Better Red than dead.

§ February 7th, 2025 § Filed under low content mode, marvel § 6 Comments

Sorry pals, part 3 of the look at the October 85 Bud Plant catalog’s retailer tip sheet will have to wait ’til Monday. Which is okay, as there are a few titles in this next batch that I want to ask my former boss Ralph about anyway.

So no big post today, but take a gander at this sharp-looking Red Sonja cover by Mary Wilshire and Walt Simonson:


Boy, that just leaps out at you, right? I’ve seen the later “homage” cover by the current publisher of Red Sonja stuff, where they pull back the camera to make sure you get the breasts in the pic. But the original is perfect as is.

Mind the comic tips, Marlon.

§ February 5th, 2025 § Filed under retailing § 17 Comments

Okay, back to the Bud Plant October 1985 distributor catalog and its ordering tips for retailers! Part one is here, part two is being read by you right now!

First off, I spoke to my former boss Ralph about a couple of the titles discussed last time. For example, I was curious if Hex was as hot for him as it apparently was for the person writing this tips sheet. He says that the first issue sold very well for him, but it petered out pretty quickly. “It was on its way out with issue #2,” to quote him.

I also asked how 3-D comics did for him, and it was sort of how I figured…popular for a while, ’til the market got flooded with them and the novelty wore off. I remember getting asked for the 3-D back issues on a relatively regular basis over the next couple of decades I was at that shop, so there was still some demand, anyway.

Booster Gold was also discussed, and again apparently it sold very well at first, and gradually slowed down as the series wore on. As DavidG mentioned, once the mystery of his origin was revealed, folks were done apparently.

And just on a whim, I asked (even though I worked at the store at the time) if the Fish Police TV show did anything for sales of the comic. The unsurprising answer is “no.”

Now let’s get into this new batch of books:


We were still in the early years of the “Put Alan Moore in Anything to Make It Sell” era, and I definitely picked this up. Of course, I’d later learn “D.R. and Quinch” was, um, inspired by O.C. and Stiggs from National Lampoon (later made into a film by Robert Altman), but I think it became enough of its own thing to still be enjoyable.

As I recall, the reprint quality was…not great. I think the images were resized from their original British publication to fit the American comic book format, but I might be thinking of other Eagle/Quality reprints. Regardless, if you want to read D.R. and Quinch, find yourself one of the trade paperback reprints.

Also, yes, while Dredd was popular, Brian Bolland-drawn Dredd was even more so.


I’ve said before, probably here, maybe on social media, that these horror and sci-fi anthologies from PC and Eclipse were, along with the Warren mags, the real successors to E.C. Comics. I really enjoyed these series, which I inexplicably only sporadically purchases, and would enjoy a nice reprinting of the whole shebang.



Oh, man, Mr. Monster. This initial 10 issue run was great, but then proceeded to never really quite find the same traction afterwards. That serious “origin” series from Dark Horse was…okay, but I never really reread it like I did those original run. And every following attempted revival of the “funny” Mr. Monster was fine, but just not the same. (I did really like the Airboy/Mr. Monster one-shot, though.)


(Actually, it’s Night Music #4 and #5.) I mean, kudos to sticking to the bit, but I was always a little surprised they kept doing these opera books as long as they did. Like this fella says, beautiful art, and primary selling point of the books…but I still sold a few of these out of back issues every once in a while. And yes, I have had opera aficianados come and ask for these. So…there, I answered my own question. That’s why these comics lasted so long…for opera fans who like comics! THEY DO EXIST


Ah, yes, the speculation days of yore. Miracleman was sold in very large numbers early on, frustration folks who wanted to invest and flip ’em, though #1 had some printing issues as I recall leaving near mint copies harder to find. Anyway, prices don’t really start going up on these until #9 and up, with #15, the special All Violence issue, being the peak. I haven’t checked lately to see if the later Neil Gaiman issues, once hot commodities, have seen a decline in demand due to the writer’s current troubles.


Sun Runners was one of those series I was intrigued by due to a write-up in an issue of Amazing Heroes but, for some reason, I never got around to getting the actual comic, like a dummy. The issue #7 is the final issue of the run, probably thanks to me not buying it, but the title would return for a couple of short runs just a coupld of years later. I liked the look of the elephant guy.


Lloyd Llewellyn was, of course, the first ongoing title by Dan Clowes, he of The Occasional Fancy and Really Good Graphic Novel of late. These old wacky stories, more often than not inspired by Silver Age superhero comic craziness, are great. I actually bought this series at the time and it remains an old favorite.

And Love and Rockets is, of course, what it is. Nice that it’s recognized for attracting lady readers early on.


I don’t think I realized #1 and #2 were that much harder to find, I bought this graphic novel, since I only had the color issues at the time. I’d later buy a copy of #3 for the flexidisc back then, and I got #1 and #2 not long ago, just to fill that ol’ hole in the collection.


Here’s another thing I need to ask my boss…how American Flagg! did post issue #12. That first year is about as classic as classic comics get, but, no offense to other creatives who came onto the book, the less Howard Chaykin there was, the less the AF! comic was. I read the whole series, and it was mostly fine, but the series was not at its peak here.


RIPPED FROM TODAY’S HEADLINES! pretty much. Even though the original creator was still writing and drawing, I think interest was slipping from readers and him for the book. Again, gonna ask the former boss about this but I’m guessing “it was in its decline” is the answer I’ll get.



Boy, Whisper seems to be the forgotten title of the Captial Comics trifecta, with Nexus and (to a lesser extent) Badger having more of a life after that publisher’s end. Ah well, just one of those things, but don’t get me wrong, it had its run, just surprised there aren’t continuing attempts at revivals. Plus, I don’t recall any back issue sales on First Adventures, much less #1.


Death Rattle is a great name for a book, and the comic (in its various incarnations) was a pretty good horror anthology. I am…not sure how it sold, so it’s another question to put to the former boss. I know I had more back issues requests for Tales of Terror/Twisted Tales than I did for Death Rattle.

I don’t have much to say about Megaton Man except it was still pretty great even if at this point it wasn’t quite as good as the earlier issues. Once it moves to shorter-run minis and one-shots, the energy comes right back.


