My look back at your 2019 predictions for the comic industry continues! (See Monday’s entry for the initial installment.) Getting kind of a late start on these tonight, so let’s jump right in:
Chris Gumprich affords these forecasts
“1. An otherwise forgotten 1960s-era hero will be brought back for the new millennium (do we still call it that?), make a big splash, and be cancelled by the end of the year.”
I suppose that Peter Cannon Thunderbolt series from Dynamite sorta matches what you’re talking about. Mostly forgotten (despite a handful of revivals over the last few years), and made, if not a big splash, at least somewhat of a ripple in that it seemed to attract attention for being a metatextual Watchmen riff. And it wasn’t canceled…it ended, coming to a conclusion. So I don’t know if that’s close enough for this particular game of horseshoes, but, heck, why not.
“2. An otherwise forgotten 1980s series (if there is such a thing) will be reprinted in an omnibus edition, to my amazement.”
Just did a search at my distributor to see what omnibus editions came out all last year…just mainly searched Marvel and DC releases, and I didn’t see anything that stood out as too unusual. I mean, DC did a He-Man omnibus that included DC Comics Presents #47, that was kind of unexpected. But otherwise, nothing like, say, this:
“3. eBay will finally crack down on those idiots listing their CGC copies of Image Comics under the ‘Platinum Age (pre-1938)’ section.”
No, they’ll be too busy cracking down on me because I listed the Fantagraphics mag Honk! in the general area and not in the restricted “adult” section. …Okay, that was a long time ago, but it still really cheeses my crackers.
• • •
Jeff R. rites
“1. DC will have to tread water for three months across the entire line with flashbacks, fill-ins, and out-of-continuity nonsense waiting on the last set of Doomsday Clock delays. Some of the books will be quite good, though.”
There wasn’t quite the direct impact on the DC Universe I think we were all expecting, or meant to expect, from Doomsday Clock, so it didn’t affect any other title’s publishing plans much, far as I can tell. The two big things, though, is that the Big Returns of two classic teams into DC continuity that Doomsday Clock was leading to…was beaten to the punch in the regular monthlies/biweeklies.
“2. Mage: The Hero Denied #15 will end on a cliffhanger, with Matt Wagner and Image promising a much shorter timeframe between it and the launch of Mage: The Hero Delivered, the actual conclusion of the full saga.”
Nope, no waiting another 12 to 20 years for The Hero Disco-Dances: Mage appears to be good ‘n’ over.
“3. Marvel will announce an Ironheart movie as the big summer 2020 next phase starting film”
That would be a nice way to continue the Iron Man section of the Marvel franchise. Even Robert Downey Jr. is into it. Apparently there’s a rumor or a script is floating around or something, but no official announcement that I’ve seen.
• • •
Gareth Wilson sayeth
“1. A major comics company will remove all advertising from its monthly comics.”
Not yet…if ever, since whatever advertising revenue they can still get is probably helping keep those cover prices down at least a little. They’d have to be selling a lot more to justify dropping ads…but if they sold that much more then they could make a lot more money selling ad space, so I think we’re stuck with ads for now. Even if it’s just ads for more comics from the same publisher.
“2. The next Marvel streaming series: Lockjaw and the Punisher.”
Would watch. Especially if Lockjaw gets one of those doggie-shirts/sweaters emblazoned with the Punisher skull logo.
“3. Dreamworks announces Phase Two of the Undergarments Cinematic Universe.”
Finally, once again it will be time for these guys to shine:
• • •
Brian is a very naughty boy with
“1. One of the few DC movies that actually gets released amidst various delays and rewrites drops a mention of the Multiverse and the 52 Earths (as if to explain how the post-DCEU films tie together. Fans and reviewers simply note how 5he Arrowverse did it more clearly and elegantly.”
If this is going to happen in any movie, it’ll be in the forever-forthcoming Flash film Flashpoint, which would likely deal with multiple timelines and universes and all that hoohar, assuming that Flash movie is still coming out and it’s still going to be based on the “Flashpoint” comics stuff.
“2. The Arrowverse’s Crisis on Infinite Earths — a storyline winding across parts of the fall storylines of each of the shows (including Black Lightning) and culminating in a two-week crossover, follows the pattern of ‘Earth-90’ this year, using serial-numbers-filed-off versions of previous DC television adaptations (with the Smallville characters in particular appearing, roughly filling the niches of COIE’s Earth-2 Kal-L and Luthor). However, due to the expansion of DC Universe’s shows (e.g. Swamp Thing and Stargirl), a number of other side characters to populate multiversal crowd scenes won’t be available.”
Well, I’ve seen only three of the five parts so far of the “Crisis on Infinite Earths” thingie, and so far they’re just straight up referencing/using previous and/or concurrent versions of the DC Universe characters. Good on them. I don’t know how many previously-established media-adapted characters were off-limits, but it feels like they wouldn’t be particularly missed given how many folks they did squeeze in.
“3. The new Ms. Marvel series will take the character out of Jersey City and away from her supporting cast to increasingly interact with the wider Marvel Universe and broader issues (beyond those related to the character) — and its subsequent failure will rather lead to heated internet arguments ranging from the male writer to politics.”
I don’t know that we know enough about the Disney+ show yet to know how they’ll be handling the character. Marvel Studios has been relatively careful about how it handles its characters, more or less, so I suspect Ms. Marvel will do fine. I mean, we’ll see, right?
• • •
demoncat_4 torments me with
“1 dc streaming service will announce not only will their new swamp thing tv show make constantine a regular character but also a back door pilot for a new constantine tv show.”
aaaaaugh
Sadly DC Universe’s Swamp Thing didn’t last long enough to even approach anything like this, though it seems to me the Phantom Stranger kinda sorta filled the Constantine role in the series anyway. Besides, he’s busy on Legends of Tomorrow, which is bit of a weird place for him but at least he’s on TV now.
“prediction two is that marvel will announce that miracleman the silver age has a release date at last and later finally release the complete saga in a massive trade.”
Mentioned last time that while it’s been said that new Miracleman is being worked on, no release date has been set. But a big ol’ fat book of everything under one cover would be nice, wouldn’t it?
“3 dc streaming service will announce a tv series called trinity that will be about super man wonder woman and batman teaming up finally giving fans a tv version of batman at last.”
No, but we did at least get Bruce Wayne in Titans, and they did announce a Superman show for the CW. DC does seem very hesitant to duplicate live action media efforts for their Big Three, but I guess they’ve given up on Superman movies for the time being!
“The New Warriors TV show that was originally going to air on Freeform (formerly ABC Family), will finally see the light of day on Disney’s streaming service, and the whole world will finally see how great a hero Speedball is!”
While it appears a pilot was made, the show itself appears to be probably dead. It’d be nice if that pilot would show up on Disney+ so we can experience the live-action Squirrel Girl we all need in our lives, but sadly no sign of it yet. …But all this talk about Speedball being, ahem, “great?” What is this, crazytalk from Crazytown? Get outta here!
“1. The new Hellboy movie is going to be reasonably successful, so of course somebody’s going to learn the wrong lessons from it, and push another comic movie to a somewhat unneccessary R-rating. Turok, maybe. Or Vampirella.”
Whoops on the “reasonably successful” part. I did enjoy the new Hellboy a lot more than I thought I was going to, though I never really warmed to the new Hellboy make-up. But I feel like the push to R-rated super-movies may have been helped along more by Deadpool‘s enormous box office take than anything else. I mean, that film didn’t have to be R, but thank goodness it was because it was filthy and hilarious. But I see what you mean…like, if they pushed the new Batman up to an R, that would feel totally unnecessary. (“Stop, Joker!” “Fuck you, Batman!” …Y’know, like that.)
“2. Assuming the death of Border Town doesn’t outright sink Vertigo, going forward creators there are going to be vetted to within an inch of their lives. Too much so, so now anyone who maybe said something dumb five or more years ago is unemployable…”
Well…Border Town got axed for reasons more than “saying something dumb,” but I get your meaning. Especially in this day and age, he said oldly, where stupid stuff you did on Twitter in junior high school can turn up when you’re looking for a job now after getting out of college. Some of us have decades of online trails that we can’t escape…take it from me, The Guy Who’s in The Top Google Results for His Own Name.
