Your 2017 Predictions, Part Four: In It to Win It.

§ January 19th, 2018 § Filed under predictions § 4 Comments

Okay, let’s knock out a few more of your 2017 comic industry predictions (previous installments: one, two and three). Like I said before, I’ll have follow-ups and corrections to my earlier response in the final part of this series, which should only be three or four months away. And if you have any predictions for 2018, put ’em here, but don’t guess that Tom Strong and Promethea will return to comics, because we already know.

So, once more unto the breach:

Andrew Leal presents the following with zeal

“NetFlix will consider bolstering their Marvel shows (and that sort of but not quite RICHIE RICH thing) with HERBIE (Popnecker, not the Volkswagon or the robot).”

I know it was just a joke prediction, but I would gladly donate pal Ian‘s life savings for a Herbie Popnecker TV show of some kind. I’d prefer, like, a CGI Herbie in a real world setting, or if we had to have an actual actor as Herbie…I don’t know, Matt Lucas? Whatever…I can just picture a Herbie TV show giving kids weird memories they’d half-recall as adults, wondering if they’d just imagined it.

“The Lego BATMAN movie and related tie-ins will make money and bring joy and probably lead some to consider just making the next Batman/Superman movie in Lego.”

It make money, it brought joy, but I don’t think there’s a direct follow-up in the works. And they’re still making DC superhero movies in live action, so no, like, Lego Justice League movie, which perhaps might have done better than the JL movie they actually put out.

“Mike will have fewer GRAPE APE comics in his shop than the previous year.”

I believe this is true. ONE HIT FOR ANDREW.

• • •

Brian offers up

“Marvel’s constant rebooting of titles will finally lead to some new sort of system (vs. having the twelfth number one of a given title, perhaps two or three of them in the same year). Such a new system won’t be any clearer, however.”

The “Marvel Legacy” initiative this year sorta helped to clear things up a bit, though I did have some confusion from some customers (“wait, why is this comic suddenly #218!?”). It would be nice if Marvel just left it as-is, sticking to those higher issue numbers instead of launching into new restarts…but Marvel just ended Guardians of the Galaxy at #150, and you know when they relaunch it, it ain’t gonna be at #151. So this Marvel Legacy “no really look at how long all these series have ran, once you add ’em all together” thing could just be a temporary cosmetic fix, until the next wave of new #1s comes in (which is the rumor goin’ around, I hear).

“Given rising production costs and the maturation of the digital sales market, one of the independent publishers will switch to solely-digital production, allowing for different controls on how ‘books’ are done.”

I don’t think this happened…a lot of the publishers that have been on the stands have surely expanded their digital offerings, but I don’t think anyone’s entirely abandoned print. There could be some small publishing house that I’m not recalling, so feel free to remind me!

“DC will start running into trouble as creative teams on the Rebirth books come and go, making it more difficult to line up the conclusion of the promised two-year line-wide arc.”

I haven’t really noticed too much of a problem here so far…yeah, there have been some team switch-ups, but nothing that seems likely to endanger DC’s long-term plans. Plus, if I recall correctly, Doomsday Clock, the beginning of the end of DC’s two-year plan, takes place a year in the future of the DC Universe, so the rest of the line still has time to catch up. I think.

• • •

MrJM jams in here with

“At least one high-profile/high-stakes criminal prosecutions for the creation and/or sale of politically/socially/sexually radical comics. Creators, retailers & fans share a serious ‘waitwhatohshit’ moment.”

I don’t think any one big thing happened to make us all go “…uh oh,” but there’s always some shenanigans going on as seen on the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund’s main page.

“DC’s Young Animal imprint continues to make comics designed just for me!”

I’m going to say…”Yes. Yes they did. And are. And will likely continue to do so.”

“Alf makes a big comeback.”

Yeah, yeah, I know. But seriously, I’m sort of surprised there hasn’t been an effort to bring those Alf comics back into print. They were actually very popular at the time (as the story goes, even outselling X-Men comics on the newsstand), and had some pretty solid cartooning. Be a shame if they just vanished forever with no permanent edition to preserve them. …C’mon, ALF ARCHIVES…it’s gotta happen.

• • •

Chris Gumprich grumps

“A forgotten 1950s comic gets a new life when reprinted and becomes the darling of the Internet. The creators are unknown and probably too dead to reap any benefit.”

I’m sure 1950s comics were reprinted, but I don’t know that any of them got internet traction. Well, there was that pretty negative review of IDW’s reprints of weird old horror and romance comics which received a bit of attention, but that’s probably not what you meant. I mean, once I publish that complete collection of Spunky the Monkey, then we’ll be on the same page.

“Creators bring a modern take to a beloved 1970s cartoon, ignoring what made it popular in the first place. (My vote is for Hong Kong Phooey, but that was never popular.)”

