Okay, I’m going to start a little earlier on your predictions than I planned, only because there’s a whole lot of them, and I don’t know what my schedule is going to be like for the rest of the week. As it is, even though I don’t plan on discussing every prediction, I’m still probably breaking this into two parts. Besides, the real fun will be going back to these predictions a year later and seeing who was right!
I realized I was going to come up with some predictions of my own, and…well, boy, I’m having a hard time coming up with some. I think DC will hold the $2.99 price through the year, because not doing so would certainly look bad for them, wouldn’t it?
Sales will continue to suffer on redundant books (i.e. the thirteen or so Thor mini-series, for example) but no one will learn any lessons from this.
Someone will put out a complete edition of William Overgard’s Rudy. (Hey, let a boy dream.)
A new Swamp Thing series will be announced by the end of the year, firmly planted (heh) in the DC Universe. And it will turn out to be awesome.
The rerelease of Grant Morrison and Frank Quitely’s Flex Mentallo in a new collected edition will be met with confusion and fear from the usual suspects.
And I think Wizard will end its print edition and move solely online…if it continues to exist at all. Unless the decision is made to relaunch with a New! Number! One! amongst much ballyhoo and a new, expanded price guide (which is the primary reason anyone asks for Wizard anymore, anyway).
Okay, on to your predictions:
- Mike (no relation) says
“not a prediction- but I would love a year where a powerful character or entity isn’t easily bamboozled and ‘taken over’– skrulls, black lanterns, chaos and other things become tiresome!”
Well, that is a standard storytelling trope for superhero funnybooks…it is a little played out, but we’ll see if folks can resist bringing it back!
- The Sniffer sniffs
“Joe Quesada will end his reign as Editor in Chief at Marvel. He will be given another job within the Disney Company, higher up. He will be replaced by a Disney insider, not currently someone working for Marvel.”
Actually, you were part right already…Quesada is out as E-I-C, but remains as “Chief Creative Officer,” which, technically, is still within Disney, if more a lateral transition than a promotion. His replacement is from within Marvel, however. So, mostly a hit, I think!
- Pal Kurt proclaims
“Marvel and DC will be forced to merge, due to low sales, creating a new company called Marcy. The best-selling book will be their team up book, Brave & The Two-in-One.”
Actually, I wonder, with the change in E-I-Cs, if we will see a new intercompany crossover between the Big Two. It’s been a while…but with the current focus on movies and exploiting the properties and corporate identities outside of the comics world, blurring the lines with crossovers may be put on the backburner.
- Rich Handley hands in
“Swamp Thing will return, but in the mainstream universe. His story will become far less cerebral as he regularly interacts with folks in Spandex.”
Oh, sir, perhaps less cerebral, but as I said about, more awesome. Frankly, I’m pretty Vertigo-ed out on the Vertigo Comics Swamp Thing comics…I can use a Swamp Thing/Doc Savage team up about now.
- Hey ho, TomO sez
“DC will lose patience waiting for everyone to flock to their titles now that they are all $2.99, and we’ll see a line-wide increase to $3.99 announced by October 2011.”
Like I said, I think DC will hold out at least through the year…but I totally expect a line-wide increase to $3.99 sooner rather than later, and it will certainly be because sales won’t increase enough to justify holding the lower price point.
“Pogs come back in a big way!”
This is the worst thing you could have possibly said.
Seriously, though…we’re edging ever closer to that 20 year nostalgia cycle. Will there be Pog nostalgia?
God I hope not.
- Steve has some interesting predictions here:
“At least one independent publisher will go completely day-and-date with digital releases.”
“Marvel and DC won’t go fully day-and-date, but one of them will try it with an *ongoing* series (priced the same as the print version).”
I’ve not really much to say about the whole digital thing, since, obviously, my bias is toward selling print editions and I haven’t paid much attention to the whole digital hoohar. But the above predictions seem reasonable to me.
“The Thor and Captain America movies will make a ton of money, but not quite as much as was hoped for, leading some to question whether the superhero movie is dead and whether Marvel’s strategy in that arena is sound, even though they make a ton of money.”
I suspect there is a danger of oversaturation, but I don’t know that we’ll see a real decline until after the Avengers movie, which will either do well on the novelty value of teaming all these characters together, or be outright rejected as being too much to take in one film. We’ll see.
“Fear Itself will make a relative ton of money, but not quite as much as hoped for, leading some to question whether the event comic is dead and whether Marvel’s strategy in that arena is sound, even though it makes a relative ton of money.”
At least at our shop, the constant onslaught of crossovers and events from Marvel is result in dismal sales for the tie-ins. While the central series might do okay (like Shadowland and Chaos War), the tie-ins wither on the vine. I expect Fear Itself to go the same way.