I don’t know if vetting creators to any kind of extent is going to be much of a thing, to be honest, given that there are certain creators that are, frankly, human garbage who are still getting jobs because some publishers don’t give a shit. It’s going to take what it usually takes in this industry…people getting pissed off after the fact, and the publisher being forced into an apology and corrective measures.
Vertigo itself had been on shaky legs for a while, looking for a flagship title to hang its brand upon after Sandman, Preacher and Fables went away. It was the success of DC’s Black Label, the Imprint That A Penis Built, where swears were also okay, that killed Vertigo and took on projects that would’ve appeared there. I mean, when there’s room on the schedule for Black Label titles that aren’t Batman-related, of course.
“3. DC is going to give Doom Patrol yet another reboot, somewhat conservatively, to more resemble the TV show. Or maybe just to come out on time…”
Looks like they’re sticking with the Young Animal version for now, but I haven’t read any of the latest series yet so I don’t know if they fiddled with the line-up to reflect that critically-successful TV adaptation. I mean, just given the nature of the Doom Patrol, they can change it however they want without a reboot-ery explanation, you’d think.
• • •
Okay, that’s enough for this time. Sorry for the lateness of this installment, but I hope to be back on schedule, and working the room slightly less blue, next week, time and eyeballs permitting. Thanks for reading, pals, and see you Monday.
Get on board the prediction train, as it’s finally passing through the Progressive Ruin city limits! We’re looking back at your comic industry predictions for 2019 and seeing how y’all did. (And don’t forget to give me your guesses for 2020 and we can do all this again next year!)
“1. Less people than ever will read the comics blogs.”
Well, overall, I suspect that’s probably true, though I don’t have the stats to really prove it beyond my own site’s. My site is…hanging in there, with not much change from last year traffic-wise (though I’m not 100% convinced my hoster’s built-in traffic reader is all that connected to reality). I do know that I don’t get nearly as many comments as I used to Back In The Day. Pretty sure everyone’s moved on to Instagram or similar for the sort of content that blogs used to provide. I imagine it’s a lot less wordy and easier to digest, versus someone’s dumb ol’ blog like mine where said blogger doesn’t know when to shut up.
“2. There will be more interesting cartoonists making comics in North America outside of the Diamond system than ever before, and it will be impossible for one person or blog or comics news-site to read or even mention half of them during the course of 2019.”
Well, with Tom gone, yeah, seems unlikely there’s anyone capable of keeping up with everything. I’ve not even been able to keep up wtih the comics I want to read, much less do any kind of news coverage of them. But I totally agree there’s a lot of comics work out there, not all of it going through America’s one distributor, and there are plenty of alternative options to show, publicize, and distribute work thanks to this whole “internet” thing that seems to be catching on. Good, the more ways folks can express themselves and share that expression, the better.
“3. Peter Porker, the Spectacular Spider-Ham will prove the most popular non-Miles character from the new Spider movie and will get his own movie or tv show before Spider-Gwen.”
Spider-Gwen (or “Ghost Spider”) was in that “Marvel Rising” animated thingie…wasn’t just her show, but I think that still counts as beating out Mr. Porker. Unless Spider-Ham had a cameo in some other Marvel cartoon I don’t know about. Wouldn’t put that past anybody.
• • •
Thom H. hollas at me with
“1. A new Legion of Super-heroes book is announced. Written by Tom King. The 9-panel grid returns!”
Announced and released…but not written by Tom King, though. HALF POINT FOR GRYFFINDOR.
“2. The next chapter of Injection is (finally) completed. Sales are abysmal due to the hiatus.”
Last year, comic shops, unlike my eyeballs, remained Injection-less.
“3. Miracleman: Silver Age is still not published. Some new excuse is given for its absence.”
We did get more Miracleman comics this year…one page in Marvel Comics #1000. Hey, it ain’t nuthin’. And Neil spoke about the status of the series this summer and says work is progressing. It sounds like he’s saying there were some contractual deals that had to be taken care of before getting MM underway again, or something? I don’t know. I’m just hoping to see the story finish before my descendants have to read it to me at my gravesite. …Hey, I made it through all of Mage in real time, there’s still hope.
“1. Marvel will finally get permission to do mash-ups with Disney animated characters like DC is doing with Hanna-Barbera characters…BUT, only the C- and D-list characters like Oswald the Lucky Rabbit and Roy Disney.”
I keep waiting for something like this to happen (or some kind of overt Star Wars/Marvel superhero intermingling) but they’ve kept it all fairly separated so far. However, we did get this one-per-store-more-or-less variant for Marvel Comics #1000:
Whose room is that? Is that Mickey’s?
“2. In the tradition of last year’s Walking Dead Wine, Marvel and DC will license their characters for Wine offerings. Batman Pinot Noir, Scarlet Spider Red, Rose and Thorn Blush, Champions Champagne (1970’s team, not the current youngsters), and of course Malcolm Merlyn Merlot.”
Ten years ago I gave Pal Dorian a bottle of wine with a custom label featuring his favorite superhero Wildcat:
Here’s a better look at the label:
I suspect if there are going to be any “superhero wines,” it’s going to be folks like me getting custom labels like that, since I don’t see Marvel or DC wanting their characters on alcoholic beverages. That won’t stop folks from making their own wines inspired by superheroes, like what appears to have been going on here. …I don’t know, I don’t drink alcohol…let me know when they create a superhero-themed zero-calorie, sugar-free sports drink.
“3. I predict that prediction posts on comic blogs will become the new internet sensation making progressiveruin one of the hot sites of 2019!”
I’m already the hottest comic blog, baby! Got my house’s heater running even as I type this!
• • •
Myron M. (presumably not “Moose”) offers
“Marvel will stop publishing monthly (paper) comics entirely, moving to a graphic novel-only publication model.”
I feel like this is a thing that may happen eventually, but there’s still life in the ol’ periodical format yet. I know both Marvel and DC are doing “new to graphic novel” stories (even if it’s sometimes reprinting digital stuff), but those don’t seem like they’re going to take over the entire publishing line anytime soon. And even if the Big Two shift over to a primarily trade paperback line, there will likely be some periodical element to their releases. Like, I can see new comics basically being, say, a new Wonder Woman graphic novel every four months instead of a standard sized “floppy” every month (or biweekly).
• • •
Sean Belt whups me with
“TKO Studios new distribution model will do marginally well enough that the Big Two will begin offering some of their books in the same format: a ‘season’ (6-new-issues) in a single book or digitally every 6-8 months, rather than monthly installments.”
No, not yet, but I do like TKO‘s product line. The graphic novels are good-looking, and ordering stuff from them is a cinch. I haven’t carried much of their single-issue comics, but I did have a customer specifically request a set, and those were nicely done as well. Don’t know that he Big Two will offer simultaneous releases in book and single issue formats as a regular thing, since they’re heavily in the “magazine first, collection later” strategy, but it’s an interesting move to give customers that option.
• • •
Okay, that’s enough for now…tune in next time, next Ruin time, same Ruin channel, for more of these here 2019 predictions! And don’t forget to leave me your 2020 predictions!
Yes, it’s once again That Time of year, a little earlier than in previous years where I’d think “oh dip, did I ask for predictions yet?” and then put up the post right before the end of the year and have you folks giving me your guesses well in February.
I plan on getting to your predictions from last year in January, but right now, I want you to gather together all your psychic abilities and foresee the future of the comics industry. Specifically, what you expect to see in the Year of Our Iron Man Arno Stark 2020. MAKE DIONNE PROUD. But don’t forget to follow these simple rules:
1. Don’t read the other predictions before entering your own.
2. Don’t criticize other people’s predictions.
3. Don’t predict any real person’s death.
4. Limit of three predictions per person, please! I know of a few of y’all will break this rule, and more often than not I address all the predictions anyway because my heart spills over with kindness and generosity toward my fellow humans on this spaceship Earth, but c’mon, give me a break here.
Okay, you know what to do…pile those predictions in the comments section of this very post here and we’ll meet back in about 13 months to see how everyone did! And like I said, I’ll get to those predictions for 2019 in a couple of weeks.
Thanks as always for your participation, pals…I’ve done this for the past several years, and even though I’ll gripe a bit about the time and effort put into the prediction responses, I really do enjoy it, honest! Don’t believe me? Have a psychic friend check my brain and tell you.
