Your 2020 Predictions, Part One: New Planets, New Perils!
Well, here we go…I’m finally looking back at your 2020 comic industry predictions, to see who got ’em right, who got ’em wrong, and how much your pal Mike’s muddled brain can actually remember from this past hellyear. I’ll respond the best I can, but if any of you can provide corrections or additional info to my typing here, feel free to do so and I’ll try to address that info in a later post.
And don’t forget…you can still get in your predictions for 2021. You know, the year we’re in right now, so hurry up already.
Okay…keyboard’s plugged in, the iced tea is poured, the loins are girded, so let’s get cracking, shall we?
NOTE: some of you submitted more than three predictions…in the past, I let it slide, but this year, I’m just handling three from each person. Maybe the first three, or maybe the three I feel like answering. Who can say?
Jason hacks up the following
“The X-Men franchise will be reduced to one monthly book titled X-Men.”
Still got all those post-House of X/Powers of X titles coming, plus more besides. I expect we’ll start seeing some attrition this year.
“Disney will try to cash in on the Baby Yoda phenomenon by announcing a new animated series on Disney Plus titled ‘Baby Yoda Adventures’
“Everyone will hate it.”
I was going to say “restraint was shown in storytelling spinoffs of Baby Yoda,” but a Googling shows a pile of books, some of which I presume to be authorized. But I expected at least a cute Baby Yoda comic book, at the very least. No cartoons for the little fella yet, but it’s probably just a matter of time. Can you imagine a bunch of shorts of [REDACTED, but you know who] training Baby Yoda and getting impossibly frustrated at the task? That’s probably be funny.
“DC will bring Alfred back from the dead, but will kill another member of the bat family. Probably Batgirl.”
Not entirely up on the Bat-books, but searches of several Wikis reveal various biographies of the character that end with “and then Bane broke his neck and he died” so I’m presuming he’s still joined up with the choir invisible. There’s bit of an “out” at the end of Dark Night Death Metal #7, I think, but we still need to see if that goes anywhere.
Signal Watch indicates these
“DC will continue to mangle continuity and stray further and further from anything resembling the basic form familiar to the public of their IP (cough… characters) in their own comic books and continue to refuse to offer a back-to-basics line of comics.”
So just how did you predict Future State? …Well, okay, it’s not a permanent change or anything, but it’s certainly an attempt at rejiggering their properties and seeing what sticks. Though once everything gets back to “normal, there’ll be some post-New Implosion reduction of the line to the Big Names That Still Sorta Sell.
“No one will mention Doomsday Clock again by January 31, 2020 as DC will forget they ever had it or could have done anything with the potential. Folks re-reading comics from this era will be baffled by the launch of Rebirth and what happened afterwards. The Button thing will never be resolved.”
You know, I don’t think they ever did explain The Button’s deal. Why was it embedded in the Batcave’s wall in the first place? I don’t recall seeing an answer to that (and I’m going to feel dumb if it in fact was answered in this very story).
Despite all that, Doomsday Clock somehow played into Dark Nights Death Metal, or at least a Watchmen character did. Beyond that, yeah, Doomsday Clock I suspect will move on to the Backlist of Forgotten Dreams and all that.
“DC publishers and editors will learn nothing from what worked about the Watchmen HBO series, just as they learned nothing from the Watchmen comic.”
Well, depends on how you feel about the Rorschach mini currently running, I guess.
Chris V’s vendetta comes out with
“Iron Man 2020 will become the unexpected huge hit of 2020. It will prove so popular that comics will hit another boom period, comparable to the early-1990s. Iron Man 2020 #1 will stand as the third best-selling comic, behind only X-Men #1 an Spider Man #1.”
I have to admit…it sold better for me than I expected, but not quite to the ’90s level of X-Men and Spider-Man. I wonder if the comics market as a whole today is even as much as sales on either of those titles.
“By 2021, this fad will pass, and everyone will make fun of the people who bought in to the Iron Man 2020 hype.”
I’m beginning to think Mr. V is pulling my leg a bit here. But Marvel did have a mini-even of 2020-themed titles that, in fact, did indeed end by 2021!
“The Iron Man 2020 movie will be pushed back to 2021, and while doing better than expected, will be considered a failure.”
Ooh, Chris, I have some bad news for you about theatrical releases in 2020….
Rob London steals some crown jewels with
“1. Everyone starts wearing big gears on their shoulders.”
