Mikester

Your 2020 Predictions, Part Three: Showdown on a Wasteland World!

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BEHOLD! Part Three of mumblety-mumble of looking back at your predictions for the 2020 comics industry! (Here are parts one and two.)

And here’s yet another reminder to contribute your predictions for 2021, a year that’s already going way too fast!

A correction first…last time I said the Warhammer 40,000 comic book was strictly based on the tabletop war game of the same name, and thus not exactly based on a role-playing game as predicted by reader Bruce. Well, Bruce corrects me, saying the comic does indeed incorporate elements from the role-playing versions of the Warhammer milieu. For the record, I do know of the Warhammer RPG line, as I sold it for years at the previous place of employment…I just didn’t think it was involved in this comic! I STAND CORRECTED, thanks Bruce!

Now to more predictions!

DK returns with these forecasts

[SPOILERS for Doomsday Clock and recent Daredevil abound]

“1) The Mime and the Marionette will be dead (well, comic book dead) by January 2021.”

I had to remind myself, as while I remember the broad strokes of the series, some of the details escaped me. One of those details was the fate of Mime and Marionette. I remember the fate of their son, but had to check online as to their own “endings” in the series. Anyway, they survived. At leaset until Doomsday Clock II: The Clockening.

“2) At least one Major Marvel Hero replaced by someone of a different gender/race/religion/species as a legacy hero with an all-new #1. Not a mutant or an Iron Man.

“I’m hoping for Daredevil.”

I’m going to say DING DING DING not only on the Major Marvel Hero being replaced, but on the specific character as well! We got Elektra in DD’s clothing in #25, causing one of those last-second speculator rushes that I love so much, he said sarcastically. No new first issue for Darelektra, but, you know, give Marvel time.

“3) The next DCEU Movie Phase will include Booster Gold. Like they should have from jump.”

No specific plans that I can see, but certainly lots of people hoping he’ll show up in one someday! Hey, I’d like to see it!

• • •

Brian’s a very naughty boy with

“1. With the new Phase of Marvel films and the arrival of the Disney+ shows (along with the end of Marvel Television as an entity), we’ll see the shift in how the MCU carries the story: the main sequential narrative will be done now in the shows, with the films becoming more stand-alone tent pole pieces adding large elements to the universe (since there reaches a tipping point of “you need to see 25 other movies first to understand this one). In an odd way, this will make Marvel and DC’s films more alike (where DC wanted to be like the early sequential Marvel films, Marvel will end up with oddball stand-alone films like DC).”

Well, as we’ve discovered time and again in looking back at predictions, anything involving “movies” is kind of up in the air given the pandemic’s affect on film distribution and presentation. The delayed Black Widow looks to be like one of those standalone films you’re mentioning, but I feel like things will continue as-is, with movies leading the charge and the TV shows providing support. Not sure what the new throughline for Marvel movie continuity will be, but that’s a formula Marvel had great success with, and nothing resists change like success. We’ll see (maybe this year!).

“2. The return of Young Justice on DC Universe and Clone Wars on Disney+ will only be the beginning of new seasons of old, cancelled cartoons — now re-emerging on streaming platforms. After the slow emergence of the old BTAS/STAS/JLU voice cast in recent DC Animated films, one of these will be an actual continuation in some manner of the beloved Bruce Timm DCAU.”

I don’t think we’re quite there yet, but now that the DC direct-to-video flicks have discarded the New 52-esque continuity they were maintaining, maybe a revival/continuation of the Timmiverse cartoons is a little more possible!

“3. After its purchases of Pixar, Lucasfilm, Marvel, and Fox, Disney will next purchase Hasbro, during current negotiations over extension of their long term deal on Disney and Marvel toys. While this raises a number of possibilities over synergy in toys and games (as well as use of the Dungeons & Dragons game engine with a number of other Disney properties), folks will mainly care about having the old D&D cartoon on Disney+ and making Dungeon Master/Baby Yoda memes.”

I was nearly taken in by an April Fools article titled “Disney Buys Hasbro and Mattel” and I just about plotzed. “I would have heard about that, right?” I thought, until I saw the article’s day. Sigh.

It would be nice to have Dungeons and Dragons on demand, though, despite it likely causing a whole new generation to speculate about the non-existent “last episode.”

• • •

Adam Farrar goes too…well, you know, with

“Neil Gaiman. Mark Buckingham. New Miracleman comics. Whadda need, a road map?”

Keep those home fires burning, Adam.

“In an attempt to flood the market with Eternals comics, Marvel even reprints something with Blackwulf. The target audience of me, and only me, does not even buy the $1 True Believers book because it’s just a reprint of something I already paid $1.50 for 16 years ago.”

Couldn’t find any recent Blackwulf stuff…no comics, no cameos, no nothin’. But it was hardly necessary since Marvel flooded the Eternals with…like, thirty different covers of .

• • •

Scott Rowland heads for shore with

“1. DC will expand their 100 page super spectacular line to include more tie-ins to their TV shows. Star Girl will be the breakout hit.”

The $9.99 line continues, but no more tied into the TV shows than they ever were. Frankly, I’m surprised they didn’t do more to tie into the Stargirl TV show (popular enough to get a second season, at least!) but I swear it feels like DC is afraid to make money, sometimes. Putting a photo cover on the Stargirl collection, and making those Crisis on Infinite Earths 80 page giants is something, but…man, I don’t know. Sooner or later someone’s going to take charge of DC who’s gonna say “we’re tossing all this nonsense out and just doing comics that look like the movies/TV shows.”

“2.Marvel and DC will enter into an agreement to make their crossover books like JLA/Avengers and the Amalgam titles available in special editions to benefit the Hero Initiative. (Ok, that may be a wish not a prediction.)”

Few things make me madder as a retailer than the fact that JLA/Avengers remains out of print. I could sell those like…a really hot thing that sold well. Look, it’s been a long day, the metaphor-makin’ part of my brain is tired.

“3. Saga will return, but to a much less enthusiastic audience in an example of the Miracleman effect.”

We remain Saga-single-issue-less, but the trades still sell relatively well. At least some audience will still be around when they return. I hope.

