As promised, though slightly delayed: I’ll be going back and responding to your responses to my posts covering your 2017 predictions (as seen in parts 2017 predictions (parts one two three four five and six). Thanks for your patience, everyone, and we’re almost done, I promise!

First, I should note I already did direct responses edited into the original text of that part one I just linked above, so go back and check those out if you haven’t already.

Now, to part two:

In response to the whole “next big comics death” thing, David Alexander McDonald noted:

“Black Widow bought the farm in Secret Empire, didn’t she? Also, Rick Jones, not that we care.”

Well, yeah, but there wasn’t any kind of overwhelming, or even halfhearted, media reaction…there was barely any ripple even in the usual comics news sources. Man, I didn’t even know about the whole Rick Jones thing. It appears either the “kill ’em off for sales and attention” thing is itself killed off, or the characters didn’t warrant the attention. Even when they “killed” Bruce Banner, general response was, like, “…eh.”

JD says, regarding Marvel moving titles to biweekly:

“Marvel did make several of its titles biweekly without much fanfare: X-Men Gold, X-Men Blue, Guardians of the Galaxy (the last of which has already been cancelled for a retooling)”

Okay, fair enough, but in my defense Marvel’s release schedule of many of their titles has been relatively wacky since the Bill Jemas era. You know, the “soon as they’re ready, get ’em on the shelves” strategy which may not have been their intention, but that’s pretty much how it worked out. For a while there on the site I was regularly complaining about supposedly monthly titles cranking out three issues in four weeks. I probably didn’t register any of Marvel’s current titles as being on a consistent biweekly schedule so much as them being on the “whenever” release pattern.

Paul suggests, per my comments about “mainstream” comic releases:

“Regarding ‘a mainstream comic mag may launch,’ not sure if you’d conside these 2 items relevant.”

I think may answer was more in regards to “mainstream” as in “regularly read by large audiences,” rather than specifically to content. I mean, the two items you link to would be good general interest comics publications, but they’re probably going to still require people going to comic shops versus grabbing off the rack at the local supermarket. But, y’know, can’t succeed unless you try, and I hope they succeed.

Turan provides a correction to the credits for “Seasons in the Sun” which I’ll just link to here. …You never know where these prediction posts will go!

Rob London rebuts my assertion about not calling Marvel’s Star Wars character Jaxxon a rabbit with

“You *can* call Jaxxon a rabbit – rabbits are lagomorphs, not rodents.”

Well, he still probably wouldn’t like that…and I was all ready to blame Roy Thomas, but looking back at the full page I pulled that panel from, he was responding to someone who did call him a “rodent,” so let’s all blame that guy for doing so!

Michael tells a tale out of school in relation to my wondering why the preexisting Marvel villain called “Trump” hasn’t popped up recently:

“Mike, it so happens I was advising a Marvel author who needed a villain for their story and suggested Trump would fit their purpose. They loved the character’s gimmicks, but the idea was shot down because of his name – which I hadn’t even considered when I promoted him.

“Whatever happened to the good ol’ days when everybody wanted Gerald Ford to be their super-villain?”

Jack POOONGs

“For my money, ‘Then…KOREA’ is the best running gag this site has. POOONG!”

Jack, I will have to agree with you. I love that amazing panel. I’ll see if I can’t find a way to bring it back more often than, say, once every four or five years.

Papa Lazarou wondered, regarding my reference to a negative review of the Yoe Books reprint projects:

“Where can I find this?”

Already answered in the comments there, but thought I’d do a direct link here. (As I write this, images aren’t showing up there, but maybe it’s a temporary thing.) Now personally, I enjoy the Yoe Books comics, though I can certainly understand the reviewer’s issues with them.

Gareth Wilson follows up on his own prediction (about a new rural white character who specifically isn’t a stereotypical racist etc. jerk) with

“I realised after posting about the rural character that he’s just Cannonball.”

Not new by any means, but, yeah, he probably fits the criteria. That Sam Guthry’s not a bad fella.