The 1970s were a real wasteland when it came to cartoons anyone would want to revive…trust me, I grew up in the ’70s, most of those cartoons were terrible. I mean, sure, I watched ’em, but they were still awful. Well, there was Dastardly and Muttley, based on…well, technically a very late 1960s cartoon, but still really part of the 1970s. The comic based on that ignored a lot of the original cartoons…but in a good way!

We did get some ’70s characters in the Scooby Doo Team-up series, but those were all pretty true to their roots. Even Hong Kong Phooey! …Still willing to write that Mighty Man and Yukk revival, DC!

“A big-name creator says something stupid on Twitter, everyone gets upset, boycotts are called, and then promptly forgotten when another big-name creator says something stupid.”

I think we can just assume this happens every year!

• • •

Mike Loughlin laughingly adds

“Trump will show up in a Marvel comic. Readers will not be pleased.”

I think Savage Dragon beat ’em to it. And many people weren’t thrilled…particularly if they liked Trump!

“The Watchmen characters’ appearances in various DC books will derail the series’ plot lines and lead to declining sales.”

There have been tie-ins (more thematically than character appearances) but nothing that’s really completely derailed any of the books. Everything seems pretty well integrated, for once.

“Mosaic will be canceled; readers will be blamed for not pre-ordering/ trade-waiting/ Marvel Unlimited-waiting by someone who works for Marvel.”

There was a lot of talk about “readers not supporting the books” near the end of the year, regarding several announced cancellations. I don’t recall any such talk about Mosaic, which went from the character being a semi-big deal to “you know, I don’t recall seeing any solicitations for this comic for the last couple of months.” Well, okay, I exaggerate, I never noticed that it was gone. Just the latest title to fall by the wayside, without any real fanfare.

• • •

James proclaims

“Trump references E-V-E-R-Y-W-H-E-R-E.”

Mostly from indies, surprisingly not so much from Marvel.

“Harley Quinn will get a (much needed) new creative team.”

A new creative team was announced last year, and debuted this week!

“The Fantastic Four will remain M.I.A.”

Well, you’re half-right, I guess, depending on how you look at it…half the team returned in Marvel Two-in-One at the end of the year. Technically, the Fantastic Four is still gone, but we’ve got the Fantastic Two on the stands. That’s, y’know, close.

• • •

My old pal mojo_iv squishes these in

“Chuck Austen will return with a 48-page adaptation of the 1988 film Action Jackson.”

Sadly, no. And I totally would have read that.

“Leftover plot points from Secret Wars will be used to justify a crossover between the main Marvel Universe and the Star Wars universe. Galactus will threaten Coruscant and only the 3rd or 4th Death Star or something can be used to defeat him, but it’s powered by Terrigen-infected Ewoks or Hoojibs or something and instead Rey and Quicksilver have to time travel back to the Prequels and stop Anakin and Padme from getting married or something. Meanwhile Jean Grey will kill 80 billion Mon Calamari and be given a pass because Phoenix.”

Okay, the Mon Calamari joke gave me a mean chuckle. But honestly, I am so surprised at the lack of Marvel/Star Wars crossovers (even, like, a full month of themed variant covers) that I can only assume it’s prohibited by highers-up. Otherwise it’d be nothing but “Dr. Doom versus Darth Vader…TO THE DEATH.”

“Dwayne McDuffie will rise from the grave to destroy us all.”

And we’d probably deserve it.

• • •

Okay, time for my beauty sleep, so that I may become even more beautiful, so I’ll pick up on the predictions this coming Monday. Thanks for reading, pals, and I’ll see you then!

4 Responses to “Your 2017 Predictions, Part Four: In It to Win It.”

  • William Burns says:

    Ugh, hadn’t heard about the Promethea thing. Another morning off to a great start.

  • Turan, Emissary of the Fly World says:

    Old-timer that I am, I remember how, back in the ’70s, both Marvel and DC would pick up from the original numbering whenever they revived a moribund title. Anyone inclined to see those as the good old days should note that this produced its own problems. Marvel’s 1973 revival of STRANGE TALES began with #169–ignoring the fact that the original STRANGE TALES had turned into a Dr. Strange solo comic, which began its numbering with #169. Similarly, the original ALL STAR COMICS ran for 57 issues, then changed its name to ALL STAR WESTERN and ran for 62 more, from #58 to #119. However, when DC revived ALL STAR COMICS in 1976, it began the numbering with #58.

    Of course, none of this matches the mystery of why there are movies entitled RAMBO and RAMBO III, but no RAMBO II.

  • Papa Lazarou says:

    “Well, there was that pretty negative review of IDW’s reprints of weird old horror and romance comics which received a bit of attention,…”

    Where can I find this?

  • Matt jeske says:

    Papa Lazarou
    It was an article on The Comics Journal site. Search for Yoe Books or terrible, or something like that.