QUICKLY NOW: PART ONE and PART TWO and PART THREE and PART FOUR and today is PART FIVE. Also, don’t forget to give me your 2014 predictions.

Ed leads us off with:

“I had a list, but after reading Gordon and Michael’s suggestion of an After Watchmen, that seems like the most hardy horse to wager on.

“After Watchmen (a one-shot at least)”

Oh, Ed, Ed, Ed…you weren’t supposed to read the other predictions first! Just jump on in and lay ’em out there! But like I said, I was genuinely surprised that, once the Watchmen barrier had been breached, more Watchmen product didn’t follow.

Tom Cherry pits me against the following:

“Realizing superhero movies is where the money is at, Woody Allen writes and directs THE INFERIOR FIVE. He stars as Merryman, Scarlett Johansson is Dumb Bunny, and Diane Keaton plays Annie Hall.”

I wonder if anyone’s ever actually approached Allen about doing such a thing. Probably was immediately thrown out of the office for even trying. But in the meantime, there’s this:

Boosterrific lifts me up with:

“DC finally gets around to Nu52 Sugar and Spike, re-introducing the pair as a prostitute with a heart of gold and her brother, a dim punk with a penchant for getting into trouble. Naturally, they communicate telepathically and hunt vampires and zombies.”

Oh, you. I still think my idea for a new Sugar and Spike series is pretty good.

William Burns scalds me with:

“DC announces a new line of comics devoted specifically to pissing off Alan Moore. The first two projects: After Watchmen and a sequel to V for Vendetta written by Grant Morrison.”

Again, surprised they didn’t. Don’t know why, it’s not like Moore would have anything to say about…what? How’s that again? Oh, he did, did he? Well.

“Hardcover archival reprint series announced for Reg Smythe’s Andy Capp and Charles Barsotti’s Sally Bananas.”

Couldn’t find any news on any new Andy Capp collections, but I did discover that there was a computer game in the ’80s which sounds amazing. Nothin’ doin’ for all you Sally Bananas fans out there, either. Not even a computer game.

Roger Green makes me envious with:

“Roger Green will write a daily blogpost in September 2013 at rogerogreen.com that will crush Mike Sterling’s daily record of 8.3 years.”

I knew once I stopped the daily updating these new young gunslingers would wander into town and challenge me to duels. But…yup, he’s still updating daily, working hard and writing well while I sleep away!

Prankster tricks me with:

“Either Bob Harras or Dan Didio, or both, will leave their current position at DC (possibly kicked upstairs, more likely leaving the company altogether).”

Nope! Both still there, planning their mischief and tormenting online fans!

“Iron Man 3 and Thor 2 will both be quite good.”

I thought so, and judging by their box office, so did a lot of other people.

“Neither Seaguy 3, new issues of Astro City, nor a collection of the Alan Moore era Marvelman will materialize this year, because we live in a cold and uncaring universe.”

Well, maybe the universe cares a little, because we did get Astro City.

“Disney will buy DC, Image, Dark Horse, IDW, Warner Brothers, Microsoft, Belize, the Moon, and the concept of human happiness. All human beings will be fitted with EKG meters that will charge them a dime anytime they think of any of the pop culture characters the company owns. The years of tribulation begin.”

I am unable to respond to this prediction as I am in the process of being purchased by…well, you’ll find out soon enough.

POGressive Ruin‘s biggest fan, Crowded House, takes us (nearly) home with:

“Mike Sterling brings Pogressive Ruin to an end. The very next day, he finds a bomb planted underneath one of the tables in his shop. It explodes and he runs into his overstock back room. He emerges, reborn as…Pog Thing!”

Well, as I noted yesterday — or was it the day before? — I did stop the daily posts on my pog site, but I have updated it a small handful of times since then. I am trying to picture what a pog-encrusted mockery of a man would look like, and, um…it’s more terrifying than you might imagine.

Dwayne the canoe guy paddles on over with:

“Jonah Hex will stay in Gotham, Bat Lash will show up and cause a ruckus, the All Star Western will see a reboot of Scalphunter as well as the Trigger Twins but this times as cojoined Siamese twins.”

Well, he did stay in Gotham for a while, just not in his original century, what with this time-travel story no one expected. In recent stories, he’s left town, with a forthcoming encounter with a certain blue-clad Kryptonian of some repute.

And finally, Stevonicus wraps it all up with:

“Superior Spiderman will go the way of Firestorm and have both Doc Ock and Peter Parker inhabiting the one body. Expect a massive amount of issues to be published as marvel decides to start triple shipping the book in May leading up to a reversion of numbering and title in time for Amazing Spider Man #750 some time in 2014.”

It sort of looked like it was heading that way for a while there, until Peter was…expunged. Still don’t know what Marvel’s ultima…er, coming plan is, but there’s somethin’ going on.

“Grant Morrison’s Multiversity gets delayed on into 2014 because John Cassaday signs up to pencil an issue which takes six months to complete.”

It’s definitely not out yet, despite being confirmed as coming out late 2013. And let’s not bust on poor Mr. Cassaday…the man does good work worth waiting for!

“The Teen Titans GO spinoff comic sells more than the New 52 Teen Titans effort much to the chagrin of DC editorial.”

It sold okay for us…and actually did sell pretty darn close to New 52 TT numbers. Frankly, though, if DC could feel chagrin about anything, it should be regarding that stupid collar on Superman.

“Bill Willingham’s decision to finish writing Fables signals the final death knell for Vertigo. Shelley Bond joins Marvel’s editorial team as a consequence.”

It looks like you nailed the announcement of the ending of Fables, which wasn’t revealed until well into the fall of 2013. Well done! I think DC will probably try to keep Vertigo going for a while yet, though.

“Jim Zubkavich’s disappointment at being booted from Birds of Prey after one issue sends him into the arms of Marvel where he writes a new Heroes for Hire ongoing.”

He’s certainly writing a lot, but not at Marvel, far as I can tell. Be sure to check out his excellent blog and see what he’s saying about his writing career!

“Jim Lee will last 5 issues on Man Of Steel before needing a fill in artist. He will be off the book fully by #8.”

It was issue #5, in fact, where Lee was joined by another artist doing story pages. Jumping ahead to the solicitation info for #8, art is credited to “Jim Lee & various,” so either someone’s going to help him with the lead story again, or that’s referring to whoever’s drawing the back-up for that issue.

