Your 2016 Predictions, Part One: To Trap a Spy.
And we’re off to the races! Today I begin covering your 2016 predictions that you left for me way back when, and there’s a lot of them, so gird those loins, where applicable, and let’s get crackin’. Also, don’t forget I’m still taking predictions for 2017!
Jeanne D’ank clears out the must with
“1. DC will reboot yet again”
Well, dang if you didn’t call this one. Yes, yes, DC’s danced around calling “Rebirth” an outright reboot, but c’mon, it’s close enough for horseshoes.
“2. A big event comic will be heavily delayed”
Civil War II had some minor delays here and there. And…does Dark Knight III count as an “event comic?” Because hoo boy.
“3. Stan Lee will refuse to die”
“Face front, Grim Reaper! I’ve got too many conventions to attend…I’ll have to catch up with you later. Excelsior!”
Pal Skinslip slipped in the following:
“This is the year we will see the Harry and the Hendersons gritty reboot.”
That sounds like a gag prediction, I realize, but that would really fit right in with the various relaunches/reboots we’ve been seeing in comics and TV and movies and whathaveyou. I’d bet a year’s salary (someone else’s, not mine) that the idea has been floated, that someone’s looked into the rights situation, that someone’s leaned back at his or her desk and thought seriously about it. …Harry may not have come back this year, but I bet it’ll happen eventually.
SpectralNight lights things up with
“Super Hula: Tropical Multiverse”
Man, I don’t even know. Here’s a blurry picture of Hula from the Plastic Man cartoon being propelled through the air:
Let us never speak of it again.
Michael Jones has a yen for the following:
“(1) Another year will go by whereupon I shall read very few comics yet continue to be amused by the antics of Progressive Ruin.”
I don’t know about the first part of the prediction, but I’m going to say “yes, but of course” to the second!
(2) Batman v. Superman will result in a lawsuit, ‘Batman v. Superman.'”
Here you go!
(3)”My request from last year for an ‘Attack on Titans vs. Avengers’ sequel will yet again go unabated.”
Not that I’ve seen, but that would be like printing money! Though to be honest, Attack on Titans doesn’t seem to be quite The Thing it was about a year or so ago.
bkmunn sequentially asks
“1. Animated version of Jessica Jones announced, no comic.”
The opposite happened, actually!
“2. DC makes sure Ron Rege Jr signed to a Wonder Woman miniseries.”
That would be the smart thing for DC to do, except that might accidentally expand their audience. Alas, we’ll just have to be satisfied with this.
“3. Walking dead comic series ends.”
A bold guess! Walking Dead is still too much a money maker right now to go away, but one has to wonder what happens once the TV show is done.
LondonKdS is falling down with
“1. DC and Marvel will destroy the audience for their quirky/diverse-protagonist titles by tying them, to a degree that makes them unreadable, into wider-universe events centred around characters that those titles’ fans either don’t have any interest in or actively dislike. Narrow-minded old fanboys will claim that this proves that those titles never had a real audience.”
It sort of looks like the quirky/alt titles from the big two (though mostly Marvel) have been having problems getting traction regardless of event tie-ins. I mean, yes, that can be a problem with any title…I skipped the latest Justice League, a tie-in to the crossover with Suicide Squad, because I’m not reading that particular event. But in today’s marketplace, a second-stringer title already has two or three shots against it from the get-go. As an example, Mockingbird felt like it was on the short road to cancellation even before the Civil War tie-ins kicked in. Nothing to do with quality, everything to do with a general reluctance to start sampling new titles when the general impression is that it’s not going to be around long enough to “matter” anyway. I don’t like that happening, either, but when even something with the name “Avengers” in the title is having trouble making numbers, well, What Can You Do?
In fairness, Marvel hasn’t let event stuff interfere with established oddball titles like Unbeatable Squirrel Girl, which is still doing okay!
“2. At least one live-action-TV or film project derived from a free-to-read webcomic will be released.”
I’m not 100% up on my webcomics, but I don’t think this happened. Unless there was a live action Great Outdoor Fight movie and I missed it. Please don’t tell me I missed that.
“3. A live-action-TV or film project derived from a well-known Image title will crash and burn because the things that made that title popular don’t translate outside the comic medium.”
I know at least a couple Image things are in the hopper for mass media adaptation, but I don’t believe anything’s come out yet. A brief Googling brings up this page with some forthcoming comics-to-video-screen projects. We’ll see how these go in the next year or two.
“4. ‘Fruits Basket’ repackaging leads to increased Anglophone promotion of modern shoujo manga titles, leading to that genre returning to the level of cultural prominence that it had in the 2000s.”
Heeeeey, wait a second…that’s four predictions! Well, because I like you, I’ll go ahead and answer with “I don’t think this happened.” I don’t know, maybe more kids are sitting in the aisles of your local Barnes and/or Nobles and reading them for free, but I haven’t noticed much of an uptick for this particular style of manga.
joecab pulls up to the curb with
“DC/Warner Bros, heady from the success of Batman v Superman, will decide that their future movies will be darker still, so their next superhero movie will be 2 hours of a completely black screen. With very dramatic music.”
