• Jeff R sez
  

  Secret Six won’t last through more than half of 2011. However, we’ll get a new Suicide Squad monthly immediately after the cancellation.

  Well…yeah, that pretty much did happen, didn’t it?

  Hellblazer will get it’s final regular writer in 2011, starting a 15-20 issue arc that leads into the final issue, #300 in ’12. There will be a few more Constantine miniseries during the two years, moved out of the main book because there aren’t any numbers available for them.

  We are getting some Constantine stories outside of Hellblazer right now, mostly because of New 52-type stuff. I hope DC doesn’t cancel the series with #300, but I can see the current creative team on the book through that issue, wrapping up current plots and other hoohar.

  Miracleman will be republished, and, in the case of book 2, completely redrawn from Moore’s original scripts. Marvel and Gaiman will try to get Rick Veitch to do that art job, but probably won’t manage to talk him into it.

  Alas, Miracleman still remains unreprinted. I can understand the impulse to want Chuck Austen’s (aka Beckum) art contributions redrawn to more closely fit the artwork throughout the rest of the series…but I kind of like Austen’s contribution.

  Wednesday Comics II will start in the summer.

  I’m sort of surprised we haven’t seen a new Wednesday Comics-type project yet, but I suppose DC was busy with the relaunch and couldn’t devote resources to this.

• MaxGRobinson believes
  

  *Marvel’s going to bring back Doctor Strange in a big way. Whether it’s a new ongoing or a big role in something like Fear Itself I dunno.

  Well, he’s back in The Defenders. Does that count?

  *The last of DC’s Red Circle titles comes to an end. (unless that’s happened already?)

  Yeah, that’s pretty much done.

  New Aquaman on-going spins out of Brightest Day.

  There is a new Aquaman series…I don’t know that it would count as having “spun off” from Brightest Day, but, you know, close enough.

  New Power Man and Iron Fist mini sparks a new ongoing (wishful thinking on my part)

  Not in 2011, but Marvel never seems to let go of the idea. Maybe someday!

• Andrew Leal notes that his local Toys ‘R’ Us was racking some comics, and predicted that some department stores like Target might do the same. …I haven’t noticed anything like that yet, but I don’t get to Target or similar stores too often. I haven’t even checked our local Toys ‘R’ Us to see if they have any comics, so I am underinformed about this particular topic. …Anyone been seeing comics for sale in odd (i.e. more mass market-y) places lately?
• Joe Schwind declares
  

  50,000 year-old Religious Extremist/Free Expressionist Conflict doesn’t end.

  Nope, totally ended. Did you miss it?

  Collisions between aging comic book artists and economic reality continue.

  Sadly, will likely always be true.

  Comic fans acknowledge the environmental impact of books outsourced to China, publishers remain oblivious.

  Publishers tend to remain oblivious to comic fans for the most part anyway…just out of self-preservation, because those fans are crazy.

• Ray says
  

  The Tin-tin movie will not be a commercial hit. The Tin-tin movie videogame, however, will be great.

  It didn’t do so hot in the States (about $68 million) but worldwide it did about $350 million, so I think nobody’s disappointed.

  I had to check to see if there was a video game based on the movie, and sure enough there is…the reviews range from “middling” to, quoting from a quote at the link, “a frontrunner for Worst Game of 2011.” So, um, yeah.

• Mister Bile coughs up
  

  Michael J. Strazinski is hired to “redefine” yet another main comics character. (Although the results won’t become clear until a year later, everyone agrees that the results “Aren’t all that bad, all things considered.”)

  That’s “J. Michael Straczynski,” and…I don’t think he’s popped up in comics too much aside from that Superman Earth Onethis project is still in development at DC.

  The Speed Force is revealed to be the true mastermind behind an industry-wide crossover event.

  Well…the Flash was central to the Flashpoint series, which led into the New 52 relaunch, which shook up the comics industry…I suppose that’s close enough for horseshoes.