Now the Raphael one-shot was still in that same weird magazine-esque format as the first four issues of the regular Turtles series, which I think helped it sell really well in part of its novelty and the gereral hotness of the franchise. Michelangelo came out in the regular comic book format to which the other series had since moved. ‘ve seen a lot more of Raphael in collections since.

• • •

Yup, I’m stopping here and will be back with Part Three on Friday! There were more tips here than I thought! Thanks for reading, and I’ll see you next time.

Hex upholding its rep as the Greatest Comic of All Time.

§ February 2nd, 2025 § Filed under retailing § 18 Comments

Okay, trying to not worry about problems about to hit the comics industry, between a distributor’s ongoing collapse and tariff-caused price and supply issues, so I’m going to look back at relatively happier times. Like, the October 1985 Bud Plant retailer catalog and its ordering tips for shop owners!

As I’m sure most of you know, since I keep bringing it up, I started working in comics retail in 1988. However, even prior to that I had an interest in the goings-on behind the scenes in the industry and other people’s commentary on same, hence my early adoption of ‘zines and mags like The Comics Journal. As such, I’m always looking for more information from that period, as to what perceptions were of certain titles and publishers and such.

As always, going through these tip sheets raise questions that I want to ask my former boss Ralph, from whom I was buying comics during this period. I’ll post follow-ups next time, if necessary.

This time I’m going up through the DCs, and then I’ll do the rest of the list later in the week. Okay? Okay! Then away we go:

First, here’s the great logo for the column this issue, “The New Mutips,” which is high-larious.

The first tip here, for the Robert Williams 3-D comic from Ray Zone:

…reminds me of what a big deal the 3-D gimmick was at the time. A later entry in this list (not pictured here) notes that the market for 3-D comics is “saturated,” but apparently a wild Robert Williams 3-D comic would stand out enough to be recommended so highly here.

At my Previous Place of Employment, we had a section in the back issue bins just for 3-D comics, and it was pawed through on the regular. We even had a large stock of 3-D glasses that we gave out with each purchase of a 3-D comic. (And when that old shop shut down, did I claim all those 3-D glasses for my own self? Maaaaaybe.)

Now, Fish Police was, for a time, a very hot comic. Hot enough to eventually become a…well, short-lived TV show, but hey, how may small-press comics from the mid-1980s got on TV? …Um, aside from Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles? Like, I’m sure TMNT goosed some executive into looking for other possible hit comic-to-other-media properties, and thus Fish Police.

Anyway, this is one of those comics I wish I’d read at the time, because it does look like it’d be right up my alley. Ah well, maybe I’ll luck into a run of it here at the shop someday.

Speaking of lucking into a run, that’s exactly what happened with Elementals, where about 90% of the series showed up in a donation to the store, and I pulled them aside to read, someday, in the far off future when I can actually find the time. It was always one of those series that intrigued me, but just never jumped on board as it was running. Ah well, at least I have (most of) them now.

It’s interesting reading here that there were delays in production and a perceived drop in quality in one of the early issues. So much so that the ordering recommendation is not based on that “lower quality” issue, but on the one before it. Now, I have read at least the first half-dozen issues of the series, and I don’t recall #4 being “off” from the others around it, but maybe I’ll take another look with this in mind.

Hoo boy, on the topic of late books, I knew Continuity had its timeliness issues even as a mere Comic-Buying Member of the General Public, and not the aloof and powerful comics retailer I am today.

As a fan, I didn’t really follow anything by them, as none of it appealed to me. The anthology book Echoes of Futurepast may have been the one title I would’ve read, due to Arthur Suydam’s involvement (I was a big “Cholly and Flytrap” kid, having read those stories by Suydam in Epic Illustrated), but I just never got around to picking it up.

I do recall that some of the Continuity books did have their followings and sold well, like the two mentioned here. Plenty of folks had them on their pull lists when I started working at the shop. The eventual Deathwatch 2000 crossover event kinda put an end to all that, I believe.

Gasp! I read DC Digest, at least occasionally at the time! I’m guessing these did better on newsstands than in comic shops, hence the reaction in the tips column here. Anyway, when my eyes were up to it, these digests were nice little collections, and many of the early ones helped catch me up on DC’s history.

Textual evidence that Hex (the post-apocalyptic sci-fi adventures of our favorite weird western cowboy) was in fact a not-unpopular book! It’s remembered as a freak occurrence today, a bizarre footnote in Jonah Hex’s history, but for a while there, people did buy it. Heck, I bought it! Still have ’em all! Of course, the series ended 10 issues later, so not enough people bought it for long enough, but for a brief period of time, the beauty of Hex graced our shelves.

Omega Men #38 would be the last issue, sadly. And this person ain’t wrong…this was a really good sci-fi superhero series. Actually, the whole series makes for a good comic, but once Todd Klein and Shawn McManus come on board with #26, it becomes something great. It’s so hard to believe this run of theirs was so short.

The first issue featured, of course, the Golden Age Superman, recently given the bum’s rush out of DC’s continuity by that self-same Crisis on Infinite Earths. But, you know, they got classic Superman artist Wayne Boring to draw this, so I’m not complaining.

I honestly don’t recall if Booster Gold was perceived as A Hot Item at the time. I know it got a little more promotion than most DC debuts (I still have my “Go for the Gold – BOOSTER GOLD” pinback button), but I feel like it’s probably more appreciated in retrospect than it was at the time. (In fact, if you want to know more about Mr. Gold, you can’t do better than this site right here.)

Pretty sure these were all unused inventory back-up stories that longer had a home after the main Atari Force series ended. Regardless, this, and the parent series, were outstanding comics and went away too soon. Even the original digest-sized comics that came packed with Specially Marked Atari 2600 Game Cartridges were fun. I would gladly have read a hundred more issues of this, but am happy with the few that we got.


Oof, harsh burn on the Seven Soldiers. In fairness, All-Star Squadron, a book devoted to the World War II adventures of super-heroes on Earth 2, floundered a bit following Crisis‘s removal of any extraneous Earths beyond the one featured in all the other DC Comics.

• • •

Okay, I’ll wrap it up next time, along with some extra info from Ralph should he be willing to tolerate my grilling. Everyone stay safe out there, and I’ll see you on Wednesday.