If by “big gears” you mean “facemasks,” and by “shoulders” you mean “faces,” then you are mostly correct, sir!
“2. Hasbro and Marvel work out some sort of deal to reprint Rom: Spaceknight and Micronauts.”
That would be nice, since those are the only comic book versions of the characters people want. Hope they make a deal sometime soon before all the folks who remember those iterations of the properties die of old age.
“3. Eternals-mania sweeps the nation when their movie comes out.”
Ooh, Chris Rob, I have some bad news for you about theatrical releases in 2020….
demoncat_4 comes from the 9th Litterbox of Hell to announce
“dc streaming will resurrect the swamp thing tv show for two seasons then a swamp thing movie.”
The DC Universe streaming service all but flamed out in its video delivery incarnation, so that didn’t happen. However, there was a story or two out there that a revival could, kinda maybe, happen, but not holding my breath.
“dc will annouce a constantine movie and resurrect the tv show.”
A story did come out that a follow-up to the 2005 Constantine movie starring Keanu Reeves (and a better film than you’d think) is a possibility. Again, not sure I’d hold my breath.
As for TV, I think we may all have to settle for John-boy being on Legends of Tomorrow. I mean, he’s still on there, right? I haven’t watched in a while.
“marvel will finaly let chris claremont do an an x-men book where he reveals that mystique and destiny are really night crawlers parents all along and storm officially being revealed at last being bishop’s grandfather”
I don’t think either of these things happened. Maybe someone who reads more X-Men than I do (i.e. any X-Men) can clue me in. Though I have to admit, while I’ve heard the Mystique/Destiny/Nightcrawler one before, the Storm/Bishop one is new to me. Is that really a thing?
Steven R reaches deep for
“Marvel decides to stop productions of new comic books, changing their name to Marvel Licensing. Other comic companies swarm to license their titles. IDW adds 20 more Marvel Superhero and 5 more Star Wars books, and changes their name to Marvel-IDW. DC licenses Conan, and announces that will resume the old comic strip.”
That’s…kind of a lot lumped in there, but it’s all answered with “nope.” Or rather, “not yet.” There’s a non-zero channce of Marvel just outsourcing everything to other publishers. And I do wonder…when will DC get its crack at Conan? I think I came across a reference the other day in Overstreet to a Conan cameo in the ’70s DC title Sword of Sorcery, so maybe they’ll get to build on that someday!
“DC also gets the license to the western Ghost Rider, and decides to make a Bat Lash Ghost Rider team-up.”
Aim high, brother! Didn’t happen, but would love to see Bat Lash team up with Ghost Rider. Any version of Ghost Rider. That’d be a weird damn book.
“FCBD is such a hit, that Boom announces a line of Free monthly comics – with 18 pages of new material and 64 pages of advertising.”
Ooh, Chris Rob Steven, I have some bad news for you about theatrical releases Free Comic Book Day in 2020….
bretsector divides up the following
“With most of its comic reading fanbase ‘getting gray around the temples,’ Marvel and DC launch a line of Bronze Age comics featuring a 1970’s universe of their characters written and drawn by the bronze age greats…Gerry Conway, Tony Isabella, Marv Wolfman, John Byrne, Mike Golden, Sal Buscema, etc.”
I’d actually be all for that, and…hey, why not. What, Marvel and DC are afraid comics might not sell? Did not happen, more’s the pity.
“Marvel and DC will co-publish an omnibus collection of their greatest silver and bronze age Christmas stories (more of a WISH than a prediction, I must confess).”
Well, Marvel’s done a couple of paperbacks (out of print, natch) reprinting holiday comics, a mix of ’70s and ’80s with more modern stuff. And DC had the DC Universe Christmas TPB with “stories from 1940 to present day!” But a big ol’ fat hardcover omnibus with the whole Christmas enchilada? Not that I recall, But I’m sure either company could fill up that volume.
“Trying to recreate the success that Marvel has had thrusting Conan into the Avengers franchise, DC will bring back Claw the Unconquered, Stalker, and Beowulf and add them to the various JLA books.”
I’d be good with that. Claw apparently appeared in Dark Night Death Metal so maybe it’s starting already!
Robcat steals in on little cat feet to say
“[ ] Legion of Super-heroes will be cancelled. There will be talk of a reboot, or an advertised crossover with a previous version of the Legion.”
It’s still happening! But I’m sure we’ll see a reboot eventually.
