Don’t complain that I spoiled the post-credits scene for Guardians of the Galaxy…you’ve had your chance to see it.
Welcome to part four of looking back at your predictions for 2014, my five remaining readers! And if you five haven’t added your 2015 comic industry predictions to the pile, then get crackin’.
jobcab taxis in with
“1. Marvel will officially yank the Star Wars license away from Dark Horse”
I think I may have heard a little something about that recently.
“2. For his 50th anniversary, Daredevil will regain his sight.”
Not that I’ve seen (click) but I’ve been reading the regular Daredevil series this year and it didn’t happen there. …In fact, how many stories have there been about Daredevil getting his sight back? I can think of…two, maybe?
EDIT: Tim O’Neil tells me Daredevil was temporarily re-sighted in last month’s issue of Iron Man.
“3. Galactus’ new herald will be H.E.R.B.I.E. And it will be awesome.”
While that would be the ultimate expression of the menace of H.E.R.B.I.E., sadly I don’t think that happened anywhere except in our dreams, joecab. I did peek at the Wikipedia entry for our favorite little helper robot to see what’s been going on, and there it was I learned that a “deactivated H.E.R.B.I.E.” was in the extended version of the 2005 Fantastic Four movie. First, I was surprised there even was an extended version of the 2005 Fantastic Four movie (soon to be known as “the good Fantastic Four movie), but second, and more importantly, we were this close to having live-action H.E.R.B.I.E. and that’s a darn shame.
Jeff R. gets jazzy with the following predictions:
“1.) Guardians of the Galaxy will be a colossal flop.”
Well, hate to tell you this….
“2.) The Legion of Super-Heroes will have an ongoing book again by the end of the year.”
The Legion did pop up in Justice League United near the end of 2014, but nothing about a new title yet. I hope they follow my suggestions.
“3.) The First issue of Mage:The Hero Denied will at least have been solicited by the end of the year.”
That would have been nice…I’m a big fan of Mage.
Let’s see…the first series, “The Hero Discovered,” ran from 1984 to 1986. Eleven years later, in 1997, “The Hero Defined” started up, running ’til 1999. Sixteen years on, no word on when the third series will debut. Hopefully someday soon!
Jerry Smith rigged these forecasts:
“DC’s move to the West Coast will result in a massive loss of employees who don’t want to move, streamlining their editorial process and letting Marvel have their pick of editors/employees. DC books will not improve in quality.”
Haven’t seen any news on any DC employee attrition, but I think it’s too soon to tell. Let’s keep an eye on this for 2015.
EDIT: Tim O’Neil tells me that Tom Brevoort has mentioned Marvel’s hiring of some ex-DC employees.
“Captain America II will make back its money but not be a critical success.”
According to that link in my responses to Jeff, the second Cap film was the third-highest grossing flick of the year, which ain’t too shabby. And over on the Rotten Tomatoes tote board, it has a 89% positive reviewer rating, so it did surprisingly well. To be frank, I expected a second Cap film to be okay, but it actually was really, really good. And not just “good for a superhero movie,” but just plain good.
“Marvel will launch a team of gay Avengers. The book will be called Gay Avengers.”
That would have been absolutely amazing, if only to hear The Usual Suspects get their knickers in knots over it. I bet I could totally sell a comic called Gay Avengers.
Mike Loughlin lines up the following:
“With Jeff Parker on board, DC will release more comics that aren’t super serious and over-the-top violent. They’ll get acclaim from discerning readers and sales will plummet.”
Parker’s Aquaman is doing okay, I think…and DC did release other somewhat gentler in-universe comics (like Gotham Academy) which is selling…well, not great, but it has its audience.
“DC will release a New Gods series. It won’t be very good.”
Not really a standalone series, but we did get a New Gods/Green Lantern crossover event that probably would have been well-served by maybe being only half as long. And, to be honest, it didn’t really do a lot to sell anyone on the New Gods concept. …Kinda like the Legion of Super-Heroes, maybe the New Gods/Fourth World stuff needs to just go away for a while and let everyone kind of forget about and / or stop being sick of them.
“The next Marvel character to be killed will be The Punisher. Again.”
Well, Wolverine. You were close!
Luke trusts his feelings with
“Comics mergers – somewhere in and among Image, IDW, Boom, Dynamite, Devil’s Due etc, there will be some consolidation, acquisition or the like.”
