Your 2021 Predictions, Epilogue: Blanche and the Younger Man.
So yes, I spent 1/12th of 2022 looking back at your 2021 comic industry predictions. Well, what can I tell you…you guys left me a lot last time. Anyway, today’s post will be catching upon on a few corrections/clarifications over my responses from the last (ahem) month, since I’m only mostly human and can’t catch every single thing that rolls down the road here. Look back at the previous installments (one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, and eight) and then let’s see what exactly I have to say for myself.
(I did edit in a correction into the body of the main post of part two, in regards to preliminary work on a Legion of Super-Heroes cartoon being announced, which I missed.)
From Part Three:
Here Daniel gives me a general explanation of the economics of streaming services. I mean, I figured it was something like that, but it’s nice to have it all spelled out.
Patrick Gaffney makes no mistake in saying
“There was a reprint of The New Warriors Omnibus in 2021, with a new Vol 2 coming in 2022. Maybe that hit the copyright needs of the above poster?”
…in reference to the suggestion that Marvel would put out a
From Post Four:
In reply to my not knowing about companies that put out a first issue then skipping to releasing the whole story in a collection, Glen came out of seclusion with
“Scout has an imprint called Nonstop that publishes a first issue and then a full ‘collection.'”
…and I took a look and sure ‘nough. I don’t see anything about the other “issues” being available digitally, which was a stipulation of the prediction, but hey, it’s close enough. (And I tried to edit that info into the original post at the time and messed it up, so here it is properly! And I fixed it in that post, too.)
From Part Six:
Billy boings on in with
“Who owns the Harvey properties now and why is that a thing?”
Harvey is now owned by Classic Media, though when I wrote my comment about Harvey’s owners probably wouldn’t want “adult” updated versions of their characters out there (like what DC did with Looney Tunes and Hanna Barbara) I somehow thought Harvey properties were still in control of someone from that Harvey family. Some properties, however, are still under the Harvey family purview, such as Sad Sack and Black Cat (as per Wikipedia). But the other characters…well, I still don’t think we’ll be seeing a deconstructive and lightly-edgy take on Stumbo the Giant anytime soon.
Also in this comments section was discussion over my statement that Marvel probably wouldn’t reprint Kirby’s 2001: A Space Odyssey because that would involve licensing fees and stuff like that, since Marvel didn’t own it. There was some question as to who does actually own the rights to the film, which was under the MGM banner. This recent Forbes article, in short, says that Ted Turner bought the rights to a huge chunk of MGM library…which then fell under the Warner Bros. label when the two merged. As such…DC Comics is more likely to reprint that 2001 comic than Marvel. 2001 is currently streaming on HBO Max, in fact.
The rest of MGM’s catalog was just bought by Amazon, including the James Bond series, in case you were wondering where the rest of the studio went.
And in an email response to an omission from Part Six, where in talking about Legion of Super-Heroes reprints I forgot about the Before the Darkness HC Vol. 1, which not only came out in 2021, but I actually read the darned thing too.
Just slipped my dumb mind for some reason. Thanks to Paul for pointing this out.
From Part Seven:
Daniel (that dude again) asks
“[If comic books went away and trades/graphic novels took over] could most comic shops survive that change to what would essentially be a bookstore model?”
That’s a question folks in the biz have been wondering for years. Switching customers from visiting on a weekly basis to buy monthly-released comics over to…pricier formats released on a biannual or less frequent basis feels like quite the challenge. But a comic bookstore (versus a comic book store) would require more stock, and more diversity, to encourage more browsing and more buying….
I can’t go into every detail on this right this second, but I think if the change was gradual stores would probably be okay. If Marvel and DC said suddenly Scarlet Witch-style “no more floppies” that could be a problem.
Wayne Allen Sallee wonders
“did INFERIOR 5 finish the run? I thought COVID-19 killed it about 4 issues in, same with TERRIFICS, actually. The two month break and all.”
Both completed their runs in trade paperbacks, which included unpublished (at least in physical form) issues. I still need to finish reading Terrifics, in fact…that was a really good comic.
From Part Eight:
Matthew notes, in response to the prediction of a wisecracking kid version of John Constantine showing up
“We did get The Mystery of the Meanest Teacher: A Johnny Constantine Graphic Novel, so the ‘kid’ part of that came true at least.”
There you go! I meant to read this, but I’ll have to add it to the pile of approximately a million other things I need to read.
I boggle Daniel T’s mind with
“Have you really not read a Spider-Man comic in 20 years?”
I really do think that 9/11 issue was the last new Spidey-Sam comic I read from beginning to end. I’m just not a Spider-Man Comics guy, at least when it comes to recent stuff. I read all the McFarlane issues when they came out, and I actually had a subscription to the title around 1979, which was actually a replacement title when my Pizzazz subscription ended because that mag was cancelled.
Now I have read Spider-Man comics in the last 20 years, but mostly revisited the classic Lee/Ditko run, and I have a particular fondness for ’70s Spidey. But nothing going on in Spider-Man comics in the last couple of decades have been of any interest to me. Sorry, just Not My Thing, I guess.
And yes, in fairness to Chris V, the Big Wheel apparently has shown up in Iron Man, so he gets at least partial credit for his prediction of the return of this…whatever it is.
OKAY, IT’S FINALLY OVER…at least until next January, when I go over your predictions for this year! Thanks for reading, everyone, and we’ll see you Wednesday!
I know some comic shops have transitioned from floppies and trades to trades-only, but I can’t imagine the entire comics industry relying on that model.
I definitely have a preference for floppies, so my bias might be getting in the way. But I have to think that comic companies would at least have to print loss leaders / previews to entice people to drop $20 on a trade, like Nonstop does.
Actually I think it’s Warners, not Disney, who owns Looney Tunes and Hanna Barbera.
When Warners wanted to make funny animals edgy they made Huckleberry Hound gay.
When Marvel wanted to do the same thing they made Ziggy Pig a sleazeball.
Not equivalent.
Brad – I meant “DC,” not “Disney.” Fixed now. Guess Disney recently acquired my brain, what can I tell you.
Yes, both I5 & Terrifics finished their runs as digital-only and then were included in the print collections. Supergirl & House of Whispers did too IIRC. Lucifer was the most annoying though: issue #19 wasn’t even published separately digitally; the only way you could get that concluding issue of that story arc was to purchase the trade collection. (Issues #20-24 of Lucifer were then also only published as a collection.)