• • •

David Alexander McDonald farms out the following

“Marvel Studios will have a rough 2020 theatrically, but prove out on Disney+ resulting in more series announcements…though no Squirrel Girl live action do-over yet. Man-Thing, however, will get put into development, complete with the Giant Size tag. Marvel Comics will continue to be mostly inconsequential.”

Cramming a lot of predictions in there, David! But they’re all related, more or less, so I’ll give it a pass. And yes, Marvel did indeed have a rough time in the theaters last year…and so did every other movie studio, for obvious reasons. Disney’s focus on their streaming channel hasn’t included debuting their new Marvel mmovies there, but I imagine it’s only a matter of time. No word on Squirrel Girl or Man-Thing, but that’s make a good team up. And the comics themselves are, as usual, an afterthought.

“DC Universe will be mainly about the comics. The Snyder cut will not appear. DC will increase the numbers of Album-style comics but otherwise be generally inconsequential. There will be no 2020 crossover in the Berlantiverse. Dan DiDio will kill the remains of the Age series of omnibuses, disappointing the five remaining geriatric fans who buy them.”

DC did indeed announce the scaling back their streaming service to just comics (supposed to happen in February, I think). Snyder cut keeps getting teased, but not released yet. A few album came out last year, but it looks like it’s thinning down a bit for this year. We’ll see. No crossover for the CW shows (aside from the end of “Crisis on Infinite Earths,” which started in 2019). The Bronze/Silver Age books are still happening, slowly, but if they ever put out a “Copper Age” omnibus titled as such, I’m going to kick somebody.

“The indies have a bumper year due to Kirkman! and Lemire writing ten books a week apiece.”

Wait, that’s only one prediction in this section! Are you feeling well, David? Anyway, indies took a hit just like everyone else, but things seem to be recovering. Kirkman and Lemire seem to have kept their output down to a dull roar.

“Mike Sterling finally abandoned all hope of a Pogs revival and buries his slammers deep in the desert.”

Look, that’s four predictions (or, um, paragraphs of multiple predictions) and I don’t have to tell you what I may have done with my slammers. My beautiful, beautiful slammers.

• • •

Chris Gumprich cashes in these

“. Apparently DC has brought back Legion and the Justice Society. I predict these will be cancelled before the end of the year.”

Legion’s still a thing! Justice Society hasn’t yet received its new book, so it remains precancelled.

“2. DC will do yet another linewide reboot that will be a spectacular failure and lead to another reboot in 2021 (remind me I said this when it comes time for the 2021 predictions).”

They managed to stave that off a bit, unless you count the ending of Death Metal. Here’s hoping they keep away from rebootery for a while.

“3. We will see another issue of ASTRO CITY. (Kurt, I know you’re reading this.)”

Are you talking about my old customer Kurt? Because I’m pretty sure he does read this site. Not so sure about Astro City‘s creaetor Kurt Busiek, though. Regardless, no new Astro City yet (which is supposed to be in graphic novel form, versus the periodical format). I’m sure he’ll get to it when he gets to it, and it’ll be good.

• • •

That’s all for now…we’ll pick back up on Monday! Thanks for reading, pals.

Your 2020 Predictions, Part Two: Eight Against a World!

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Time to swing into the next batch of your comic industry predictions for 2020 where we’ll see who was right, who was wrong, and how many typos your pal Mike can mak. Er, make.

One 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 incredibly mildly). Like, as you may have seen with my running gag in the last installment that predictions with even a slight chance of being true were just right off the table. I mean, I suppose it’s obvious, but it’s best that I bring it up, anyway.

So, all that aside, let’s see how our next batch of entries did…and don’t forget, I’m still looking for your 2021 predictions!

Turan, Emissary of the Fly World, buzzes in with

“1. Jim Steranko will, at least once during the year, assure us that HISTORY OF COMICS VOL. 3 will be published soon.”

I was going to dismiss this out of hand, but frankly I wouldn’t put it past ol’ Jim to, in fact, claim such a thing. But far as I can tell, no…but I did find this tweet where he says IDW is doing a hardcover collection of 1 and 2 in a single volume. That’s kind of neat. I have them both myself…haven’t looked at them in…a long time, but I seem to remember enjoying the density of information contained within. (NOTE: just checked Diamond’s database to see if that hardcover was in the system yet, and it is not.)

“2. Guillermo del Toro will announce his intention of adapting some comics series or other into a movie. A few months after this, he will give an interview in which he will describe his plans for the movie, and show the interviewer some character designs he has drawn. We will never hear of the movie again after that.”

Not that I was able to find (but set me straight if I’m wrong). However, I did find articles about Ron Perlman being willing to reprise the Hellboy role for a third film in his series, even despite the attempted reboot. Weird.

“3. Spielberg’s Amblin Entertainment will announce that it has licensed some comics series for a movie adaptation. A few weeks later, there will be an announcement of a writer hired for the project. We will never hear of the movie again after that.”

Well…apparently they’re attached to Blackhawk, but that’s old news. That press release is from 2018, and I’d swear on a stack of Limited Collectors’ Edition #C-36 from 1975 that they originally optioned it back in the ’80s. I didn’t find anything newer, though Amblin TV is involved with Resident Alien (announced in 2019, I think).

• • •

JohnJ jumps in with

“Superman’s identity as Clark Kent will remain known to the public throughout 2020 or as long as it takes Bendis to tell 2 stories.”

Harsh, if maybe not entirely inaccurate burn on Mr. Bendis there, but, BMB has wrapped his run on the book, and very surprisingly, the revealed identity remains status quo! I would have bet he’d put everything back in the box before he left, but nope, it’s still out there. Points for you, JohnJ! I hope the next creative team just leaves it as is.

“The Eternals will become known as the ‘shredded abs’ Marvel movie that America has been waiting for.”