We’ve finally made it! It’s the last batch of your 2018 comic industry predictions we’re covering in this particular sequence of posts. If you’ve missed any previous posts in the series — first, how dare you, and second, you can find ’em right here: onesie, twosie, threesie, foursie, and fivesie. And I keep telling y’all to put your 2019 predictions right here, so don’t get mad at me next year when I do this again and you’re all “oh woe is me, why did I not contribute? Why? WHYYYY!?!?”
Onward and upward!
Bruce Baugh breaks down the following
“Marvel will not die and crash the direct market in 2018. However, it will do something mind-boggingly stupid that nobody predicted except as a joke, and at the end of 2018, ‘Marvel, WTF?’ will be a dominant theme in reviews of the year.”
Hmm…maybe their price points? Those terrible, terrible $5.99 to $7.99 price points for first issues, or just plain ol’ issues during the series, or especially for installments of a kid-friendly Ms.Marvel/Squirrel Girl team-up series that eventually got collected into a $9.99 paperback, which is what it probably should have been from the get-go anyway? I vote for that.
“There will be a Legion of Super-Heroes revival. It will be grimdark, campy, or (most likely) both. It will not do well, but it will be brandished by Gamergate types accusing SJWs of destroying comics, even though it will have nothing to do with diversity, social justice, or anything of the sort.”
As discussed in a previous post, no Legion book just yet (I think everyone’s waiting for Doomsday Clock to wrap, since a Legion member is tangentially involved). But wouldn’t you say diversity and social justice is ingrained into the Legion? Well, okay, that whole business with Tyroc was a bit…rough, but they were trying!
“One particular event will dominate everyone’s year-end efforts to say ‘oh, right, well, of course, I saw that coming, I just didn’t add it to my prediction list.’ I have no idea what this event will be.”
“MAGE III will ship more often than not, but will gradually become later and later so that by the end of the year we’ll only be up to #10.”
Actually came out on a pretty regular basis! I think the last issue, #15, is taking a little longer because, well, more pages, surely, and there’ll probably be a fancy cover or a folkout or some production hoohar that will require more time. Which is fine!
“After years of teasing and hinting, Ma Hunkel will join the LEGENDS OF TOMORROW.”
I’m absolutely behind on all the CW shows, but I don’t think this happened, but Legends of Tomorrow is the one show were this absolutely could happen!
“I will spend more money at the comic store in 2018 than in 2017. Shouldn’t be too hard, as I spent a whole $20 (Canadian!) in 2017. And that was $20 more than I did in 2016. Or 2015.”
I can’t say for sure if you did or not, but you can always spend $20 (Canadian) at my store if you’d like!
• • •
Anthony hops in with
“Vampirella, unfortunately, will get another ‘ongoing’ that turns into a mini series.”
I think it was just mini-series an’ such this year. It would be nice to just have one ongoing Vampirella series with no relaunching/rebooting/etc. And I would also like a pony. A flying pony, made of gold.
“Avengers Infinity War will be the highest grossing Marvel movie to date.”
According to my go-to site for this sort of thing, Box Office Mojo has Black Panther as the highest grossing domestically, with Avengers: Infinity War right behind. Working in the foreign markets, it looks like Infinity War is indeed tops. Anyway, look at that page for all the data you can stand about this, including totals adjusted for inflation, etc. Speaking of which, turns out, after adjusting for inflation, Howard the Duck is the top-grossing Marvel movie! Who knew?
“CW’s Black Lightning will be received well and join the Arrowverse taking place on Supergirl’s earth 38.”
Like I said above, I’m behind on the CW, but I don’t think Black Lightning is part of the rest of the whole Arrowverse thing yet. (And how weird is it that it’s called “the Arrowverse?” Imagine being told years ago one of the most successfuly TV adaptations of superheroes would be Green Arrow-centric.) As I’ve also noted previously, I feel like the announced “Crisis on Infinite Earths” crossover event next year is going to result in Supergirl being on the same Earth as the other shows…and maybe that’s when Lightning will be merged in, too. We’ll see!
• • •
I am Groot groots
“I am groot.”
No, turned out DC went for it showing Dr. Manhattan in the altogether in Doomsday Clock. And please, in the future, maybe use more delicate language in describing his, well, you know.
“I am groot.”
While it does feel like there was some constriction of the direct market in terms of sales and simple variety of product, one can easily fall into the trap of centering the entire health of the marketplace solely on “the Big Two,” or perhaps “The Big Five,” if you include IDW, Dark Horse, and Image. While there is the usual attrition with new publictions (for example, the number of Images launches that peter out quickly in sales, or simply are D.O.A.) there is at least some measure of commitment, particularly by the smaller publishers, to expand the market with a variety of new books and concepts creators. But, as the old retailer saying goes, “as goes Marvel, so goes the industry,” and a lackluster performance by Marvel can lead to lean times overall, as, like it or not, comic retail stores depend on Marvel and DC to drive regular business and cash flow. A reduction of customer interest in the standard offerings results in a reduction of foot traffic into stores which in turn results in a reduction of eyeballs on new material from alternative publishers. And then from that, creators begin to look for other forms of distributing their products, digitally or otherwise. But all that said, yes, the new Love and Rockets continues to sell just fine, despite your prediction.
“I am groot.”
Nope, still no new Miracleman comics. I’m disappointed too.
• • •
Adam had ’em with
“Long time reader. First time predicting events.”
I hope you’re still around!
“Towards the back half of Metal, Planetary will some how be introduced into the main DC universe in a more prominent fashion…aside from that one time Elijah, Jakita and the Drummer met all these different Batmen.”
Huh…I would have liked that, I mean, so long as your second prediction had come to pass:
“Warren Ellis was notified by DC that they would be using the characters and he gave them his blessing.”
I wonder what he would have said if DC tried this? I mean, yes, he’d likely get paid some kind of royalties for i…I’m really not sure. But on the other hand, he might not want Other Hands futzing about with this characters, which is also understandable. But I’m pretty sure DC owns the property outright, and I can picture them just doing whatever without asking anyone’s permission.
“Prices of Planetary back issues will go up in value. At which point I make a nice chunk of change.”
Ah hah! Blatant market manipulation via your predicting powers, eh, Adam? …Well, okay, I’m not sure how that would work, but still.
• • •
Jay V flies in with
“That Wilkin Boy becomes a breakout character on Riverdale.”
I don’t think so (since I don’t watch the show) but apparently there was a brief reference to him there in 2017!
“Someone finds another Kirby character drawn on a napkin or something and puts out an homage/cash grab.”
“An indie film company gets the rights to put out a movie based on one of the thousands of TMNT ripoffs from ye olden 80’s B&W days. Adolescent Black Belt Hamsters? Geriatric Gangrene Jujitsu Gerbils? There were so many…”
Not yet, but surely it’s only a matter of time before the the Marching Marvel Media Machine finds its way to Power Pachyderms.
“The Avengers Infinity War movie brings in lots of customers to all comic shops looking for the ‘Infinity War’ comics. No retailers is able to convince excited fans to read the classic series ‘Infinity Gauntlet’ and people buy the sequel ‘Infinity War’ en masse and are utterly confused.”
In my case, I did get a lot of people looking for Infinity War comics, so I spent a lot of time telling them Ifinity Gauntlet was more the inspiration for the film. How they took Mephisto in that comic I have yet to hear. Sales of the Infinity War book were much less…but if they think that was confusing, wait ’til they tackle Infinity Crusade.
“The excitement over the appearance of Swamp Thing in the 2017 video game ‘Injustice 2’ and the critical failure of the Justice League movie makes Warner Bros. scramble to reboot their existing movie properties. They reboot Swamp Thing is a big live-action movie. A new DC Comic series is launched, but is quickly cancelled due to overwhelming demand for a series about Swamp Thing’s sidekick that was introduced in the movie, Baby-Swampy.”
Lots of predictions for Live-Action Swamp Thing, but I don’t know if most of us expected it to be as a streaming show on DC’s proprietary service. I don’t think we’re getting Baby Swampy, but have I yet mentioned that Blue Devil will be on the show?
“Image Comics accidentally publish comics without art. Instead, their comics are replaced for one month with simple white sheet with an elevator pitch for a high-concept movie.”
But enough subtweeting about Mark Millar!
That’s it! We’re done for the year! Well, there’s still an epilogue with additions and addendums and of course the cast of the show finally making it to Earth, so come back Monday, everyone, and we’ll get this all wrapped up! Thanks for reading, and of course thanks to everyone who participated! And don’t forget, Blue Devil is appearing in Swamp Thing!