It’s Turan again, explaining why “Thing ring, do your thing!” will likely not turn up again (and yes, Turan knows he’s responding to a joke with a very serious answer, which I of course encourage):

“Given that the ‘Thing Ring’ cartoon was a Hanna-Barbera production (as indicated by the show’s actual title, ‘Fred and Barney Meet the Thing’), and given that often the rights to a character or idea introduced in an adaptation remain with the company that produced the adaptation rather than with the owners of the original property, or at least are shared by the parties (this, to give an example that will probably mean nothing to most of your readers, is why Nikki Porter was not a character in the 1970s Ellery Queen TV series)–given that, I suspect that a ‘Thing Ring’ TV series would require the collaboration not only of Disney/Marvel and Fox, but also of Time Warner (which owns Hanna Barbera now).

Of course, Time Warner also owns DC Comics. I don’t know, but I suspect that if the people who own Marvel and the people who own DC ever do get together to make a comics-based TV series or movie, ‘Benjy Grimm and His Thing Ring’ will probably be low on the list of ideas considered.”

Yes, I reposted the entire explanation, because it’s amazing. Thanks Turan!

And that’s pretty much all I had to add this time around (except going back to part six got me to fix a stupid typo that blew one of my jokes…”INVINCIBLE,” not “INVISIBLE,” dummy!)

Thanks to all of you for your participation, and I’ll see you all back here next year when it’s time to look at your 2018 predictions!

And, um, hopefully I’ll see you later this week when the website resumes normal broadcasting!

Okay, here it is, the last installment of looking back at your 2017 predictions (parts one two three four five)! Well, there’s still one more part looking at your reactions to the last few posts, but the national nightmare is almost over! Thanks for sticking with me through this annual trek of mine.

Also, if you want to be part of the adventure next year, throw in your 2018 predictions here, even though we’re about 1/12th of the way through 2017 already.

LET’S GO PREDICTIN’ NOW:

Andrew sends me off on a true life adventure with

“Marvel reacquires at least some Fantastic Four rights, and revives Benjy Grimm of ‘Thing Ring, do your thing’ fame/infamy as a Netflix show.”

As you might have heard, Disney may be getting some of their properties back for film use via their Fox deal (barring any legal blocking of said deal), so we may actually see new FF or X-Men movies in the eventual future. …I’m going to guess that, sadly, the Thing Ring will not make a reappearance.

“Some sort of live-action Crisis or Convergence or Zero Hour happens to merge the CW shows because Berlanti finally figures out that Earth-1 should not be a world without a Superman. Swamp Thing will play a pivotal role.”

If they keep getting John Constantine cameos on the CW shows, maybe Swamp Thing will turn up someday. But for your main prediction…we actually did get a “Crisis” story on-screen, involving multiple Earths, which still seems impossible despite having watched it with my own eyes. No merging of parallel universes just yet, but if we recall our first season Flash episodes, there was that newspaper from the future that had an article about a “Crisis” event, red skies an’ all. So, yeah, I imagine sooner or later we’ll get all our characters living together on Earth-CW, but maybe not for a while.

“The Goldsman/Liefeld deal results in a Supreme movie heavily inspired by Alan Moore’s work. It will make all the money, and heads at Time Warner will roll. Fanboys will be confused when director Joss Whedon or Quentin Tarantino aim the camera so that Suprema’s feet are in every shot.”

Nothin’ yet, though I’d love to see how people react to an Alan Moore-inspired Supreme film. It would likely require replacing Silver Age Superman nostalgia as its building blocks for…I don’t know, Christopher Reeve nostalgia? Any way they do it, it’ll be weird. And your comment about the focus on feet…I’m going to read that as a comment about Liefeld’s apparent reticence for drawing feet, and ABSOLUTELY NOTHING ELSE.

“Legion of Superheroes will become the latest DC/CW TV show. People walk in comic shops to buy the latest Legion comics only to find confusing reprints of former series instead.”

Close…we got a small intro of them just before the end of the year in Supergirl, but didn’t get a full-on appearance ’til this year. Haven’t seen much in-store interest in Legion stories, but yeah, aside from the occasional one-off appearance (like the Bugs Bunny or Scooby-Doo crossovers), just a handful of reprint books are available. Bad time to not have an ongoing Legion comic at least for the already-buying-comics folks who might have picked it up if they saw it on the shelf.

