Your 2016 Predictions, Part Two: The Spy with My Face.
I continue my long march through your 2016 comics industry predictions (part one is here)…and if you have any predictions for 2017, please park ’em right here so I can discuss them next year!
Thelonious_Nick monkeys around with
“1) Marvel announces next slate of movies for 2020-21, includes Howard the Duck, She-Hulk, and Defenders.”
There appear to be some untitled Marvel projects in the offing, so…well, who knows. She-Hulk is probably the only (slight) possibility, since Defenders will be a Netflix thing, and as a friend once said to me when discussing the possibility, no studio exec wants to the person who says “yes” to a new Howard the Duck film. (A new Howard film isn’t necessarily impossible, but the previous film casts a long shadow…I’d be happy with weird cameo appearances in future Marvel films!)
“2) Image passes DC in sales, becomes second-largest comic company. Unfortunately, this is due largely to DC sales dropping and only slightly to modest rise in Image sales.”
Not yet! Though I bet some people at DC would push Grandma down an elevator shaft to get anywhere close to Walking Dead numbers on any given title.
Longtime blogging-this pal Gordon D. predicts these:
“1) Although BATMAN V SUPERMAN will do well at the box office, DC will shift their efforts towards their television output, developing a stronger partnership with the CW. ARROW will announce that 2016 – 17 will be its final season, and SUPERGIRL, after being removed from CBS’ schedule, will find a new home on the CW.”
As per that Newsarama link, DC ain’t scaling back their movie plans…Batman V Superman did do well, but it fell just slightly short of the 1.5 billion bucks that some Marvel movies have made, which apparently disappointed somebody. Hell, I’d be happy with that. But anyway, DC’s TV presence still remains strong, with Geoff Johns announcing a new as-yet-unidentified CW show in the near future, and Arrow (along with all the other CW shows) getting renewed for the 2017-8 season. And yes, Supergirl did move from CBS to the CW.
Plus there’s other DC shows, like Gotham, and several cartoons, and…yeah, they’re doing okay.
“2) Companies like Image, Dark Horse, Dynamite, and IDW will form part of a ‘second tier’ of major companies (like DC and Marvel), with many smaller companies vying for increased consumer dollar.”
Well, that’s kind of how it is now, sorta. It’s The Big Two, and the Not Exactly Tiny Four-or-So Companies, and Everybody Else. That’s how Previews is arranged, anyway. I suppose we can call that a “hit” since, at least, things haven’t changed away from that, at the very least.
“3) SWAMP THING will get its own CW show. Yes, I’m calling it here and now.”
From your lips to God’s ears. Don’t think it’s too likely in the near future, though with Swamp Thing as a regular on the new Justice League Action cartoon, he’s at least on our TVs!
Andrew ties me down with the following:
“1) I will send you an e-mail asking about the status of my pull list.”
It’s true, this totally happened.
“2) Tomorrow I will have porridge for breakfast.”
Not unless Goldilocks got to it first.
“3) At lunch time tomorrow I will eat a sandwich.”
The judges will also accept “hot dog.”
“4) At least one person will send you more than 3 predictions.”
Nope. Never happened.
Boosterrific boosts his favorite topic with
“The much rumored, long delayed live-action Booster Gold project will finally see the light of day. (And we will rejoice!)”
There seem to be a few articles about such a project being in the works (like this one), so while the movie’s not out yet, it may be out eventually!
Jeff R. rites
“1) There will be a Legion of Super-Heroes book by the end of the year.”
Alas, no, but…
“2) Unfortunately, by the end of the year the entire DC Universe will either be or be on an announced path towards being either rebooted or retrobooted, and this will, as these things generally do, make the Legion’s continuity unworkable.”
…things were rebooted, kinda sorta, and as part of this re-fiddling of the DC Universe, some small amount of groundwork was put down for the Legion’s eventual return. So don’t give up hope yet!
“3) Meanwhile at Marvel, no regular series called ‘Fantastic Four’ will be published or solicited in 2016.”
The Fantastic Four is still out of commission, sadly. The Thing’s been hanging around in Guardians of the Galaxy, but that’s not quite the same, really.
