Your 2013 Predictions, Part Two: Hell on Earth.
Okay, here we go with Part Two of looking back at your predictions for 2013 (part one being yesterday, but how could you forget). Also, I just realized that technically Part Two should be called “Hellbound,” but I used “The Hellbound Heart” yesterday which wasn’t the title of the first Hellraiser film, but actually the title of the original Clive Barker short story that inspired the films, but I liked how that sounded but didn’t want to use “Hellbound” twice in a row. So there.
Sure, that didn’t make me sound like a crazy person. I’m still looking for 2014 predictions, however, which does make me sound like a crazy person. NOW, THE PREDICTIONS:
Bear growls:
“1. Despite positive critical reviews, the relaunched Valiant universe will fold by year’s end. This will be a great pity.”
It’s still hanging in there. It’s not pulling huge numbers that I can see, looking at Diamond’s market share charts, but it has its following.
“2. Peter Parker will return to life in 2013′s summer crossover.”
Would have thought so, too, but I guess we’re waiting for the next movie before this happens.
“3. The New52 will continue, despite nobody really wanting it to.”
I don’t expect this particular publishing initiative is going to go away anytime soon…as discussed on this site in the past, and probably by other people, too, I don’t know, I don’t pay attention, the New 52 push smells like “last chance for the current publishing paradigm.” If this doesn’t work, as much as some of y’all out there don’t like the New 52, I’m going to bet you really won’t like whatever it is that comes next.
His name’s Jeff R. and he’s here to say / he’s got some predictions for me to survey:
“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.”
I was just wondering the other day if DC is still actually publishing 52 ongoing New 52 titles, or if maybe they’re sliding by with, like, 48 and hoping nobody notices. So I’m going to pull out the latest Previews and count right now. Hold on.
…
Okay, it looks we have 45 ongoing New 52 titles (some on their last issue, as of the Jan 2014 Previews, four New 52 minis (the Forever Evil family) and the Suicide Squad: Amanda Waller one-shot, which I’m presuming will have the “New 52” slug on the cover as well. That makes 50, unless we’re also counting that Black Canary/Zatanna graphic novel, but I don’t know if that’ll have the New 52 banner on the cover or not. I don’t think I miscounted, but please double-check my work. At any rate, it’s a little short of 52, but maybe they plan on loading up some new title launches for February 2014 to get their numbers back up.
Everything else (the media tie-ins, the Digital First library, the Vertigo stuff) seems to be at around their usual population numbers.
“2. New Grendel for the 30th Anniversary.”
Alas, no! I’m always up for new Grendel.
“3. Speaking of Anniversaries, there’ll be a 20th Anniversary edition of Understanding Comics with new material.”
No new edition (egads, 20 years already?) but still a great book.
“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.)”
I always kind of thought “Genesis” was the gold standard there, but “War of the Gods” ain’t bad, either. Trinity War still seems to be doing okay thus far, though there is the occasional scheduling hiccup with the main Justice League title being off by a week now and again, but that’s just par for the course on that title.
“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.”
They did have that Amazing Spider-Man #700.1-.5 mini with Peter Parker, published just in time for a hardcover to be produced before the movie, because God knows there’s not enough comics starring Peter Parker they could package for proper movie-sales exploitation. But if Parker isn’t back as Spider-Man in time for the movie, yeah, I expect a new title will be launched.
I mean, a new title will be launched anyway whenever PP comes back, so that Superior will stay on the stands as well. This is Marvel we’re talking about.
“6. No Multiversity this year.”
And that’s a real bummer, too. Maybe this year, he said hopefully!
“7. No Marvelman this year, either.”
It was solicited…well, Miracleman was. Close enough!
“8. Guardians of the Galaxy will do as badly as a movie with that sort of promotion can do.”
It’s not out yet, but reaction sure was mixed on that mid-credits preview attached to Thor 2, especially from the director of Thor 2.
“9. Either DC Challenge II or Secret Wars III or something equally retro-goofy as those concepts will happen.”
I would have loved either of these, particularly if some of the creators from the ’70s and ’80s were involved. We did get Batman ’66…not really the same kind of book, but certainly retro-goofy in a great way. Um…Age of Ultron #1 had a chromium cover!
“10. Income from Digitally distributed comics will increase less than 3% over last year, and may in fact decline.”
I have no idea, I have to admit. It’s my understanding that this kind of information is kept pretty close to the chest, so who knows how well or not-well things are doing in that arena. Maybe someone out there can help!
Pal Andres (whom I haven’t seen in a while…come back, Andres, we miss you!) says:
“zombies.”
Yup. There were zombies, all right. The Walking Dead comic is still going strong, though going biweekly did drop our sales on them by about 1/5, like what happens nearly every time a publisher decides to flood the market with something that was popular. Don’t worry though, guys, I’m sure those golden eggs are in that goose somewhere.