That actor’s abs have definitely been the talk of the internet in relation to this film (sometimes, unfortunately, insultingly towards said actor). Whether the abs in question are the main talking point about the film, I’m not sure…a Googling of “Eternals” brings up Wiki articles and trailers and such. “Eternals abs” brings up all the muscled-body discussion you could ever want, and it sure seems like a lot of it. I’m giving you a half-point because it does appear to be a major topic of interest in relation to the film, but I don’t know that it’s jumped from internet chatter to nationwide demand for ripped-ness in our Marvel flicks.

“J. Phoenix will not win the Oscar for Joker, losing to Adam Sandler!!!”

Okay, last time I brought up the Joker film and its Oscars, I screwed it up entirely, so this time I am going to research first, answer second.

[TEMPUS FUGIT]

Mr. Phoenix did indeed win the Oscar for Joker. Sorry, Mr. Sandler!

• • •

Voord 99 keeps holding my hand with

“1. The Eternals will come out three days after Donald Trump loses the presidential election, will receive discussion about how its vision of endless struggle between two tribes fits into the new political landscape. This will especially be so if Trump refuses to admit that he lost the election and claims that It was stolen by Amy Klobuchar or whoever the victorious Democratic candidate is.”

I presume you meant the movie, but The Eternals comic came out one day after Mr. Trump lost the election. You were close! (And I completely forgot about Klobuchar. Look, it’s been a long year.)

“2. Either Marvel, DC, or both will have at least one story based around climate change.”

I don’t recall one, but I just tried to search “marvel climate change” and there’s a climate scientist named Kate Marvel. Go figure.

I did find that <cite>Doctor Doom #1 addressed the issue, but that was in 2019. Also in 2019 was this Super Sons graphic novel dealing with climate change. A search on the “climate change” tag on DCComics.com only brings up that one book.

So…I can’t find any references to anything in 2020. Not saying there weren’t any, but if there were they didn’t get any news stories written about them, I suppose. Again, if I’m wrong, let me know.

Unless the question was about, like, a new climate change-themed superhero would suddenly turn up. “He’s here…Hockey Stick Man, teaching the public how to read historical data graphs!”

“3. DIE will resume after Stephanie Hans recovers. It will continue to be (a) wonderful and (b) creepy and depressing.”

Honestly, I wasn’t aware anything was wrong with her. But Die did come out in 2020, and readers were excited about it, so I presume 1) she’s better, and 2) it’s retained the expected quality.

• • •

Bruce Baugh breaks in with

“1. This version of Legion of Super-Heroes will either be defunct by the end of 2020 or clearly on its way out.”

Still hanging in there, no reboot in sight! It’s a Christmas miracle!

“2. Kieron Gillen will do more roleplaying game writing, which will be good, and will be involved in a comics adaptation of someone’s cool RPG setting, which will also be good.”

He’s doing that Warhammer 40K comic for Marvel…okay, that’s tabletop wargaming, not role playing, but, you know, it’s within Clan Spittel distance.

Yes, I know that’s from the Fantasy setting, not 40K. It’s the closest thing to “spitting” I could find. Oh, wait, are Snotlings still a thing?

“3. Before it folds, LSH will have a story involving the Legion of Swamp Things, all the plant-equivalent elementals from the various worlds of the United Planets.”

A long time ago, there was a letter in either Legion of Super-Heroes or Swamp Thing (can’t remember which) where someone asked if there was a Swamp Thing in the 30th century, and the editorial reply was all “what a great idea, maybe we can address it in a future issue” and I’M STILL WAITING, DC.

“I am less serious about one of these suggestions than the other two.”

Ah, I knew you were kidding about those Legion ones.

• • •

William Burns toasts me lightly with

“1. 2020 will be remembered in popular culture as the ‘Year of Tumbleweeds’ with lavish hardcover reprints of the strips, an all-star movie in production, and TK Ryan memorialized as one of the twentieth century’s greatest comics geniuses. Holding out against the ‘Weedhead’ movement dominating America’s comics stores will be Mike Sterling.”

“Weedhead,” how dare you.

What Mr. Burns is referencing is, of course, my recently rediscovered curiosity about the Tumbleweeds comic strip, which, alas, has not caught on with the rest of the world. Sure, it still has its fans, but Tumble-Mania has yet to take over the world. Though honestly I would die if there were a Tumbleweeds movie.

“2. Echolands by JH Williams and Haden Blackman will finally appear.”

Apparently your decade-long wait will be just a tad longer!

“3. Superman will die or get married or something.”

He definitely did something. Did a few things, across many series. (His big ID reveal came at the end of 2019.) Managed not to die or get married again or anything, far as I recall!

• • •

Dean cleans up with

“1. Alan Moore will get bored with retirement and announce a new hyper-niche project through a little-known publisher.”

I didn’t see anything, but perhaps the publisher is so little-known I missed it!

“2. New Legion of Super-Heroes title.”

Technically the Future State Legion book was announced in 2020, so a hit, sort of? Not, like, a second ongoing title running concurrently with the first, but it is a new comic!

“3. Death’s Head: The Movie, yes?”

No!

• • •

Dario Delfino dares

“1) Hickman’s X-Men will get even better, particularly for those reading from the beginning.”

Haven’t been reading it, so I can’t speak to it myself, but boy folks were into that “X of Swords” crossover event, so let’s just call this a hit, shall we?

“2) Year of the Villain will have a Supes-Apex Lex battle that will be awesome.”

I’m sure there was something in the Bendis Superman comics but darned if I can recall any of it. Which, um, probably speaks to its awesomeness. Or my failing brain. Someone with better recall, feel free to chime in.

“3) Disney will test the waters with a non-canonical Star Wars/Marvel crossover comic; probably leaking the rumor to gauge reaction before the actual announcement. The comic’s success could fuel rumors of a movie for years.”

The fact that it hasn’t happened yet probably means that Lucasfilm, or somebody, had some kind of “no crossover” stipulation in place. Otherwise we’d totally have Doctor Doom versus Darth Vader or something goin’ on. Which, by the way, I would buy a million times over.

• • •

Thom H. helps himself with

“1. The X-Men relaunch will hit a point of diminishing returns and Hickman’s big mutant crossover will fizzle.”

Some of the series have started dropping in sales, but the previously mentioned “X of Swords” event bumped everything up quite a bit! So, hmm, half point for you. Collect those points for big savings!

