Here’s hoping none of you will be strangled by a green monster wearing an orange robe in the new year.
Well, here we are again. It’s the end of the year, and I’m asking you, yes, you, to give me your comic industry predictions for the nigh-imminent year of 2014. Please leave your predictions in the comments to this post, but please note New Rule #4 in the following bolded text:
1. Don’t read the other predictions before entering your own.
2. Don’t criticize other people’s predictions.
3. Don’t predict any real person’s death.
4. (NEW!) LIMIT OF THREE PREDICTIONS PER PERSON, PLEASE!
Sorry, gang, I need to streamline the process a bit so I don’t spend the entirety of 2015 responding to all of the 2014 predictions. Speaking of which…I’ll be going over your 2013 forecasts starting next week, so consider yourself warned.
Anyway, I always enjoy seeing what you have to say, so please, drop your ideas in my little ol’ comments section here, and I’ll sit on ’em ’til next year and see how everyone did then. Thanks, pals!
Little Dot, Little Lotta, and Jackie Jokers won’t be making their big comic book comebacks in 2014 and the world will be poorer for it!
1) Image will surpass 10% market share for at least four months during 2014.
2) Adult Mike Sterling will draw a capybara that actually looks like a capybara :P
1) A comic book movie will come out that doesn’t spur interest in the comic books beyond a few people buying the graphic novel that contains the story on which the film is based.
2) The comics industry will collapse, along with all other industries, when the world burns as it falls into the sun. The cries of humanity will go unheard, the throne in Heaven sits empty and naught but darkness will follow the flames that engulf the human race.
3) Fantagraphics will continue to not announce Nancy vol 3.
Hrm… OK.
1-Price war in digital comics, collections going for as low as $1 as publishers race to cash in on their backlists and ween people away from pirates.
2-SUPERMAN KILLS! In a totally edgy story line which hasn’t been done since the late 80s!
3-Bat books make up 50% of the New 52, X books make up 505 of the Marvel universe. Or has this already happened?
1. Every issue of Sandman Overture will be delayed, causing the 6 issue series to stretch into the middle of 2015 and everyone will forget what the heck is going on. But it won’t stop DC from collecting the first 3 issues into a trade, hardback and Absolute Edition. Action figures, statues and other tchotchkes will abound as well.
2. At Marvel, by next fall at least half of the NOW! line that isn’t X/Avengers/Spidey related will fold. I mean, does anyone really think a Black Widow comic will run long term? She Hulk? I like the characters but I’ve been burned too many times with cancellations.
3. On a personal collecting note, Marvel will no longer hold the lions share of my new comic collecting, falling into more of an even split between Image and Dark Horse, with 1 or 2 DC thrown in (the above mentioned Sandman and Astro City). I’ll post an update on this in a year. As much as I want to try out new stuff (although “new” is a very relative term when your dealing with legacy characters that are 50 years old and older) new books are just too expensive and publishers futz around too much with early cancellations and just plain crap storytelling. 2013 saw a big drop in my pull list compared to the previous year. I get me new books once a month now and it hasn’t made a difference.
1. Joe Matt will return to comics with a book produced using only semen.
2. Marvel remembers that they skipped the Hulk’s 50th birthday.
3. Pet trees that look like Groot become popular.
One of the Big Two will kill off a well-known character, and at least one generalist news publication will report it as a culturally significant moment instead of a publicity stunt that will result in a resurrection about a year later. As a result, Mike will again have to give naive people who think they need to purchase something that will become a hallowed artifact The Talk.
1. DC will follow Marvel’s recent lead of stopping sales of periodical “floppies” on the newsstand & in bookstores, leading to the collapse of that classic practice industrywide within a few years.
2. Marvel will continue to spread into different genres in movies & television by having as its second show on ABC a comedy: DAMAGE CONTROL, positioned as “blue collar S.H.I.E.L.D.” and taking advantage of the fans’ zeitgeist over the damage done in big-budget superhero films.
3. DC’s move to California will lead to a demarcation of NYCC and SDCC as the de facto “Marvel Convention” and “DC Convention” as the two are able to pull out all the stops at the two close-to-home genre extravaganzas while the other would have to travel cross-country.
1. IDW’s Rocky and Bullwinkle comic (HOORAY) will either a) bring joy into many hearts and surpass previous achievements in the art of comic book punnery or b) single-handedly re-ignite the Cold War, break off friendly relations with Canada, and cause certain right-wing pundits to decry a dog legally owning a small child.