Signal Watch chimes in with
“1. Inexplicably, the DC publishing wing PTB will remain in place, and everyone comes into the office silently for a full year, not making eye contact”
They’re still all there, more or less. As to the state of their interactions, I cannot say.
“2. Old-age Steve Rogers will get a book where he spends his days wondering if he should get some of that life insurance that only costs pennies a day and there’s no physical required. Also, Sharon has to keep showing him how to use his phone.”
Old Steve was reverted back to Young Steve relatively quickly, so none of this came about, I’m afraid. Instead, they quickly put him out in a new comic that nobody had any complaints about and continued on with no trouble whatsoever.
“3. I dunno. Probably some cross-over thing at DC where, afterward, some B-lister swaps identities with one of the major characters.”
There was a crossover/event thing of sorts, in Rebirth. And, oddly enough, there was some identity-switching, but it involved the “pre-Flashpoint” Superman and Lois Lane and their New 52 counterparts, so no B-listers involved there, I guess. Unless you count the New 52 Superman as a “b-lister,” which I wouldn’t blame you for.
demoncat_4 summons up
“1 cw will announce as part of their flash and arrow crossover oliver and barry will team up with swamp thing .”
With John Constantine popping up on Arrow this would have been a nice followup, but it was not to be, I fear.
“2 dc will at last figure its time for ragman to get his due and announce a ragman limited series.”
On the other hand, Ragman made to Arrow, so there’s at least that!
“3 marvel studios will reveal at last they have the fantastic four rights back but will have them just guest star in an avengers film. plus also have the rights issues for namor and hulk okayed and films are part of wave four. marvel will announce a she hulk film along with omega the unknown film.”
I think we all hope the FF will fall under Marvel’s studio’s auspices someday, but not this year. I’d be okay with seeing all those other films, even if they weren’t announced last year, but darned if I don’t want to see an Omega the Unknown movie right now.
ExistentialMan ponders the following
“Sterling Silver Comics deservedly wins the Eisner Retailer of the Year award!”
Why, that’s my store! I did try for the “Best Free Comic Book Day” category, but didn’t take top place. Darn that Electoral College! But we had fun and I think I had the Best Free Comic Book Day anyhoo.
MrJM slams down the following
“Alf makes a big comeback.”
I checked and double-checked my huge in-store pog selection, and I’m afraid the answer is “no.”
Actually, I’m surprised we haven’t had more attempts than we already had at an ALF revivial. I know the fella who wore the ALF costume for the full-body shots passed away. There seems to be plenty of free-floating nostalgic amusement re: ALF but not enough demand to actually support a new ongoing ALF-anything.
Michael Grabowski manhandles the following
“1a. DC will try publishing a Batman title semi-weekly in 2016. Two issues of the same title in sequence each week, released on Wednesdays and Saturdays for a full month for an 8 issue arc.”
Not yet, though if they’re going to do this, it’ll have to be digital since standard comics distribution couldn’t handle two new comic days in the same week. Unless they did the “street date” route, which would make some retailers quail about having to hold back a Bat-book ’til later in the week.
“1b. Due to a mix-up in the production sequence, two issues will appear out of order, spoilng whatever events were intended to be a dramatic surprise.”
Not that I’m aware of. Unless it happened and it was covered up immediately!
“2. Tony Isabella will be named editor for Best American Comics 2017.”
Alas, no, but I name him Best All-Around Comic Book Guy, and hopefully that’ll make up for it!
James kings me with
“1. The last $2.99 comic will be published by the Big 2”
They’re still hanging in there, though only barely at Marvel.
“2. Tom King will be the next talented writer that DC fails to keep (I’d love to see him on Detective or even Batman if Snyder is wrapping up his run)”
DC’s still hanging onto him, and you got your wish with him on Batman!
“3. Mike Sterling will appreciate that I only made 2 predictions, while also pointing out that this is technically my 3rd prediction”
This is the sort of thing Captain Kirk would use to overload a tyrannical supercomputer.
That’s enough fun for now…To Be Continued in the Very Near Future, friends! And don’t forget to leave me your 2017 predictions!
I gotta say, the section intros are genius. “James kings me with” is inspired.
New 52 Superman = B-Lister = more than acceptable
So, is this going to be eight parts?