Your 2018 Predictions, Part One: Saga of a Star World.

§ January 14th, 2019 § Filed under predictions § 3 Comments

Hello, Chloe, whaddaya knowie? Well, it’s time once again for the hottest segment in comics blogging, Snack Situation that bit where I look at your predictions from the previous year and see how close some of you got. There’s a lot of them, so everyone hang in there as I get through them all over the next, oh, seven or eight months or so. And don’t forget, if you want to get in on the 2019 predictions fun, here’s where you go to do so!

Okay…knuckles: cracked, deep breath: taken, loins: girded — so let’s get down to business!

Adam Farrar sees far with

“The still unnamed DC streaming service will not only include their tv shows/movies but also old comics as DC’s answer to Marvel Unlimited.”

Indeed the now-named DC Universe does! It’s not a huge selection, and sometimes they rotate things in and out…no idea what Marvel’s selection is like, but there seems to be plenty to read on DC’s service. But there’s weird stuff like only having one issue of DC Comics Presents, which kind of disappointed me. And I keep hoping they’ll add the old Metal Men comics. I’ve been having fun reading the early Silver Age Green Lantern!

“Neil Gaiman & Mark Buckingham’s Miracleman comics start coming out again. (I’ll keep predicting this and some year it’s bound to come true… right?)”

Keep on predictin’, Adam…maybe someday!

“Legion season 2 will reveal that the character that captured David at the end of the first season is Nanny (the egg-shaped one, not Magneto’s robot). Six months later the character will return to comics in an attempt to capitalize on the show.”

I watched, like, part of the premiere episode way back when, but that’s about it. So, I had to do some deep, deep research (i.e. Googling) to discover, alas, no Nanny egg in the series, which would have had me catching up right quick. The Legion character does appear to have returned to the X-books however, so you get part credit!

• • •

Rich Handley apes my style with

“A fourth Watchmen miniseries will be announced, this time involving the actual Charlton characters on which they were based.”

Sadly, no such animal was announced, though maybe once DC starts Rorschach Team-Up after the conclusion of Doomsday Clock, maybe they can appear there.

“A Swamp Thing movie will be announced, and John Constantine will be in it.”

No movie, but a TV show for DC’s streaming service…and I don’t know if Constantine will be in it, but Blue Devil surely will!

“Scarlett Johansson will finally admit her love for me, and my wife will be fully in favor of the pairing”

I ain’t touchin’ this one.

• • •

Signal Watch chimes in with

“Marvel (Comics) will try a lot of things, but not quite get their act together in 2018. Maybe solicits for early 2019 will show promise.”

Well…I mean, this is a matter of opinion, I guess. A step forward for every step back, as it were. A lot of nice work and some good books, and then some questionable decisions (too many $5.99 and $7.99 comics for my taste).

“Someone, somewhere, in writing about comics will write legitimate criticism about the actual content in a comic in a reasoned, rational manner, and not at all about the industry and their personal grinding axe. Ha ha ha. Just kidding.”

Why start now? …Okay, okay, I know there’s some good comics criticism out there, some even not by me, so it’s out there if you look, amongst the listicles and the comic news about movies that have nothing to do with comics.

“Red shorts at 1000”

Detective #1000 hasn’t come out yet, so I have no idea if Batman will get red trunks or not.

• • •

Jeff R. rites

“A character from the Watchmen universe gets an ongoing title spinning out of Doomsday Clock.”

Not just yet, but I’m betting this will happen too. (Dare I type “Rorschach Team-Up” again?)

“Agents of SHIELD cancelled, replaced with a network TV Miles Morales:Spider-Man show.”

Surprisingly, not cancelled! And we got Miles in a movie, so I guess that’ll do. Bet there’s a cartoon show eventually, though.

“Something will go horribly wrong with the Vertigo 25th Anniversary hardcover, requiring pulped books and digital version airbrushing if not outright cancellation.”

When I read this a year ago, I was thinking “What could go wrong? They accidentally print the ‘Swamp Thing meets Jesus’ story?” Well, something went wrong, because it’s currently marked “CANCELLED” in its listing in the Diamond retailer site, with no resolicitation in the system. …A surprisingly good call!

• • •
Jerry Smith rigs the following

“Marvel will veer slightly away from political controversy in their comics under the new EIC, but sales will not drastically improve. They will not return to legacy characters.”

Hmm…the thing with Marvel is, despite what some too-online folks try to argue, Marvel tends to have at least a thin veneer of politics ingrained into its DNA. I mean, sure, some of it was “hey, the kids are into ‘the protesting,’ let’s put some protesters on our covers,” but there was a lot of heartfelt political expression going on as well, especially in Marvel’s ’70s books.

So…honestly, I don’t think there’s been much of a change so far, except maybe being a little less exploitative of current events. But as far as “controversy” goes…for some people out there, even just having a superhero comic starring a woman is “politically controversial,” so there’s always going to be some dudes out there with a vein throbbing in their forehead mashing at their keyboards.

But yes, some legacy characters have returned. The original Thor’s back, and Tony Stark is kicking around again, but that shouldn’t be a surprise to anyone.

“DC will become more political and offer more controversial storylines. Neither company will appeal to long-term fans.”

Hadn’t really noticed too much of a change, at least with overt political themes. I mean, sure, there’s the inherently political idea of “man with power exerting influence over his inferiors” which, um, maybe you don’t want to really think about when trying to enjoy superhero comics. But mainly, the controversies at DC seem more to arise from things like Doomsday Clock, which is more from “is this trip really necessary?” versus the semi-political content it attempts to contain.

