“The future’s uncertain, and the end is always near.” – The Doors

§ January 7th, 2013 § Filed under predictions, reader participation § 49 Comments

So this week sometime I’m going to start going over your predictions for 2012 from last January, but first…let’s get your predictions for what’s coming for the comics industry in 2013! Please let me know what you see beyond the cloudy mists of time’s veil, or whatever, by dropping your predictions in the comments to this post.

As always, I have a rule or three I’d like people to stick to:

1. Don’t read the other predictions before entering your own.

2. Don’t criticize other people’s predictions.

3. Don’t predict any real person’s death.

We’ll see how y’all did next year, assuming I’ll still want to be talking about comics then and haven’t converted this site over to a deep sea fishing blog or something. Anyway, place your predictive bets and let’s see what happens.

 

image from Action Comics #276 (May 1961) by Jerry Siegel & Jim Mooney – reprinted in Legion of Super-Heroes Archives Vol. 1

49 Responses to ““The future’s uncertain, and the end is always near.” – The Doors”

  • Derooftrouser says:

    Iron Man 3, Thor 2 and Man of Steel do well at the box office, but not quite as well as expected, and The Wolverine somehow manages to make less money than Origins, leading to lots of headlines going “Zap! Pow! Superheroes are Box Office Kryptonite”.

    Actual comics? Yeah, they’ll probably still be making them as well.

  • Roger Green says:

    Someone will put a mass killing of children in a comic book, and unlike every other mass killings in comics, this will engender some controversy.

  • I predict that I won’t read any comics over the following year but I’ll continue to enjoy Progressive Ruin.

  • MrJM says:

    1. Kal-El’s supertrunks will return.
    2. The Dick Tracy comic strip will continue to baffle and entrance me, e.g. http://goo.gl/fFmtg
    3. A major newspaper will discover that, “Bop! Zip! Comics aren’t just for kids anymore!” while continuing to run strips that appeal solely to pre-literate children and octogenarians.
    4. Bully the Little Stuffed Bull will once again be my favorite superhero.
    5. Plastic Crimewave’s rock and roll history comics — http://goo.gl/UxhJ1 — will inspire a cartoonist to document other overlooked figures in pop culture.
    6. Marvel will, at long last, acknowledge that the Avengers were co-created by Stan Lee and Walt Disney.

    — MrJM

  • Dean Hacker says:

    1. DC will begin quietly backing away from the new 52. They’ll revive some bits of old continuity and then re-relaunch a character that is a full-blown throw-back. The smart money is on Green Arrow, but don’t rule out Superman.
    2. Marvel will roll out a big wave of cancellations and everyone will start questioning the commitment of the Disney folks to comics as a medium. Then, they’ll kill someone off and everyone will forget.
    3. Image will launch a creator-owned title from a formerly exclusive Big Two talent that will be much bigger than expected.
    4. Dark Horse will lose the Star Wars license to Marvel, who will promise to roll out a new line of Star Wars comics. It won’t happen. Meanwhile, the Dark Horse folks will replace Star Wars with Battlestar Galactica (or something).
    5. Superhero movies will start to seem a bit past their prime as at least one hyped Marvel sequel tanks and the rest of the slate disappoints.

  • 1. There will be at least 3 more “waves” of the new 52. In one these waves, there will be a Kamandi book,a WWII superhero book, and new take on one of the books that were in an earlier wave yet was cancelled.

    2. Peter Parker will be dead for the whole year, though the prelude to his inevitable return will begin in the fourth quarter of 2013.

    3. Marvel will kill of two more major characters in the next year, one will get major press, the other won’t.

    4. Issue will come out regarding the new Neil Gaiman Sandman series centering on corporate involvement in the creative process. It might actually cause the project to end up being scrapped.

    5. Image will continue to build on their line of popular, respectable books, and might rise to such a stature that the challenge DC and Marvel for sales dominance. However, unlike the 1990s, this time they wont fade away so quickly.

    6. Disney will buy Hasbro, returning G.I.Joe and Transformers comics back to Marvel. IDW will be able to withstand the loss by adding more original content and expanding the licensed content the already have.

    7. This was the first time in history that there were three comic book adaptations in the top ten highest grossing films of the year (The Avengers, The Dark Knight Rises, and The Amazing Spider-Man). In 2013, there will be four films in the list. If not more.