“Marvel’s dropping of digital codes drives regular audience away. In order to revitalize sales, Marvel begins releasing exclusive Pogs to drum up sales. It’s a major success leading to a huge Pogs revival.”

Dropping those codes did annoy a few customers…a lot of folks who still liked getting the physical editions enjoyed having the digital codes to put the books on their electronical doohickeys, and removing the codes did damage the perceived value of the books. Thankfully Marvel did reverse the decision before they had to initiate the Pog Directives.

“DC Comics launches a new comic called ‘Swamp Thing & friends.’ The first issue features Swampy investigating a comic stealing crime that leads him directly to Sterling comics. Mike Sterling makes a cameo in a Swamp Thing comic. Swampy’s catches the crook too late and the owner of Sterling comics is killed. Swampy, in an act of kindness take Sterling to becomes part of the green, makes him immortal. They hang out regularly during the course of the series, doing all sorts of fun activities like canoeing, camping, having fondue and talking about the thing Swamp Thing likes the most, himself!”

“Marvel’s sales slide will increase, with fans rejecting their pushing of classic characters into the background for new PC versions. Marvel will ignore this and figure the problem is that they’re not replacing enough classic characters.”

If anything, Marvel seems to have decided the opposite, given some statements here and there. However, a good case has been made that the problems Marvel has been facing are more endemic to their ongoing business practices more than to their attempts at attracting new audiences.

“An Image comic will get a movie deal.”

Wasn’t sure, so I did a quick Googling, and this was the top result. So yes, an Image-published comic did indeed score a movie deal! A couple more of ’em are listed here, though I’m wondering what they’re going to call the Invincible movie since there was already a film by that name in 2006. “The Invincible Chronicles?” “Invincible Man?” “LET’S GET INVINCIBLE?”

“A Planet of the Apes/Sugar & Spike crossover will be announced.”

“Gbtlz spzts!”

“GASP! The human babies spoke…um, I think!”

“DC will see another show canceled with POWERLESS flopping on the No Bugger Cares channel. It won’t matter; there’ll be another 12 new DC shows by the end of 2017. On the publishing front, the two-year Rebirth overarc will be looking pretty ridiculous by June as Geoff Johns and his team of trained gerbils try to explain it all. The DC Omnibus program will gain traction and do well. A fanatical group will rise up with Superman’s Red Trunks as its banner.”

Those are a lot of predictions squeezed into here, David, so let’s see: Powerless did die, which is too bad since it started to get pretty good; not 12 shows, but the numbers are slowly increasing; we’re getting the wrap-up to the 2-year arc now so we’ll see how it goes; Omnibus program still exists, so close enough for horseshoes; “fans,” for short. (For shorts! Ha, get it, because…okay, fine.)

“Marvel will continue to pump out omnibus volumes of *everything*. Ike Perlmutter will be eaten by Washington. Marvel’s books will continue to be schizophrenically split between the endless restarts that go thuddy thud thud and the cute, funny, clever books like Ms.Marvel and The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl. Marvel’s movies continue to do well, and some do great, but the non-Netflix TV shows will continue to have issues (although LEGION will get a lot of positive attention) with INHUMANS going down to ignominious doom despite the IMAX opening.”

Yes; pretty much; ain’t that the truth; nailed the movie/TV thing.

“Dan Slott will move into a penthouse in Las Vegas, never again to be seen by most men. Reports will periodically come out that he’s lying naked on a bed, watching ICE STATION ZEBRA over and over.”

Now you got me here at the house, late at night, thinking about Naked D. Slott. ARE THERE NO END TO YOUR CRIMES, DAVID ALEXANDER MCDONALD.