2. The success of BATMAN 66 will lead to SUPERMAN ’52, and the long-awaited Aunt Harriet/Professor Pepperwinkle cross-over.
3. In the wake of DC UNIVERSE ONLINE and MARVEL HEROES, Classic Media and Sony will launch DATELINE: HARVEYVILLE. At last, you can raid Richie Rich’s vaults as Little Audrey, go PVP as either Baby Huey or Little Lotta, and see the epic carnage of the all-star battle against a rampaging Stumbo.
1. By the end of 2014, every issue Marvel Comics publishes will have a ‘#1’ on the cover somewhere.
2. At the end of 2014, Doc Ock’s mind will still control Peter Parker’s body.
3. Swamp Thing will continue to be appear in comics throughout 2014, but midway through the year his own title will be relaunched with a new ‘#1’ and a new title: Swamp Bat.
1. Without JH Williams’s involvement, Batwoman will be cancelled.
2. Hoping to follow up on Kevin Keller’s success, Archie Comics will introduce a transgender character.
3. “Judge Parker: The Eduardo Barreto Years” archival reprint is announced, to the delight of breast fans everywhere.
1. Amazon will make an aggressive move to try and take dominance of the digital comics market away from comiXology
2. More examples of monstrous behavior by individuals in the industry will come to light, followed by more half-assed insincere apologies and lack of real consequences beyond internet scolding; relatedly, the glass ceiling in editorial at Marvel & DC will remain intact
3. Dan Clowes and Charlie Kaufman begin co-writing a screenplay about a plagiarizing movie star
Bonus 2015 prediction: Jaime Hernandez sweeps all the applicable major comics awards for the collection of The Love Bunglers (out this Spring, cough cough)
after forever evil dc will do a crossover where all the bad guys vanish and the heroes deal with a dc universe of no evil. 2 marvel will wind up bringing a new rom back to their comics. more comic industry bad behavior at cons will come to light with more top names confessing and trying to say sorry.
DC’s New 52 status quo will continue to be trashed online, will sell just fine. I will continue to read the trades at the local library and be glad I spent my money on worthwhile things, like candy and cigarettes.
The Punisher will shoot someone.
DC’s September 2014 line-wide event will include multiple comics vital to the big story that are available only digitally at first, with a printed trade collection made available several months later.
or
DC will scale back its serial comics publishing schedule by cutting low-selling titles and not replacing them with new ones, and by introducing serial OGN trades (starting with Batman) that tie into ongoing continuity.
1) The best stories will come from Image. The worst stories will come from DC. Marvel will stay the course and be fine in general.
2) There will be more comic book movie fatigue.
3) I will spend all year hoping that the industry will stop cranking out dark and serious stories, and get back to fun and cheerful ones at some point.
1. Elfquest returns, edgier and more Now! than ever before.
2. The Walking Dead will end.
3. Deadpool/Punisher/Wolverine team-up miniseries called “Marvel Makes Money.”
1) The New DC will continue to SUCK.
Roel Torres: ” The best stories will come from Image. The worst stories will come from DC”
YOU WIN!
“DC will follow Marvel’s recent lead of stopping sales of periodical “floppies” on the newsstand”
Marvels not on newsstands anymore? I guess I wouldn’t be surprised, if I’d actually SEEN a newsstand in the past year.
“Archie Comics will introduce a transgender character”
But they already have Dilton!
“ABC a comedy: DAMAGE CONTROL”
I would watch that!
” DC’s move to California ”
IS that actually happening?
” when the world burns as it falls into the sun. The cries of humanity will go unheard, the throne in Heaven sits empty and naught but darkness will follow the flames that engulf the human race. ”
HEY!! QUIT WATCHING MY DREAMS!!!
Dark Horse and Archie’s superhero line relaunches will both breach the Diamond Top 50 with multiple titles each.
Valiant will crossover with Dynamite’s Gold Key properties.
Charles Soule will continue to absorb the chi of comic writers past and present, and will soon write 2/3rds of all superhero comics, half of the Archie titles and at least five weekly indie books.
1. One of the recent new Image books will be optioned as a movie. I’m guessing Saga because I think with Guardians of the Galaxy and the upcoming new Star Wars movie that space opera will be hot, but The Manhattan Projects is a likely contender as well.