  • swamp mark says:

    1. Without Snyder,Swamp Thing will be cancelled around issue #29.He will make guest appearances in JLDark after that until Lemire leaves that book and it is cancelled too.
    2. A Swampy movie will finally be made based on Moore’s work (which he will disavow)which will be a huge sleeper hit and cause DC to start up a half dozen different Swampy titles.
    3. Mike and I will be seen dancing in the streets.

  • Bear says:

    1. Despite positive critical reviews, the relaunched Valiant universe will fold by year’s end. This will be a great pity.

    2. Peter Parker will return to life in 2013’s summer crossover.

    3. The New52 will continue, despite nobody really wanting it to.

  • Jeff R. says:

    1. A DC Implosion! In December, they’ll be shipping less than 42 books in the main universe, and also be pushing less product under other imprints as well.

    2. New Grendel for the 30th Anniversary.

    3. Speaking of Anniversaries, there’ll be a 20th Anniversary edition of Understanding Comics with new material.

    4. The Trinity War will replace War of the Gods as the go-to reference for ‘botched line-wide crossover’. (DC won’t let anything be late this time, though, so the failure will be in the form of obvious-rush-job fill-ins.)

    5. Marvel will revive the Untold Legends of Spider-Man title in order to have something starring Peter Parker when the second Amazing movie comes out.

    6. No Multiversity this year.

    7. No Marvelman this year, either.

    8. Guardians of the Galaxy will do as badly as a movie with that sort of promotion can do.

    9. Either DC Challenge II or Secret Wars III or something equally retro-goofy as those concepts will happen.

    10. Income from Digitally distributed comics will increase less than 3% over last year, and may in fact decline.

  • Jay V says:

    Doctor Doom gets a fatal disease and switches minds with Aunt May. After sharing her memories, he vows to become a better Aunt May than she ever was and thus is born the SUPERIOR AUNT MAY!!!

  • Gordon says:

    1) Marvel NOW will actually show some slight increase in comic sales, and there will be another slight “revamp” within the next year.

    2) DC will slowly, but surely, phase more of their “older” continuity into books, making the occasional reference (like Superman Red/Superman Blue) in an effort to appeal as much to the “older” comics fan as much as their current fanbase.

    3) Two words: AFTER WATCHMEN

  • philip says:

    Superman will get his old costume back.

  • Robert in New Orleans says:

    There will be no Marvel Now title where the originally announced artist has completed 12 consecutive issues on schedule.

    Uncanny Avengers will become a notoriously & extremely late off-schedule title until Cassaday’s tenure is over (after issue 5, I believe).

    By January 1 2014, readers will be no happier overall with the Marvel Now relaunch than they are now with the New 52.

    Kickstarter will have acquired a dubious reputation as a means of publishing comics due to egregious delays and non-delivery of finished projects. To the point that unknown and lesser known creators will no longer find it a practical method for funding.

    Dave Sim will return to prominence in the comic book industry & readership consciousness and will be acknowledged as a living master of the form.

    Chris Samnee will draw and have published 16 monthly comics proving that hard work and talent are still valued by publishers and fans.

    Peter Parker’s mind will still not be back in possession of his own body.

    Swamp Thing’s sales numbers will drop once Scott Snyder leaves the title as will Animal Man’s once the Rot crossover concludes. By the end of 2013 both books will be heading towards cancellation (sorry Mike).

    Batman & Superman will still be wearing their New 52 underwear-less costumes. Bleh.

    Mike Sterling will start another new blog documenting a recently discovered hoard of Alan Moore’s 1980’s tax returns & accounting paperwork during the crucial period he wrote tales concerning one muck-encrusted mockery of a man. On this blog, he also makes room for the dry cleaning receipts of Ernie Bushmiller.

  • googum says:

    I’m not going to try my usual “death of Vertigo” guess this year; they seem to keep limping along.

    Marvel/Disney is finally going to go too far in their movie casting lowballing, and is going to lose a fan-favorite actor who refuses to budge.

    The Superman/Wonder Woman power couple (that everyone seems to have forgotten about, since it doesn’t come into play in any other books…) will break up; and it’s really uncomfortable, since traditionally in super-hero comics things are settled with fight scenes.