(Nothing personal against Mr. Slott, who I am sure is a perfectly acceptable naked person…DAMMIT, DAVID, LOOK AT THESE THINGS YOU MAKE ME TYPE)

“The sleeper hit of the summer 2017 blockbuster season is a gritty live action reimagining of ‘WordGirl.’ Chuck the Evil Sandwich Making Guy becomes Public Enemy Number One after killing Captain Huggyface with a meat slicer.
In 2018 it sweeps the Oscars, winning the Big Five.”

Okay, had to look all that up because for a second there I thought our friend Dan had some kind of seizure. I vaguely recalled Wordgirl, and sure enough, those other characters exist too. Frankly, I think we’re still too soon on the ironic dark reboot of the property…the kids who watched that in the 2000s probably still need a few more years to get into positions of power in the entertainment industry. I suspect the fanfiction may be way ahead of them, however.

“Marvel won’t do any crossovers with other companies.”

Well, maybe not in the way you mean it, but Marvel teamed up with Archie Comics to get some digests into supermarkets via Archie’s ancient distribution deal. And, well, this almost happened, but probably also not what you meant.

“Even though fans will want one, there will still not be a solo Swamp Thing animated movie. (REALLY hoping I’m wrong)”

Ol’ Swampy’s been turning up in various animated places, so we’re probably closer than ever to this actually happening soon!

“The rights for the comics of Friday the 13th and A Nightmare on Elm Street will continue to remain lost.”

Does seem weird that it’s been a while since either of these properties have turned up on the stands. At the very least, I’d like a reprint of Marvel’s black and white Nightmare on Elm Street magazine (written by Steve Gerber) since I sold my copies off like a dummy. Ah, well, if no one’s planning on comics based on these properties right this moment, I’m sure they will be again soon. Licenses like these come back from the dead fairly often, appropriately enough.

Previous installments: one two three four

Covering: your 2017 predictions

Enter: your 2018 predictions here

LET’S CONTINUE:

Gareth Wilson volleys

“A high-schooler teacher on a Marvel movie or TV show will irritably demand to know where Kamala Khan or Miles Morales is. Not necessarily the Spider-Man movie.”

Well, a little Googling and Wikipedia-ing reveals that, yes, there was a deleted scene from the Spider-Man: Homecoming film that references Miles Morales. Can’t seem to find anything similar for Ms. Khan, but both Ms. Marvel and the Miles Spider-Man have made direct appearances in cartoons, so, you know, there’s that.

“A new Marvel or DC character will be introduced who is white and from a working-class rural background. They will be firmly established as not racist, sexist, or homophobic.”

Can’t think of any specific examples, but sure, why not. I don’t know that they’d have been established as not having those traits, but, y’know, so long as they’re not explicitly shown as mocking Norwegians, chasing secretaries around desks, and hatin’ on gays, that’s at least something.

“Some kind of Green Lantern adaptation – comic, movie, or TV show – will emphasise the Lanterns as law enforcement officers, and implicitly criticise other superheroes as irresponsible vigilantes.”

Well, the Green Lanterns as space cops thing’s been in the comics for a while now, but I can’t recall any kind of in-story comparison/conflict/reading that pushes the GL Corps as being superior to superpowered vigilantes. It’s probably come up at some point, but don’t recall any major storylines of late where that was a plot point.

“Full frontal face-to-face interaction between Watchmen and DCU characters within the DCU continuity, but then the characters will be back to separate universes with new ongoing Watchmen-related comics.”

“Full frontal,” indeed…I see what you did there. The Doomsday Clock series is just barely underway, and the meetings of characters are only just beginning. Well, there was that Batman/Flash “The Button” story where Reverse-Flash seemingly meets Dr. Manhattan, but that was all off-panel. I think the real meat of this crossover has yet to be rev…er, maybe I should rephrase that.

I do expect follow-ups on Doomsday Clock with Watchmen characters, but totally in DCU continuity. C’mon, they’d have to be, for no other reason than to drive people crazy.

“President Trump, or presidential characters inspired by him, will play a significant role in the present-day continuties of both Marvel and DCU comics.”

Pretty much avoided ol’ Trumpy in their comics. Like I said in a previous installment of these Prediction posts, indie comics seem to have it covered.