But it looks like we’re stuck with the zombie media madness for a while yet, even if Marvel’s curtailed their Marvel Zombies titles for the moment.
Jay V commands:
“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!!!”
Now that you’ve said it, it’s only a matter of time.
Gordon pals around with:
“1) Marvel NOW will actually show some slight increase in comic sales, and there will be another slight ‘revamp’ within the next year.”
Marvel’s numbering shenanigans (like this whole “Avengers #24 = Avengers Now #1” or whatever) is just about to begin, with some actual restarts and new #1s coming this new year. Marvel’s sales according to the Diamond market share reports have held mostly steady, but we’ll see if this parade of yet another slew of #1s, seemingly all Avengers titles (NOTE: sarcasm), will do well.
“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.”
Sort of discussed yesterday, with some reaction in the comments like Green Arrow reviving his old look, or what I said about the old Swamp Thing making an appearance. It’s not so much reviving old continuity as nods to what has come before, I think.
“3) Two words: AFTER WATCHMEN”
I’ll get my Seymour solo book yet.
philip wishes:
“Superman will get his old costume back.”
Like we mentioned yesterday…he’s out there in his old costume, but not in New 52 continuity. But we’ll take what we can get!
Robert in New Orleans tries to kill me with:
“There will be no Marvel Now title where the originally announced artist has completed 12 consecutive issues on schedule.”
Oh Lordy, I’m going to have to research this when I get a chance. I did spotcheck a title or two where it looked like the original artist didn’t make it through the whole year, but I don’t know if that’s necessarily the case across the board.
“Uncanny Avengers will become a notoriously & extremely late off-schedule title until Cassaday’s tenure is over (after issue 5, I believe).”
Cassaday made it to #4, with a six week gap between 1 and 2 (in 2012), and almost two months between 2 and 3 (from 11/28/12 to 1/23/13). After that it was the usual Marvel scheduling of maybe monthly, maybe every three weeks, you know, whatever.
“By January 1 2014, readers will be no happier overall with the Marvel Now relaunch than they are now with the New 52.”
People certainly still complain about DC more than Marvel, at least online. There’s grumbling about Marvel’s stupid numbering and renumbering, but overall customers still seem to be happy with the books they’re reading.
“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.”
I haven’t noticed a serious ding in Kickstarter’s reputation, though there is some increasing awareness of the occasional glitch in the system from folks screwing with the donation process, some folks not delivering, etc. That appears to be more growing pains that a serious problem, from what I can tell. The couple of times I’ve participated, it’s worked out okay for me (I mean, check this out!), but keep your eyes open and use your best judgement when it comes to giving people you don’t know money. Except me. Just throw as much money as you can at me.
“Dave Sim will return to prominence in the comic book industry & readership consciousness and will be acknowledged as a living master of the form.”
Not yet, but he did do some swell Doctor Who covers (with the occasional adjusting from the BBC).
“Chris Samnee will draw and have published 16 monthly comics proving that hard work and talent are still valued by publishers and fans.”
I don’t think he did 16, but he did a lot of great work on Daredevil and I know I valued it!
“Peter Parker’s mind will still not be back in possession of his own body.”
Still floating out there in the ozone, alas.
“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).”
Animal Man is about to end, so right you are there. Swamp Thing is still doing okay for us, but I have noticed a slight dip in sales. I’d better start buying four copies of each issue instead of the usual three.
“Batman & Superman will still be wearing their New 52 underwear-less costumes. Bleh.”
Bleh, indeed. Though I don’t mind Batman so much. Even Superman’s costume I’m getting used to, save for that stupid collar.
“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.”
Well, I am thinking about doing a new site. But what…what could it be?
On that note, I bid you adios ’til tomorrow, where we’ll cover more predictions and maybe I’ll actually research some answers this time. And, if you have any corrections/additional information, feel free to drop ’em in the comments, and we’ll discuss them down the line.
Genesis was awful, but it was executed at least semi-competently. The thing with War of the Gods was that it was theoretically following a tight plot with triangle numbers and a recommended reading order, but major parts of it came out several weeks late. Less visible now that it’s all in the back issue bins. And it was also awful.
I preferred War of the Gods, which I read via back issue bin copies after it occurred, more than Genesis. Like, there were chapters or tie-ins to War of the Gods I read and liked on their own, where the only Genesis tie-ins I enjoyed were the ones that had nothing to do with it, just had a logo on the cover (Like, there was a JLA issue where Martian Manhunter spent a panels telepathically noticing there was a crossover event coming, and then returned to the story at hand; I think there was an issue of BATMAN where he was less confident, or something).
” but it has its following”
QUANTUM AND WOODY!!!
“I’m going to bet you really won’t like whatever it is that comes next.”
DC publishes NOTHING BUT BATMAN TITLES.
“War of the Gods”
FLAMING DONKEY CRAP!