    DC will also lose points by killing off a semi-beloved but somewhat redundant legacy character–someone like Tim Drake or Kyle Rayner. Marvel doesn’t have legacies to burn like that, but they’ll kill off somebody–I’m at a loss as to who, that hasn’t spent time dead already. Maybe Iceman or Kitty Pryde?

  • Mike Nielsen says:

    By 2014, in continuing the tradition of “Archie Meets Kiss” and “Archie Meets Glee”, Archie will announce new storylines were Archie crosses over with other pop-culture items, like “Archie Meets Sons of Anarchy” and “Archie meets Star Wars”.

  • Timothy T. says:

    Poop. I was going to make a prediction that Guardians of the Galaxy will either flop or else be successful yet alienate audiences who won’t watch the following films (comics fans will love it). But, it comes out next year.

  • demoncat says:

    time warner will manage to get the rights to swamp thing and get the film going and then let del torro do his film with the magic characters. dc deciding the new look of captain carrot will do it with the zoo crew also as space pirates. marvel will after changing spider man back to peter parker decide to also bring back doctor octopus. marvel will finaly undo one more day. doctor strange will not only finaly get his film but a new comic

  • ExistentialMan says:

    In no particular order:

    1) Chris Ware will win an Eisner for “Building Stories”.

    2) Over half of the kids killed in Avengers Arena will turn out not to be dead.

    3) The Walking Dead on AMC will have a fourth showrunner by year’s end

    4) BOOM! Studios Adventure Time #1 (unslabbed) will sell for over $150 on eBay.

    5) Marvel will outsell DC every month of 2013 in overall dollar and unit sales according to Diamond sales data. DC will still dominate in trade sales.

    6) Snyder and Lee’s Superman will sell like crazy at first but taper off quickly much like the Azzarello/Lee “For Tomorrow” Supes story.

    7) The Star Wars comic book franchise will return to Marvel in 2013. Brian Wood will continue to write – starting with a new #1.

    8) Mike’s hair will continue to get even better in 2013. Around August, he’ll decide to go with 80’s style cornrow braids.

    9) Ed Brubaker will complete his previously mentioned film/TV scripts in 2013 and both will be optioned by the end of the year.

    10) Someone, somewhere on the internet will reveal a major spoiler for the ending of “Age of Ultron” story.

  • Smicha1 says:

    The Tick Season Three will continue to not be available on DVD

  • Ray Tomczak says:

    I’ve already predicted this on my own blog in my year in review post, and you don’t really need psychic powers to see that the loss of their longest running tile, followed closely by the resignation of founding editor Karen Berger, does not bode well for the future of Vertigo. It seems likely that DC will draw the twenty year old mature readers imprint to a close sometime after Berger leaves in March.

  • philip says:

    Pogressive Ruin will run its course, to the dismay of several.

  • Bully says:

    Point One issues for everyone!

  • Michael Grabowski says:

    1. I’d say it’s probably The Hulk’s turn to die and be replaced for a time.

    2. DC will announce plans for some kind of After Watchmen comic(s).

  • matt Jeske says:

    1) Fantagraphics will reprint some classic comic book, comic strip or Graphic Novel that I’m familiar with, but somehow forgot was unavailable. Maybe a nice collection of the work of Jose Munoz?

    2) Mark Waid will write a zombie comic.

  • Kurt Onstad says:

    1) DC will announce a big event that brings back, at least in part, the Pre-Flashpoint Universe.

    2) Multiversity issue 1 still won’t be released by years end.

    3) Speedball will take his rightful place as the most powerful and most popular character in the Marvel Universe.

  • Snark Shark says:

    “Don’t predict any real person’s death”

    not even Gary Busey?

  • Interstate Shogun says:

    Gaiman’s new Sandman series will come out very irregularly, if at all because of the loss of Karen Berger, but will still be the top selling comic of the year and will win Eisners. But that’s an easy and obvious slam dunk.

    Personally, I’ll predict that if Peter David is unable to continue writing comics because of his stroke and is forced into retirement, I’ll probably drop whatever few Marvel comics left that I still collect. I jumped off Marvel in a big way with Marvel NOW and if some lame hack took over X Factor, one of the few consistently great comics Marvel has, then I’d probably just say to hell with it and dump Marvel. I’ve already dumped DC and with the exception of the aforementioned Sandman, I won’t be getting anything from them in the future.

    I also predict that there will be no Astro City in 2013 either, another exception I would make for DC.