Your 2024 Predictions, Epilogue: The Night of Screams.

§ January 31st, 2025 § Filed under obituary, predictions § 2 Comments

Before I get started, I wanted to note the passing of Chad Beckner, a quietly sardonic oddball in the best possible way, and who left us too soon. His brother, my old friend Corey, has a few words about him as well as a pic here.

So long, Chad.

• • •

So after looking at and responding to your 2024 comic industry predictions in parts one, two, three, four, and five, all titled (in case you were wondering) with names of episodes from the late ’80s Alien Nation TV show, the need for some responses, clarifications, and corrections became apparent. Thus, I’ll try to get to them all here and finally put this prediction business behind us…at least until I get to your 2025 predictions in January 2026! I mean, assuming we make it.

Starting with Part Two (didn’t really had much to say to responses in Part One), Joe Gualtieri responds to the lack of any Jack Kirby biographical film by noting there’s a stage play!

Chris V picks up my slack in my response to his question about whatever Kieron Gillen, Al Ewing, and Jonathan Hickman would be doing in 2025. I forgot to mention Gillen! Chris V usefully notes that Gillen is doing more work outside of Marvel and DC.

From Part Four, in response to my desire for Omnibus reprints of post-Crisis Batman stories, Randall reminds me that the DC Finest thing exists, including reprints of those very stories in this book:

Allan Hoffman informs me that the DC/Marvel Amalgam Omnibus delay was a printer error, and thus neither company got stuck with the bill on replacing them.

Joe Gualtieri (that guy again!) notes that despite my saying there was no new comic book announcement with Alan Moore, the Moon and Serpent Bumper Book of Magic by him, Steve Moore, and Many Artistic Hands, did come out from IDW.


Joe, that does indeed count for something. Not strictly a comic book, but I’ll take it.

Patrick Gaffney lets me know that despite my assertions, the Bendis version of the Legion of the Super-Heroes did appear in an issue of Green Arrow. Whoops, totally forgot about that.

And…that’s about it, I think, for just general corrections. There were a lot of responses in my comments in regards to the Legion of Super-Heroes and potential paths for revival…so much so, that may have to be its own post separate from the whole predictions thing. So I’m not ignoring you, I promise! I’ve written on the topic of Legion and its rise and fall and possible rise again before, back in 2016, and thus it’s probably time for an update. WATCH THIS SPACE, as they say.

Thanks again for reading the site and participating in the predictions, pals! I’ll see you next week with more stuff!

Your 2024 Predictions, Part Five: The First Cigar.

§ January 29th, 2025 § Filed under predictions § 17 Comments

This post will wrap up our look at your 2024 comic book predictions (and here are parts one, two, three, and four)…thanks as always for participating, and we’ll have one more post wrapping all this up with corrections an’ such.

• • •

Jeff R. trails in with

“1. Franklin Richards will be a mutant again by the end of the year.”

Okay, I didn’t really follow any of the X-stuff so I don’t know that I heard that Franklin lost his mutant status for complicated reasons I just read up on and will not try to repeat here. Far as I can tell, the non-mutant status holds, unless I missed something!

“2. There will be a new Legion of Superheroes book, written by one of the Toms (Taylor or King)”

No new Legion book yet…I don’t know if all these predictions for the return of Legion of Super-Heroes is out of actual demand for a new book, or a semi-cynical assumption that DC’s gonna keep trying to push that franchise regardless of demand.

“3. None of the DC or Marvel movies released in 2024 will perform as well as the lesser (lets say second worst for each) ones from 2023.”

We had Deadpool/Wolverine made all the money, so there was at least one unqualified success!

Okay, leaving that one outlier aside, let’s take a look at the other flicks.

The second worst performing Marvel movie for 2023 (well, the middle-performing movie, there were only three for the year) was Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania. This film had just over a $476 million worldwide box office.

The best performing Marvel movie of 2024, behind that Deadpool thing, was Venom: The Last Dance at $479 million. (For comparison, Kraven and Madame Web, also released in 2024, made about $160 million combined.)

Now for DC, the second worst performing film for 2023 was Shazam: Fury of the Gods at $134 million worldwide…just barely above its production budget, in fact.

The only theatrical release for DC in 2024 was Joker: Folie à Deux, which may have been a carwreck but make $207.5 million. More than that Shazam! sequel!

The real trick is seeing how the Marvel and DC movies do in 2025.

• • •

Dave Carter cracks open the following nuts

“1) Deadpool 3 will be the highest grossing R-rated film of the year.”

Indeed it was! (The top grossing movie overall was Inside Out 2.)

“2) By the end of the year, $4.99 will be the standard cover price of comics from Marvel & DC”

Not just yet, but feel like it’s only a matter of time (particularly if tariff-induced price increases affect the business).

“3) A writer normally associated with Marvel will be announced as the writer of either Batman or Detective Comics.”

We got Tom Taylor on Detective and Jeph Loeb coming to >Batman, and they’ve worked for both companies, so…well, it’s not “JONATHAN HICKMAN TAKING OVER BATMAN” yet but give it some time.

• • •

Michael Grabowski latches on to

“1. A writer at Marvel or DC will get caught using AI-generated scripts from the writer’s own plots to write a serial comic with established characters, without having let the editors or readers know about it first. Whatever the publisher does to the writer and series as a consequence, fans will be outraged that it wasn’t the opposite kind of consequence.”

“2. A writer at Image will subsequently use AI-generated scripts on purpose and promote that fact about his or her new series. Reader reaction will be ‘Meh.'”

I’m just gonna answer ’em both at once with “not that I’ve heard.” There was a cover artist who was accused of seemingly using A.I. to create the images last year, and Jim Starlin announced he was going to use A.I. art tools to help him produce future comics.

Feels like art is where these A.I. shenanigans will be more easily noticed. A writer using A.I. to “assist” in the production of his material would be harder to spot, especially if said writer is careful about how he uses the output. Could be writers using it now, for all I know.

Now, those of us aware of the pitfalls of A.I. know that its usage is a net negative. However, the general public likely doesn’t, and reaction to A.I. produced content may be largely, as you say, “meh.” Some people will care a lot, but I’m afraid most will pay no attention at all.