IDW absorbed Top Shelf, which surprised the heck out of me, but that was early 2015. Ah, what the heck, close enough.
vester is very invested in these forecasts:
“1) As DC’s moving west, people who will say ‘no’ will be in Marvel.”
Like I said before, it may be too early to determine the full results of this movie. Let’s see what happens this year.
“2) More Batman-related and Avengers titles.”
This is what we call in the biz a “gimme.” Not that a lot of them have done that well or are doing that well, but they’re there filling up shelf space that “Worthwhile Artistic Comics #1” could have used, and that’s the important thing.
“3) Image Comics sales will totally surpass the Big Two at the end of the year.”
On an individual basis, I certainly wish several Marvel and DC titles would sell as well as Walking Dead or Saga, but for every Image that sells great, there are a half-dozen or more that, shall we say, appeal to a more select audience and don’t move as many copies. As I covered in one of the previous four hundred entries of my 2014 prediction coverage, Image has been hovering around 10% marketshare so it’s not doing too badly for itself.
Mike Nielsen improves his ratings with
“1) Showcase Presents Tomahawk will appear. I’ve only predicted it every year since you started doing this, I’ll be right sometime.”
We did get Showcase Presents Captain Carrot and His Amazing Zoo Crew…that’s close, right?
Crowded House didn’t dream it’s over with:
“1. At some point, Superman gets his red shorts back.”
I’m assuming you meant in New 52 continuity, because in, like, merchandising and the Adventures of Superman out-of-continuity comics, he totally had his red shorts. But no, we’re still stuck with that dumb super-armor, which is a shame because the actual Superman comics have been pretty good lately.
“2. The Ancient Ones awake from their slumber and consume the world in one gulp. Darkness is everywhere, all is lost, the people cry out in despair cursing a god who will not listen to their prayers. There is nothing to be done, all of humanity is doomed, its last days of existence weeping at the hours lost, the stories never again to be told, the memories that will fade into nothingness with nothing to mark their passing. There is no more, there is no more.”
Yeah, my birthday was pretty rough this year.
“3. Sonic Disruptors #8 is finally released.”
Hey, we finally got some of Joe Kubert’s Redeemer…anything’s possible!
An Anchor at Bay goes overboard with
“1. del Toro will announce that the Justice League Dark script has been finalized and will start shooting in 2015.”
I will not believe in a del Toro Justice League Dark movie until I’ve bought my ticket for it and am sitting in a movie theater waiting for it to start. And maybe not even then.
“2. Constantine and Swamp Thing will develop a strong sense of trust and become best friends finally.”
That would be like those 1970s Tom and Jerry cartoons where now suddenly they’re pals and they go on adventures together and are no longer trying to murder each other, and that would be terrible.
“3. John Constantine will quit smoking but replace his habit with hallucinogenic tubers.”
Just had to check some recent appearances, and he’s still smoking! Kind of surprised, actually. Does he smoke in the TV show, because I still haven’t seen the darned thing.
Xanadude takes my breath and leaves me blind with
“1) a second Wonder Woman title will launch, focusing on supervillains, SciFi, Steve Trevor/ARGUS. azarello will continue the current Ww title by not acknowledging it.”
There was a second WW title, Sensation Comics, reprinting digital first (mostly) non-continuity comics, which of course the writers of the New 52 series wouldn’t acknowledge (but probably should have followed its lead).
“2) the Miracle man monthly floppy will undersell, while everyone buys the tpbs”
I’m not sure how well it’s selling overall, but the comic was beginning to improve in sales slightly at my shop, though Marvel’s doing its best to kill the series, it feels like.
“3) the new Ms Marvel will sell poorly and also be accused of being culturally insensitive by the left and pushing a radical Muslim agenda by the right”
It’s selling not badly, and to some acclaim, but there will always be that segment of the population that fears something because it focuses on a person/culture That Isn’t Like Them. And to them we say “suck it up, you wieners.”
amrothery ventures in with
“1. By the end of the year, Marvel will have produced ZERO issues of Walt Disney Comics and Stories or Uncle $crooge.”
Exactly right, sir! Though I would give anything to have that Gladstone Gander/Longshot battle committed to four-color immortality.
“2. The Fantagraphics reprints of Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck will continue as scheduled.”
Also correct, and God bless ’em for these things of beauty.