    There will be no new Marvelman either. That’s another easy one.

    Digital comics won’t make any inroads in terms of sales numbers this year, but a lot of bloggers will still moan about it.

    Comics based movies are due for a big drop off. They’ll still make loads of money, which the creators of said characters will still not see a dime of, but the quality level will drop and burnout will start to set in.

  • Thelonious_Nick says:

    1) After a huge, commercially-successful 2012, superhero movies will have an off-year in 2013, prompting articles with titles like “The End of the Superhero Movie Era?”

    2) Marvel NOW will suffer from over-pricing and over-shipping and sales on several titles will slip. Superior Spider-Man will be foremost among these when readers don’t take a non-Peter Parker Spider-Man.

    3) Walking Dead and Saga will regularly reach top 10 in monthly sales, with at least one other new Image/Dark Horse/IDW title joining them by year’s end.

  • Adam Farrar says:

    Here’s my list. Maybe it’s too long? I’m not looking at those above me so I really have no idea how obnoxious I’m being…

    The glut of Marvel titles being double shipping will only get worse and will speed up the standard attrition. Marvel’s solution will be more double shipping. Some artists will announce their departure for creator owned books will a more realistic schedule.

    Mark Millar and Frank Quitely’s Image series “Jupiter’s Legacy” will start in April as announced but only 4 of the planned 12 issues will come out in 2013.

    Some company will hire Karen Berger and give her money to run her own imprint. Creators will flock to pitch her ideas.

    Dark Horse will launch more titles to compensate for the Disney taking away the Star Wars license.

    There will be more creators leaving DC in headlines complaining of a difficult work environment.

    The story in Avengers Arena will turn out to be a computer simulation or a dream or something.

    DC will continue to publish Batman, Inc. after Grant Morrison leaves the title despite its lack of direction and plummeting sales.

    The “Justice League’s Vibe” will be the lowest selling Geoff Johns comic in recent memory, which will still be pretty good for a modern DC comic.

    Brian Bendis’ Guardians of the Galaxy will spin off a second cosmic team book also written by Bendis.

    Iron Man 3, Thor 2 and The Wolverine will have marginally larger (domestic) box offices than their last individual movies. Man of Steel will do better financially and critically than Green Lantern but less than than the Nolan Batman movies.

    Tragically the “Young Justice” cartoon won’t be renewed for a third season.

  • Jerry Smith says:

    – DC will continue cancelling books no one wants to read and replacing them with other books no one wants to read.

    – Marvel will experiment with new Avengers and X-Men titles at $4.99 an issue. Fans desert in droves.

    – Iron Man 3 will start the franchise rot by being nothing like the comics or the first two movies. It will suffer from overblown Hollywood-itis, make a lot of money, and not be good.

    – Image will have another break-out hit and lots of other critically acclaimed new books.

    – Karen Berger will become head of development at either a movie studio or independent comics publisher.

  • The Sniffer says:

    Disney will announce that all Marvel properties will end their contracts with Universal studios.

    Disney will buy outright the rights to make X-Men films.

    Mike will finally review his choice of deodorant, and… we all win!

  • NeverAsk says:

    Archie comics will continue to be awesome.

  • Rob S. says:

    DC will launch a Vertigo book in the digital-first style.

    In Archie crossovers, Sabrina will meet My Little Pony.

    One or two more of the established New 52 books move to $3.99 and get backups; Green Lantern and Earth 2 are good candidates.

  • Nate says:

    – Katie Power finally joins the Avengers
    – “Man of Steel” uses the words “woman of Kleenex” on screen
    – Robert Kirkman sets up an actual money bin and swims in it ala Scrooge McDuck.

  • De says:

    Making yet another mistake of the past, one of the Big Two will roll out hologram covers again in an attempt to “cash in on nostalgia.”

    With their Star Wars gravy train derailed, Dark Horse merges with another publisher. My guess would be Image.

    After years of rolling her eyes at comics, my teenaged daughter will finally ask to visit a comic shop. (I can hold out hope anyway.)

  • Gareth Wilson says:

    Particularly large numbers of American comic stores will close in 2013.

    Marvel will cancel most of the Avengers comics.

    A mutant will run for public office in the Marvel Universe.

    The SHIELD TV show will be successful, but will generally be considered to have nothing to do with SHIELD from the comics. Whedonites won’t consider it a “real” Joss Whedon show.