• • •

And Aaron takes up home with the last of this batch of predictions

“DC finally pre-solicits (rumors or Amazon pre-orders) that final TPB to polish off the “end of LSH vol 2,” aka the original stories making up the first year of Tales of the LSH.”


Hoo boy, this took some doin’. Here’s where we stand on Legion reprints. We had 13 volumes of the Legion of Super-Heroes Archives, reprinting all the Legion stories from the very beginning in Adventure #247 (1958) to Superboy and the Legion of Super-Heroes #233 (1977).

This was followed by a two volume series entitled Superboy and the Legion of Super-Heroes, which reprinted Superboy and the Legion of Super-Heroes #234 through #258, plus a handful of other Legion-related comics.

And then there was the two volume set of Legion of Super-Heroes: Before the Darkness, which covers Legion of Super-Heroes #259 (having dropped the “Superboy and” part) to #283. And, again, some other Legion-related material was included.

Next up is the “Deluxe” Legion of Super-Heroes: The Great Darkness Saga hardcover, containing issues #284 through #296, plus Annual #1.

And now, finally, we get to Legion of Super-Heroes: The Curse hardcover coming this year, reprinting issues #297 through #313, and annuals 2 and 3.


Which is a very long way of saying “they don’t have book with the end of this Legion run announced yet,” presenting the last year of continuity published under the title Tales of the Legion of Super-Heroes (#314 – #325). But I’m pretty sure we’ll get it eventually.

“I get overly excited about getting a second physical copy of those issues I already own.”

Same here…I have all of the above books (excluding the not-yet-released ones, natch) and they’ve lapped the comics I already have in individual magazine publication form. Ah well, it’s nice to have ’em on good paper in more or less permanent formats.

“DC cancels it in favor of a new series of collections starting at Adventure Comics #247 again.”

Geez, I hope not…but there is a DC Finest trade of Legion material, reprinting comics from 1968 through 1975. Not quite supplanting the above books just yet. However, there are a couple of the oversized Omnibuses, and those reprint through the 1960s. Suppose one or two more could catch everyone up.

• • •

And that, as they say, is that! Like I noted before, we’ll be looking back and correcting errors and all that fun stuff on Friday. Thanks again for participating, and don’t forget, for the last time I’m reminding you, to drop in your predictions for nex–er, this year!

Your 2024 Predictions, Part Four: The Takeover.

§ January 27th, 2025 § Filed under predictions § 16 Comments

Still got a few more of your 2024 comic industry predictions to go (and here are parts one, two and three), so let’s get crackin’!

• • •

Bunny Clover luckily hops in with

“1. marvel will have a big summer event

Indeed they did! Blood Hunt is what we got for 2024, along with the introduction of the polybagged “Red Band” editions with ex-tree blood ‘n’ guts pages not found in your standard bowdlerized Marvels. Happy Summer, Everyone!

“2. boom studios will have a lumberjanes kickstarter”

And yes, they sure did! Raised nearly $350,000, blowing way past their $25,000 goal. Geez louise, I should do a Kickstarter…I bet there’s an audience for a collected edition of my Frank Miller’s The Spirit fanfiction.

“3. dc will put out an omni of artemis of bana mighdall comics”

No, doesn’t look like it. I think the character is still popping up here and there, but I feel like during merchandise pushes for the Wonder Woman movies would have been prime time for one of these!

• • •

Scott Rowland comes ashore with

“1. Dark Horse will restructure and try another line of super-hero books.”

It’s been a while, hasn’t it? I think Hellboy is about as regular a superhero “universe” as they’ve got…oh, wait, there’s Black Hammer, too. But not anything really quite as overt as the 1990s’ “Comics’ Greatest World” line.

Speaking of which, I’m surprised there haven’t been more attempts to revive and re-utilize a lot of those old CGW properties. I mean, wither Motorhead?

“2. Based on the success of facsimiles of the Secret Wars and Spider-Man black costume series, Marvel will announce an on-going series of X-Men facsimiles, starting with a re-issue of Giant Size X-Men 1, then continuing with issue 94 on.”

Oddly, it looks like they’re doing small series of Uncanny reprints, but they started with issue #130. Go figure.

“3. DC will announce Steve Englehart will do another Batman series, with variant covers taken from old Marshall Roger artwork.”

Nuthin’ doin’, but too bad, I’d have liked to have seen that.

• • •

Joe Gualtieri tears in with

“1. DC will, after yet another money-wasting snafu by the understaffed collections department, finally hire some more people for it again.”

Apparently the initial attempt at printing the Amalgam omnibus had to be destroyed due to errors, and I suspect that wasn’t a cheap mistake. Don’t know if that brought about more hires, but I’m going to presume the opposite.

“2. Post-Crisis Batman omnibus announced.”

Do you mean, like, a reprinting of stuff from the mid-to-late 1980s? Man, I’d read that. Alas, not yet. But when it does happen, this better be one of the covers:

“3. Diamond goes under.”

Ooh boy, try again next year.

• • •

Rob S. burgles the following

“1) I always post a Legion prediction, so here’s one that feels like a shoe-in: Geoff Johns will reintroduce members and designs of the pre-Bendis/Sook Legion, making it a crapshoot as to which version of the Legion is the current one again. To complicate matters, the Bendis/Sook version will make a guest appearance elsewhere in the DCU.”

We had one or two appearances of the Legion last year (one of which is described here) and of course we got the Evil Legion in the DC All In special. They do appear to not be the Bendis/Sook versions, which I guess are just thrown on the big pile of Legion reboots over in the corner there.

“2) After largely publishing limited series for years, smaller publishers begin experimenting with ongoing series. (AHOY just announced its PROJECT: CRYPTID title is now an ongoing; I’m hoping other publishers follow their lead.”

I haven’t seen a huge move in this direction…I feel like for smaller publishers the marketplace is too fragile to assume any series they do will have persistent sales beyond a few issues. Especially right now, with Diamond teetering on the precipice and threatening to take a bunch of those publishers with it. I also suspect several series pop up with the intention of being ongoing monthlies, but initial sales demand otherwise. This is something I’ll have to pay attention to this year.