2. Harras and Didio will finally get the boot from DC editorial (or leave “voluntarily”).
3. Hot new superhero look for 2014: SWEATERVESTS.
1. I’m guessing a mild implosion of licensed titles. I thought there was a fair amount of churn for those anyway; but I think a lot of the books that don’t make the top 300 will quietly disappear. Dynamite and IDW might cancel a bunch, and Marvel will ditch anything non-Disney that they might have to pay for.
2. Someone–maybe 2000 AD?–decides to try the $1.99 price point, like Fell did. With a proven name like Ellis or character like Dredd, it’d be a slimmer book but could move some sales. (New characters or creators trying it, hit or miss!)
3. Long shot: DC decides to go nuts in shoring up their new 52 titles. Instead of another Batman book, or old standby, they do what some hoped they were going to do in the first place and go for variety. Maybe even a romance book this time around!
1. DC will regain some fans’ goodwill with its weekly Batman book, which will be great, along with the Five Years Later stuff. (I say that as a consumer currently purchasing zero New52 books).
2. Dynamite will crossover its Gold Key line of characters in the Summer with Valiant and it’ll be a smashing fun success.
3. The Ultimate Universe will still be around, and Miracleman will show up.
1. More creators will leave DC due to poor treatment by editorial, sales for DC titles will remain about the same.
2. The big 2 and maybe Image will really be pushing digital over floppies for monthly issues. They’ll still MAKE floppies, but they’ll be like tapes in 1993. Floppy sales will be an afterthought from Marvel and DC because even if digital sales aren’t beating physical sales yet (and I have no idea if they are) the focus will be on pushing the consumer to a future that the publishers want.
3. Even though Batista wins the world title at Wrestlemania and Disney uses that for promotion, Guardians of the Galaxy will be the first Marvel Studios movie that doesn’t wow. I’m not saying it will bomb, but it’ll be the first that proves you can’t just base a movie on ANY comic and get a blockbuster. People like us can handle Groot and Rocket Raccoon, but John and Jane Public will laugh. Unfortunately this means Warner Bros. never makes a Space Cabby movie.
An Octobot containing Peter Parker’s consciousness will restore Peters mind to his body in time for the premiere of a amazing Spider-Man 2
1) Marvel will open (or announce the opening of) a chain of brand-dedicated stores.
2) Comixology will face its first real contender in the digital comics market, and it will be from an entity that we haven’t even heard about yet.
3) Warner Bros. will shut down “DC Enetertainment” and “relaunch” it as “WB Superheroes Bedsheets ‘n Stuff.” Or something. :)
What’s Nathan Lane doing on this comic book cover?
1. Marvel will officially yank the Star Wars license away from Dark Horse
2. For his 50th anniversary, Daredevil will regain his sight.
3. Galactus’ new herald will be H.E.R.B.I.E. And it will be awesome.
1.) Guardians of the Galaxy will be a colossal flop.
2.) The Legion of Super-Heroes will have an ongoing book again by the end of the year.
3.) The First issue of Mage:The Hero Denied will at least have been solicited by the end of the year.
– DCs 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.
– Captain America II will make back its money but not be a critical success.
– Marvel will launch a team of gay Avengers. The book will be called Gay Avengers.
1. Kirkman/Image will insult its readership further by issuing a variant cover of Issue 1 for every day of the year.
2. I will buy all 365 variants.
3. I will feel defrauded and cheap, but oddly content.
Of The Walking Dead obviously
@Jerry Smith:
Gayvengers, surely.
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.
DC will release a New Gods series. It won’t be very good.
The next Marvel character to be killed will be The Punisher. Again.
Comics mergers – somewhere in and among Image, IDW, Boom, Dynamite, Devil’s Due etc, there will be some consolidation, acquisition or the like.
1) As DC’s moving west, people who will say ‘no’ will be in Marvel.
2) More Batman-related and Avengers titles.
3) Image Comics sales will totally surpass the Big Two at the end of the year.
1) Showcase Presents Tomahawk will appear. I’ve only predicted it every year since you started doing this, I’ll be right sometime.
“Gay Avengers”
there WAS Great Lakes Avengers. Isn’t that close?
1. At some point, Superman gets his red shorts back.
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.
3. Sonic Disruptors #8 is finally released.
1. del Toro will announce that the Justice League Dark script has been finalized and will start shooting in 2015.