So, we meet again! Time to look at more your 2018 comic industry predictions and see how all you amateur fortune tellers did this time ’round! If you’ve missed any installments so far, here are some handly links to parts the first, the second, the third, and the fourth. Also, there’s still time to send in your 2019 predictions right here!
Let’s get this prediction party started:
Longtime customer* Gary Guthrie fishes sinisterly** with
“When Disney finally buys DC, we all get the Jimmy Olsen / Wolverine / BB-8 miniseries everyone has been clamoring for. Goofy is the surprise guest star.”
It really is only a matter of time before everything collapses into the comics singularity. Not yet, but it’s coming, oh yes.
“We can’t say Batman marries Catwoman, because when Bruce Wayne and Selina Kyle wed, they retire from costumed adventuring and the Bat-family of books become domestic comedies. Peter Parker and Mary Jane are the surprise guest stars.”
As we know, no knot was tied between the two in either of their identities, so alas, no The Golden Batgirls or The Big Bat Theory or Gimme A Backbreak or I Love Lucius or anything like that was gifted upon us.
“Dr. Manhattan turns out to have been the source of The Spectre’s power all along. Mephisto and Son of Satan are the surprise guest stars.”
I figured at the very least Dr. Manhattan would get on the Spectre for stealin’ his naked gimmick in Kingdom Come. Ah well…there’s still a couple of issues to go in Doomsday Clock for that to happen…or for anything to happen.
“DC’s success with its Hanna-Barbera crossovers will ‘inspire’ Marvel to go all in with Disney character crossovers…Spidey/Mickey; Deadpool/Goofy; and of couse Moon Knight/Dark-wing Duck.”
Like with Marvel/Star Wars crossovers, I’m surprised Marvel hasn’t attempted this, aside from what I’m sure is some Disney-imposed restriction on such things. This of course means no Howard the Duck/Donald Duck: PANTS-OFF in our immediate future, I’m sad to say.
“This year’s return of Marvel Value Stamps and FOOM will lead to the return of the MMMS and a re-issue of the 45rpm marching anthem.”
At the very least, make it a digital download! But I’m afraid the Merry Society still no longer marches.
“DC’s comedian comics from days gone by (e.g., Jerry Lewis, Bob Hope,…) will ‘inspire’ Marvel to start a comedian team comic made up of modern day comedians who also happen to be comic book authors as well – Brian Poehn, Patton Oswalt, Rashida Jones, Zeb Wells, and Del Close are the Comedy Avengers!”
“So what’s going on in this Louis C.K. comic book…ew, gross.”
We did have a comic book by comedians that debuted on Free Comic Book Day, but not quite like what you were hoping for. Which is too bad. In fact, I wouldn’t mind just the Bob Hope comic book coming back. It would probably sell like five copie nationwide, but I’d like it!
• • •
A.J. bops you with this here lollipop
“A Herbie: The Fat Fury movie will be announced.”
Would have loved for this to be true, but we must face the unfortunate fact that the entertainment industry lacks the sheer genius and talent to properly pull off what would be The Greatest Movie of All Time, Perhaps Even Greater Than Frank Miller’s The Spirit.
• • •
David Alexander McDonald calls this “keeping it down” with
“…okay, okay, I’ll try to keep it down this year. You’re an old man now, Mike, can’t lift the way you used to.”
“we’ll see more movement amongst the bigger publishers towards European style albums, with Snyder’s ALL-STAR BATMAN gradually going that way. Marvel will revive their 1980s/1990s graphic novel line, but pooch it badly, while DC will gave trouble being consistent. The *big* winners for a while will be Boom, Dynamite and IDW (who will have Byrne adjust his design for New Visions to start the trend.)”
…I’d say Batman: Damned kinda fits the bill here…it’s been a success so far, goosed along by a little bit of that ol’ fashioned sales booster of “controversy” — and there have been one or two other oversized album-esque publications here and there, but I haven’t seen anyone pushing for the big switchover yet. But at least it appears to be a viable option!
“Movies/TV…DC will work up and promote a riff on Multiversity to tie films and TV shows together. New plans will be laid out to rescue the DC IP. Marvel Studios will promote the idea of a multiverse post-Infinity War as a way of pushing off continuity questions and the hassles of the TV and film arms working coherently together. It’ll still all be MCU. Sony will be embarrassed, Fox’s last X-slate will play out, and there’ll be no more X-Men until 2025.”
Hmm…I don’t think we’ve seen action in either direction so far. The next DC crossover on TV is titled Crisis on Infinite Earths, but it almost certainly won’t involve the movies. (If anything, I’m betting there’s going to use it to get Supergirl on the same Earth as everyone else…there’s my 2019 prediction). And I think Marvel has too much invested in keeping everything at least loosely tied togther…they likely feel the appeal of the TV shows is boosted by their sometimes distant connection to one film contintuity, without dealing with parallel universes and such. I think Sony’s probably fine, as Spider-Man licensing ahd their deal with Marvel Studios has been lucrative (and the Venom movie wasn’t the bomb people were expecting…well, that I was expecting). And…is there still another X-movie coming? I’ve lost track. Whether Marvel picks it up again for the 2025 slate…check back here in 2025!
“Mike will form a jug band and perform in store concerts if nothing but songs about swamp creatures. The band will be called Mike Sterling’s Louisiana Swamp Stompers and their first (and likely last) album will be titled REBORN ON THE BAYOU.”
“MUCK-ENCRUSTED MOCKERY OF A MIKE,” thank you very much.
• • •
Richard Martines sez
“With the addition of Bendis to the already strong line up of King and Snyder, DC will have a boost in quality product that should result with increased sales. Add that to the Art Direction with Jim Lee as the lead guru, and I see a great 2018 for DC.”
Like was mentiond in a previous installment, comic book sales were down a bit overall over 2018. That doesn’t say too much specifically about quality, which is a very subjective measure…but I’ll say all the folks named are doing mostly good work with good readerships over at DC. I mean, it’s hard to find a series more critically acclaimed from the Big Two than Mister Miracle. Bendis hasn’t been the Big Deal that folks were expecting, I think…Superman sales started out strong, but are dwindling back to where they were pre-Bendis. But his Young Justice debut issue did well, and we’ll see how the Bendis-headed “Wonder Comics” imprint does overall.
“I look for Marvel to cut back on titles and focus on increasing quality and sales with less product. This is what Brian Hibbs is asking and it makes sense to me. Not only for Marvel but for all comic publishers.”
Marvel’s hasn’t reversed its decades-long publishing strategy yet!
“Even with Geoff Johns as a voice of comic book fan reason at WB, I see WB continuing with disappointing movies. The Zack Snyder effect of 60 seconds of gorgeous scenes throughout the film, but having too much darkness in the plot, continues to haunt DC movies. Hopefully the Patty Jenkins effect will rise to the top. That said, my son says comic book movies seem to all be getting a bit stale.”
Aquaman certainly turned things around there! I think with its billion dollar take, we may see movies more along those lines than Batman V. Superman (which I liked just fine, but I get why people would be turned off by it). I still think Justice League, while not perfect, was still a fun movie that seemed closer in line to what people wanted, but still so heavily under the shadow of the previous films that folks went in (or didn’t go in, as the case may be) inclined against it. I have no idea what that Joker film will be like, but the next Wonder Woman film will likely continue that particuilar success, and that Harley Quinn film should give us what people liked about the Suicide Squad movie (Harley Quinn) and not give us what we didn’t like about the movie (pretty much everything else in the movie).
And I know everyone’s predicting superhero movie fatique…but it hasn’t hit yet! I mean, Star Wars movie fatigue set in first, who could’a predicted that?
• • •
Rob London bridges the gap with
“A Fantastic Four reference sneaks its way into one of this year’s three Marvel movies – maybe something as simple as RICHARDS WINS NOBEL in a news-crawl.”
This article claims such ann Easter egg in one of the Netflix shows, which everyone missed because nobody was watching that particular esries. So, um…maybe that was an egg, or it was a coincidence?
“Someone tries to bring back the Atlas/Seaboard characters. Nobody is particularly interested.”
Sorry, Morlock 2018 wasn’t a thing, and the world is the lesser for it.
“That Y: The Last Man TV show that has seemed like it was on the brink of happening for like a decade finally starts filming.”
Looks like you were right! GIVE THAT MAN A CRYSTAL BALL! …Oh, wait, you already have one.