“3) We start seeing some books from Marvel in DC’s larger Black Label format.”

I mean, there’s a whole-ass publisher doing books exclusively in this format, and other companies occasionally try their hands at it too. Surprisingly, Marvel’s shied away from the format. I bet if they did, like, a short-run Garth Ennis Punisher mini like that, it’d sell like gangbusters. But then Marvel would put out a million more comics in that format right after seeing the first one make money, and, well, maybe we’d better leave enough alone.

“Happy new year!”

We’ll see!

• • •

demoncat_4 scratches these out (and I did just a tiny bit of editing for clarification, I hope that’s okay, demoncat)

“1 after managing to make the dc film verse start catching up with marvel kevin feige and james gunn will annouce a jla avengers crossover in the works to not waste time.”

The new DC Multimedia Extravaganza hasn’t really started yet, beyond the Creature Commandos cartoon, so Feige is probably not sweating the competition yet. (He’s got enough to sweat about, I’m imagining.) But things would have to get pretty dire before the two studios find themselves in a position to start “teaming up,” as it were. (Same with the Star Wars/Star Trek crossovers folks keep hoping for.)

Now, I’ve heard JLA/Avengers film rumors before, but…man, sure, I’d love to see it, but that’s not happening in what’s left of my lifetime.

2 dc will announce at last they will finally after other failed attempts rerelease the legendary swamp thing 88 where swamp thing meets jesus and let rick veitch get to write a new swamp thing book again.

You know, I just talked about this recently, and, whaddaya know, it was in response to a question from demoncat! Short version of what I said then…either we get it in sequence in a reprinting of Rick Veitch’s run on Swamp Thing (which DC just started doing last year), or they just go wild and do a “facsimile” edition with that Swampy cross cover and everything, Veitch supplying the script over the late Michael Zulli’s art.

No announcement on any of this, regardless, but I’m hoping to see this someday.

“3 del toro will annouce he will not only work with james gunn on the swamp thing film. but also if swamp thing does get a tv series the episode where swamp thing meets constantine.”

Nothing along these lines, demoncat, but I like the cut of your jib!

• • •

Brian F finds

“1) Marc Spector (Moon Knight) will be brought back to life.”

I even forgot he was dead. But hey, it’s comics, nobody stays dead except Uncle Ben (but I think even he came back at least once).

“2) No new Machine Man series”

I can’t believe Marvel refuses to acknowledge the demands of the people on this. But I have no idea what’s going on with DC’s supposed claim to ownership of the character, and if that’s holding anything up.

“3) Deadman will come back to existence following his Night Terrors ‘death'”

Well, Deadman turned up in an issue of Brave and the Bold but I’m unsure of the continuity status of that story. “Unsure of the Continuity Status” is like DC’s motto.

• • •

William Burns fires me up with

“1. Lots of ‘Donald Trump as superhero’ memes, about 50/50 serious and parodic.”

Well, you made me Google “Donald Trump as superhero” and I may never forgive you. I did find this story about an image Our Esteemed Leader put out there, and it’s the first time I’ve seen it, so if it went viral, it did so in the places where I’m not normally looking.

“2. The fading of the superhero movie moment with have negative effects on the sales of comic books.”

I mean, my sales are up, so it’s not really done anything to me. I think there’s enough superhero media out there that even the flops are getting seen plenty on streaming platforms and all the characters are still fresh in everyone’s minds. It’s the coming “ugh, superheroes aren’t cool anymore, that’s what Grandpa likes” pushback that’s gonna do the harm. You know, like what that did to Star Wars.

“3. Another Alan Moore comic book will be announced, from a company that has never published his work before.”

I’m gonna guess Moore would chew off his own beard before writing another comic book, but “never say never again,” as a Bond movie once told us.

• • •

Okay, I think I can finish wrapping up the predictions with Wednesday’s entry, and any final business I can do on Friday. Phew, I was afraid I was going to bleed over into February with this. Anyway, thanks for putting up with the delays in this series, and assuming an angry, elderly mob of Star Wars fans doesn’t chase me down, I should see you again in a couple of days!

Surprise ‘Low Content Mode” post!

§ January 24th, 2025 § Filed under low content mode § 8 Comments

Sorry, pals, time was not on my side and I couldn’t pull together a new Predictions Post installment for today.

We’ll pick back up on Monday, and in the meantime…thanks for reading!

Your 2024 Predictions, Part Three: Fifteen with Wanda.

§ January 22nd, 2025 § Filed under predictions § 11 Comments

And so it goes on, our look back at your predictions for The Comic Industry in the Year of Our Lord Two Thousand Twenty and Four, with parts one and two at those links right there.

And yes, get in those predictions for 2025 before too much more 2025 goes by!

• • •

googum, as is his wont, googums

“1. Marvel’s going to try to pivot from Kang, to Ravonna. As long as they don’t try to use the name ‘Terminatrix’ it’ll probably be fine.”

Kang is definitely out in the Marvel movies, given the troubles with the actor, and the simple fact Kang wasn’t getting the Big Villain traction Thanos did. Essentially replaced by Robert Downey Jr. as Doctor Doom, and that Avengers movie that would have been called “The Kang Dynasty” is now “Doomsday.” So there.

“2. They’ll also give up on the Guardians of the Galaxy; as a comic, at least the current batch. Maybe they’ll send Rocket to the 31st century for a bit and bring back the originals.”

Huh, could’ve sworn we had more of the Guardians over the last year, but it looks like the last Guardians comic was the annual in February. I’m sure I’m not remembering appearances of the Guardians (solo or together) in other comics, but it doesn’t look like there’s a new series for them in the near future, barring news I’ve not spotted. Oh, and as you read this a Doctor Doom and Rocket Raccoon one-shot should be on the stands at your better comic shops, or even mine.

“3. Some shoddy A.I. thing will be heralded as the savior of comics; maybe A.I. colors or letters or something. It’ll not only suck, it won’t even really be A.I, just super-outsourced.”

I’ve not seen anything from any legitimate publishers using A.I., far as I know. There was bit of a dust-up middle of last year regarding an artist possibly using A.I. for cover art. I feel like (or at least hope) anyone using A.I. to generate work would probably be shunned, shunned I say, so that’s a good incentive for someone in comics’ small pool to avoid it.