“2. Ryan Sook won’t be able to keep up the art chores on Legion of Super-heroes, and we’ll get a fill-in artist/issue sooner rather than later.”

We did have an issue or two that had a ton of artists as kind of a special event…don’t know if that counts as “fill-ins” or not. U-Decide!

“3. Strange Adventures will be awesome and beautiful, and it will rightly collect accolades from across the internet.”

I’ve enjoyed it, and it looks like other folks out there are as well. So why not, you get the hit! I HAVE JUDGED.

• • •

Tom Cherry is the pits with

“After his appearance in the Jimmy Olsen maxi-series, Swamp Thong gets his own book and teams up Harley Quinn.”

I thought we all agreed to never speak of Swamp Thong again. Or Swamp Thang. HOW DARE YOU, SIR.

• • •

Surely that’s enough prediction shenaniganery for today. Come back next time when reader DK makes me reread Doomsday Clock #12 because I forgot what happened to certain characters in it. What fun!

Your 2020 Predictions, Part One: New Planets, New Perils!

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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!

I just accidentally typed “Future Steve” — now there’s an event I want to read.

filed under Categories pal brook, retailing, star wars, sterling silver comics 5 Comments

So…some week, huh? Hope everyone out there is finding ways to keep sane and their anxiety levels down (when they were already up with this whole COVID thing). Hang in there, pals.

I plan on beginning my coverage of your predictions for the 2020 comics industry next week (did any of you guess “DC will split off with its own distributor after Diamond shuts down for two months?” I guess we’ll find out!) so let me take this time to remind you to get your 2021 predictions in before too much more of 2021 gets past us.

I’m just going to cover a couple of other things here before calling it a day. First, response to DC’s Future State event has been…mixed, so far. Granted, it’s only been on the shelves for a couple of days, but customers really are either “gotta get them all!” or “ugh, are you kidding me, no way.” As I noted on Wednesday, I suspect hearts and minds may change if, when the regular titles resume, references are made back to the Future State stories maybe the naysayers will become yaysayers, but who’s to say. Maybe that can be someone’s 2021 comics prediction.

But sales have been…okay on them, so far. Next Batman, even at the $7.99 price point, is selling the best, and Wonder Woman and Swamp Thing are close behind. Superman of Metropolis and the Flash are taking up the rear here. Not doing badly, but not setting the world on fire either. Hey, I’ll take “selling reasonably well” any day, c’mon.

The big hit of the week is Star Wars: High Republic, which I wanted to be about Teen Yoda selling bags of fresh Dagobah Green out of the back of his Ford Pinto in his school’s parking lot, but apparently is about Jedi shenanigans in the past of the Star Wars universe or something. Anyway, probably half the people who bought it will never know what it’s about because their copies are going straight to eBay, but I had some folks genuinely excited to read it. It’s certainly the best-selling Star Wars comic in a while, but I imagine sales are going to plummet once the series moves into the less-eBayable Not Issue #1s. Or until some loon with a YouTube show declares a later random issue hot for no damned reason, who can tell with those people, he said grumpy old man-ily.

Oh, and remember the whole Bad Idea Comics thing? The one where only select stores across the country are going to get them initially, and somehow I got in on the deal? Well, they’re about to take orders for their first regular release, Eniac #1, which I announced on my store site yesterday. After an extensive delay, due to waiting for the industry to kind of pull itself together again after the COVID shutdown, it’s finally starting up, so we’ll see how it goes! I’m not sure how I’m going to order yet, but I already have (and am getting more) preorders from customers, and I’m curious how many mail orders for these I’m going to receive, given the limited availability. Should be an interesting experiment, at the very least.

One final thing, to help you start your weekend right: my old pal Brook told me about a movie that, somehow, I’d never heard about before, despite looking entirely like My Thing that I would have adored as a child upon its late ’70s release. Brook directed me to the trailer upon the YouTubes, , which I watched with him in the shop yesterday afternoon, and lo, did I have the widest smile on my face.

Are you quire ready for…STUNT ROCK:

If it’s one thing the people of this great nation can come together to agree upon, it’s that more rock band stage performances need fire-wielding wizards.

But not my beautiful golden mane of hair.

filed under Categories this week's comics 8 Comments

[Some minor SPOILERS, particularly for the end of Death Metal, below.]


So Generations: Shattered is the Dan Jurgens-est of comics, fitting as Mr. Jurgens is one of the writers and surprise, Booster Gold is also prominently featured. As is a return to some “Death of Superman” stuff, which, as I’m sure anyone who’s read this site for any length of time will realize, is always welcomed by me.

Anyway, this is all very…I don’t want to say “old fashioned,” or “retrograde,” or anything like that, because that maybe feels a little dismissive at best, insulting at worst. Let’s say it’s more “traditional” in tone when compared to other recent-ish crossover events, which tend toward the edgier and more self-aware (like, oh, say, Dark Nights: Death Metal, which I’ll address in a moment.) It’s a basic “we must gather heroes to fight the menace” story, with the twist being that the heroes come from alternate and seemingly incompatible time streams (versus “from across the multiverse,” as in the obviously-inspirational Crisis on Infinite Earths).

Again, not a bad thing. Not a bug, but a feature that this comic feels like a plain ol’ dopey comic from the ’80s or ’90s, uncomplicated and plainly told without a drop of irony or the previously mentioned self-awareness. Well, maybe a tad of the latter, as I believe the stated purpose of the Generations event, prior to its being pushed back for some apparent retooling, was to pin down a definitive timeline for the DC Universe. As such, as I’ve said before about many DC crossovers, the event is about the DC Universe itself, and I’m guessing the larger purpose of redefining parameters for this fictional world is informed what would otherwise be a good guy vs. bad guy punch ’em up.

But it’s easy to ignore the metatextualness of it all and just enjoy it for what it is. I mean, I wish it wasn’t $9.99, but that’s the way of the world now, I suppose.