• • •
Gregg Butterfield dreams up
“Marvel-Disney will pull the plug on floppies and go all digital on its periodical comics, limiting hard copies to trades and ‘event’ comics. DC and Image will hold out a little longer but inevitably follow suit. What’s left of the traditional comics shop market will collapse; the survivors will be the big ‘pop culture’ shops that focus on toys, games and trade paperbacks.”
Direct Market-geddon did not hit this year…and let’s hope this doesn’t happen until after I retire. Or “retire.” By which I mean “kick the bucket.”
“The Aquaman movie will perform above expectations and be generally liked by movie-goers.”
That’s certainly an understatement! If you told people 20…hell, ten years ago, that an Aquaman movie would be one of DC’s biggest hits, they’d chase you with torches and pitchforks.
“The Black Lightning television show will not be renewed for a second season.”
Thankfully that didn’t happen and we did get season 2!
“DC’s ‘New Age of Heroes’ comics line will be plagued by delays.”
More like “plqgued with cancellations.” Just keep Terrifics going, DC! I need that comics!
That’s it for now…I should wrap up the predictions on Friday, so I’ll see y’all again real soon now, y’hear?
* “Longtime” as in “knew him from when I was working at the library before I started in comics retail!”
** Maybe a half-dozen people reading this, tops, will get this reference.
First, somehow I skipped over longtime reader Wayne Allen Sallee‘s contribution, as I’m supposedly doing all the predictions in order. All that scrolling up ‘n’ down and copying ‘n’ pasting must have confused me, being in my advanced dotage an’ all. Sorry Wayne!
“After Dan DiDio writes a Batcow series that flops, Brian Michael Bendis will take over at whatever the hell DiDio’s title was in the first place. DiDio starts a MySpace page.”
Alas, no Batcow series of any kind, much to the chagrin of a certain little stuffed bull, I’m sure. And do any of the big comic companies still maintain a Myspace presence? I mean, Dark Horse was all about the Myspace for a while. Hmm…lemme look:
[TEMPUS FUGIT]
Okay, I found a few company pages for, like, Marvel, DC, Dark Horse…which seem devoid on content, or at least have very old content, but I’m not 100% sure everything’s loading properly on my computotron. Your mileage may vary.
“Most people will have thought Doomsday Clock to have been well-written while at the same time hating The Oz Effect.”
Well, I’ve seen critics give Doomsday Clock a pretty solid drubbing as far as the story goes…pretty much everyone agrees the art is generally well-done. I will say that customers are responding to it well, so there’s that. As to whether a percentage of them hated Oz Effect…I don’t know, honestly. Most of the folks around these parts seemed okay with it.
“Brainiac will continue to be ignored, both in comics and in film, and Mike Sterling will discover he is going to be the father of quadruplets.”
Brainiac did pop up in one of those Justice League series, so he had his Rebirth-era time to shine! Not sure how that connects to the absolutely true fact that I fathered quadruplets, which I named, of course, Huey, Louie, Dewey, and Phooey.
• • •
King of the Moon proclaims
“Brian Michael Bendis takes over a Justice League book. There will be alot of talking and all he action happens off panel.”
Not on the book itself, but Bendis did write them into an issue of Superman where Batman nearly pooped his pants. …Comics!
“Chris Evan’s beard sparks movie theater riots ala Beatlemania”
No, because we’re a country that doesn’t appreciate a fine beard. THIS IS A CRIME.
“Marvel will get Power Pack book out and it will be a hit. I will no longer have to explain my Friday tattoo.”
Well, there was an issue of Power Pack, so I guess you got your wish. Still gonna need an explanation for that tattoo.
• • •
Ryan Hawkins swoops in with
“Under new leadership Marvel will boost comic book sales by 17%”
Looksl ike the entire industry (as per Diamond Comics) dropped a bit. Now as for sales increases across the board, not just Diamond, I’m not sure, but likely they’re on par. If someone has more data, throw it my may!
“WB will announce plans for a David Mazouz Batman movie based on Batman Year One.”
That would be fairly amusing, but if we didn’t get a spinoff Superman movie after Smallville, we ain’t gettin’ this!
“Marvel will be cheeky and mention characters acquired in the Fox acquisition in movies releasing 2018, even though they wrapped up filming prior to the acquisition…hmmm?”
No explicit mentions that I saw. Not even Tony saying about himself, Doctor Strange, Spider-Man, and Star-Lord “we four are fantastic!”
There will be NO official announcements regarding the future of the X-Men or Fantastic Four movie franchises. Endless speculation, however.
What, a bunch of speculation about some stuff we barely know about? NOT IN MY COMICS INDUSTRY
“Someone will try to revamp a long-defunct comic line, to mixed critical success and market failure.”
It’s funny how my brain always blank out at questions like this, where I try to think “what comics were announced/publshed last year?” and I all get is a dial tone in my head. I don’t think there was any major push to revive an old line of comics…nobody was all like “AT LAST, THE RETURN OF GREATER MERCURY WITH GRIPS 2020,” which I would pay money to see (and literally would have to, owning a comic shop an’ all).
Anyway, that’s a better answer than my initial super-snarky response, which was going to be “well, they tried to bring back Marvel, and look what happened.”
“Part of Ben and Johnny finding Reed, Sue, and the kids involves helping Peter remember and undo his deal with Mephisto.”
No, but what is going on with that whole Mephisto thing, J. Michael Straczynski’s lasting legacy to the Spider-Verse. There was some kind of thing in that last issue where Mary Jane whisphered something to Mephisto before he undid the marriage and wiped everyone’s memories and all that…a little plot point dropped in for the distant future for someone to use to undo everything, I’ve assumed. Is there anything going on in the Spider-books that even makes the vaguest reference to that literal deal with the devil?
• • •
Hooper Triplett is one short with
“Towards the end of 2018, there will be valid rumors of a Marvel/DC publishing merger.”
It’s funny, but I was just joking about that very thing on the Twitters yesterday in regards to getting the criminally out-of-print JLA/Avengers back on the stands. But I suspect, though fans have been spreading rumors about “Marvel Buys DC” and the like for decades and it’s never come to pass, it’s probably just a matter of time before Disney buys Warner Bros., merges all their comics together…then licenses the characters to IDW.
“This is also the year Marvel, DC, Image, or Dark Horse will shift from monthly releases to European-like albums for original content. I’m guessing Squirrel Girl, Batgirl, Lazarus, and Hellboy respectively.”
Nobody’s quite made the full jump yet, but there were plenty of OGNs from all four companies (both collections of digital releases, and otherwise).
• • •
Tim B. naturally says
“Gorillas will be big again.”
THEY WERE NEVER SMALL, BABY
“At one of the major cons (San Diego or New York) DC will officially launch their digital platform, most of the TBA DCEU films will be quietly converted to exclusive content for it, with a Netflix style limited cinematic release schedule for award qualification.”
There was a big thing at San Diego about the DC Universe streaming service, that’s for sure! Though they haven’t made the animated films exclusive as such, the new Superman animated feature is debuting on the service at the same time as the DVD/Blu-ray release which seems like a big deal. (Still two weeks after the digital release, however…which seems to tell me they make the real money with digital, and the physical formats are a minor afterthought for old fuddy-duddies like me to buy. But I have no real idea.)
“Stiltman is the surprise villain of Daredevil Season 3”
Well, maybe for season fo–OH WAIT
• • •
Rob Staeger stages the following
“Happy new year!”
Well, we’ll see how the next eye surgery goes!
“I’m going to keep predicting a Legion comic until DC gives me one. Like last year, I’m still going to predict it being kicked off in high style with Tom King at the helm…probably around the same time as the second Mister Miracle trade hits the stores.”
“Afterlife with Archie and Chilling Adventures of Sabrina each get a co-writer, in the interest of putting out more than one issue apiece in 2018.”
Say, I vaguely remember those titles. #11 and #12 of AwA were solicited in 2016 but cancelled. Sabrina #9 was solicited in 2017 but also cancelled. Ah well, nice while it lasted.
“Cheeks the Toy Wonder makes an appearance in the background of a panel in Doomsday Clock.”
He’s the little graphic covering up Dr. Manhattan’s shame in each issue.
,
• • •
DK returns with
“The trend for 2018 will be legacy characters becming parents.”
To be frank, I’m still surprised they’ve let Batman and Superman’s kids stick around this long The Flash (in old continuity tradition) has kids eventually, though I don’t know if we’ll see it in new comics any time soon. …Hal’s probably got kids all over the place.
