Your 2021 Predictions, Part Six: On Golden Girls.

§ January 21st, 2022 § Filed under predictions § 8 Comments

Back in the saddle again for a few more of your 2021 comic industry predictions! Here are the previous installments: one, two, three, four and five — and part six starts…NOW!

Rob S. steals the show with

“1) As always, I’ll include a hopeful Legion prediction: I expect that the Legion of Superheroes title will continue after Future State, and Brian Bendis will continue to write the series through at least issue 20 (which would bring his run to 24 issues, with Future State and Millennium included).”

Well…there’s a continuation of sorts, with the Justice League/LSH crossover event by Bendis. Whether there’ll be more Legion after that, I don’t know.

“2) Kirkman and Samnee’s Fire Power gets a TV series deal at Disney+.”

No news I’ve been able to find that it’s been optioned for anything, but I’d be surprised if it wasn’t. Didn’t stop some gossip site I found from pushing the idea that folks should be investing in copies should a TV show eventually materialize.

“3) There’s an attempt to resurrect some Harvey properties in the same vein as DC’s Hanna Barbera line a few years ago. Mark Russell is tapped to write Hot Stuff. Gail Simone writes Richie Rich.”

This would have been awesome, but I imagine the owner of the IP would probably be appalled. “What…our characters, modernized and interesting? FORGET IT! More retro merch instead, please!”

• • •

Voord 99 confounds my ability to crack wise about his name with

“After the hilarious disaster of my predictions last year, I’m just going with:”

Okay, Voord, lay it on me.

“1. A film will be released in some way.”

Movies were certainly released in some way, with an increased reliance on simultaneous streaming-and-in-theaters releases, and not without the occasional issue. The success of the new Spider-Man movie’s theater-only release may have brought us back to something resembling a regular movie-going experience, if it weren’t for…

“2. We will tell ourselves that something cannot possibly get worse, and it will.”

…oh, hello Omnicron variant.

“3. Following the pandemic, we have a second Roaring Twenties, with a resurgence of flappers, radio serials, and jazz. Superhero comics desperately try to hold on until 2038.”

So I put a rumble seat in my Hyundai Tuscon for nothing?

• • •
Adam Farrar goes the distance with

“1. Miracleman by Gaiman and Buckingham: The Silver Age #1 is released. Is there a sunk-cost fallacy to these predictions? I’ve been pulling for this for so long that I’d hate to drop it and then it actually happens. 2021 shows a lot of promise and maybe it even delivers this! Just one issue. Not all six issues. Not even new content.”

Couldn’t even manage just one reprint issue, alas. But as I’ve been saying throughout this batch of prediction coverage posts, that Timeless one-shot, while not the continuation of Miracleman we’re all waiting for, at least hinted at some new MM content on its way. (I’m betting it’ll be Marvelman, keeping the character distinct from the self-contained Miracleman story.)

“2. Some new Astro City is released. It will be through a new publisher which also starts reprinting the earlier volumes, maybe even in a new format.”

It’s beginning, away. It’s back at Image, and in December they took orders for a paperback reprinting the early issues. So stuff is happening!

“3. The new Spider-Man movie will include a connection to Into the Spider-Verse with cartoon Miles Morales appearing.”

I haven’t seen the movie yet (specifically because I’m not going back to theaters anytime soon) so I don’t know if there was a Miles Morales reference at all, cartoon or not. Apparently there was an oblique reference to Miles, if not by name, in Homecoming.

• • •

DavidG weighs us down with

“1. LSH will be cancelled again, in a new record for shortest run. DC will continue to reprint the Silver Age stuff, because there is still a demand for the zero personality Legion I guess.”

The series itself looks like it’s done, unlesss they pick up again after the Justice League crossover this year. It does look like they’re keeping some of the Silver Age reprint stuff in print, though the only new reprint book this year was a hardcover version of the 1970s treasury edition. …And I like the Silver Age Legion! I mean, it took a 13-year-old Jim Shooter to come in and give ’em personalities, but that was still technically the Silver Age!

“2. Still no new Miracleman. Gaiman will now start denying that he has ever heard of the character.”

Again, we got a peek in Timeless, but it’s likely leading to a Marvel Universe-friendly version and not the Moore/Gaiman one. Pretty sure Gaiman’s not at the “deny everything” point yet!

“3. DC will finally pull the plug on floppies, figuring they have 80 years of content that they don’t know how to exploit anyway, so why deal with the hassle of creating more. Instead they will ramp up repackaging the stuff they have produced despite themselves, the largely continuity free stuff with an actual ending.”