“Dan DiDio decides to write a new Metal Men book. he will suffer a torrent of abuse online and produce a lackluster effort wherein he misinterprets the central premise and the book is cancelled by the sixth issue.”

The Metal Men have been announced as returning, but in upcoming issues of Justice League (not by Didio!), which I’m sure people are hating already before ever even seeing it. Didio did write the Metal Men strip for Wednesday Comics, that newspaper-esque publication DC did a few years back, and that wasn’t too bad! It certainly didn’t misinterpret the characters like a certain other series I could mention.

There! Finally! It’s all done! I know I said…or maybe I just dreamed I said…I was going to go over corrections and additions and such at the end, but let me rest up a bit before doing so. Or maybe I’ll just go back and update previous posts for posterity’s sake. You know, for when my website is unearthed by future archeologists. Like when I made my “mummy is close enough to a zombie” gag regarding that issue of Daredevil when freakin’ Simon “The Zombie” Garth was right there on the cover. Man, I don’t know…my brain needs a tune-up, I guess.

I still need to go back and actually answer a prediction or two that needed a little more research than I had time to do, but I’ll do that…IN THE FUTURE! SO I PREDICT!

Anyway, if you read all this, I greatly appreciate it. I’m going to enter the Odinsleep for the weekend, and come back Monday with…probably just scans. Lots and lots of scans and no typing whatsoever.

Okay, so let me get this straight: first I ask you for predictions for 2013 way back when, you folks leave me a whole lot of ’em, and then I go spend not one, not two, not three, but four days responding to them? Who do I think I am, anyway?

Oh, and there’s going to be a fifth day. You’re welcome. Also, don’t forget I want predictions for 2014, because that’s just the kind of low-down dirty chump that I am.

And away we go…!

Adam Farrar dishes out a big ol’ helping of predictions, beginning with:

“The glut of Marvel titles being double shipped will only get worse and will speed up the standard attrition. Marvel’s solution will be more double shipping. Some artists will announce their departure for creator owned books with a more realistic schedule.”

It seems like it’s slowed down a bit, if only because the holidays put a crimp in their every-week-or-two schedule for Superior Spider-Man. But the double-shipping continues on several Marvel titles, sometimes every three weeks, sometimes full-on biweekly (or, in the case of that recent Amazing Spider-Man mini, more than weekly). I haven’t noticed any kind of serious exodus from Marvel to indie publications, but creators such as Matt Fraction and Rick Remender have certainly had some success with new books at Image over the past year.

“Mark Millar and Frank Quitely’s Image series ‘Jupiter’s Legacy’ will start in April as announced but only 4 of the planned 12 issues will come out in 2013.”

We got three! Along with a couple of reprints and that sketchbook thingie.

“Some company will hire Karen Berger and give her money to run her own imprint. Creators will flock to pitch her ideas.”

Not yet, but hopefully sometime soon. Right now, though, I hope she’s taking a well-deserved break!

“Dark Horse will launch more titles to compensate for the Disney taking away the Star Wars license.”

They’re certainly putting out a number of books, but I’m not seeing anything as a real contender for filling the eventual Star Wars gap. Terminator seems like a non-starter, and it’s hard to say how Tomb Raider will do. As the year progresses and we get closer to the end of DH’s SW contract, we’ll see what they start doing.

“There will be more creators leaving DC in headlines complaining of a difficult work environment.”

A lot of creators did bail on DC this last year, such as the high-profile departure of the Batwoman creative team as a result of differences with editorial over the book’s direction. As an aside, my favorite Tweet in relation to that event:

“The story in Avengers Arena will turn out to be a computer simulation or a dream or something.”

I don’t think that was the case, but, as discussed yesterday, a couple of the deaths did turn out to be fake-outs.

“DC will continue to publish Batman, Inc. after Grant Morrison leaves the title despite its lack of direction and plummeting sales.”

They did the right thing and ended the series, though there was a one-shot non-Morrison special that wrapped up the whole thing, and it sold okay far as I know.

“The ‘Justice League’s Vibe’ will be the lowest selling Geoff Johns comic in recent memory, which will still be pretty good for a modern DC comic.”

The first issue sold…not terribly, certainly better than a Vibe comic would have seemed to be able to sell in The Year of Our Lord Two Thousand Thirteen. Johns was on for the first two issues as cowriter, and compared to some of his other recent jobs, no, it didn’t sell anywhere in the same range. But that it did as well as it did, at least for a while, is kind of amazing…being racked with the other Justice League titles didn’t hurt, too.

“Brian Bendis’ Guardians of the Galaxy will spin off a second cosmic team book also written by Bendis.”

Not yet…maybe where the movie’s closer.

“Iron Man 3, Thor 2 and The Wolverine will have marginally larger (domestic) box offices than their last individual movies. Man of Steel will do better financially and critically than Green Lantern but less than than the Nolan Batman movies.”

The Wolverine ($400 mil) did a little better than Origins (about $375 million), Thor 2, at about 6 and a half billion, outsold its predecessor by about 200 million dollars, and Iron Man 3‘s take of 1.2 billion dollars is about twice as much as Iron Man 2 did.

According to Rotten Tomatoes, that universal arbitrator of taste, Man of Steel‘s rating of 55% is over twice that of GL’s poor showing at 26%. MoS’s 600-something million dollars certainly outstripped GL’s take of just over 200 mil.

Bringing in the Nolan Bat-flicks, the first one made about $375 million, Dark Knight cracked a billion, and Dark Knight Rises made just a little more than the second film. So there are all the numbers (taken from Box Office Mojo) and you can see what fits where in relation to whom and all this money flyin’ around is giving me a headache, so let that be enough of that.

“Tragically the ‘Young Justice’ cartoon won’t be renewed for a third season.”

Doesn’t look like it. Too bad, I’d rented all the DVDs (well, all available thus far) from Netflix and have enjoyed the series quite a bit.

Jerry Smith forged the following predictions:

“DC will continue cancelling books no one wants to read and replacing them with other books no one wants to read.”

Oh, come now, it’s not as bad as all that, is it? But DC is dropping titles, and seemingly replacing them with variations on Batman, Superman, Justice League, and Green Lantern titles. Some of these new books aren’t half-bad, I think, and they mostly still seem to be doing well.