“At least one Watchmen character will migrate to the DCU full-time as a villain. Probably Ozymandias, but could also be Rorschach.”
Will always ride for Rorschach Team-Up. DO IT, DC, you know it’s what you want.
“A big Marvel-Star Wars crossover property will be announced. It won’t be a comic.”
Also surprised this hasn’t happened. I mean, is there any merchandise with, I don’t know, Deadpool in Jedi robes? They did it with Mickey Mouse and such, dressing them up in SW stuff. Though I’m expecting “Star Wars variant covers” on mainline Marvel titles any time now.
“1) Some things will get worse, and
2) Some things will get better, and
3) People will disagree about which things got worse and which things got better.”
Nope, not one of these thing happened. Ooh, sorry, better luck next time, MrJM!
Okay, that’s it for today…tune in on Wednesday for the senses-shattering part five of the 2018 prediction saga! Thanks for reading, everyone!
WHAT HAVE WE ALREADY ONE: the first two parts are here and here.
HOW LONG IS ALL THIS GOING TO TAKE: probably forever, so let’s get started with today’s batch!
demoncat4 uses up his remaining 5 lives with
“after the disney fox deal is complete marvels first chance of using the ff and x-men characers will have the silver surfer pop up to help the guardians of the galaxy against galactus. with rocket trying to shove a bomb up the big purple guys butt.”
Alas, not yet…look, I want an actual big-helmet Galactus in a live action movie more than anything, and it that means he has to get a bomb in his butt, I am A-OK with that.
“tired of the delays with jl dark getting made warners will decide to just do a new swamp thing film that will lead to a new tv series and animated cartoon.”
As I’ve noted previously, we are getting a Swamp Thing TV show on DC’s streaming service, costarring Blue Devil, so all those crazy predictions that everyone laughed at about new Swampy media…TAKE THAT, HATERS.
“ragman will return to arrow and get his own tv spin off and comic at last with a guest apperance by swamp thing.”
Did Ragman come back? I Googled about and saw a lot of articles along the lines of “RAGMAN WILL BE BACK IN SEASON 6” but I can’t seem to pin down any episodes he may have been in. I even watched that season…I don’t recall him popping up. Could be wrong, and will allow correction…this time.
But no new Ragman series guest-starring Swamp Thing. Well, the last series ended mid-2018, but my Swamp Sense didn’t tingle when those latter issues came out, so I guess our favorite swamp monster wasn’t in there. …NO, NOT THE HEAP.
• • •
Brian blessed us with
“Marvel streamlines its books after the late-2017 wave of cancellations, returning to a model of sublines of a few titles anchored by a single core title (Avengers, Uncanny X-Men, Amazing Spider-Man. Sales go up as readers are able to buy entire lines (even at $3.99) instead of books cannibalizing each other.”
Sounds like a completely reasonable and rational response to an overburdened marketplace…so of course that didn’t happen. Ah well.
“AVENGERS: INFINITY WAR’s postcredit teaser will suggest the entry of the Fantastic Four into the fight in AVENGERS/4 (turns out that the discussions over regaining that license was what launched the Disney-Fox discussions). As plans for the Disney-Fox merger coalesce, it becomes clear that the Avengers etc. will remain in a separate universe from the X-Men etc., but the FF will showcase their exploratory nature by traveling between the characters’ different Earths in their new films.”
I saw the suggestion that a “4” would have been on Nick Fury’s little thingie at the end of Infinity War, and I would have been all for (get it, “for,” “four“) that. I do like that concept for the FF, though I think we don’t need to make the Marvel Cinematic Universe more complicated that it is! They could probably figure out ways to retrofit the newly-reacquired characters into their milieu. (Still think the FF should be from the ’60s, lost in space after their accident, returning to Earth with their powers in the modern day. HEY, I’M A FAN, I THINK ABOUT THIS STUFF TOO.)
“With the Arrowverse now so we’ll established and ARROW reaching the end of Stephen Amell’s seven year contract, the nature of the shows involved are going to start changing, beginning to crossover more, have multiple shorter-run shows sharing slots within the year, and having characters move between programs with greater frequency, as the ever-changing slate of programs becomes more and more like a live action version of a comic book universe.”
They certainly do emphasize the crossovers, as they’re big ratings grabbers, but I do wish they would shorten the seasons. I haven’t even started on the shows for this season yet, beyond the openings for Flash and Black Lightning. There’s just too much…I mean, Legends of Tomorrow has a shorter season tham the rest, but I suspect that show’s not long for this world anyway.
“DC will launch a “BAT-MAN and the OUTSIDERS” series featuring Firestorm, Gotham Girl, and a New Gods character.”
Almost! A revival of the series was planned to launch last December, but the project was returned for regrooving as DC continuity hijinks necessitated story changes, apparently.
“Marvel will announce a SPIDER-WOMAN OGN or Mini-Series written by Dennis Hopeless and pencilled by Steve Rude.”
Not that I’ve noticed, but I would totally read a Spider-book drawn by Steve Rude.
“HBO will acquire the rights to Jim Starlin’s dormant “DREADSTAR” film project. The resulting series will replace and eclipse ‘GAME of THRONES’ as a critical and pop culture phenomenon.”
Man, just imagine the Syzygy cosplay. But unfortunately, no Dreadstar on the TV horizon. C’mon, Netflix, while shooting money out of that firehose, aim a little in Jim Starlin’s way so we can get this show!
• • •
DavidG drops some large with
“DC will relaunch Legion of Superheroes, trying the ‘Lets make them all teenagers’ ploy again. It will be awful.”
Still waiting in the wings, unless you count Saturn Girl’s appearances in Doomsday Clock, about which I’ll let you decide if it’s awful or not!
“The new Avengers movie will outgross the Han Solo movie, despite it being incomprehensible unless you have seen all 18 previous Marvel movies. This will make Marvel the most favoured child at Disney, who will therefore start meddling more.”
Well, yeah, sure did outgross Solo, fairly famously. Don’t know if Marvel is “meddling more,” but Infinity War was surprisingly easy to follow and flowed well, all things considering. I’m as shocked as you are!
“No matter how good Jodie Whittaker is as the new Doctor, there will be a bunch of dicks complaining about her incessantly on the internet all year.”
We will never be rid of guys like that.
• • •
Michael Grabowski grasps at these
“The Thing will join the Avengers and Wolverine will take his place in the FF.”
Negatory, though I would have absolutely plotzed if Wolvie was a primary part of the FF relaunch. ..I mean, either comics or movies, whichever.
“DC will attempt the ‘villain secretly takes over the hero’s body/role for several months’ storyline with Dick Grayson.”
No “Superior Nightwing” from DC last year, far as I’ve noticed.
“Either Brian Michael Bendis or Tom King will write a new Jimmy Olsen series.”
Well, Bendis is writing the Superman books, sooo…maybe sort of, I guess? But I’m all for a “Superman’s Pal” standalone series.
• • •
Yestin doesn’t say no to
“The new movie helps Marvel realize the star power of Black Panther, causing him to guest star in a Wolverine/Deadpool degree.”
Oh boy, let’s hope not…let them be judicious with their use of Black Panther, not burning everybody out on him like Marvel did with, oh, say, Wolverine and Deadpool. …But on the other hand, Marvel’s gotta Marvel.
“A new Legion of Superheroes reboot is announced, possibly featuring a Supergirl TV inspired version of Mon-El.”
No new LSH, yet, but when they do, let us hope the creators were all conked on the heads just enough so that they forget the TV Mon-El ever existed.
“Frank Miller’s the Spirit is reappraised, taking its rightful place in the pantheon of movies. Egg will be on the face of its critics.”
Some ‘alt-right’ book is going to come out, and be utter crap, yet everyone who points that out will be a ‘SJW.'”
I don’t think any of them have made it to stores yet, unless there’s a Kickstarter-distributed one I don’t recall…but the sample pages that are out there don’t appear to have been well-received, no.
“Marvel’s gonna…keep being Marvel. Launch a bunch of books, cancel ’em, repeat. The returns have more than diminished, but they don’t have another trick.”
Why, it’s as if you’ve been watching the comics industry for some years now!
“I don’t think Disney’s going to take Alien or Predator away from Dark Horse yet, but I suspect DH is going to back out of the licensed comics entirely. (Wait, did Disney get Buffy and Angel too? Well, whatever.)”