Derooftrouser…um, gets his pants on the…ceiling? — with:
“1. The sequel to Man of Steel will not be inspired by the All-Star series or be called ‘The Goddamn Batman vs Superman’.”
If it’s not inspired by this comic, then what are we even doing as a people.
“2. Neither will it feature The Rock as Swamp Thing, to lead into the Justice League Dark movie.”
I am oddly okay with the Rock as Swamp Thing.
“3. Still no news on ‘The Spirit 2: Spirit vs Shadow’.”
Please do not tease me with such beauty.
Mike Zeidler sidles in with
“1. DC launches a digital only, non-continuity DC COMICS PRESENTS to fulfill monthly Time-Warner quotas for copyright renewals.”
That’s not a bad idea. So it’ll probably never happen.
“2. FISHNETS AHOY launches, with art by Robert Wilson IV”
If I can’t have Brian Bolland on art for this Zatanna/Black Canary comic I’ve been demanding, it looks like Robert Wilson IV wouldn’t be a bad second choice.
“3. Mike Sterling tries to review the super-long everything cut of the WATCHMEN movie but is stymied by all DVDs turning to dust at the same time.”
I had this out in my “rewatch soon” pile, but then, um, I opened a store. I had a movie out from Netflix since the first week of November that I finally watched this past Saturday night. I went to go see the third Hobbit movie last week, a good month or so after it opened. This is the time I have for movie watching. …But I owe you that review, and someday I will get to it.
rubber cat bounces these off of me:
“1. The year passes by with no mention of Carrie Kelley in the Batman books”
She was primarily in Batman and Robin, right? Some Googling about seems to show that she was written out of the ongoing plot a while back, in favor of focusing the book on the return of Damien Wayne. However, there seems to have been some casting rumors regarding this character for the forthcoming Batman Vs. Superman Guest-Starring Everyone Else While We’re At It, so if she turns up, look for her back in the comics again.
“2. Marvel announces Howard the Duck reboot scheduled to hit theaters 2017”
A strangely prescient prediction, given the surprise cameo at after the end credits of Guardians of the Galaxy. It’s probably still going to be a long time before any studio executive puts his signature on a Howard the Duck movie approval, but I can see Howard popping up here and there in forthcoming Marvel movies.
“3. The Gotham TV series does decent in the ratings but isn’t a big hit.”
It actually looks like Gotham is doing pretty well for itself…I think it’s safe to say it’s a hit. It’s certainly very divisive…some of you love it, some of you hate it. I only caught about five minutes of it, but maybe I’ll catch it on DVD, once they invent the 72-hour day.
That’s enough typity-typing for me for today…be back soon with more prediction coverage!
1) Daredevil regained his sight for about half an issue in last month’s IRON MAN.
2) A few ex-DC people have actually been hired by Marvel, Brevoort confirmed on his Tumblr.
Constantine smokes on the show… sort of. They’ve never shown him puffing away on a cigarette, but they’ll occasionally tease it by showing him about to light up before getting interrupted, or other creative cheats.
Guardians of the Galaxy flopping is on a similar Wrongness Level as all the joke predictions about Swamp Thing finding some roller skates teaming up with Dazzler to form a new disco skating duo.
Hey, I got 2 out of 3 (kinda) — not bad! Although I would have gladly traded both of them to see H.E.R.B.I.E. working for the Big G.
Long time reader, first time poster. You still have a lot of readers and your insight is great to read.
And I stopped reading X-Men because Bendis writes everyone exactly the same or totally changes them because WRITING GENIUS! but I’m pretty sure Dazzler is emo now with makeup that looks like she’s constantly crying, so no more skates. If he got his hands on Swamp Thing I’m sure he would be saying “Dude, you’re totally hurting the environment. I’ve got to go make out with my completely random girlfriend Lois Lane to mix things up, but don’t make me fight you.” And that sentence alone would take four issues.
Or–OR! He would take a totally interesting concept likeyoung Scott Summers falling in love with Wolverine’s female clone and then fail to mine it/completely abandon it.
I forget if I started posting in support of Mike or to bash Bendis.
“1. By the end of the year, Marvel will have produced ZERO issues of Walt Disney Comics and Stories or Uncle $crooge.”
It’s just been announced (info at The Beat) that IDW will publish Walt Disney’s Comics and Stories and Uncle Scrooge this year! Hooray!