  A lot of ex-Vertigo people end up at Marvel’s Icon line, looking dazed and confused.

  Nah, they just normally look like that. Icon has pretty much remained “dudes already at Marvel,” however.

  Hawkman is rebooted.

  Yeah, they tried it again.

  The next Spider-Man game will disappoint.

  Superhero video games always disappoint somebody. I think Edge of Time was the most recent, and it got average reviews, it seems.

• MichaelFromJamaicaNY says, mon
  

  I predict this Halloween will be extra freaky deaky, what with all the Thor family, and the grown women dressed as the 14 year old from True Grit, and the latex clad Trons, and the Black Swans, and the Tron Swans.
  Freaky. Deaky.

  I didn’t get out this Halloween, sadly, so I have no idea how nutty the costumes got this year. Though I would have paid One American Dollar to see a Tron Swan costume.

• Steven E. McDonald has some silly predictions, but then made a few I wanted to comment upon
  

  Marvel finally caves in to the falling sales and ongoing hate and retcons the Spider-Marriage retcon

  I really think that we’re stuck with the “no married Spidey” thing as long as Joe Quesada has a say in the matter. As soon as Disney gives the current editorial staff, um, “large severance packages,” we may see some movement toward restoring the wedded status quo. In a big event, of course. With lots of tie-ins. Reprinted in multiple hardcovers.

  Swamp Thing will make his long-awaited return to the DCU. Shortly thereafter, whatever book he arrived in will be canceled.

  Well, technically speaking, Brightest Day ended, it wasn’t cancelled!

  We’ll see more original graphic novels, often set up like European albums. While DC will lead this trend in the Big Two, smaller publishers will expand upon the offerings they already have, with the result that Top Shelf will improve market share very nicely.

  DC hasn’t followed up on their success with Earth One with any similar projects, though Marvel is. Various companies did put out original GNs, but it didn’t feel like it was that much of an increase over previous years.

• Darius Smith dares
  

  All periodical comic books will cease publishing in 2011!

  Totally happened. I SEEN IT

• londonKdS says
  

  Prediction I’ve been privately making for several years now: there will be a major controversy over some female Marvel/DC creator being caught doing erotic fanfic/fanart as a private commission or under a secret fan identity. Sexist fanboys will leap on this as what they wrongly think is a demonstration of the hypocrisy of feminist fangirls who attack oversexualisation in official canon, while the publisher involved will initially take harsh action against the person until people critique their hypocrisy given the tolerance of well-known male creators quietly doing erotic commissioned art of corporate-owned characters.

  Didn’t happen, as far as I know, but I’ll just reprint what I said the last time I discussed this prediction:

  I’m not sure what to say about that, except “erotic” commissions from superhero comic book artists are never not hilarious. But I can probably see the potential of a controversy of this sort breaking out, though ideally a publisher, if it takes a stand on this issue, should be even-handed about its policy regardless of the gender of the artist in question. (If a controversy does occur re: erotic commissioned art, it’ll be panicked dudes who are okay with drawings of Wonder Woman and Black Canary making out, but will freak if it’s Aquaman and the Flash making out.) (I am totally not Googling any of this, by the way.)

• John Parker predicts
  

  Johnny Storm will die and sometime in the future will become either the original Human Torch or Dormammu due to some time warping bedevilment.

  Well, he died, sort of, but just plain came back as Johnny Storm. Ah well.

  If Johnny Storm has a girlfriend or is married (sorry,I don’t follow the book) then there’s a baby on the way !

  For some reason, I’m picturing Frankie Raye as Galactus’s herald Nova, flying around all preggers. (I don’t think there’s a flaming bun in the oven at this point…one melodramatic plotline at a time for this poor fella!)

  Mike will post Swamp Thing pages in Portuguese.

  Didn’t happen, but not for lack of wanting.

  Doctor Who will be great, stetson or no, and everyone will say Gaiman’s episode is the best of the series even if it isn’t.