“Marvel will experiment with new Avengers and X-Men titles at $4.99 an issue. Fans desert in droves.”

Seems like DC was hitting us with the high-priced issues of regular series this last year more than Marvel. I mean, Marvel seems more committed to the $3.99 price point, but DC wasn’t shy about giving us $4.99 and $6.99 issues of Batman, that $4.99 Superman Unchained, Green Lantern #20 at $7.99, and so on. All of those sold pretty well for DC, though, sort of surprisingly. The upcoming Miracleman series with that $5.99 debut issue is going to be a real test, though.

“Iron Man 3 will start the franchise rot by being nothing like the comics or the first two movies. It will suffer from overblown Hollywood-itis, make a lot of money, and not be good.”

I don’t know if it matters that it’s not like the comic, since nobody’s reading the comic anyway. As mentioned before, it did enormously well, and seemed to be generally received, so the demise of the superhero movie hasn’t quite begun yet. …It may be that the time will come, when there’s that one film that sours the genre for everyone, but most of the producers of these films have been playing it relatively smart so far.

“Image will have another break-out hit and lots of other critically acclaimed new books.”

Oh, yeah, that’s for certain. East of West, Black Science, Sex Criminals, others I’m probably forgetting but you get the idea. None of these are huge sellers on par with Walking Dead, but they’re not doing too badly.

“Karen Berger will become head of development at either a movie studio or independent comics publisher.”

As mentioned above, if there is any Berger-at-a-new-job news over the last year, I’m not finding it. But here’s what appears to be her new Twitter account, so maybe we’ll get some news there!

NeverAsk asks:

“Archie comics will continue to be awesome.”

They put out Afterlife with Archie, which is the most amazing thing, so yes, they are awesome!

Rob S. announces:

“DC will launch a Vertigo book in the digital-first style.”

I suppose that’s only a matter of time, but I don’t think it’s happened yet.

“In Archie crossovers, Sabrina will meet My Little Pony.”

Well, if this could happen, so can that. Don’t give up hope!

“One or two more of the established New 52 books move to $3.99 and get backups; Green Lantern and Earth 2 are good candidates.”

New titles popped up at the $3.99 price point, some with back-ups, but preexisting titles seem to have been staying in their regular price points/formats. Exception: Justice League Dark, which moved to $3.99 with this whole Trinity War thing and has stayed there.

Nate foresees:

“Katie Power finally joins the Avengers”

One of the Power Pack kids was in FF, but I don’t think we’ve seen much of the others this year. Seems like now would be the time to bring back Power Pack, which seems ready-made to be made into a Marvel/Disney film.

“‘Man of Steel’ uses the words ‘woman of Kleenex’ on screen”

No, but it did use “dicksplash,” which is arguably better.

“Robert Kirkman sets up an actual money bin and swims in it ala Scrooge McDuck.”

All documented, all true.

De declares:

“Making yet another mistake of the past, one of the Big Two will roll out hologram covers again in an attempt to ‘cash in on nostalgia.'”

DC gave us the “3D” lenticular covers, which is close. And there was the chromium cover on Age of Ultron #1. I’d almost be relieved to see a plain ol’ hologram cover again.

“With their Star Wars gravy train derailed, Dark Horse merges with another publisher. My guess would be Image.”

Probably more of a 2016 prediction. Let’s wait and see what happens after a Star Wars-less 2015 at DH.

“After years of rolling her eyes at comics, my teenaged daughter will finally ask to visit a comic shop. (I can hold out hope anyway.)”

If I answered this assuredly, you’d probably be worried. Since I don’t know, I’ll have to ask you if this event came to pass!

Gareth Wilson opined

“Particularly large numbers of American comic stores will close in 2013.”

Not that I’ve noticed…if anything, more shops seem to have opened. Look for the closings this year.

“Marvel will cancel most of the Avengers comics.”

Quite the opposite; they seem to be multiplying. Okay, we lost Arena, so one down, about a thousand to go.

“A mutant will run for public office in the Marvel Universe.”

Well, I went looking via Google, since I’m not regularly reading the X-books (aside from Amazing, at least for the time being), and I didn’t notice anything. If this happened, someone let me know!

The SHIELD TV show will be successful, but will generally be considered to have nothing to do with SHIELD from the comics. Whedonites won’t consider it a ‘real’ Joss Whedon show.

Seems like every story I read about this show is regarding how it’s not performing to expectations. I mean, it seems successful enough, but not the blockbuster folks were expecting. Whedonites do seem to be the primary defenders of the show, however. I don’t know that there was any danger of anyone thinking this would have any relation to the comics, as it was clearly part of the Marvel movie-verse and related to the comics as much as any of the movies have.

Kid Kyoto begins properly with:

“Good topic!”

Thank you!

“Dark Horse will lose Star Wars to Marvel but will try to fill the void with comics about Battlestar Galactica, Flash Gordon (the Queen version) and Buck Rogers (Gil Gerard version).”

Sadly, all those properties are tied up elsewhere, though I’d love new stories in the Queen Universe of Flash Gordon. “GORDON’S ALIVE!?”

“Disney will buy Hasbro, IDW will lose Transformers and GI Joe to Marvel.”

Didn’t happen, but you’re the second person to predict that. Is this kind of a…meme, I guess, among fans of those properties?

“A fired DC staffer will do a tell-all article about the New 52 and various back-stabbings and shenanigans. the internet will break in 1/6ths but DC sales won’t be affected.”

Everyone keeps waiting for the DC version of Marvel Comics: The Untold Story, but it may be a while yet. I definitely want to read about what’s going on at DC right now. There has been an interview here and there complaining about conditions at DC, but no comprehensive tell-all just yet.

“Seeing the proliferation of V for Vendetta Masks at protests, DC will launch an After V series of miniseries.”

I would have loved this, but I think after Before Watchmen, DC fears Alan Moore transforming into a giant bearded Gorgo-esque monster and rampaging through their office buildings.

“Peter Parker back in 616 by the end of the year.”

Not yet, but breaking news, everyone!

“the Legion will be rebooted. Again.”

I’m kind of glad that didn’t happen. I like the Legion, but had to give up on it after too many restarts/reboots/reworkings/revarnishings. I want it to rest for a while. Let us miss it before bringing it back.