Speaking of lots of money, I haven’t sat down and figured out what it would cost you to have collected every installment of the latest Dark Nights series and tie-ins, but given they were all $4.99 to $8.99 apiece (except for the $3.99 Justice League issues), I suspect the answer isn’t one anybody’s going to want to hear. Now, most of them were good, which eases the burden at least a tad, but as someone pointed out to me, well, somewhere online, this is only going to encourage Dark Nights 3, This Time Everything’s $9.99 A Pop.

The upshot of all these Dark Night shenanigans is, once again, more multiverse to play with, which is fine, I mean we’ve been there before, DC’s always tryin’ to roll back that old devil Crisis on Infinite Earths, but it doesn’t hurt to kinda reestablish that again. Oh, and that all the characters “remember everything” and I can’t wait to see the implications of that, if there are any. Sounds maybe a little Hypertime-ish, and probably like Hypertime it’ll be misused or ignored. Will this mean that Superman will remember hangin’ out with Hocus and Pocus and their cynical rabbit? I hope so.


This “Future State” event, which is replacing DC’s regular titles for the next couple of months, feels maybe like a bit of bad timing? The industry, and the economy in general, are not in positions to give people reasons to not spend money. Interrupting your ongoing comic book series with apparently unrelated sidestories smacks of that Convergence event from a couple of years back to me, and boy did people actively skip most of those.

Now “Future State” seems like maybe it’s a little better thought out this time, in that plot elements introduced in these minis may feed back into the regular monthlies (which seems to be the case with this Swamp Thing series, from what I’ve read in interviews). I initially had a negative reaction to these comics, in that I had a number of customers explicitly tell me they weren’t interested, but then, in the last week or so, I started getting folks stated that they were, and thus maybe things will work out anyway. Price points are a put-off ($5.99 on Superman of Metropolis, $7.99(!) on The Next Batman), but one of my previous naysayers did backslide a bit on the $3.99 Wonder Woman one, so there’s hope. Particularly if the regular ongoings do reference these Future State books, which could mean some back issue sales down the road.

You know, in case you ever wondered why the hair of comic shop owners goes grey.

Oh, the comic itself…it’s fine, interesting. Extrapolates from earlier comics where Swamp Thing builds additional, sometimes almost human-like, bodies, which has me wondering if the other swampy people we see in this comic are all ultimately just aspects of his mind or their own autonomous beings. There is a line of dialogue in which Swampy notes that their emotional knowledge is “borrowed” from him, but I think it’s ambiguous if that knowledge is copied from him or literally his brain entended into their beings. Or maybe I’m reading too much into it. Wouldn’t be the first time. Find out next Swamp Time, same Swamp Channel, I suppose.

The bidding war for the issue where a tied-up Veronica tried to throw a bowling ball at Superman’s dead body was intense.

filed under Categories question time 12 Comments

So, how’s the new year been going for you so far? …Er, really? Ooh, that’s too bad. Well, let’s see if I can cheer you up with some good ol’ comics blogging as I finish up your questions this week before I start into looking at your 2020 predictions.

And let me remind you again that I’m still taking your 2021 comics industry predictions. This year I finally remembered to submit my own predictions into the mix, so we can all laugh at how badly I do a year from now. Plus, I took a screenshot and posted it to the Twitters so no one can accuse me of cheating (via editing my post after the fact) in the unlikely occurrence I get a hit!

And now, THE QUESTIONS:

Damien puts the dog down to ask

“Hi Mike, I was wondering what your favourite comics lie is. Which completely untrue rumour pleases you the most?”

You know, I’ve been thinking about this one ever since you posted it, Damien, and…boy, I’m not really sure I can land on a specific one. I mean, the supposed Shadow special was one (discussed in this ancient linkrotted post) since it turns out there was no way that was ever actually happening. And then there was the occasional “Marvel Buys DC” rumor that…honestly, I’m not sure if that was ever taken seriously (my main exposure to it being an April Fool’s headline on Comic Shop News decades ago).

My problem is that I tend to be very skeptical about anything I hear word of mouth, so obvious rumors and hearsay tend to just go in one ear and out the other and I don’t retain any of them. HOWEVER, maybe I can counter this onslaught of boringness on my part by relating to you one of the earliest comic book rumors I recalled hearing in person.

This was very early on, just as I’d discovered the very idea of comic book stores, and long before I forged the chains I wear in life. I was at a store, not the one I would later be employed at, buying Swamp Thing comics, natch, when one of the employees told me “oh, yeah, I heard the Swamp Thing series is about to go bimonthly.” The significance of that being, of course, “bimonthly” was the step just before “getting cancelled,” which bummed me out a bit.

Now I have no idea if that was true at the time or not…could very well have been, as Saga of the Swamp Thing at that point was at about issue 18 or 19 or so, and knowing from what former boss Ralph had told me, at least at his shop sales were in the dumps. Of course Alan Moore would come on as writer with issue #20, and along with Steve Bissette and John Totleben and others, the book’s fortunes would turn around, never be demoted to bimonthly status, and last a good long time.

So that’s the rumor that had the biggest impact on me early on, which I remembered for probably obvious reasons. Probably not as interesting as “I heard Stan Lee once TPed Mort Weisinger’s house,” but what can you do.

• • •

Thom H. ahsks

“What is one change you’d make to the comic book industry right now to improve it?”

No more pointless relaunches with new #1s. Hey, got a new creative team coming onto the Avengers? They start with issue #78. Don’t like it, tough cookies. Let’s rebuild some consumer confidence that the titles they’re reading won’t just be cut down at the drop of a hat and reintroduced with a likely too-expensive new first issue. C’mon, customers are getting really tired of that shit.

• • •

Matthew Murray calls me on the carpet with

“You did a bunch of posts a couple of months ago about intercompany crossovers after I asked about them, but I think you promised one more post about them that you never got around to?”

So Mr. Murray is talking about this series of posts (1 2 3) and I swear to God I haven’t forgotten. I just…had an idea for a fourth post in the series and just never sat down to hammer it together. As a hint, it’s going to be more about the crossover events within the companies, tying together disparate elements of their titles that weren’t really of a shared universe kind of thing and making them meet each other anyway. Like, your Total Eclipses and your Crossroads and yes, your Doomsday Clocks. I think the main issue was that I never got around to pulling some of these out of what remains of the Vast Mikester Comic Archives to refresh my memories a little. And I’m not sure I have the right angle on this yet, anyway.