  I posted on Twitter about the time that episode aired to the effect of how it must have been able to heal the sick and restore sight to the blind, the way people were talking it up. …It was a good episode, though.

• Bill says
  

  After a falling out between Alan Moore and Top Shelf, Moore will announce that all his future comics projects will appear with Archie Comics.

  “Hot Dog…you can talk?” “Oh yes, Forsythe, I can talk…and I can do so much more. LET ME SHOW YOU” “Oh GOD AAAKLGSJKLD”

  Sad to say, this didn’t happen.

  Another issue of All Star Batman and Robin will appear. Batman punches God.

  Also didn’t happen. Pretty much the only place it can go at this point.

  A new creator will take over Wonder Woman with great fanfare, and take the character in a new direction that will last for five issues, then be forgotten and never referred to again.

  A new creative team did take over Wonder Woman and, despite my misgivings about it, people do seem to really like it. …I think we’re good for at least six issues, though.

  A J. H. Williams drawn issue of Batwoman will appear late.

  Not so far! Though he did get a bit of a head start.

• Jerry Smith forges ahead with
  

  DC will actually hold to a mostly $2.99 price point, as they have vowed to do.

  Yeah, pretty much. They just announced a couple more titles going to the $3.99 price point, but so far, so good.

  Marvel will not.

  Marvel does have quite a bit more $3.99 titles, but sometimes they surprise me with a comic that seems like it’d have $3.99 written all over it, but it’s still $2.99.

  The Green Lantern movie will be a huge hit.

  Well, a “crash” is kind of a hit.

  Thor will not (but it will make its money back).

  500 million on a $150 million budget…it’s not Titanic money, but, you know, I’d take it.

  Marvel will just go for it and announce that all of their characters, supporting characters and the Pet Avengers are gay.

  Not all. Just Ego the Living Planet. …And I’m not even quite sure how that works, exactly.

  The Legion of Super-Heroes will be cancelled and relaunched with a new #1.

  A safe bet in any year, though it certainly happened this year in a big way.

  A new comics reading app will be created that will become the perfect way to read comics on a mobile device. It will soon fail and whatever Microsoft hacks out will replace it.

  Haven’t heard anything about it, but as we’ve found out recently, I’m not the go-to guy about this sort of thing. My reading app is “my hands and eyes,” and my mobile device is “my feet.” (Typing that officially makes me The Oldest Person Ever.)

• Ragnell says
  

  Steve Rogers back as Captain America, Bucky Barnes back in Winter Soldier gear before the movie comes out. That’s really the only thing I’m sure will happen.

  Like I said in a previous entry, I’m pretty sure Cap was back in his action suit by the time the movie rolled around…or close enough, anyway. And Bucky will be back as Winter Soldier in a new series Any Day Now.

  Well, that and there will be another incredibly sexist statement by an industry professional that will get a backlash.

  And DC will do another stupid thing that minimizes their female and/or minority characters, and Sattler will be trotted out to say something stupid as a defense again.

  Probably the same answer for these two, most recently involving the portrayal of female characters in some of the New 52 titles. I don’t know what Sattler had to say, but there was certainly some back and forth between the creative teams of said books and the fans.

• Oh, hey, Hulk Finn is back with
  

  Racists will be in even more of an uproar when they learn that “Random Background Norse # 7″ will be played by an Asian.

  Wow, I’d totally forgotten people were bent out of shape about Heimdall being played by a Black man in the Thor movie. Given that Heimdall was one of the better things about that film, seems even sillier in retrospect. …Wouldn’t surprise me if those folks did get upset about other aspects of the film. They usually can find things to complain about.

Okay, for better or worse, finally done. Thanks for putting up with this, folks, and let’s move on to new, non-prediction, stuff tomorrow. And I’m still taking predictions for 2012, but I’m going to hold off on commenting ’til next year. Just, you know, to avoid villagers with rakes and torches waiting outside my castle.