Given that I saw that recent Harry Potter tie-in movie and I’m pretty sure they didn’t even take the lenscap off for some scenes, that’s not entirely implausible. And honestly, after seeing the trailers for Wonder Woman…I think the movie looks like it’ll be a lot of fun, but in my mind’s eye I’m pretty sure it’s black and white.
Thom H. hits me with
“Only one: after another series of initiatives fails to raise sales levels of DC comics, leadership at that company is changed. (i.e., no more Didio/Johns/Lee).”
To be frank, I was absolutely certain the New 52 thing was the last hurrah for DC as we knew it…either this fixes things, or DC gets parted out to the licensing department where Warner Brothers can finally make some real money with it. That’s why I was surprised by “Rebirth,” with all the same folks in place still calling the shots. I suspect there’s still some measure of flopsweat involved, though.
William Burns scorches me with
“1. Ta-Nehisi Coates’s Black Panther will be lavishly praised by people who share Coates’s politics, and equally lavishly condemned by people who oppose his politics, without regard to its actual merits as a comic book.”
Honestly, I haven’t heard much in the way of negative reaction to Black Panther, politically or otherwise. I popped in over to Amazon to look at reviews of the first trade paperback, and the lower-ranking reviews were mostly from self-proclaimed Coates fans disappointed in the quality of storytelling. I did see one “I don’t want politics in my funnybooks” comment, but that was in the minority. Hardly a scientific overview, I realize, but I think people who would object to Coates’s politics wouldn’t be likely to pick up a Black Panther comic in the first place.
“2. The recent wave of transgender inclusion in comics will finally extend to transmasculine folks.”
We’ve got Koi Boi in Unbeatable Squirrel Girl, who’s been identified as transmasculine…Comics Alliance has a good article about it here.
“3. Moves will be made to put in place the first Marvel Universe/Star Wars crossover.”
I’m surprised this hasn’t happened yet. I’m sure it will eventually.
John swamps me with
“1. DC’s Wein/Jones Swamp Thing mini-series will be successful, inspiring talks for an ongoing series”
I think it did okay, but no Swamp Thing ongoing is forthcoming, far as I know. He’s in Hellblazer, so there’s at least that!
“2. A film based on DC’s Justice League Dark will start production. There will be rumors that Batman will make an appearance.”
We’ve got the animated movie coming out within the next few weeks, but I haven’t seen anything on the live action film beyond director and writer announcements. I’ll keep this page bookmarked and see if anything changes.
“3. More lenticular/hologram covers will make their way into stores, blowing our minds”
Surprised that we didn’t get more lenticular covers. Maybe we don’t need an entire month’s worth of releases from DC again with the fancy-pants covers, but I wouldn’t mine the occasional special release or two. You know, keep it within reason.
Bill D. sticks me with
“1. DC Editorial will finally accept that the Superman armor is clunky, ugly, and hard to draw, and will relent to get rid of it. It will be replaced by the Henry Cavill movie costume in the name of cross-platform synergy.”
Well, it’s not exactly the film costume, but it’s definitely an improvement on the New 52 armor. Best of all, that stupid collar is gone. Gone, I say, and good riddance.
“2. Despite the obvious love that fans showed for traditional Shazam stories in the wake of Multiversity: Thunderworld Adventures and Convergence: Shazam, any attempt at new series will be just as wrongheaded as the last few.”
I know Shazam is intended to be part of Rebirth, since I see him and other Shazam Family members on the Rebirth poster I have hanging in the front window, but I don’t think they’ve really done much, or anything, with him yet. I’d love to see a light and fun comic with him like the comics you mention, but…I don’t know, I don’t want to be cynical, but I’m not holding my breath, either. Also, just straight-up calling him “Shazam” is dumb. Yes, yes, I know, “Captain Marvel” is harder to market what with “Marvel Comics” existing, but I’m old and cranky and I don’t like it. I mean, at least call him “Captain Shazam” — don’t demote the guy.
“3. Marvel will announce that the Kamala Khan Ms. Marvel will make some sort of live-action media appearance… not sure if it will be a movie, guest shot on Agents of SHIELD, less-violent Netflix series, or whatever, but she’ll show up somewhere.”
Another thing I’m surprised hasn’t happened yet, but given that even with CGI, doing stretchy-type effects in live action tends to be a bit on the dodgy side, it’s probably just as well.
Okay, that’s enough trouble for one day. Come back soon for more 2016 prediction coverage…and don’t forget to leave me your 2017 forecasts!
LondonKdS should get partial credit for prediction #2. No actual webcomics have made it to any screen yet, but the first season of SyFy’s Channel Zero is taken from the short story Candle Cove by Kris Straub. He’s the cartoonist behind Chainsawsuit, Broodhollow, Starslip, Checkerboard Nightmare, and a few other things here and there.
“I know at least a couple Image things are in the hopper for mass media adaptation, but I don’t believe anything’s come out yet.”
Outcast. Though I’m not surprised you forgot/didn’t know about it because I NEVER hear or read anything about it.