I do promise to get to it this year, honest!

• • •

skyintheairwaves flies in low with

“Hey Mike! If you could create a line wide crossover for Marvel, what would your idea be?”

Huh. Well, look, it’s going to be Man-Thing centric, of course.

As I’m sure I don’t need to tell any of you, Man-Thing was created by an unnatural amalgamation of science and magic to protect the Nexus of All Realities, located in the Florida Everglades in which ol’ Manny resides. Anyway, some bad guy comes along and tries to take over the Nexus and use it for nefarious means, requiring Man-Thing to team up with all the various characters of the Marvel Universe and everyone comes together to stop this dude, whoever it may be (maybe that demon Thog who used to pester Man-Thing? Or was he another version of Mephisto?). Journeying into different realities and alternate Earths, you know, all that jazz.

So the upshot is that somehow Man-Thing is restored back to his normal human form, and the big twist is that the magics of the Nexus, which require a guardian, transform one of the Marvel heroes into the new Man-Thing. Of course, it’s only temporary, and Ted again becomes Man-Thing once the powers-that-be at Marvel decide enough’s enough. …I vote for Night Thrasher. I mean, what’s he been up to, lately. That way the new Man-Thing can ride around on his kick-ass skateboard.

• • •

Robcat asks the purrfect question with

“Have you ever picked up a comic and felt that way about a new (to you) character (or artist or writer) where you knew you needed more right away? Or maybe as a store owner you’ve seen it?”

Not to keep going back to the same well…but I think it was Alan Moore. His Swamp Thing. blew me away, and I had to get my mitts on more Moore. Not that there was a whole lot available in the U.S. market at the time Saga of the Swamp Thing #20 came out, but plenty certainly followed and I kept my eye out for all of it.

Oh, and Swamp Thing just in general, but that was even before Moore. But I don’t think I needed to tell you that.

I can’t think of specific examples with customers, but it’s not uncommon for someone to buy a comic or graphic novel, then have them show up the next day looking for more of the same. And of course I’m happy to provide!

• • •

Adam Farrar closes in with

“What’s the oddest/most obscure character/thing someone has told you they’re a completist for? Earlier this year you helped me get an issue for my Blackwulf collection but there’s gotta be weirder wants. (I need for there to be weirder wants.)”

Nope, you’re the weirdest. What’s up Adam, you weirdo.

Nah, I’m just kidding. My old pal and former employee Rob used to collect Archie comics that featured bowling on the covers, and there were a lot more of those than you might have imagined. Had another customer who didn’t care for Superman and thus collected Superman comics where he was dead or dying on the cover. Yes, he had a field day when “The Death of Superman” came out.

Then there was a guy who would pick up lots of different comics and ask me about each of them “are the ladies tied up inside this comic?” Aaaand…hey, to each his own, man, let your freak flag fly.

• • •

Chris Bowden…um, bows…in my den? with

“As we’re around the same vintage when it comes to the early days of our comic appreciation – what Bronze Age characters From the big 2 have you always liked, but feel they didn’t receive the spotlight They perhaps deserved? I’ve always liked Ragman from DC in his original incarnation as a sort of blue collar Batman, I hate the recent mystical role he’s been place into. From Marvel I’ve always loved Jack of Hearts as a powerhouse that never received much respect, I suspect the artists just didn’t want to draw that costume!”

Ah, you’d get along well with fellow Jack of Hearts aficionado Andrew.

As far as other Bronze Age-y characters go…I always kind of liked Marvel’s Scarecrow, the mystery of whom really captured my imagination after reading this comic as a seven year old Mike. I know he popped up a few times here and there around that period, but I would have been down with an ongoing Scarecrow title, particularly in the style of the Marvel horror books at the time. I mean, just imagine, Giant-Size Scarecrow.

I looked him up on the ol’ Wikipedia to see what was up with him, and apparently he did show up in Doctor Strange and such later. However, because there’s a Marvel super-villain called “Scarecrow,” they changed his name to “Straw Man,” which is some bullshit if you ask me.

Another character I’d pick is the Grim Ghost, who had a whole three issues from the ill-fated Seaboard/Atlas publishing line in the ’70s. There was a brief revival in later years, but aside from Spawn basically snagging his origin, not much has been done with him. In fact, I’d say a lot of ’70s Atlas could use some refurbishing and revival, which might happen, I’d imagine, if this frankly bonkers movie deal results in anything. (And also beyond Atlas’s The Scorpion becoming Marvel’s Dominic Fortune.)

• • •

@misterjayem tweets

“How ya feelin’, Mike?”

Well, I had another laser treatment in my left eye on the 31st, getting it in there before the insurance turns over. That didn’t feel great, but my eye’s doing better now. And that wisdom tooth extraction from a couple of weeks ago really threw me for a loop…friends, don’t wait ’til you’re in your fifties before getting that wisdom tooth yanked, because boy does it not want to come out. My jaw still aches, but it actually does feel a lot better than it did.

Otherwise…doing okay! Thanks for asking!

• • •

Definitely Not Mike Sterling conveniently inquires

“Any fantastic promotions or incredible deals currently being offered at Sterling Silver Comics?”

Why, thank you for asking, Definitely Not Me, Mike Sterling, the Person Writing this Very Post! I am still offering my Cheap Comic Bundles (30 for $20, 75 for $45), details for which you can find right here on the store’s Instagram account. Help me clear out some backstock, keep the funds coming in during our delightful COVID times, and get a bunch of cheap reading! (Prices include domestic shipping, please inquire for shipments outside the U.S.)

Also, honestly, that wasn’t me who posted that. But if I’d thought of it first, I probably would have! I’m not too proud.

• • •

DONE AT LAST! Thanks everyone who contributed a question, and hopefully you found some satisfaction with my answers. I always appreciate you folks chipping in and helping keep me on my toes with various topics I may not have come around to writing about on my own.