Both companies, however, do still struggle with readership issues, but I’d argue that’s a result the vagaries of their ‘NEW FIRST ISSUE!”/reboots/relaunches ahoy publishing strategies than anything else.

“The Black Panther movie will be awesome.”

You, my friend, are 110% correct.

• • •

Gordon pals around with

“Citing the popularity of its CW-themed shows, DC Entertainment will spin off at least one (ARROW) into its own theatrical release”

DC could do worse than trying this, but it hasn’t happened yet. I expect if this will ever happen, it’ll be after the show in question leaves the air. Arrow is a solid contender for this sort of thing, however!

“Marvel may ‘pull back’ with its movie efforts after INFINITY WAR, citing potential fatigue as well as internal turmoil”

I don’t think so…I feel like there’s still plenty comin’ down the pike. That money ain’t slowing down!

Speaking of the CW, we will see another SWAMP THING series in our lifetime. However, Swamp Thing will have a team of associates who help him fight the Parliament of Trees on a weekly basis.

As noted above, we are getting a Swamp Thing TV show, but on DC’s own streaming service, not the CW. And yes, like I said, Blue Devil will be there helping Swampy fight swamp crime!

• • •

Gareth Wilson menaces me with

“The X-Men comics will explicitly abandon the idea that mutants represent real-world opressed minorities. They’l become just superheroes with a common origin.”

Okay, to be honest, I haven’t read X-Men books in a while (is Beak still on the team?) but I don’t think this happened. I invite corrections…on this, nothing else, I’m right about everything else!

“To control the cast size, the 2018 crossover between the CW DC superhero shows will involve only female characters.”

While that’s a pretty great idea, not this year, alas! I think it’d be a hoot! But it’d probably be called, like, “LADIES NIGHT” and that Kool and the Gang song would play through it the whole ti–wait, hold on, I just made the idea more awesome.

“In Avengers: Infinity War, Thanos will cure Bruce Banner, rendering him incapable of transforming into the Hulk.”

Something happened, to be sure, and it may have been caused by his interaction with Thanos, but probably not a “cure” per se. HALF POINT TO GARETHDOR

ª ª ª

Mike Neisen rates me with

“Still no new Showcase Presents volumes, and most importantly, no Showcase Presents Sugar and Spike.”

Don’t tell me you missed all 24 new volumes of Showcase Presents this year? Showcase Presents Scribbly, and Showcase Presents Spanner’s Galaxy, and Showcase Presents Claw the Unconquered, and Showcase Presents Inferior 5, and Showcase Presents Congo Bill and all those? But yeah, you’re right, still no Sugar and Spike.

• • •

Hassan Alamdari chops up the following

“A Shazam ongoing late in the year”

You, friend, are The Correct.

“half of the books spinning out of metal won’t last pass issues 10”

Most of them made it past #10, though a few are going away soon. Just so long as they don’t take away my Terrifics!

“over 5 books that I love will be cancelled too soon.”

If you loved New Super-Man, Gwenpool, Trinity, Batgirl and the Birds of Prey, X-Men Gold and The Simpsons, I have bad news for you.

• • •

Max T has BROKEN APE LAW and gone over the 3-prediction limit! I will address three of them chosen completely at random, honest, no foolin’

“The Fantastic Four will come back to Marvel, but not before the very end of the year.”

They did come back, but it was more middle-ish of the year, kinda. Still, a good prediction!

“Valiant will still put out the best superhero comics not based on characters created to entertain children, but no new people will take notice.”

“The best,” of course, is a matter of opinion…if someone thinks they’re the best, then more power to ’em and we can call it a hit for you! But yeah, they’re not, shall we say, strong sellers, at least for me. They do have a loyal audience, though, and there’s nothing wrong with that!

“One of the long-running CW superhero shows will call it quits. I’m thinking ‘Arrow.’”

None of them are canned yet, I think, but I would suspect one of them isn’t long for this world.

• • •

Okay, that’s enough for now. Tune in next time, same Mike-time, same Mike-channel, for more of your 2018 predictions! And don’t forget to give me your 2019 predictions while there’s still some 2019 left!

3 Responses to “Your 2018 Predictions, Part One: Saga of a Star World.”

  • Adam Farrar says:

    I was really hoping Nanny would show up in Legion. I couldn’t finish the second season of the show. It was too bloated and aimless. I really wanted to though. And it was Nanny who I thought a tv appearance would warrant a return to the comic pages. I’ll surrender my partial credit. I went 1/3 in 2018. But I’m guaranteed a 3/3 this year, I can’t miss. We’ll get those Miracleman comics yet!

  • Allan Hoffman says:

    If I may, I’ll take Max T’s other two questions.

    “Lion Forge’s new superhero universe will quietly fade away.”

    Still hanging in there despite company layoffs and restructuring.

    “The new Mighty Crusaders book will not see more than 5 issues come out, and then it will go on permanent standard Archie hiatus.”

    Correct. Only four issues came out. I didn’t read it so I don’t know if the story wrapped up or if it left on a cliffhanger.

  • Chris Gumprich says:

    “Showcase Presents Scribbly, and Showcase Presents Spanner’s Galaxy, and Showcase Presents Claw the Unconquered, and Showcase Presents Inferior 5, and Showcase Presents Congo Bill”

    I… I would absolutely buy every one of those.