Still hanging in there with the licenses, though losing some big ones (Star Wars, Conan, and as you mention, Buffy) has got to hurt. Boom! is the company that got the Buffy books, however…those should be out soon, but Whedon’s Firefly did very well for me, so I’m hoping Buffy does, too. Been a long time sine Buffy comics sold good numbers for me.
• • •
And finally, not a prediction as such, but some Miracleman info from Damien, who puts the dog down long enough to say
“I know we’re meant to wait till the end of 2018 before we respond to the predictions but I think we can guarantee new Miracleman in 2018. I chatted to Mark Buckingham at London Super Comicon back in August and he said he was already drawing it. Apparently Neil Gaiman had scripted the whole of the Silver Age but Mark took 6 months off as he and his wife have a new baby and he made enough money off Fables to take an extended paternity leave.”
Uh…hate to tell you this, Damien….
However, that is interesting information about the much speculated-upon comic, and I appreciate you leaving it here!
Okay, enough for today…back next week with more predicticatin’! And I know we’re over halfway through January…but there’s still over 11 months of 2019 to come, I hope, so place your predictions for the rest of the year right here!
Okay, I’ve got a doctor’s appointment early tomorrow morning, so your pal Mike needs to turn in and get some beauty sleep…but before I do, let’s try to do a few more of your 2018 predictions. (Part One was Monday, in case you missed it.) Also, special note to Max T: reader Allan covered the extra two predictions I didn’t, because he’s a nice guy whilst I’m cruel and heartless.
Okay, off to the races:
Thom H. had this to say
“DC or Marvel will attempt a new floppy format that is more pages for a relatively inexpensive price point (with cheaper paper stock or something). It will fail almost immediately, even though I love it.”
Well, DC did those 100-pagers for Walmart at $5 a pop, I suppose that counts. I presume they’re still doing okay, though as far as I know they’re still not at any of the 38 local Walmarts here.
“Brian K. Vaughan will start writing a new series at Image that everyone will go crazy for. It’s been a while since the last one, right?”
I think he just has to be satisfied with the immensely-successful Saga and Paper Girls, unless there’s something I’m missing. Maybe there’s a secret Boof and the Bruise Crew revival he’s working on.
“DC will put Tom King on a Superman book. I will definitely buy it and feel happy.”
Tom King wrote a story in Action #1000! So, you know, half a point there!
• • •
jobcab pulls up to the curb with the following
“My predictions re lame, but then so am I …”
Hey, everyone who participates in my yearly prediction nonsense here is a champion…a champion, I say! Specifically, The Champion of the Universe.
“There will be the faintest wisp of a reference to the Fantastic Four made in the new Avengers movie.”
I wouldn’t have put it past Marvel, but…I don’t recall one. There’s this claim, but it appears to be bit of a..well, stretch.
“Doctor Aphra will actually be announced as a character in the next ‘off year’ Star Wars movie.”
That would be an interesting development, to be sure, for one of the characters developed for the comics making the jump to the screen. It’s happened before, with the Twi’lek Jedi Aayla Secura appearing in the prequel trilogy after being created for the Dark Horse Comics Expanded Universe stuff. In that case, that basically amounted to a cameo, versus a starring role, but still, interesting. Not sure how many more “off year” Star Wars movies we’re going ot get after Solo, though.
“We’ll finally see the first of those new Neil Gaiman Miracleman stories we were supposed to get (then didn’t) so long ago.”
A popular prediction! Alas, not yet…hopefully through the sheer combined force of will of my readers, we can make it happen!
• • •
William Burns comes in hot with
“Disney loses patience with Marvel Comics’s underperformance and kicks out the guys who came up in Marvel to replace them with Disney people.”
Surprisingly, no, but you gotta wonder about Disney on one hand, consolidating their streaming efforts under their own brand, while letting Marvel comics get licensed out to other publsihers.
“Brian Bendis’s first DC comic is a Batman comic and sells very well, but six months later the sales are about where they were pre-Bendis.”
He is writing a Batman story for those aforementioned Walmart giants, but as we all know now, he’s the Superman guy. I will note that Bendis Superman sales, after an initial high peak, are beginning to crawl back down to about where they were (at least for me).
“JH Williams returns to comics with either a Vertigo or Young Animal miniseries.”
Looks like he has a big project coming from Image called Echolands, but it’s not on the schedule just yet. He’s also worked on a couple of other things this year, such as contributing to the benefit book for victims of the Las Vegas shooting, and this illustrated Dracula book for Kindle readers.
• • •
ScienceGiant violates the square-cube law with
“Still no new issues of Miracleman.
Well, that’s one way to get a hit on a Miracleman prediction around these here parts.
“‘The Winds of Winter’ will finally be published. GRRM remains a critical darling, but the overall GoT cultural impact continues to collapse.”
Doesn’t seem like it…I don’t really keep up on Game of Thrones stuff, but I presume if it had come out, then my Amazon search for it would have basically blown a trumpet in my face declaring “HERE IT IS, BUY IT, BUY IT.” But the cultural influence seems to still be there…seems like I keep seeing it referenced and discussed all over the place. Oh, you kids and your dragons and your thrones and all that.
“Progressive Ruin continues to be THE stalwart site of funny books blogging! 3 cheers for Mike in 2018.”
Sadly, I ended the blog in early 2018. Sorry, everyone.
• • •
Hooray for Gooba celebrates the following
“The Disney-Fox deal will result in the return of the priginal Fantastic Four to the comic as they gear up for a new movie.”
I’m sure it didn’t hurt. But hey, at least FF is back on the shelves, it’s actually pretty good, and hey, it’s still selling for me (even with the occasional stupidly-high price points).
“Squirrel Girl continues to be the most delightful book on the shelves.”
I’m going to say “yes, this is correct.”
“Marvel will announce either a Great Lakes Avengers or Damage Control movie or tv show.”
A Damage Control TV show was announced as “in development” in 2015, but it doesn’t appear to have gone anywhere. However, a version of Damage Control is kinda/sorta in 2017’s Spider-Man: Homecoming, so I guess that’ll have to do.
Now, the Great Lakes Avengers…much as I’d love to see Flatman in live action, I don’t think we’ve got any movies or TV shows a’comin’. That’s just leaving money on the table, Marvel.
• • •
Okay, time for bed! For me, not you, unless it is bedtime for you when you’re reading this. Back Friday with more prediction coverage! And don’t forget to leave your 2019 predictions right here!
Hello, Chloe, whaddaya knowie? Well, it’s time once again for the hottest segment in comics blogging, Snack Situation that bit where I look at your predictions from the previous year and see how close some of you got. There’s a lot of them, so everyone hang in there as I get through them all over the next, oh, seven or eight months or so. And don’t forget, if you want to get in on the 2019 predictions fun, here’s where you go to do so!
Okay…knuckles: cracked, deep breath: taken, loins: girded — so let’s get down to business!
Adam Farrar sees far with
“The still unnamed DC streaming service will not only include their tv shows/movies but also old comics as DC’s answer to Marvel Unlimited.”
Indeed the now-named DC Universe does! It’s not a huge selection, and sometimes they rotate things in and out…no idea what Marvel’s selection is like, but there seems to be plenty to read on DC’s service. But there’s weird stuff like only having one issue of DC Comics Presents, which kind of disappointed me. And I keep hoping they’ll add the old Metal Men comics. I’ve been having fun reading the early Silver Age Green Lantern!
“Neil Gaiman & Mark Buckingham’s Miracleman comics start coming out again. (I’ll keep predicting this and some year it’s bound to come true… right?)”
Keep on predictin’, Adam…maybe someday!
“Legion season 2 will reveal that the character that captured David at the end of the first season is Nanny (the egg-shaped one, not Magneto’s robot). Six months later the character will return to comics in an attempt to capitalize on the show.”
I watched, like, part of the premiere episode way back when, but that’s about it. So, I had to do some deep, deep research (i.e. Googling) to discover, alas, no Nanny egg in the series, which would have had me catching up right quick. The Legion character does appear to have returned to the X-books however, so you get part credit!
“A fourth Watchmen miniseries will be announced, this time involving the actual Charlton characters on which they were based.”
Sadly, no such animal was announced, though maybe once DC starts Rorschach Team-Up after the conclusion of Doomsday Clock, maybe they can appear there.