Mike Walker dares to invoke:

“Then… KOREA”

Okay, I didn’t do it all year, so let me lay it on you for the beginning of 2014:

Just one more day of this gang! I’ll see you tomorrow…and if you have corrections or additional info, please drop it all in the comments!

So here was part one, here was part two, and oh Lordy, today is part three of my response to your 2013 predictions. Will I finish by the weekend? Or before I die from a fatal case of Carpal Tunnel Syndrome? Let’s find out!

Don’t forget…give me your 2014 predictions. THIS I COMMAND.

googum, as always, googummed:

“I’m not going to try my usual ‘death of Vertigo’ guess this year; they seem to keep limping along.”

Yup, they’re still hanging in there, what with Sandman, and, oh, I suppose some other titles, allegedly.

“Marvel/Disney is finally going to go too far in their movie casting lowballing, and is going to lose a fan-favorite actor who refuses to budge.”

I don’t follow the Marvel casting news, so I don’t know if there have been any big losses so far. It looks like everyone likes getting a paycheck so far…they even got Sir Anthony Hopkins into two of these things. I suppose it’s only a matter of time, though.

“The Superman/Wonder Woman power couple (that everyone seems to have forgotten about, since it doesn’t come into play in any other books…) will break up; and it’s really uncomfortable, since traditionally in super-hero comics things are settled with fight scenes.”

I don’t think any of us would have predicted the arrival of a Superman/Wonder Woman series last year, or would I think any of us would have guessed that it would actually be kinda entertaining. I guess we’re stuck with the romance so long as this new series sells.

“DC will also lose points by killing off a semi-beloved but somewhat redundant legacy character–someone like Tim Drake or Kyle Rayner. Marvel doesn’t have legacies to burn like that, but they’ll kill off somebody–I’m at a loss as to who, that hasn’t spent time dead already. Maybe Iceman or Kitty Pryde?”

We did get the death of Damian Wayne in Batman Incorporated, which, well, I guess that kinda counts, even though he lives on in some marginally-incomprehensible “Imaginary Story” mini-series. Oh, and that he could come back as a clone at any time, as per the conclusion of the Incorporated storyline.

Mike Nielsen provides this data:

“By 2014, in continuing the tradition of ‘Archie Meets Kiss’ and ‘Archie Meets Glee’, Archie will announce new storylines were Archie crosses over with other pop-culture items, like ‘Archie Meets Sons of Anarchy’ and ‘Archie meets Star Wars’.”

Sort of got this one, I’d say, in that we got “Archie Meets Zombies” in Afterlife with Archie. While not a specific property, there are very few things more pop-culture-y than zombies at the moment.

Timothy T. tees off with:

“Poop. I was going to make a prediction that Guardians of the Galaxy will either flop or else be successful yet alienate audiences who won’t watch the following films (comics fans will love it). But, it comes out next year.”

Fair enough. Marvel’s been pretty good with their films being accessible to non-comic fans, but Guardians could be the real test of that. But, c’mon, there’s a space raccoon with a ray gun. That appeals to every demographic.

demoncat unleashes:

“time warner will manage to get the rights to swamp thing and get the film going and then let del torro do his film with the magic characters. dc deciding the new look of captain carrot will do it with the zoo crew also as space pirates. marvel will after changing spider man back to peter parker decide to also bring back doctor octopus. marvel will finaly undo one more day. doctor strange will not only finaly get his film but a new comic”

I think they have the rights, no Del Toro movie yet, no other reboots of the Captain Carrot crew a la “K’rot” that I know of, Pete ain’t back yet but I’m sure they’ll bring back Doc too when they do, the ramifications of One More Day still hold firm at least until sales dip so badly they dip back into that well, no Doc Strange film or series but he’s popped up a lot in the last year.

ExistentialMan brings the following predictions into existence:

“1) Chris Ware will win an Eisner for ‘Building Stories’.”

Four Eisners, in fact: Best Publication Design, Best Lettering, Best Writer/Artist, Best Graphic Album, not to mention a top-flight showing in the swimsuit competition.

“2) Over half of the kids killed in Avengers Arena will turn out not to be dead.”

Didn’t read it, but went to that repository of all the world’s truth, Wikipedia, to see what they had to say. According to the list there, eight characters apparently died, but two ended up either having not actually died, or being resurrected through magical-science-y comic means. And of course, comics being comics, the rest of the fallen characters will come back eventually, I’m sure.

“3) The Walking Dead on AMC will have a fourth showrunner by year’s end”

Still on three, unless there’s a more recent story I’ve missed!

“4) BOOM! Studios Adventure Time #1 (unslabbed) will sell for over $150 on eBay.”

I found some slabbed copies selling at close to that price, but unslabbed…nah, not yet. Did find at least one online shop trying to move one of the first issue variants at $200+ but no idea if they’ve sold any at that price.

“5) Marvel will outsell DC every month of 2013 in overall dollar and unit sales according to Diamond sales data. DC will still dominate in trade sales.”

Marvel did outdo DC in both categories most months, except three months where DC did more retail business, and one month where they moved more units. I couldn’t find any handy percentages on trade sales re: DC vs. Marvel, but it looks like, at least through Diamond, Marvel and Image were usually dominating the top spots on the charts. As far as total overall sales….well, I’m having trouble trying to find any convenient “percentage of graphic novel market per publisher” charts for 2013, but maybe someone can direct me to one. My guess is that Marvel did outdo DC in this arena, too, at least through Diamond…through other booksales sources, I suspect it’s the other way around.

“6) Snyder and Lee’s Superman will sell like crazy at first but taper off quickly much like the Azzarello/Lee ‘For Tomorrow’ Supes story.”

I was talking to my Diamond rep about Superman Unchained for some reason or ‘nother back before #1 came out and he just straight up asked me “why is everyone ordering SO MUCH of this comic?” which immediately told me 1) uh oh, and 2) what was going to be in quarter boxes for the foreseeable future.

Now, we made our money back on #1s, and some profit aside, thanks to the variants, so while we still have a pretty good pile of the regular covers left over, we could throw them out and still be ahead. Now, I’ve since cut orders way down (where it’s now selling about twice up from the regular Action and Superman comics), and I suspect this happened at most other shops too.

Good comic, though.

“7) The Star Wars comic book franchise will return to Marvel in 2013. Brian Wood will continue to write – starting with a new #1.”