• • •

Bret comes this way with

“1. With the moderate success of the Blue Beetle movie, DC will revamp the Booster Gold character to make him more movie-friendly for a Blue and Gold team-up movie.”

Unfortunately, the Blue Beetle film actually didn’t do well at all, making just barely over its production budget, which doesn’t even count its promotional budget and so on. But it seems like a Booster Gold TV show may be in the works for streaming on Max. It looks like whatever they’ve done so far has been returned for regrooving, so it may be a while yet before we get any idea what it’ll be like.

“2. The success of Mark Waid’s pocket silver age universe of titles will lead Marvel to start their own pocket universe of titles (with more of an 80’s vibe) lead by the likes of Roger Stern and…buh buh buh…John Byrne!”

Not…as such. Marvel would occasionally do one-offs with ’80s and ’90s creators, and that Silver Surfer Rebirth was basically that. But not a whole lot of that in 2024, aside from facsimile reprints. Am I forgetting something? Maybe X-Men ’97, though that’s more a nostalgic call back to the cartoon than the comics.

“3. SECRET WARS III (12-part mini-series) by Jim Shooter and Mike Zeck. Nuff said.”

Would I read the hell out of this? Abso-freakin’-lutely. C’mon, Marvel, let’s get this going.

• • •

Snark Shark sorta predicted

“1) more Marvel movies will bomb.”

As noted previously, Madame Web and Kraven both died dogs’ deaths, as, like, everyone figured. Marvel Studios its own self only put out the one flick, and Deadpool/Wolverine made all the money.

“2) more DC movies will bomb.”

Also previously noted, Joker: Folie à Deux, DC’s only theatrical release for 2024 I believe, um, underperformed, shall we say.

“3) uh… i dunno.”

Me neither, Snark Shark. Me neither.

• • •

Thom H. hops on it with

“1. Nice House on the Lake vol. 2 is published or at least announced.”

Nice House by the Sea did indeed start coming out in 2024!

“2. Miracleman: Dark Age is put on hold indefinitely because Silver Age performed so poorly.”

Um…it’s probably on hold for now, but not for reasons of underperformance, shall we say.

“3. Tom King finally gets to write a Legion of Super-Heroes story.”

Not yet! Hey, might as well give the boy a shot…can’t hurt.

• • •

DK returns with

“It’s that time of year again….”

It just keeps comin’, DK.

“1) Kevin Feige gets fired or demoted.”

Nope, we still have Kevin Feige to kick around.

“2) There will be a big announcement of a major Justice Society project for the 85th Anniversary in 2025.”

Outside of a new ongoing series, I haven’t seen anything specifically for an anniversary celebration. I wouldn’t mind if they did a facsimile edition of this DC Special:


…but maybe throwing Hitler and a swastika on a cover right now may not be particularly wise. So maybe a facsimile of this digest (at normal comic book size, please) which reprints the story above, and more besides:


Anyhoo, I’d like to have all the digests reprinted in comic book size. DC Comics, you have your orders.

“3) Spider-Man sales drop noticeably.”

Sales actually went up a bit for me over the past year. Looking at Comichron sales appear to be relatively consistent overall, so it’s hanging in there!

• • •

Existentialman appears with

“1) Despite their high-falutin’ Hollywood lifestyles, Matt Fraction and Kelly Sue DeConnick will return to either Marvel or DC to write one limited series each.”

I…don’t think so? I’m sure I’m forgetting something. Let me know in the comments and I’ll update this entry. (By the way, doing a Google search on a woman comics creator always turns up some awful results.)

“2) A Disney+ Viv Vision television series will be announced in 2024 to premiere in 2025.”

Not yet, but give ’em time.

“3) Even with his past vision challenges, Mike will draw a much better capybara in 2024.”

this is like the third time you’ve asked me about my capybara drawing, and friend, I may never top this one from when I was five:


But the one I did for this post comes close.

• • •

Okay, Enuff Z’Nuff for today, so let’s continue our foray into the future via a year past on Friday, which is also in the future. …I’ve lost track of where I’m at. Anyway, thanks for reading, pals, and I’ll see you then.

Your 2024 Predictions, Part Two: Little Lost Lamb.

§ January 20th, 2025 § Filed under predictions § 17 Comments

Back at it this week, checking to see just how you all did in regards to guessing how the past year in comics was going to go! Part one is here, and don’t forget to get in your predictions for 2025 while there’s still time!

So, awaaaaay we go:

Chris V visits us with

“1.)The X-Men revamp under Brevoort will be considered a major disappointment by most as Brevoort will choose very safe creative teams, no ‘critical darlings.’
Leading me to stop reading the X-Men comics for the first time since 1993, when I was in high school. I will not complain.”

I think, by and large, the Main Three X-titles (X-Men, Uncanny X-Men, and Exceptional X-Men are fairly well regarded by fans, particularly Uncanny as written by Gail Simone. In my opinion, launching three ongoing X-Men titles (not to mention, like, X-Factor and X-Force) all at once doesn’t really help or encourage readership (Exceptional is already slipping in sales for me, and X-Factor and X-Force are selling minimal numbers.)

It’s hard to say what would make a “safe” choice for an X-book…I mean, the aforementioned Simone is a fairly beloved writer, so in that way it’s “safe,” but I don’t think anyone expected her to be on an ongoing X-Men series, so that’s kind if a surprise, maybe. Unless you meant “people who normal write superhero comics” as being the safe choice, and, I don’t know, “Alan Moore returns to comics to write Uncanny” would be the “critical darling” choice. Not making fun or anything, just trying to define terms so we can determine how right you are with your prediction.

I think I’m going to say you were right i that these were safe choices, in that these were all people regularly writing comics and have proven track records. Not Huge Giants of Comics, like, say…ooh, there are a couple names I want to say here, but given the trouble they’ve been in of late, I don’t want to. You know who I’m talking about, people on that level. Or had been on that level, anyway.

As to whether you stopped reading X-books, Chris, I don’t know. I’m going to say…maybe you did? You’ll have to tell us!