2. Constantine and Swamp Thing will develop a strong sense of trust and become best friends finally.
3. John Constantine will quit smoking but replace his habit with hallucinogenic tubers.
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.
2) the Miracle man monthly floppy will undersell, while everyone buys the tpbs
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
1. By the end of the year, Marvel will have produced ZERO issues of Walt Disney Comics and Stories or Uncle $crooge.
2. The Fantagraphics reprints of Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck will continue as scheduled.
Well, considering how wide of the mark my cinema-based predictions were for 2013, I might as well try and do some good with my power to get the future wrong:
1. The sequel to Man of Steel will not be inspired by the All-Star series or be called ‘The Goddamn Batman vs Superman’.
2. Neither will it feature The Rock as Swamp Thing, to lead into the Justice League Dark movie.
3. Still no news on ‘The Spirit 2: Spirit vs Shadow’.
1. DC launches a digital only, non-continuity DC COMICS PRESENTS to fulfill monthly Time-Warner quotas for copyright renewals.
2. FISHNETS AHOY launches, with art by Robert Wilson IV
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.
“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.
3. Sonic Disruptors #8 is finally released.”
No… number 3 is simply PREPOSTEROUS!
1. The year passes by with no mention of Carrie Kelley in the Batman books
2. Marvel announces Howard the Duck reboot scheduled to hit theaters 2017
3. The Gotham TV series does decent in the ratings but isn’t a big hit.
1) Peter Parker will be back, which will collide with Otto’s Spidey. But sales for Superior Spider-Man will still be good, so somehow, both characters will fill the role of the friendly neighborhood. And Amazing Spider-Man title comes back with Peter of course, in time for the movie.
2) 2014 will be the Bendis’ year in Marvel. Some of the events will be written by him and he will have three titles by himself. Of course, some of these titles will suck, some will be fine.
3) Guardians of The Galaxy will be a, surprinsingly, good movie (not as GREAT as Avengers, Dark Knight etc but still decent). People who didn’t believe in this movie will changer their names to RockyRacconRulz or GROOTGROUPIE87.
1) WINTER SOLDIER and DAYS OF FUTURE PAST will both be well received films, by both comics fans and general movie goers. Brubaker, Claremont and the artists will get “Thanks” credits, and hopefully some bucks.
2) THE BRAVE AND THE MOLD, a Batman-Swamp Thing team up series written by Mike Sterling, will be the surprise hit of Summer 2014.
There will continue to be Doom Patrol & Kamandi shaped holes in DC’s output.
The Superman/Batman film villain will be Darkseid, announced at/first preview footage at Comic-Con 2014, a week or so before Guardians of the Galaxy film is released, people accuse DC of just ripping off Thanos. Kirby’s ghost’s eyes roll for the rest of 2014 and well into 2015…
2014 will see a Godzilla comic book and a Pacific Rim comic book leading to a major cross-over event.
My fellow commenters will have a lot of gloom-and-doom predictions having to do with movies, but the 2014’s comic book movies will actually do just fine.
Only two for this year:
1) Due to slipping sales, IDW will relaunch its primary GI Joe titles (GI Joe v3, GI Joe Special Missions v2, and the already ended Cobra Files). Larry Hama’s GI Joe A Real American Hero will soldier on to the continued enjoyment of myself and a little over 7,000 other people.
2) Marvel will launch “Savage Hulk” a series like their “Avenging Spider-Man” and “Savage Wolverine” featuring rotating creators telling whatever stories they see fit. The first story arc will be by Jim Starlin.
1) Mike will have a happy birthday on March 13.
2) Marvel won’t do right by Jack Kirby.
3) I will continue to search for superhero comics that I wouldn’t be embarrassed to share with my teen-aged nephew and niece.
— MrJM
^ I’m really not as bitter as that makes me seem.
— MrJM
1. Bendis and Johns will form their own company. They will create their own universe and write everything.
2. A major comic book movie starring a woman will be announced. Reaction will be “How can SHE get her own movie before Wonder Woman or Black Widow???”
3. Progressive Ruin will split off to form several blogs (Daily Mike Sterling, More Progressive Ruin, Mike Sterling’s Progressive Runes) forcing followers to read several blogs to get all the scoops. Readers drop off, forcing a reboot which makes no one happy.
1. Archie is going to land another serious creative team on another of its Red Circle titles.
2. We’ll see hints of missing characters like Wally West and Donna Troy in DC books before 2014 is out, but their first real appearance of any note won’t be until 2015.