The announcement came in early 2014, so you were close. No word on who will actually be doing any of the new books, but it would be nice if at least that current Star Wars series Wood is doing could continue over, somehow. Not holding my breath.

“8) Mike’s hair will continue to get even better in 2013. Around August, he’ll decide to go with 80’s style cornrow braids.”

Absolutely 100% correct. You are psychic!

“9) Ed Brubaker will complete his previously mentioned film/TV scripts in 2013 and both will be optioned by the end of the year.”

Can’t find any info on this. Maybe you can tell me!

“10) Someone, somewhere on the internet will reveal a major spoiler for the ending of ‘Age of Ultron’ story.”

I hope it doesn’t involve Angela. That would be terrible.

Smicha1 laments:

“The Tick Season Three will continue to not be available on DVD”

Apparently it’s available in the UK, but probably not what you meant.

Ray Tomczak brings us:

“I’ve already predicted this on my own blog in my year in review post, and you don’t really need psychic powers to see that the loss of their longest running title, followed closely by the resignation of founding editor Karen Berger, does not bode well for the future of Vertigo. It seems likely that DC will draw the twenty year old mature readers imprint to a close sometime after Berger leaves in March.”

As discussed above, Vertigo is hanging in there. It certainly looked like DC wanted to fight the impression that Vertigo was done for, given the promotion and new title push we got from the imprint this year.

philip shockingly reveals:

“Pogressive Ruin will run its course, to the dismay of several.”

It was always planned as a short-run project, but I still update it about once a month or so. It’s not dead, just breathing very slowly.

Bully the Little Prognostic Bull says:

“Point One issues for everyone!”

After DC’s Villains Month and Marvel’s “.INH” and “.NOW” nonsense, I never want to see a decimal point in an issue number ever again!

Michael Grabowski grabs at a couple of predictions:

“1. I’d say it’s probably The Hulk’s turn to die and be replaced for a time.”

Probably, but not yet! “THE DEATH OF THE HULK” does sound like some kind of Big Marvel Event just ready to happen, doesn’t it?

“2. DC will announce plans for some kind of After Watchmen comic(s).”

I am really, honestly, surprised this didn’t happen.

matt Jeske dares to reveal:

“1) Fantagraphics will reprint some classic comic book, comic strip or Graphic Novel that I’m familiar with, but somehow forgot was unavailable. Maybe a nice collection of the work of Jose Munoz?”

I’m taking a look at their 2013 releases, and there are probably a couple of things that would fit that description. I lean towards the collection of Gahan Wilson’s Sunday comic strips, myself.

“2) Mark Waid will write a zombie comic.”

He did a digital strip in 2012, but in 2013…I could be missing something, but I don’t see that he did any zombie stories last year. Unless you count mummies.

My old pal Kurt Onstad bounces a couple of ideas off me:

“1) DC will announce a big event that brings back, at least in part, the Pre-Flashpoint Universe.”

Not yet!

“2) Multiversity issue 1 still won’t be released by years end.”

Sucker bet!

“3) Speedball will take his rightful place as the most powerful and most popular character in the Marvel Universe.”

Is that a threat?

The always amazingly-named Interstate Shogun lets us know:

“Gaiman’s new Sandman series will come out very irregularly, if at all because of the loss of Karen Berger, but will still be the top selling comic of the year and will win Eisners. But that’s an easy and obvious slam dunk.”

It was #8 in the month it was released, which ain’t too shabby. Any delays appear to be (self-admittedly) Gaiman’s own doing, however. I’m sure it’ll get an Eisner or two next year.

“Personally, I’ll predict that if Peter David is unable to continue writing comics because of his stroke and is forced into retirement, I’ll probably drop whatever few Marvel comics left that I still collect. I jumped off Marvel in a big way with Marvel NOW and if some lame hack took over X Factor, one of the few consistently great comics Marvel has, then I’d probably just say to hell with it and dump Marvel. I’ve already dumped DC and with the exception of the aforementioned Sandman, I won’t be getting anything from them in the future.”

Thankfully, David is still working in comics, with the first issue of his All-New X-Factor hitting stands today!

“I also predict that there will be no Astro City in 2013 either, another exception I would make for DC.”

Also thankfully, Astro City did hit the stands, and is maintaining a regular schedule!

“There will be no new Marvelman either. That’s another easy one.”

While a Miracleman series was solicited, where’s still a ways away from actual new material, though at the rate they’re reprinting the old work, Marvel should get to the new Gaiman/Buckingham stories by early 2015.

“Digital comics won’t make any inroads in terms of sales numbers this year, but a lot of bloggers will still moan about it.”

Like I noted yesterday, I don’t know enough about the sales to answer this intelligently. And are bloggers complaining about this? I really don’t know.

“Comics based movies are due for a big drop off. They’ll still make loads of money, which the creators of said characters will still not see a dime of, but the quality level will drop and burnout will start to set in.”

I am sure the crash is coming, but they’re still doing well, and I think we’re at the point where a real stinko of a superhero movie will just mean people saying “boy, that movie was terrible,” and not “boy, ALL SUPERHERO MOVIES are terrible.” I think the genre has a little life left. We’ll see what happens after Man of Steel 2 does.

Thelonious_Nick comes at me with:

“1) After a huge, commercially-successful 2012, superhero movies will have an off-year in 2013, prompting articles with titles like ‘The End of the Superhero Movie Era?'”

As discussed in my first predictions post this year, and also just above, they’re still doing great. $1.2 billion for Iron Man 3. Freakin’ IRON MAN.

“2) Marvel NOW will suffer from over-pricing and over-shipping and sales on several titles will slip. Superior Spider-Man will be foremost among these when readers don’t take a non-Peter Parker Spider-Man.”

Well, I know each time they add another Avengers title, sales across the board on the Avengers franchise take a hit. But despite being on a “whenever the hell they feel like it” schedule, Superior Spider-Man is still holding strong.

“3) Walking Dead and Saga will regularly reach top 10 in monthly sales, with at least one other new Image/Dark Horse/IDW title joining them by year’s end.”

Looking at Diamond’s charts, Walking Dead was regularly in the top 10 to 20, and Saga in the top 20 to 30, so they are doing pretty well, if not exclusively top 10 ranking.