“The 40th anniversary of Cerebus the Aardvark #1 will result in renewed interest in the character and the restored editions of the trade volumes in spite of Dave Sim’s ongoing awkward and amibivalent approach to promoting his work.”

There have been several Cerebus-related comics this year…all reprints of his webstrip Cerebus in Hell, featuring Our Favorite Aardvark in essentially clipart form, pasted over Gustave Doré illustrations from Dante’s Inferno. I don’t know if there’s been increased interest in Cerebus of late…I’ve only sold a few volumes since I’ve opened my store, period, though I’ve seen some chatter about it online here and there. At least it’s still being discussed, 15+ years after it wrapped up!

“DC’s summer event, which will feature the Watchmen characters (or some derivation thereof) interacting with the DCU. will meet with derision and general condemnation by fans online, yet still sell very well.”

The actual event, Doomsday Clock, didn’t start ’til almost the end of the year. but it is selling very well despite negative online reaction. In-store reaction has been mostly positive. The same goes for the earlier mini-event “The Button,” which was closer to spring than summer, but sort of had the same reaction.

“Ms. Marvel collections will continue to be one of Marvel’s best-selling items, with a huge portion of their sales (at least 50%) coming from outside comic shops.”

A couple of articles on Marvel’s slumping sales (early in the year, and later) both emphasize Ms. Marvel’s high trade sales…how much is from outside the direct market, I’m not sure, but it’s likely a not-insignificant amount.

“A third-tier comics publisher will attempt to jump on the Trump bandwagon by publishing comics designed to appeal to the so-called alt-right.”

There was some talk and fundraising along these lines, but it was pretty late in the year and so nothing’s out quite yet. You can read a little about it here.

“Geoff Johns’s New Years Day tweet with the close up of Dr Manhattan actually relates to his 12 issue magnum opus entitled Northampton that involves an up & coming comic book writer going mad touring the Midlands and encountering a lot of characters from the works of Alan Moore in a biting criticism of mass market pop cultures as a distraction against the random chaos of the universe. Moore’s grumbling can be heard from the International Space Station…”

Alas, Geoff Johns’ LARGE DIGITS did not see the light of day.

“The DCEU films will continue to make mistakes that they rectify in the next film, only to produce new, different mistakes attaining an asymptotic relationship to the platonic ideal of super-hero films.”

Well, in my opinion, the Justice League film addressed the criticisms that previous DC films were too dark by giving us a fun adventure. But yes, it had its problems…nothing new, just the same old “villain is evil because he’s evil” motivation. Whether that problem can be fixed in the next film is more an issue with big-budget action movie production as a whole than just DC superhero movies. We’ll see.

“The Inhumans continue to not be a thing, for the 52nd year running…”

(sigh) Yeah….

“DC doesn’t think to put out a comic to capitalize on The Lego Batman Movie. Maybe some cover variants, but no comics.”

No comics, or even variants…unless you count the variants from a couple of years ago that fooled some people into thinking they actually were Lego comics. There were a few kids books, at least.

“Neil Gaiman & Mark Buckingham’s Miracleman comics start coming out again.”

That would have been nice. Been waiting for a follow-up on that cliffhanger for decades.

“Kurt Busiek & John Paul Leon’s ‘Batman: Creature of the Night’ finally comes out.”

Indeed it did, just under the wire!

“We get a Legion book back this year, finally. (Also, the Legion will have a huge role in the CW-verse(s) fall 2017)”

No Legion of Super-Heroes comic yet (though it appears to at least be a gleam in DC’s eye at the moment). The Legion did begin their involvement in the CW superhero shows in the episode or two of Supergirl“Still no Fantastic Four Book in 2017.”

As answered previously, there’s like half an FF book, with the Thing and the Human Torch in the Marvel Two-in-One series.

“We will get at least two things on this list: New Frank Miller Sin City, A Fourth Scott McCloud nonfiction book, all of Gaiman’s Miracleman: The Silver Age, Matt Wagner’s Mage III, and/or a trade paperback collection of Foglio’s Buck Godot: The Gallumaufry.”

You got one of those things (the Mage III comics) and you’ll like it, mister!