3. Dark Horse will announce a couple of new big licence to partially take the place of Star Wars.
1. Multiple writer changes on Fantastic Four, with each one promising to “bring the focus back to the family.”
2. Deadpool will kill the Marvel Universe again. Or marry it. Maybe both.
3. Archie comics? Still awesome.
1. Saga increases in popularity, leading to a boost in merchandise sales (especially to teens) and discussions with HBO/Netflix about a series (most likely animation).
2. Either Marvel or Image will release a digital-only series that is a huge success critically, though not financially.
3. DC, in an attempt to imitate Marvel’s success with diversity, will introduce a new series focusing on LGBT character(s). It will not be handled well, or received kindly by DC’s audience.
1. DC Comics will reduce its publsihing line to three “families”: Batman, Justice League & Green Lantern. Two remaining Superman books, Flash, GA and WW get a “Justice League” heading, and everything else in the DCU is canceled in the DC Implosionary Spectacular of 2014.
2. Multiversity WILL come out! (I can dream, can’t I?)
3. Image Comics increases market share, primarily at the expense of DC, to become the true No. 3 publisher and the best creators continue to flock to them.
Rocket Raccoon spin-off live-action TV show. Book it.
1. We will see an issue number with *two* decimal points. Possibly something like 5.2.1, but more likely something like 5.1.NOW. This will be the last straw for Mike Sterling.
2. There will continue to be an uncomfortably antagonistic relationship between The Big Two and fans about what The Big Two think fans want and what fans think they want. Image will continue to, by and large, prove them both wrong.
3. IDW will do a massive, line-wide crossover of every single one of its licensed properties.
– Guardians of the Galaxy, Captain America will be underwhelming in the box office. While the X-Men: DOTFP and Amazing Spider-Man will be box office hit.
– Marvel will relaunch Captain America, Iron, Fantastic Four books.
– Robin will return this year.
My one prediction on comic books for this year is that Pre-New 52 Lobo will Hunt Down This new glow-face Lobo and after a few issues of beatdowns and maiming Pre-52 Lobo will feed this imposter to his space Dolphins.
1.
Marvel will realise why ‘Hawkeye’ is successful and bring out more solo titles with great talent behind them creating stories with a defined style and sense of direction without having to succumb to a universe shaking cross over every other month.
2.
Scott Snyder will finally hint at maybe working with Image or another Indie label.
1. Due to either delays or cancellation, Hawkguy won’t make it to #25. If it does, it will be a completely different direction and creative team resulting from Fraction’s total break with Marvel.
2. 2 more avengers books will start at #1, possibly to replace books that are ending at #30 given Marvel’s apparent new Logan’s Run series length policy.
3. After the Deluxe Color HCs, Oni will re-release Scott Pilgrim starting at the beginning in yet another format, be it color TPB, omnibus or “artist’s edition”.
1. Multiversity won’t actually come out this year, to the surprise of no-one.
2. Guardians Of the Galaxy will do very badly, mainly due to Marvel/Disney not knowing what sort of promotional strategy to formulate. As a result Ant-Man will be pushed back to the end of 2015. Captain America: The Winter Soldier will offset the losses, but Kevin Feige will rethink Phase Three. Agents Of S.H.I.E.L.D will be renewed by the skin of its teeth, and the start of the second season will bring a bit more of the crazy that the first season lacked. Marvel will also aggressively pursue TV projects, but their animation division will gradually falter and die.
3. On the DC side, Arrow will get more into the super powers end of things, but the Flash and Constantine pilots will not be picked up. The DC animation division will feel the loss of Paul Dini seriously this year, and the projects that go ahead will be wretched examples. Expect a New 52 culling more savage than any before, but equal numbers of new books to make up for the cancellations. Expect additional alternate strategies beyond the weeklies. People will begin to see tonal shifts in the books, but the bigger shift won’t come until 2015 as DC heads into the last full year of the New 52. Month 52 of the New 52 will be the last of it…but it won’t presage a 2016 return of the old universe(s) but a drastic change of approach to the comics market. We will see signs of this through 2014.
…”Paul Dini” read “Bruce Timm.” Sigh.
Also, I forgot my usual Squirrel Girl mention. She’ll turn up in Agents Of SHIELD and end up having fun times with Fitz, who’ll be revealed as a furry.