At the end of the year (the November chart, the latest available) Walking Dead is at #13 and #14, and the next indie on the list is Unity #1 (which had a special deal for retailers, likely boosting its numbers way up). Then at 28 is The Star Wars, which ain’t too bad in a month dominated by Batman books and event titles and a new Harley Quinn comic.

And I think that uses up my daily allotment of Internetting for today. Be back tomorrow for more endless blocks of text!

Okay, here we go with Part Two of looking back at your predictions for 2013 (part one being yesterday, but how could you forget). Also, I just realized that technically Part Two should be called “Hellbound,” but I used “The Hellbound Heart” yesterday which wasn’t the title of the first Hellraiser film, but actually the title of the original Clive Barker short story that inspired the films, but I liked how that sounded but didn’t want to use “Hellbound” twice in a row. So there.

Sure, that didn’t make me sound like a crazy person. I’m still looking for 2014 predictions, however, which does make me sound like a crazy person. NOW, THE PREDICTIONS:

Bear growls:

“1. Despite positive critical reviews, the relaunched Valiant universe will fold by year’s end. This will be a great pity.”

It’s still hanging in there. It’s not pulling huge numbers that I can see, looking at Diamond’s market share charts, but it has its following.

“2. Peter Parker will return to life in 2013′s summer crossover.”

Would have thought so, too, but I guess we’re waiting for the next movie before this happens.

“3. The New52 will continue, despite nobody really wanting it to.”

I don’t expect this particular publishing initiative is going to go away anytime soon…as discussed on this site in the past, and probably by other people, too, I don’t know, I don’t pay attention, the New 52 push smells like “last chance for the current publishing paradigm.” If this doesn’t work, as much as some of y’all out there don’t like the New 52, I’m going to bet you really won’t like whatever it is that comes next.

His name’s Jeff R. and he’s here to say / he’s got some predictions for me to survey:

“1. A DC Implosion! In December, they’ll be shipping less than 42 books in the main universe, and also be pushing less product under other imprints as well.”

I was just wondering the other day if DC is still actually publishing 52 ongoing New 52 titles, or if maybe they’re sliding by with, like, 48 and hoping nobody notices. So I’m going to pull out the latest Previews and count right now. Hold on.

…

Okay, it looks we have 45 ongoing New 52 titles (some on their last issue, as of the Jan 2014 Previews, four New 52 minis (the Forever Evil family) and the Suicide Squad: Amanda Waller one-shot, which I’m presuming will have the “New 52” slug on the cover as well. That makes 50, unless we’re also counting that Black Canary/Zatanna graphic novel, but I don’t know if that’ll have the New 52 banner on the cover or not. I don’t think I miscounted, but please double-check my work. At any rate, it’s a little short of 52, but maybe they plan on loading up some new title launches for February 2014 to get their numbers back up.

Everything else (the media tie-ins, the Digital First library, the Vertigo stuff) seems to be at around their usual population numbers.

“2. New Grendel for the 30th Anniversary.”

Alas, no! I’m always up for new Grendel.

“3. Speaking of Anniversaries, there’ll be a 20th Anniversary edition of Understanding Comics with new material.”

No new edition (egads, 20 years already?) but still a great book.

“4. The Trinity War will replace War of the Gods as the go-to reference for ‘botched line-wide crossover’. (DC won’t let anything be late this time, though, so the failure will be in the form of obvious-rush-job fill-ins.)”

I always kind of thought “Genesis” was the gold standard there, but “War of the Gods” ain’t bad, either. Trinity War still seems to be doing okay thus far, though there is the occasional scheduling hiccup with the main Justice League title being off by a week now and again, but that’s just par for the course on that title.

“5. Marvel will revive the Untold Legends of Spider-Man title in order to have something starring Peter Parker when the second Amazing movie comes out.”

They did have that Amazing Spider-Man #700.1-.5 mini with Peter Parker, published just in time for a hardcover to be produced before the movie, because God knows there’s not enough comics starring Peter Parker they could package for proper movie-sales exploitation. But if Parker isn’t back as Spider-Man in time for the movie, yeah, I expect a new title will be launched.

I mean, a new title will be launched anyway whenever PP comes back, so that Superior will stay on the stands as well. This is Marvel we’re talking about.

“6. No Multiversity this year.”

And that’s a real bummer, too. Maybe this year, he said hopefully!

“7. No Marvelman this year, either.”

It was solicited…well, Miracleman was. Close enough!

“8. Guardians of the Galaxy will do as badly as a movie with that sort of promotion can do.”

It’s not out yet, but reaction sure was mixed on that mid-credits preview attached to Thor 2, especially from the director of Thor 2.

“9. Either DC Challenge II or Secret Wars III or something equally retro-goofy as those concepts will happen.”

I would have loved either of these, particularly if some of the creators from the ’70s and ’80s were involved. We did get Batman ’66…not really the same kind of book, but certainly retro-goofy in a great way. Um…Age of Ultron #1 had a chromium cover!

“10. Income from Digitally distributed comics will increase less than 3% over last year, and may in fact decline.”

I have no idea, I have to admit. It’s my understanding that this kind of information is kept pretty close to the chest, so who knows how well or not-well things are doing in that arena. Maybe someone out there can help!

Pal Andres (whom I haven’t seen in a while…come back, Andres, we miss you!) says:

“zombies.”

Yup. There were zombies, all right. The Walking Dead comic is still going strong, though going biweekly did drop our sales on them by about 1/5, like what happens nearly every time a publisher decides to flood the market with something that was popular. Don’t worry though, guys, I’m sure those golden eggs are in that goose somewhere.

But it looks like we’re stuck with the zombie media madness for a while yet, even if Marvel’s curtailed their Marvel Zombies titles for the moment.

Jay V commands:

“Doctor Doom gets a fatal disease and switches minds with Aunt May. After sharing her memories, he vows to become a better Aunt May than she ever was and thus is born the SUPERIOR AUNT MAY!!!”

Now that you’ve said it, it’s only a matter of time.

Gordon pals around with:

“1) Marvel NOW will actually show some slight increase in comic sales, and there will be another slight ‘revamp’ within the next year.”

Marvel’s numbering shenanigans (like this whole “Avengers #24 = Avengers Now #1” or whatever) is just about to begin, with some actual restarts and new #1s coming this new year. Marvel’s sales according to the Diamond market share reports have held mostly steady, but we’ll see if this parade of yet another slew of #1s, seemingly all Avengers titles (NOTE: sarcasm), will do well.