“[ ] A DC movie will be announced that will make us say, ‘Well… Aquaman worked so maybe…’ but still no Superman much to the disappointment of Henry Cavill.”
Sadly, the Metal Men movie remains unannounced. And no new Super-film yet, starring anybody (since Cavill’s not likely to return).
“[ ] Gail Simone will return to DC for a Birds of Prey/Suicide Squad/Wonder Woman mega-crossover that’s actually good. I was going to add she becomes Editor-In-Chief and Publisher of DC Comics, but let’s just be unrealistic on one thing at a time.”
Instead we got Marie Javins, and that ain’t too shabby.
“And I hope you’re reading this in a year with no more eye surgeries!”
I did have some eye-laserin’, but no straight-up surgeries! Here’s hoping I’m done with all those things!
By Jove, it’s Jason Sandberg with
“1. Game of Thrones viewers are nearly unanimous in their disappointment with the final season. Clearly, an epic is needed to fill the vacuum left by the better seasons of Game of Thrones. What grand story will provide the large cast, palace intrigue and shocking plot twists they crave?
2020 will bring an HBO or Netflix adaptation of Jim Starlin’s DREADSTAR. Starlin’s 1980s masterpiece will become the next must-see cable/streaming series.”
Alas, the original plans for the Dreadstar TV show are kaput, though I would have dearly loved to see it. Maybe if Dreadstar Returns! goes over big, we’ll get another chance!
“2. DC will publish a BATMAN and the NEW GODs series.”
Not yet! Wait ’til the New Gods movie comes out.
“3. Grant Morrison will come back to Marvel to write an Eternals ongoing, illustrated by Javier Rodriguez.”
Welll…the writer of the current Eternals series is actually Kieron Gillen, who’s British. And Grant’s from Scotland…so Scotland, England, those’re pretty much the same, right? So you’re close!
That’s enough for today, as I go to run and hide after that last bit. I’ll be back Wednesday to look at more of your predictions! Thanks for reading, whatever pals I have remaining, and I’ll see you then!
We will be getting a movie with Nathan Fillion as the Detachable Kid. Does that meet Robcat’s criteria?
I have a feeling there’s not going to be a lot of correct predictions this year, for some reason.
William – I almost put a note at the beginning saying that certain current events lessened the possibility of certain predictions coming true.
It’s true! My prediction that 2020 would have “Lick the Creator”
Booths at Comic-Con was slightly off.
[…] thing I should have noted at the outset, as brought up by reader William, is that…yeah, the pandemic threw bit of a wrench into things (to put it […]
[…] mumblety-mumble of looking back at your predictions for the 2020 comics industry! (Here are parts one and […]
X-Men fan chiming in late.
Sadly, Marvel has never allowed Claremont to tell his Mystique/Destiny story yet. It would be far more accepted in 2021 than it would have been during the 1980s.
Marvel did announce a new X-Men Legends title with a Claremont story scheduled. I am very much hoping this will end up being the Nightcrawler origin.
OK, even as a huge X-Men fan, I almost forgot about Storm being hinted at being Bishop’s grandmother.
I think that was from the X-Treme X-Men series.
It’s never been touched on again, I don’t believe.
That’s a story I’m much less interested in reading.
—————-
In non-X-Men related comments, did Conan really appear in DC’s Sword of Sorcery? That would be crazy.
First of all, SoS was first published in 1973, so Marvel already had the rights to publishing Conan comics.
Also, SoS was based on Fritz Leiber’s prose fantasy series Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser. Having a Conan appearance in that world would be amazing.
I own all five issues of the series and don’t remember Conan appearing.
[…] this very internet web homepage. There have already been three parts to this year’s journal (one and a two and a […]
“OK, even as a huge X-Men fan, I almost forgot about Storm being hinted at being Bishop’s grandmother.
I think that was from the X-Treme X-Men series.”
I thought it was Bishop and Monet in Generation X.
And I have a vague recollection of there being a dustup on Usenet at the time that Bishop was Australian Aboriginal and Money being Algerian, which lead to the wrongheaded idea that all black people and their actual ethnicities were interchangeable. This criticism would also work for Storm, FWIW.
That would imply that Storm and Gateway were an item at some point though, wouldn’t it?
Maybe Marvel really needs to back away from the idea that all Black mutant characters are related….
[…] up on the previous parts, if you haven’t already (one, a two, three, and four), and let’s get […]