“2.)All comics will be rising in price. Is this really a prediction in December 2023 though? Regular, monthly comics will be $4.99 (American), while ‘special issues’ will be $50 (OK, I might be exaggerating slightly on that last price).”

Some books are still holding the line at $3.99, but boy folks are getting really comfortable with slapping $4.99 and $5.99 and $6.99 price tags on things. And of course there’s the occasional $9.99 Special Issue! Oof. Anyway, I made my predictions for 2025 and didn’t realize I essentially duplicated this one. Urgh. It’s gonna happen eventually.

“3.)Kieron Gillen, Al Ewing, and Jonathan Hickman will all leave Marvel during 2024. Hickman ends up at DC. Gillen and Ewing will not.
This will cause me to lose interest in Marvel even more, and will still not increase my interest in DC. I will not complain.”

I think Hickman is still solidly at Marvel, and so is Al Ewing, though Ewing did have his Metamorpho series come out at the end of the year for DC, and it was announced he’s writing Absolute Green Lantern this coming year. Gillen I believe is still primarily Marvel and Image (and other indies).

• • •

William Gatevackes swings open with

“1. One comic company will get into the Taylor Swift business, most likely Marvel. It could be anything from creating a series featuring tales from her life to perhaps redesigning one of their characters to look like her, most likely Dazzler.”

I don’t know if any comic companies can afford Taylor Swift. And while I’m sure redesigning Dazzler to look like Taylor is tempting, I don’t think even Disney would want to tangle with her legal team.

There was a Little Golden Book about her, though!

“2. To the disdain of many of the unsavory elements of the comic fandom, a ‘woke’ comic will become a multimedia sensation, bring new readers into comics and get mainstream attention.”

Would the Absolute books count? The Superman one, especially. I think the greatest trick of them all is that said “unsavory types” probably read the book and don’t even realize it’s “woke” [complimentary]. “Wow, this comic where a family bucks the traditional class system, leading their son to fight for the little guy against the powers that be, is great! It’s so much better than one of those ‘woke’ comics!”

“3. Hollywood will wise up and finally make a biopic out of Jack Kirby’s life. It might not be released in 2024, but it will at least go into pre-production.”

Look, this has to be done while we still have Ray Wise in the acting business. Wise played Kirby for a TV show a while back, and HE IS THE MAN. I don’t think any biopic has been announced, but Hollywood is foolish if such a thing does not happen.

• • •

Sciencegiant is trying to kill me with

“They’re evergreen AND they’re softballs. Which means really they’re just a chance for you to riff on whatever you want to bring up.”

Well, these are more “Question Time“-esque post prompts than predictions, I think, Obviously all these things happen (and will also happen in 2025, natch), but I can probably come up with an example for each.

“1) WOW! That highly anticipated adaptation of fantasy/science fiction IP certainly underperformed at the box office/streaming service. I predict this is the death knell of of that genre/franchise.”

I mean, the easy answers are Madame Web and Kraven, but I’m pretty sure literally everyone except whoever’s running Sony knew those were DOA. I think the big shock is that Joker sequel…the first film made a billion bucks and won all kinds of awards. I mean, I’m sure no one thought the second film would do as well, but they probably thought it would do, y’know, at least reasonably okay given the performance of the previous installment. Certainly not that it would crash and burn in such an epic manner.

Anyway, that probably doesn’t kill the idea of Batman related films, but it definitely put the kibosh on musicual superhero movies, I think.

“2) SOB! The industry lost a great one whose like we will not soon see again. Any stories you care to share, Mike?”

I don’t want to single out any particular creator as being The Big One, because that’s not really fair to everyone. A lot of talents passed this past year, some after a very long life, some way too traggically young.

However, I do have a special fondness for Don Perlin, who passed in 2024 at the age of 94. I have an issue of Defenders a friend gave me, one guest-starring Man-Thing, that was signed by him.

“3) Fandom seems pleased/outraged about this latest reimagining. Your thoughts?”

Everything turning up Absolute Comics! And Ultimate Comics from Marvel, too, I guess!

“4) Good grief! Lucy pulled the football away on Charlie Brown AGAIN?!”

Hey, that’s four predictions! You have broken ape law! Anyway, Lucy and Charlie Brown are long dead, no one’s pulling footballs from anybody now.

• • •

Andrew Davison teaches us all with this

“Mike will try out my sartorial suggestions, a la Zatara, appearing in a short video blog to perform a variety of magic tricks.

“This video will become an Internet sensation, leading to a new career as a stage magician, headlining in Vegas by the end of the year.

“This will in turn trigger a multi-million dollar lawsuit from DC, and a movie offer from James Gunn.”

I…wait, what? Anyway, I don’t look good in a tophat. Besides, you all were lucky to get one video of my dumb face in a rumpled shirt here, I ain’t doin’ no magical tricks.

• • •

Dan Jack sez

“1. The mainstream publishers will continue to promote Diversity, Inclusion, and Equity in their hiring and staffing”

Not sure that I’ve heard anything specific about this, but if they do, I hope then continue to do so. Especially now.

“2. More and more readers will abandon the above publishers.”

I presume you’re trying to draw a connection between Prediction #1 and this one. Sales do seem to be up, particularly with the advent of (here they are again) the Absolute and Ultimate lines. I know at my store comic sales are up across the board. I think things are okay with the Big Two right now…I’m more worried about the little guys and how the Diamond bankruptcy situation may affect them. Oh, and how tariffs may increase prices across the board. That’s more of a problem than supposed “diversity hires.”

“3. More crowdfunding/etc ventures will be successful, and remain un/under reported on by comics industry as a whole!”

In fairness I probably don’t mention these enough here, but I do occasionally go in for retailer bundles on some Kickstarters. I can’t do ’em all, but I try to pick the occasional one that sounds interesting. And it seems like I see them mentioned all the time, but maybe that’s mostly on social media. That’s where more people will see them anyway, I think, more than on my silly, ancient blog.

• • •

Cassandra Miller almost lives up to her name with

“1. Although there are continued allusions/cameos, the Legion of Superheroes gets neither a new book, nor an actual explanation of exactly which Legion is the ‘current’ one. Lots of contradictory cameos, is what I’m saying.”