  • Kid Kyoto says:

    Good topic!

    1-Dark Horse will lose Star Wars to Marvel but will try to fill the void with comics about Battlestar Galactica, Flash Gordon (the Queen version) and Buck Rogers (Gil Gerard version).

    2-Disney will buy Hasbro, IDW will lose Transformers and GI Joe to Marvel.

    3-A fired DC staffer will do a tell-all article about the New 52 and various back-stabbings and shenanigans. the internew will break in 1/6ths but DC sales won’t be affected.

    4-Seeing the proliferation of V for Vendetta Masks at protests, DC will launch an After V series of miniseries.

    5-Peter Parker back in 616 by the end of the year.

    6-the Legion will be rebooted. Again.

  • Ed says:

    I had a list, but after reading Gordon and Michael’s suggestion of an After Watchmen, that seems like the most hardy horse to wager on.

    After Watchmen (a one-shot at least)

  • Tom Cherry says:

    Realizing superhero movies is where the money is at, Woody Allen writes and directs THE INFERIOR FIVE. He stars as Merryman, Scarlett Johansson is Dumb Bunny, and Diane Keaton plays Annie Hall.

  • Boosterrific says:

    DC finally gets around to Nu52 Sugar and Spike, re-introducing the pair as a prostitute with a heart of gold and her brother, a dim punk with a penchant for getting into trouble. Naturally, they communicate telepathically and hunt vampires and zombies.

  • William Burns says:

    DC announces a new line of comics devoted specifically to pissing off Alan Moore. The first two projects: After Watchmen and a sequel to V for Vendetta written by Grant Morrison.

    Hardcover archival reprint series announced for Reg Smythe’s Andy Capp and Charles Barsotti’s Sally Bananas.

  • Roger Green says:

    Roger Green will write a daily blogpost in September 2013 at rogerogreen.com that will crush Mike Sterling’s daily record of 8.3 years.

  • Prankster says:

    –Either Bob Harras or Dan Didio, or both, will leave their current position at DC (possibly kicked upstairs, more likely leaving the company altogether).

    –Iron Man 3 and Thor 2 will both be quite good.

    –Neither Seaguy 3, new issues of Astro City, nor a collection of the Alan Moore era Marvelman will materialize this year, because we live in a cold and uncaring universe.

    –Disney will buy DC, Image, Dark Horse, IDW, Warner Brothers, Microsoft, Belize, the Moon, and the concept of human happiness. All human beings will be fitted with EKG meters that will charge them a dime anytime they think of any of the pop culture characters the company owns. The years of tribulation begin.

  • Cowded House says:

    Mike Sterling brings Pogressive Ruin to an end. The very next day, he finds a bomb planted underneath one of the tables in his shop. It explodes and he runs into his overstock back room. He emerges, reborn as…Pog Thing!

  • Dwayne the canoe guy says:

    Jonah Hex will stay in Gotham, Bat Lash will show up and cause a ruckus, the All Star Western will see a reboot of Scalphunter as well as the Trigger Twins but this times as cojoined Siamese twins.

  • Stevonicus says:

    Superior Spiderman will go the way of Firestorm and have both Doc Ock and Peter Parker inhabiting the one body. Expect a massive amount of issues to be published as marvel decides to start triple shipping the book in May leading up to a reversion of numbering and title in time for Amazing Spider Man #750 some time in 2014.

    Grant Morrison’s Multiversity gets delayed on into 2014 because John Cassaday signs up to pencil an issue which takes six months to complete.

    The Teen Titans GO spinoff comic sells more than the New 52 Teen Titans effort much to the chagrin of DC editorial.

    Bill Willingham’s decision to finish writing Fables signals the final death knell for Vertigo. Shelley Bond joins Marvel’s editorial team as a consequence.

    Jim Zubkavich’s disappointment at being booted from Birds of Prey after one issue sends him into the arms of Marvel where he writes a new Heroes for Hire ongoing.

  • Stevonicus says:

    Jim Lee will last 5 issues on Man Of Steel before needing a fill in artist. He will be off the book fully by #8.

    Dan DiDio decides to write a new Metal Men book. he will suffer a torrent of abuse online and produce a lackluster effort wherein he misinterprets the central premise and the book is cancelled by the sixth issue.