“A Swamp Thing movie will be announced, and John Constantine will be in it.”
No movie, but a TV show for DC’s streaming service…and I don’t know if Constantine will be in it, but Blue Devil surely will!
“Scarlett Johansson will finally admit her love for me, and my wife will be fully in favor of the pairing”
“Marvel (Comics) will try a lot of things, but not quite get their act together in 2018. Maybe solicits for early 2019 will show promise.”
Well…I mean, this is a matter of opinion, I guess. A step forward for every step back, as it were. A lot of nice work and some good books, and then some questionable decisions (too many $5.99 and $7.99 comics for my taste).
“Someone, somewhere, in writing about comics will write legitimate criticism about the actual content in a comic in a reasoned, rational manner, and not at all about the industry and their personal grinding axe. Ha ha ha. Just kidding.”
Why start now? …Okay, okay, I know there’s some good comics criticism out there, some even not by me, so it’s out there if you look, amongst the listicles and the comic news about movies that have nothing to do with comics.
“Red shorts at 1000”
Detective #1000 hasn’t come out yet, so I have no idea if Batman will get red trunks or not.
• • •
Jeff R. rites
“A character from the Watchmen universe gets an ongoing title spinning out of Doomsday Clock.”
Not just yet, but I’m betting this will happen too. (Dare I type “Rorschach Team-Up” again?)
“Agents of SHIELD cancelled, replaced with a network TV Miles Morales:Spider-Man show.”
Surprisingly, not cancelled! And we got Miles in a movie, so I guess that’ll do. Bet there’s a cartoon show eventually, though.
“Something will go horribly wrong with the Vertigo 25th Anniversary hardcover, requiring pulped books and digital version airbrushing if not outright cancellation.”
When I read this a year ago, I was thinking “What could go wrong? They accidentally print the ‘Swamp Thing meets Jesus’ story?” Well, something went wrong, because it’s currently marked “CANCELLED” in its listing in the Diamond retailer site, with no resolicitation in the system. …A surprisingly good call!
“Marvel will veer slightly away from political controversy in their comics under the new EIC, but sales will not drastically improve. They will not return to legacy characters.”
Hmm…the thing with Marvel is, despite what some too-online folks try to argue, Marvel tends to have at least a thin veneer of politics ingrained into its DNA. I mean, sure, some of it was “hey, the kids are into ‘the protesting,’ let’s put some protesters on our covers,” but there was a lot of heartfelt political expression going on as well, especially in Marvel’s ’70s books.
So…honestly, I don’t think there’s been much of a change so far, except maybe being a little less exploitative of current events. But as far as “controversy” goes…for some people out there, even just having a superhero comic starring a woman is “politically controversial,” so there’s always going to be some dudes out there with a vein throbbing in their forehead mashing at their keyboards.
But yes, some legacy characters have returned. The original Thor’s back, and Tony Stark is kicking around again, but that shouldn’t be a surprise to anyone.
“DC will become more political and offer more controversial storylines. Neither company will appeal to long-term fans.”
Hadn’t really noticed too much of a change, at least with overt political themes. I mean, sure, there’s the inherently political idea of “man with power exerting influence over his inferiors” which, um, maybe you don’t want to really think about when trying to enjoy superhero comics. But mainly, the controversies at DC seem more to arise from things like Doomsday Clock, which is more from “is this trip really necessary?” versus the semi-political content it attempts to contain.
Both companies, however, do still struggle with readership issues, but I’d argue that’s a result the vagaries of their ‘NEW FIRST ISSUE!”/reboots/relaunches ahoy publishing strategies than anything else.
“Citing the popularity of its CW-themed shows, DC Entertainment will spin off at least one (ARROW) into its own theatrical release”
DC could do worse than trying this, but it hasn’t happened yet. I expect if this will ever happen, it’ll be after the show in question leaves the air. Arrow is a solid contender for this sort of thing, however!
“Marvel may ‘pull back’ with its movie efforts after INFINITY WAR, citing potential fatigue as well as internal turmoil”
I don’t think so…I feel like there’s still plenty comin’ down the pike. That money ain’t slowing down!
Speaking of the CW, we will see another SWAMP THING series in our lifetime. However, Swamp Thing will have a team of associates who help him fight the Parliament of Trees on a weekly basis.
As noted above, we are getting a Swamp Thing TV show, but on DC’s own streaming service, not the CW. And yes, like I said, Blue Devil will be there helping Swampy fight swamp crime!
• • •
Gareth Wilson menaces me with
“The X-Men comics will explicitly abandon the idea that mutants represent real-world opressed minorities. They’l become just superheroes with a common origin.”
Okay, to be honest, I haven’t read X-Men books in a while (is Beak still on the team?) but I don’t think this happened. I invite corrections…on this, nothing else, I’m right about everything else!
“To control the cast size, the 2018 crossover between the CW DC superhero shows will involve only female characters.”
While that’s a pretty great idea, not this year, alas! I think it’d be a hoot! But it’d probably be called, like, “LADIES NIGHT” and that Kool and the Gang song would play through it the whole ti–wait, hold on, I just made the idea more awesome.
“In Avengers: Infinity War, Thanos will cure Bruce Banner, rendering him incapable of transforming into the Hulk.”
Something happened, to be sure, and it may have been caused by his interaction with Thanos, but probably not a “cure” per se. HALF POINT TO GARETHDOR
ª ª ª
Mike Neisen rates me with
“Still no new Showcase Presents volumes, and most importantly, no Showcase Presents Sugar and Spike.”
Don’t tell me you missed all 24 new volumes of Showcase Presents this year? Showcase Presents Scribbly, and Showcase Presents Spanner’s Galaxy, and Showcase Presents Claw the Unconquered, and Showcase Presents Inferior 5, and Showcase Presents Congo Bill and all those? But yeah, you’re right, still no Sugar and Spike.
• • •
Hassan Alamdari chops up the following
“A Shazam ongoing late in the year”
You, friend, are The Correct.
“half of the books spinning out of metal won’t last pass issues 10”
Most of them made it past #10, though a few are going away soon. Just so long as they don’t take away my Terrifics!
“over 5 books that I love will be cancelled too soon.”
If you loved New Super-Man, Gwenpool, Trinity, Batgirl and the Birds of Prey, X-Men Gold and The Simpsons, I have bad news for you.
• • •
Max T has BROKEN APE LAW and gone over the 3-prediction limit! I will address three of them chosen completely at random, honest, no foolin’
“The Fantastic Four will come back to Marvel, but not before the very end of the year.”
They did come back, but it was more middle-ish of the year, kinda. Still, a good prediction!
“Valiant will still put out the best superhero comics not based on characters created to entertain children, but no new people will take notice.”
“The best,” of course, is a matter of opinion…if someone thinks they’re the best, then more power to ’em and we can call it a hit for you! But yeah, they’re not, shall we say, strong sellers, at least for me. They do have a loyal audience, though, and there’s nothing wrong with that!
“One of the long-running CW superhero shows will call it quits. I’m thinking ‘Arrow.’”
Okay, that’s enough for now. Tune in next time, same Mike-time, same Mike-channel, for more of your 2018 predictions! And don’t forget to give me your 2019 predictions while there’s still some 2019 left!
As I predicted on this very website only about two posts ago, today is Gimme Yer Predictions Day, as I ask you, The Folks What Still Read The Comics Blogs, for your comic book industry predictions for this coming year of 2019 (possibly to go down in future history books as “The Burning Times,” but we’ll see).
If you’ve got any predictions, share ’em in the comments for this post, but remember, the rules are, as always:
1. Don’t read the other predictions before entering your own.
2. Don’t criticize other people’s predictions.
3. Don’t predict any real person’s death.
4. Limit of three predictions per person, please! FOR THE LOVE OF ALL THAT IS GOOD AND HOLY, ONLY THREE! My fingers are already tired just from looking at all the predictions I have to cover from last time. And don’t do, like, “here’s Part B of Question #3, which has two subsections” etc., or I’ll get you, and your little dog Toto, too.
After the first of the year, barring any lingering eyeball health issues, I’ll get crackin’ on that aforementioned last batch of predictions for 2018, so consider that your fair warning.
Thanks, pals…every year you folks come through for me on these posts and it’s greatly appreciated! Always remember that all of you are a big part of why this site is still around and still a lot of fun for me to do!
Web of Mystery #19 (July 1953) – art by Jim McLaughlin