“2) DC will slowly, but surely, phase more of their ‘older’ continuity into books, making the occasional reference (like Superman Red/Superman Blue) in an effort to appeal as much to the ‘older’ comics fan as much as their current fanbase.”

Sort of discussed yesterday, with some reaction in the comments like Green Arrow reviving his old look, or what I said about the old Swamp Thing making an appearance. It’s not so much reviving old continuity as nods to what has come before, I think.

“3) Two words: AFTER WATCHMEN”

I’ll get my Seymour solo book yet.

philip wishes:

“Superman will get his old costume back.”

Like we mentioned yesterday…he’s out there in his old costume, but not in New 52 continuity. But we’ll take what we can get!

Robert in New Orleans tries to kill me with:

“There will be no Marvel Now title where the originally announced artist has completed 12 consecutive issues on schedule.”

Oh Lordy, I’m going to have to research this when I get a chance. I did spotcheck a title or two where it looked like the original artist didn’t make it through the whole year, but I don’t know if that’s necessarily the case across the board.

“Uncanny Avengers will become a notoriously & extremely late off-schedule title until Cassaday’s tenure is over (after issue 5, I believe).”

Cassaday made it to #4, with a six week gap between 1 and 2 (in 2012), and almost two months between 2 and 3 (from 11/28/12 to 1/23/13). After that it was the usual Marvel scheduling of maybe monthly, maybe every three weeks, you know, whatever.

“By January 1 2014, readers will be no happier overall with the Marvel Now relaunch than they are now with the New 52.”

People certainly still complain about DC more than Marvel, at least online. There’s grumbling about Marvel’s stupid numbering and renumbering, but overall customers still seem to be happy with the books they’re reading.

“Kickstarter will have acquired a dubious reputation as a means of publishing comics due to egregious delays and non-delivery of finished projects. To the point that unknown and lesser known creators will no longer find it a practical method for funding.”

I haven’t noticed a serious ding in Kickstarter’s reputation, though there is some increasing awareness of the occasional glitch in the system from folks screwing with the donation process, some folks not delivering, etc. That appears to be more growing pains that a serious problem, from what I can tell. The couple of times I’ve participated, it’s worked out okay for me (I mean, check this out!), but keep your eyes open and use your best judgement when it comes to giving people you don’t know money. Except me. Just throw as much money as you can at me.

“Dave Sim will return to prominence in the comic book industry & readership consciousness and will be acknowledged as a living master of the form.”

Not yet, but he did do some swell Doctor Who covers (with the occasional adjusting from the BBC).

“Chris Samnee will draw and have published 16 monthly comics proving that hard work and talent are still valued by publishers and fans.”

I don’t think he did 16, but he did a lot of great work on Daredevil and I know I valued it!

“Peter Parker’s mind will still not be back in possession of his own body.”

Still floating out there in the ozone, alas.

“Swamp Thing’s sales numbers will drop once Scott Snyder leaves the title as will Animal Man’s once the Rot crossover concludes. By the end of 2013 both books will be heading towards cancellation (sorry Mike).”

Animal Man is about to end, so right you are there. Swamp Thing is still doing okay for us, but I have noticed a slight dip in sales. I’d better start buying four copies of each issue instead of the usual three.

“Batman & Superman will still be wearing their New 52 underwear-less costumes. Bleh.”

Bleh, indeed. Though I don’t mind Batman so much. Even Superman’s costume I’m getting used to, save for that stupid collar.

“Mike Sterling will start another new blog documenting a recently discovered hoard of Alan Moore’s 1980’s tax returns & accounting paperwork during the crucial period he wrote tales concerning one muck-encrusted mockery of a man. On this blog, he also makes room for the dry cleaning receipts of Ernie Bushmiller.”

Well, I am thinking about doing a new site. But what…what could it be?

On that note, I bid you adios ’til tomorrow, where we’ll cover more predictions and maybe I’ll actually research some answers this time. And, if you have any corrections/additional information, feel free to drop ’em in the comments, and we’ll discuss them down the line.

Well, here we are, looking back at your comic industry predictions for 2013. This is probably part one of mumbletymumble, so you’d better get used to it. Also, I’m still looking for 2014 predictions so we can do all this again next year.

LET THE GAMES BEGIN:

Derooftrouser, whose handle I’ve wondered about for years, predicts

“Iron Man 3, Thor 2 and Man of Steel do well at the box office, but not quite as well as expected, and The Wolverine somehow manages to make less money than Origins, leading to lots of headlines going ‘Zap! Pow! Superheroes are Box Office Kryptonite.'”

I think, if anything, Iron Man 3 outdid expectations, being the highest grossing film of 2013 at $1.2 billion worldwide. Of course, some executive somewhere may have slammed his fist down onto his massive desk and shouted “DAMMIT, I wanted $1.3 billion!” Man of Steel made just shy of $700 million in its worldwide take, and the Thor sequel brought in $630 million, which aren’t numbers to sneeze at, surely, but again, someone somewhere was probably hoping for an Avengers-esque phenomenon (particularly in the case of Man of Steel) and didn’t get it.

The Wolverine did about $400 million, which was a bit more than its predecessor…at least worldwide. By U.S. takes alone, The Wolverine is the lowest grossing, but including international ticket sales, it’s solidly in the middle.

At any rate, a whole lot of people who aren’t me are making a lot of money, so let’s move on.

Roger Green greened

“Someone will put a mass killing of children in a comic book, and unlike every other mass killings in comics, this will engender some controversy.”

I was totally ready to say “pretty close to a ‘hit’ there” but the story I was thinking of occurred in 2012. There were a fair share of public controversies over comics this year, but nothing specifically involving that particular topic. Matter of time, probably.

Michael Jones revealed

“I predict that I won’t read any comics over the following year but I’ll continue to enjoy Progressive Ruin.”

Well, I don’t know if Mr. Jones read any comics in 2013, but I know for a fact nobody enjoys this site.

MrJM has a lot to say, and what he says is:

“1. Kal-El’s supertrunks will return.”

Well, kind of. Not in official DC Comics continuity, but there they are in media tie-ins and the continuity-free Adventures of Superman series.

“2. The Dick Tracy comic strip will continue to baffle and entrance me.”

Hey, Joe Staton’s doing the strip! I’m entranced now!