Yeah, they’ve popped up once or twice, even an evil Anti-Legion in the DC All-In special. But not a whole lot really giving us what the Legion’s deal currently is, post Bendis-reboot. I really, really, really keep hoping we just get a World’s Finest-style Legion series by Mark Waid, since anything in the current DC Universe seems doomed to failure.

“2. Diamond files for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, and (hopefully) emerges a little stronger.”

Well, you were off by a couple of weeks, but Diamond did in fact do just that. Whether they come out of it stronger is something I expect we’ll find out in a few months.

“3. (This one is more a hope than a prediction.) DC realizes they should just put out a ‘Superman Family’ book, and refocuses the main Superman book as, well, mainly a Superman book.”

The Superman books seem to have cut back a little on the “here’s 15 different Super-characters” business, though they did play a part in that weekly Waid storyline, and we had a Supergirl back-up during that run. But what I wouldn’t give for a 1970s/1980s style Superman Family book. Gimme my solo Lois Lane and Jimmy Olsen adventures! And we could have “Mr. and Mrs. Superman” without it being the Earth-2 characters! Make Jon Kent the lead feature, with various back ups, and we’d be set!

• • •

Okay, that’s it for now…your pal Mike has a medical thing in the morning, so he needs his beauty sleep. Yes, yes, I know, I’m already too beautiful, but sleeptime awaits. Thanks for reading, and we’ll get to more of your predictions next time!

Your 2024 Predictions, Part One: Fountain of Youth.

§ January 17th, 2025 § Filed under predictions § 11 Comments

Okay, there’s been a couple of delays, but here we are, you’ve waited an for this very day, I’m certain, where we begin our look back at your comic industry predictions for 2024! Let’s see how we all did (and don’t forget to get in your predictions for 2025, which is already in progress).

And…this particular comments section had more than its fair share of excess discussion and jokey predictions and whatnot, that I’ll be skipping over this year. Sorry, just don’t have it in me this time. In the future 1) try to have some kind of specific prediction I can work with, and 2) try to keep it to just predictions in the comments sections to those posts, please.

First off is Customer Sean, with

“1. Both DC and Marvel will ramp up the number of facsimile editions being reprinted in 2024–bringing more classic Golden, Silver, and Bronze Age key stories to the readers at prices that won’t break the bank.”

Doing a search on Diamond for “facsimile” for 2023 versus 2024, there definitely were more results for the latter year than the former. (Diamond still has solicits for DC in its system, if you’re wondering.) Heavier on Silver and later, but some Golden Age did pop up as well. An interesting trend is doing facsimile editions of full series, as Marvel did with Marvel Super-Heroes Secret Wars, Boom! did with a reprint of Marvel’s Labyrinth adaptation, and DC did with Crisis on Infinite Earths) and just started with the original Batman “Hush” storyline. Can’t tell you how many times a #1 facsimile came out and I was asked for a #2 reprint as well.

“2. Mark Millar will succeed in revamping the comics industry.”

No revamping that I’ve noticed!

“3. James Gunn will announce a Challengers of the Unknown film featuring Cillian Murphy as Prof., Ryan Gosling as Ace, Tom Hardy as Rocky, and Harry Styles as Red.”

No, but I wonder if the Challs just aren’t flashy enough for a big budget comic book movie. I mean, I like ’em…every time they bring the team back in comics, I read it…but maybe moviemakers just want something…bigger? Obviously a good movie can be made out this, and I’m sure folks got movie pitches, but the Supermans and the Batmans get first dibs.

• • •

Chris Gumprich cashes in with

“1. Tom King will write a Black Label series that takes an obscure character, messes up their life, and ultimately kills the character.

2. Not specific enough? Okay fine, the character will be… Shade the Changing Man.”

King’s up to some shenanigans in Wonder Woman, but that’s not Black Label. Nothing quite on the scale as his Mister Miracle or his Adam Strange mini, at least. King is writing a mini with Black Canary, Best of the Best, but I don’t think it’s doing the same thing those other series did. And it feels like we’re due for a new Shade the Changing Man thing…the last was “Shade the Changing Girl/Woman” from the Young Animal imprint a few years back.

3. Archie will continue to milk the RIVERDALE dollars by doing a crossover comic with ‘Beverly Hills 90210.'”

(Hey look, I did a different Archie prediction this year!)”

Not really anything along the lines of its edgier TV cousin (unless you count the reprint of Betty and Me #16).

• • •

Pal Nat predicts

“1. DC will figure out how to push subscriptions for Christmas, and most but not all retailers will recognize this as seeding the comics market rather than stealing customers.”

Not that I saw. Do Marvel and DC even have subscription departments any more? I suppose they must. It would be a nightmare what with all the relaunches with new #1s.

“2. One of the big YA graphic novelists will drop an adult GN, the comics version of when Judy Blume released Wifey.”

I actually conferred with Nat on this one, and neither of us can think of any YA comickers making this specific transition. But, honestly, it’s just a matter of time, I’m sure.

“3. Comics will be said to be dying, still, as almost always.”

Ummmmmm, yeah…that’s always a thing, but it certainly got a boost of late.

• • •

Mike Loughlin drops this in

“The new era of X-Men comics, shepherded by Tom Breevort, will sell well at first but quickly lose fan enthusiasm due to its retrograde nature. Peach Momoko’s Ultimate X-Men will be a hit, for as long as she’s on the title.”

I would say that’s two predictions in there, but let’s cover the first one first.

Now, just based on my sales, Uncanny and Adjectiveless have dipped a tiny bit but remained strong, the other X-titles, including Exceptional, have stabilized at lower numbers. Which makes sense, since X-Men and Uncanny X-Men are the established names. We’re still within the first year of the relaunches, so let’s see where everything’s at by the time Year Two rolls around.

As far the Ultimate X-Men goes, yes, it’s still selling well, if not as much as the leader of the pack, Ultimate Spider-Man. I suppose that makes it a hit, as the people who like it really like it, but I’ve come across some folks who turn their noses up at it for not being a more traditional superhero comic (as much as the Ultimate books can be). Ah well, that’s how it goes.

• • •

Thanks for your patience as it took me a little extra bit to get started on this series of posts! Next Monday I’ll dive back in and continue the ride…well, probably!

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