“DC will launch another new ongoing Superman book.”
Ooh. That’s a possibility, though I think Action will go back to running Superman stories, which would relieve the need for another books for Supes. And with the end of the “Grounded” storyline (hopefully) in sight, we’ll have plain ol’ Superman stories in Superman soon, too.
“Dynamite and BOOM! move to the ‘front’ of the Previews catalog.”
Surprised they haven’t yet, though Boom! feels a more likely suspect than Dynamite, for some reason.
- aj submits
“Grant Morrison will be revealed for the acid tripping megalomaniac he truly is.”
I believe you mean “the acid tripping genius.”
“JLA will be cancelled, lacking editorial directives that can make a cohesive book.”
Justice League is one of those flagship books that will exist in one form or another, regardless. Though, I could see the book being relaunched and centered on Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman yet again.
“Walking Dead will have season two, and rabid fans will boycott it.”
Seems like this was already happening, as there seemed to be pretty vocal criticism of every episode past the first one. (Though I thought the series has been fine, so far…just about as good as I expected a series based on a comic book called The Walking Dead to be.)
- Thwacko make a critical hit with
“One of the second or third tier publishers will go out of business or be bought out by a bigger publisher.”
The first part…sure, they go out of business all the time. And I expect even more of a contraction of publishers in the marketplace in the near future. But as for buying out…not sure if anyone has the money for that kind of thing right now. Maybe some creator owned titles might swap publishers, sure.
“The return of licensed character titles to the big two.”
Well, DC has Doc Savage and Spirit, which probably isn’t what you mean. I’m trying to think of other available cartoon and movie properties…but it seems like Dark Horse, Boom! and other indies have got the licenses pretty well tied up. Marvel has quite a few licensed properties right now…like Anita Blake and all the sci-fi and novel adaptations. DC might be more interested in focusing on Warner Bros. properties, and Marvel may have an influx of Disney properties to deal with…I’m sure we’ll see soon enough.
- Thelonius Nick jazzes things up with
“The Cap and Green Lantern movies will do well at the box office without translating into any significant sales bump for their respective comic franchises. Thor’s Asgardian setting won’t translate well to the big screen and will be critically shunned and poorly attended.”
Well, the sales bump thing almost goes without saying…as usual, if there’s a bump at all, it’ll be before the film comes out. I think Thor might actually do very well, to be honest…the trailers certainly look exciting, and the general public usually seems okay with giving superhero movies (if not comics) a chance.
“Marvel will continue to dick around with Dr. Strange in the pages of the Avengers and fail for yet another year to give him his own ongoing title. Pissed off Strangefans will hex Marvel by the powers of the Vishanti and the company will end the year in flames, literally.”
Don’t mess with Dr. Strange fans, that’s for sure. But Doc is one of those characters that seems to be waiting for just the right interpretation to keep a book going for more than a few months or so. Maybe he’ll get a book eventually…but probably not this year, is my guess.
- Buzz buzzes
“Sudden & dramatic collapse of brick & mortar stores, both mainstream & speciality shops (such as comic book shops). Existing stores that survive will do so by either offering services to readers (such as B&N allowing one to browse through any e-book they offer while in their store, thus encouraging people to buy a Nook & regularly visit the B&N coffee shop; or in the case of comic book/pop culture stores to offer gaming, etc.).”
Well, as I said, I have a bias, so I certainly hope not. Though it does seem like small businesses of all kinds are taking it in the shorts right now, as the economy struggles for stability. I’d like to think that there will always be room for print comics, and I’m guessing we’re still a bit away from digital platforms totally replacing physical formats, but as old guys like me, who like reading from paper, die off, and are replaced by kids with internet jacks plunged directly into their eyes, it’s possible bookstores and comic book stores will go the way of record stores: small, dusty places in the bad part of town, frequented by creepy old guys. Which describes some comic book stores now, I realize.
- Ian @TRO orders
“More Omnibi. “
Well, sure. Digital hasn’t killed the four color star yet, so folks are always interested in big fat collections of old comics.
“More Vertigo characters in DCU.”
For a while there it seemed like the only Vertigo character that wasn’t allowed in the DCU was Swamp Thing. Well, okay, and John Constantine, too. I don’t know who’s left to make the transition…but I’d pay one American dollar for a Preacher/JLA team-up.
“Hopfully more than one Milestone character gets an ongoing (IE, in addition to Xombi mini)”
If Xombi does well, sure. I’d like to see Icon come back.
“Marvel will have some events.”
Oh, sure, what are the chances of that?
Okay, that’s enough for today. Be back tomorrow for more prediction shenanigans.
book includes the above artwork in full, and is much more clear than in my screenshots. So check that out if you get a chance!