“3. A major newspaper will discover that, ‘Bop! Zip! Comics aren’t just for kids anymore!’ while continuing to run strips that appeal solely to pre-literate children and octogenarians.”

A brief Googling reveals some news stories along those lines, but not too many. No idea if they’re in print or just online, but it’s good to see some old reporting traditions continue.

“4. Bully the Little Stuffed Bull will once again be my favorite superhero.”

Yes. He should be everyone‘s favorite.

“5. Plastic Crimewave’s rock and roll history comics — http://goo.gl/UxhJ1 — will inspire a cartoonist to document other overlooked figures in pop culture.”

No idea if those did specifically, but there are similar projects out there and the more the merrier, sez I.

“6. Marvel will, at long last, acknowledge that the Avengers were co-created by Stan Lee and Walt Disney.”

Geez, I thought everyone knew that.

Dean Hacker schools us with

“1. DC will begin quietly backing away from the new 52. They’ll revive some bits of old continuity and then re-relaunch a character that is a full-blown throw-back. The smart money is on Green Arrow, but don’t rule out Superman.”

Little bits of old continuity creep in here and there (like the pre-New 52 Swamp Thing popping up recently), but no full-on Return to What Was with anyone, far as I can tell.

“2. Marvel will roll out a big wave of cancellations and everyone will start questioning the commitment of the Disney folks to comics as a medium. Then, they’ll kill someone off and everyone will forget.”

Marvel is currently in the process of canceling and relaunching and / or renumbering or whatever the hell it is they’re doing, and I don’t know if they’re trying to shore up the bottom line on their publishing end to keep Disney from cutting it entirely or what.

“3. Image will launch a creator-owned title from a formerly exclusive Big Two talent that will be much bigger than expected.”

Rick Remender used to be exclusive to Marvel, and his recent Image book Black Science opened big, I think. And Matt Fraction was exclusive to Marvel at one point as well, and his Sex Criminals has been in enough demand to warrant reprints of the first three issues (the latest due out this Wednesday at your local comic book shops…and for the love of God, look at that fourth printing of #1!). So, yeah, they’re not Walking Dead-huge or anything (but what is?), but it ain’t too shabby.

“4. Dark Horse will lose the Star Wars license to Marvel, who will promise to roll out a new line of Star Wars comics. It won’t happen. Meanwhile, the Dark Horse folks will replace Star Wars with Battlestar Galactica (or something).”

SO CLOSE. We all figured this was a done deal, but wasn’t officially announced ’til a couple of days into 2014. Too early to say how Marvel will drop the ball on this, or what Dark Horse will do to replace the franchise in their publishing schedule, but check back in 2015 for details!

“5. Superhero movies will start to seem a bit past their prime as at least one hyped Marvel sequel tanks and the rest of the slate disappoints.”

As discussed previously…not yet!

Bill Gatevackes unleashes:

“1. There will be at least 3 more ‘waves’ of the new 52. In one these waves, there will be a Kamandi book,a WWII superhero book, and new take on one of the books that were in an earlier wave yet was cancelled.”

It didn’t feel like there were “waves” of New 52 replacements like there had been in the first couple of years of this particular publishing effort. But sadly, no new Kamandi title, no new WWII title, superhero or otherwise. Nor were there any attempted revivals of previously-deceased New 52 books, but characters like OMAC and Frankenstein did pop up again, frequently, so at least there’s that!

“2. Peter Parker will be dead for the whole year, though the prelude to his inevitable return will begin in the fourth quarter of 2013.”

Still dead, not counting the flashback storyline in the stupidly-numbered Amazing Spider-Man #700.1 – #700.5. I don’t know if they’re dropping hints to Parker’s return in the Superior titles, since I don’t read them. Maybe one of you can tell me.

“3. Marvel will kill of two more major characters in the next year, one will get major press, the other won’t.”

I cheated a bit and Wiki-ed Marvel deaths, and didn’t see any deaths of “major” characters, aside from one or two that will probably be reversed soon, if not already. Anyway, there weren’t any big stinks this year over supposed character deaths at Marvel, which is fine by me. People are tired of that “plot” “development” anyway.

“4. Issues will come out regarding the new Neil Gaiman Sandman series centering on corporate involvement in the creative process. It might actually cause the project to end up being scrapped.”

Well, there were delays, and I guess a signing tour for a book is a kind of corporate interference, but probably not what you meant. It’s still coming out, though!

“5. Image will continue to build on their line of popular, respectable books, and might rise to such a stature that the challenge DC and Marvel for sales dominance. However, unlike the 1990s, this time they wont fade away so quickly.”

Image has certainly put out its fair share of quality books, but (aside from Walking Dead sales) it’s not quite at Big Two sales levels yet. A brief glance at Diamond’s market share charts shows Marvel and DC pretty much neck and neck, with Image a distant third. Still, they’re doing fairly well.

“6. Disney will buy Hasbro, returning G.I.Joe and Transformers comics back to Marvel. IDW will be able to withstand the loss by adding more original content and expanding the licensed content the already have.”

That would have been interesting, and not a bad prediction, but nope! But someday, Disney will own everything and your prediction will, by default, become true, so don’t feel too badly.

“7. This was the first time in history that there were three comic book adaptations in the top ten highest grossing films of the year (The Avengers, The Dark Knight Rises, and The Amazing Spider-Man). In 2013, there will be four films in the list. If not more.”

Well, looking at this list of top films for 2013, there are only two comic book movies that made the top ten cut: Iron Man 3 and Man of Steel, with Thor: The Dark World at #12.

swamp mark gives us:

1. Without Snyder,Swamp Thing will be cancelled around issue #29.He will make guest appearances in JLDark after that until Lemire leaves that book and it is cancelled too.

The solicit for Swamp Thing #29 doesn’t say “LAST ISSUE” and it kicks off a three-parter, so we’re good at least for a little while longer!

2. A Swampy movie will finally be made based on Moore’s work (which he will disavow) which will be a huge sleeper hit and cause DC to start up a half dozen different Swampy titles.

Ah, if only. So I guess we still only have Return of Swamp Thing as the only Swamp Thing movie at least partially based on Alan Moore’s work.

3. Mike and I will be seen dancing in the streets.

Alas, no one saw us. It will only be in our memories, and our memories alone, swamp mark.