The monthly comics endure, though sometimes it feels like DC is moving to the “all Batman, all the Bat-time” model. I hope the reprinting of old material continues, however…it’s always welcome.

• • •

Dave Carter lusted in his heart with

“I couldn’t possible be more wrong than I was for my 2020 predictions, Right?”

“1) DC’s Kids & YA OGN line gets farmed out, in part or in whole, to one of the Warner book publishers imprints.”

DC’s still doin’ it, near as I can tell, though they appear to have other younger reader/children’s books through other publishers (not so much “farmed out” as just “licensed”).

“2) The threads of Event Leviathan are picked up in Bendis’s Justice League.”

DING DING DING I’m actually caught up on Justice League so I can confirm this as a very palpable hit.

“3) A manga title I’ve never heard of becomes a best seller due to an anime version I didn’t know existed showing up on a streaming platform.”

Um…this is a subjective one, so you tell me…had you ever heard of Demon Slayer?

• • •

will fires at me with

“1) a Black Orchid TV show”

Nope, but I’d certainly watch just to see what the hell they’d do with that.

“2) Disney will buy DC”

Oh man, can you imagine? A post-credits scene on, I don’t know, a fifth Ant Man movie introducing Superman?

• • •

Scott Rowland does…something to get the boat ashore with

“With the loss of yet more licensed properties to Marvel, Dark Horse will merge with another company in a ‘Kitchen Sink buys Tundra’ kind of way, which will involve a media push for the ‘Comics Greatest World’ Properties.”

Actually, it kinda moved in the opposite direction, with Dark Horse getting the license to the “general audiences” Star Wars comics (and if there’s a stupider phrase than “‘general audiences’ Star Wars comics,” man, I don’t know…). That may forestall a merger for at least the near future. Comics’ Greatest World remains largely unexploited in recent times, however.

“DC will continue to haphazardly add old comics to their digital service, but will continue to ignore Sugar and Spike.”

I’ll tell you what, I keep waiting for DC Universe to add more late ’70s/early ’80s Superman comics, but nuthin’ doin’. Still finding plenty to read, but I really want those. Also no go on those Sugar & Spike comics, because why clutter up the service with good stuff?

“Marvel will finally release the 2001 By Kirby Omnibus.”

A crime this hasn’t happened. And by all rights, the Omnibus dustjacket should be solid black. Also, it’s a licensed book, and Marvel ain’t gonna shell out to another company to reprint something.

Okay, enough for today, since the next set of predictions in line are from me and I may or may not spend some extra time on those. Yes, I’m playing favorites. In the meantime, get in your 2022 predictions, even though January is getting a little long in the tooth to still be accepting those and comments will likely be turned off soon. Thanks for reading, and we’ll see you Monday!

8 Responses to “Your 2021 Predictions, Part Six: On Golden Girls.”

  • DavidG says:

    Just gonna say, the 13 year old Shooter Legion is pretty good. But surely we have enough reprints of Adventure 247 to last until the heat death of the universe, and DC always start there.

  • Billy says:

    I’m missing something on #3. Who owns the Harvey properties now and why is that a thing?

  • JohnJ says:

    If they do ever reprint Kirby’s 2001: A Space Odyssey, I hope they finally fix the art on Kirby’s bad take on the scene where Bowman has to use the explosive bolts to get back onto the ship. Kirby drew him with his helmet on and the whole reason he had to blow the hatch was because he had not taken his helmet when he was racing to try to save the other guy. That’s irritated me since I first read the Treasury how ever many years ago that was.

  • jmurphy says:

    Mike,
    ” it’s a licensed book, and Marvel ain’t gonna shell out to another company to reprint something. ”

    Granted, 2001 is a licensed book, but isn’t the licensor yet another Disney subsidiary? Shouldn’t that make it possible? For instance I see a fair amount of Star Wars related material in Marvel’s weekly releases. Is it more expensive to get a license to reprint an old licensed book than to produce new licensed books?

  • Dave Carter says:

    Turns out that it was *Marvel* that farmed out its young readers OGN line, as Graphix/Scholastic released OGNs for Ms. Marvel & Miles Morales. I was so close!

  • Chris says:

    Jmurphy-Unless I’m missing something, the license for 2001 would be owned by MGM Studios, which is on the verge of being acquired by Amazon.
    So, no, not owned by a Disney subsidiary.

  • Adam Farrar says:

    I got kinda close on the first two. But alas, another year, another strike out.

  • A Hundai Tucson? This should make things…easier.