Next week, I’ll probably start getting into the 2020 predictions, so prep yourselves for that. Thanks for reading, everyone, and I’ll see you later this week.

(Hopefully) Happy New Year!

filed under Categories happy new year 2 Comments


Look, it can’t be any worse than 2020, right? (CUT TO SIX MONTHS LATER: “oh God how could I have been so wrong”)

Anyway, let’s hope for the best and try to make it through this coming year together. In the meantime, have a fun and safe celebration, and I’ll see you folks on Monday! (And don’t forget, I still want your 2021 comic industry predictions!)

Okay, not that Big Lie comic, but everything else.

filed under Categories question time 3 Comments

A couple of things: don’t forget to give me your 2021 comic book industry predictions! Give me something to write about at length in January of 2022!

Also, thank you for keeping your discussion about Wonder Woman 1984 civil. I know it’s a movie that’s inspired a wide range of opinions, and I’m glad you folks are will to have friendly disagreements about the flick. So long as we all agree Frank Miller’s The Spirit is the best superhero film, of course.

Okay, let’s see if I can knock out a few more of your questions:

First, Allan Hoffman is on, man, with this inquiry

“Hi Mike!”

Hi!

“What are your thoughts on Valiant? Since they came back in 2012 they, more than any other company, seem to have been on a see-saw of highs and lows in terms of output and popularity. How do they do in your store?”

I was a big Valiant fan early on, not quite early enough to have bought the Nintendo-inspired video game comics, but I was in on the ground floor for this new superhero universe former Marvel honcho Jim Shooter was masterminding, combining new creations with revived characters from 1960s Dell/Gold Key. I enjoyed it quite a bit, though I think once Shooter departed things started to…not be quite so enjoyable any more, shall we say. And once the relaunches/reboots started happening I was pretty much done with them.

But I think Valiant remains a good brand with good properties, though I feel like Solar and Magnus Robot Fighter, two of the ’60s revivals, may have had their last hurrah during those ’90s runs and feel a bit past their expiry dates. That said, those older characters (along with Turok and probably others I’m forgetting) no longer being part of the shared Valiant universe feels…weird. But that’s just because I’m old and hate change. And I sometimes wonder if these older properties being unmoored from the larger Valiant universe hurts their viability as well…like, if being part of a larger thing boosted interest in these older properties initially, but on their own no longer have that extra “oomph” to keep them going.

Of course, a big part of Valiant’s success was coming out at the right time. While bit of a slow burn at first (I still remember having a stack of Harbinger #1 on the rack that didn’t sell, at all) eventually Wizard Magazine picked up on the company as the new Hot Thing, and Wizard‘s popularity and Valiant’s popularity sorta spiraled upwards together. Plus the investment craze was still going strong at the time (also helped along by Wizard) so snapping up any “key” issues of Valiant releases was a regular pastime amongst the comicnoscenti. Remember when Magnus Robot Fighter #12 was in huge demand, what with introducing Turok into Valiant an’ all?

Anyway, if you want to learn about what happened to the original Valiant, and how Turok #1 was a big part of that…well, I have a whole category on my site devoted to it. SPOILER: the actual name of the category may give away the shocking secret.

The newest iteration of Valiant seems to be doing well overall, though at my shop they only have a few, if devoted, followers. Some of the mini-series, like Britannia and Divinity, seem to do a lot better for me than the continuing revivals of X-O Manowar (probably my fave of the originals) and Bloodshot. At least they seem to appeal to a wider range of readers than “people who remember Valiant from the ’90s.”

That sounds harsher than I mean it to be. I have no qualms with modern Valiant as a whole, and their retailer outreach is excellent. And it’s possible my particular arrangement of clientele isn’t interested in what the company is offering. That happens…every store is different, and something that sells great for me may not for someone else, and vice versa. But I’m glad it’s out there, keeping these interesting concepts going.

• • •

Isaac P laughingly asks

“What is your favorite non-Swamp Thing work by Rick Veitch?”

BAM:


Crazy-ass space retooling of Moby Dick with Veitch’s beautiful art and complete strangeness…this was my first encounter with his work, as serialized in Epic Illustrated, and his comics have bent my brain ever since.

In your CGI tights/fighting for your rights.

filed under Categories movie reviews, wonder woman 30 Comments

As I’m sure you’re probably aware, the new Wonder Woman film, AKA WW1984, has been released for home streaming for HBO Max subscribers (along with a limited theatrical release). While I did end up watching the movie, I hadn’t really planned on doing any kind of extended discussion/review here, but in response to some of my tweetery on the topic, someone noted they’d wait for my Spoiler Discussion Zone…so, what the hey, here you go. Opinions seem to be pretty varied (from the more rational commentators, not counting the “g-g-g-irls!?” or “I hate all DC movies!” reactions from usual suspects who, from all appearances, may not have even seen the film in the first place), so I’d be curious what my readers here have to say.

My spoiler-free review…perfectly acceptable superhero film, though one wishes the Wonder Woman action was spread a little more evenly throughout the film, rather than primarily at the beginning and end. Generally light and optimistic in tone, with a resolution to the main conflict that manages to escape the slugfest/”giant thing exploding” solutions upon which most special effects epics (including the previous Wonder Woman film) tend to rely.

Okay, SPOILERS AHOY between these two screenshots I pulled from the trailer, and in the comments section to follow, so avert your eyes if you don’t want to know that Ares’ mustache survived the first film and has returned to exact vengeance upon the Amazons:

Okay, like I said, I didn’t watch the film with plans to write about it here, so here are just a few comments on what I saw.

The most impressive thing about the movie, as I alluded to above, is that it wasn’t Wonder Woman beating the tar out of Maxwell Lord. If you wanted your superhero vs. supervillain punchout, you got it the CGI-riffic Cheetah fight just prior (and you can tell how much confidence filmmakers have in a particular CGI effect based on how dark the lighting is), but Diana speaking to Lord (and through him, the world) trying to talk everyone down and renouncing their wishes…that was far more satisfying than having, I don’t know, Lord’s building exploding or whatever.

Also, that Lord’s apparent punishment at the end of the film is not being exploded along with a building, or dying in regret, or whatever the usual fate is for a bad guy. Instead, he begs forgiveness from his young son, openly admitting to him his failures. It’s an emotional punishment, and a hopeful one for a better future for the both of them.

Another nice nod to the comics was Lord occasionally dabbing at a bleeding nose after using his wish-granting powers (as comics Lord would do after psychically “pushing” someone). Yes, I know the ghost of Dr. Polite Scott would have some words about this (mostly along the lines of “brain trauma much”) but it was still a “hey, I remember that!” moment.

Speaking of character resolutions, I don’t recall seeing a post-Cheetah transformation Barbara at the end of the story. Did I miss her? I feel like she’d be the one with the most to resolve emotionally post-battle, trying to reconcile who she was with what she’d become once she had some power in her hands.

And so long as we’re at the end of the movie…literally the very second the “missing Amazon” was mentioned earlier in the story, I knew 1) who was going to play her, and 2) who the post or mid-credits scene would feature. I won’t note it here, just in case you haven’t seen the flick and are trying to spoil it for yourself by reading these comments…but c’mon, it doesn’t take a genius to guess just who I’m talkin’ about. Don’t know if this is just a nod to fans or if she’ll actually take part in the next film…frankly, I think just making it a one-off thing is fine. It was cutre, and I was glad to see it.

Some folks wondered about the 1980s setting, and I’m guessing a big part is the whole business involving the actual President of the United States may have been a big part of it. Having this as a period piece with an only sorta half-convincing Ronald Reagan, and playing on his Cold War involvement) probably goes over easier than a modern day film featuring a Trump impersonator (which would have been distracting and divisive no matter how he was portrayed) or the usual gambit of Old White Guy As A Fictional President (which may have taken folks out of a story about magical wishes and a strong lady in a star-spangled outfit). Also, can you imagine the opening mall fight in modern times? She wouldn’t have bothered having to take out the security cameras, because who was going to see her?

Plus, if we’re still pretending there’s a DC Comics Cinematic Universe, putting it in 1984 gets around the whole “where are Superman and Batman?” question. Okay, maybe it doesn’t avoid the “where’s the Challengers of the Unknown/Crimson Avenger/Doctor Occult/Scribbly” question, but…all right, you got me, I don’t really have a point here, I just wanted to namedrop Scribbly.

One thing I kept waiting for…look, it’s nice to have Chris Pine back as Steve Trevor. I liked him as Steve Trevor, a character in the comics that’s had a…mixed history, shall we say. And a character in the comics where, for years, was kind of a running gag in that he’d kept being killed off/written out and then brought back again. I presume that kinda went away when George Perez revamped the title in the ’80s, but I haven’t kept up lately and kind of hope they’ve reestablished that trope. Just aint’ Steve Trevor unless he keeps getting removed ‘n’ revived every few years.

Anyhoo, having Diana wish him back into existence is…well, it’s certainly a way to get him back. And it brings a bit of personal sacrifice into having to renounce her wish in order to save the day. (There’s a whole bit of business about a cost to getting one’s wishes granted…in this case, Diana’s wish for the return of Steve seemed to reduce her superpowered abilities, but Barbara’s wish to be like Diana also was implied to have taken her powers? I wasn’t clear on that, maybe I missed something.) But Steve is brought back, Deadman-style, possessing another dude’s body…which is barely addressed by anybody in the film. I mean, there are jokes about his apartment, but not a whole lot about “we’re totally hijacking this poor dude’s life here.” So that was all a bit uncomfortable. I do like that Steve departing that fella’s body was left offscreen once Diana renounced her wish.

I hope they find a way to bring Steve back for the third film. And in every film thereafter, as long as they’re making these. Just a different wild way every single time.

And while we’re on the topic of characters from the first movie…yes, that was definitely an old Etta Candy in that photo in Diana’s apartment, confirmed by Lucy “Etta” Davis her own self. I think few people would deny Etta was a real highlight of that movie, a delightful character that, in the comics, did not have the most dignified of origins. (“Ate A Candy,” indeed…geez louise.)

And one more thing about the conclusion of the film…while everyone’s wishes were renounced and undone, it’s made pretty clear a giant reset button wasn’t necessarily pushed, putting everyone and everything back to how it was. The wishes were granted, things happened, then suddenly things…didn’t exactly unhappen, but mostly just stopped happening. Yes, the woman who was wished dead came back to life, that was just straight up undone, but it’s not like the U.S. and Russia didn’t launch missiles at each other, whether or not those missiles disappeared. Seems like there are still consequences of those wishes existing in the world as left at the end of the story. That’s the main sticking point in the redemption of Maxwell Lord…he still screwed things up for everyone good ‘n’ proper.

Oh, and Simon Stagg is a character in the movie. Unlike his CW TV counterpart (killed off in Green Arrow or something) he survived, so there’s still hope for a big-budget Metamorpho movie. Don’t say you wouldn’t want to see this. DON’T YOU LIE TO ME.

And I’m sure I’m forgetting something, but I’ll let you folks in the comments remind me, as I’m sure you will!


…And can you believe how the Robot Kanga army took out Angle Man? Brutal.

Those were just a few thoughts I had…I may follow up in a future post if you folks remind me of anything (or if I see the movie again, which I may soon, since it’s leaving HBO Max in a month). And speaking of the future, please sign my petition to have the next Wonder Woman movie take place in the year 2050, just to mess with people. Also, the villain should be Doctor Psycho. Specifically, the version in the Harley Quinn cartoon. Ol’ WW giving a foul-mouthed misogynist what-for…it’s what he world needs.

“Ho ho ho! So you’ve found my cave! Now to ensure your silence!”

filed under Categories Christmas 3 Comments


This is of course where Santa keeps his Santamobile and Santacopter and the Santacomputer, along with the giant penny and giant dinosaur trophies but with little Santa hats on them. Alas, gaze with sadness upon the glass cases containing the costumes of those elves who fell on duty.

Merry Christmas and happy (and safe!) holidays, where applicable, to all my ProgRuin reading pals.
 
 

cover from Santa’s Secret Cave (1960)