Comics are Awesome III

[Dominic]

And, some reports have "Secret Wars" not wrapping up until December. (That report may have been mis-keyed, as it listed issue 8 as shipping in November.) Either way, "All New, All Different" is apparently launching in October, "Secret Wars" be damned.

Looks like Marvel and DC are both stumbling. Though, to be fair, dropping titles is not really that big of a deal. (Figure it this way, DC is under a microscope. At this point, they cannot launch or cancel a series without people calling them on it.)

Doomed, Gotham By Midnight, Omega Men, Lobo, Justice League United, Batman '66, Sensation Comics featuring Wonder Woman, and Green Lantern: Lost Army.

The bat and GL books may well be a question of a saturated market. "Lobo" and "Omega Men" are perennial "get a series following a reboot, or every so often otherwise, and then get cancelled" series. "Batman 66" assumed that people would not only get the joke, but appreciate it over any real length of time. (Remember the mock Twinkie ad from "Spider-Verse", or the newspaper strip parody? Would either have warranted more than a a single issue at most? The joke was over and done on the single *page* that each got.) Ditto for "Sensation Comics".

"Earth 2 Society" is still around though? Did not see that coming.

[andersonh1]

I'll hate to see Batman '66 end. That's been a fun book. Jeff Parker has clearly done all he can with the tv villains though, since he's been introducing other DC characters into the '66 universe, so maybe the book has run its course. Still, as one book I look forward to every month, I'll be sorry to see it go.

GL Lost Army is surprising if it's cancelled already. I didn't think sales were that bad by DC's current standards, and it's been a solid story so far.

[Sparky Prime]

And, some reports have "Secret Wars" not wrapping up until December. (That report may have been mis-keyed, as it listed issue 8 as shipping in November.)

Last I saw, Marvel was actually increasing the number of issues in Secret Wars making it a 9 issue series instead of 8. Issue 9 is scheduled for release in December.

The bat and GL books may well be a question of a saturated market.

There are certainly plenty of Bat books on the shelves, but GL only has 3 titles between the main book, Sinestro and Lost Army, which will now be down to just the 2 titles. Not to mention, Lost Army has been selling pretty well. In August, it ranked in at #79 on the sales chart. Strangely, DC is claiming Lost Army was always meant to be a mini-series, but the solicitations never established that and the writer saying that he didn't get the chance to wrap up the story would indicate it was meant to be an ongoing.

[Dominic]

Okay, now, I am annoyed.

When I heard about the delays for "Secret Wars", I did not really complain. If nothing else, I was so far behind that the delays would not really impact my reading. As of right now, I am still very much behind on reading SW.)

Thus, as a series that was supposed to be over and done in September was pushed back through October and well into November, I held my tongue.

But, now, Marvel is announcing a whole new issue and effectively dragging "Secret Wars" in to December? Is the new issue a tacked on addition? Is it the result of heavy edits to issues 7 and/or 8 (which would explain the delays)? Was it planned and kept "secret" as a "surprise" from the beginning?

It really does not matter. "Secret Wars" was supposed to be dominating, but relatively fast, over and done by early fall (at the latest, allowing for some delays). Now, it will take more than 6 months.

And, "All New, All Different" is starting almost 2 months before "Secret Wars" resolves.

This is the kind of stupid bull-shit that I would expect from DC.

There are certainly plenty of Bat books on the shelves, but GL only has 3 titles between the main book, Sinestro and Lost Army, which will now be down to just the 2 titles. Not to mention, Lost Army has been selling pretty well. In August, it ranked in at #79 on the sales chart. Strangely, DC is claiming Lost Army was always meant to be a mini-series, but the solicitations never established that and the writer saying that he didn't get the chance to wrap up the story would indicate it was meant to be an ongoing.

It is a question of what the market can handle. Batman will sell better than other properties. Green Lantern might top out at 3 series.

I do agree that DC claiming "Lost Army" was always meant to be a limited series does not ring true.

[Sparky Prime]

It is a question of what the market can handle. Batman will sell better than other properties. Green Lantern might top out at 3 series.

I don't think so. Before Convergence there had been 5 Lantern series, 4 of which had been around since the launch of the New 52. And like I said before, Lost Army was selling pretty well. Actually, it's been selling better than the Sinestro series. Seems to me the market for the book was good, so I don't understand why DC would cancel it.

[andersonh1]

GL Lost Army #4
Dead series walking, right? And it's too bad, because it's a good story. The issue picks up where the last one left off, with Arisia suffocating/freezing/suffering from exposure to outer space due to all the power being drained from her ring by the light pirates. John rescues her temporarily, but despite putting up a good fight, his group of Lanterns are captured by the pirates. John wakes up in a cell, where he learns that Salakk is also imprisoned, and that the light pirates did not leave the captives to die in space because they want to drain all the emotional energy they can from them, which will kill them. Thanks to Bd'g, the squirrel/alien GL, who is small enough to fit through the maintenance passages in the walls, John puts together an escape plan. For the first time, we get a discussion between John and the others about just who might have sent them to this universe and why, though we don't have an answer yet. Where are the Templar Guardians in all of this?

I hate that there are only two issues left. Putting these characters in a dying universe and making them fight to survive has made for good drama, and the setting itself is an interesting one. A dying universe with its versions of the Lantern Corps fighting themselves and others for the rapidly diminishing resources creates a nicely desperate scenario. It seems like such a waste not to keep exploring it.

Doctor Who Ninth Doctor #1
Doctor Who in print rarely interests me. I think it works best as a performed medium with the actors making the show work. In addition, tenth and eleventh Doctor comics aren't all that exciting simply because David Tennant and Matt Smith had plenty of episodes, so it feels like we had a good chance to get to know their version of the Doctor. Not so with Christopher Eccleston, who only stayed for one season, so a mini-series featuring his Doctor seemed worth checking out. Set after the events of "The Empty Child/The Doctor Dances", the story features the 9th Doctor, Rose and Captain Jack going to visit a planet, only to find it gone, with the Doctor unable to understand how that happened since it doesn't match with his records of that particular time. The three of them end up caught in a fight between two alien races, and Rose ends up separated from the other two, providing the cliffhanger ending. Likenesses for the characters are reasonable, with Rose probably suffering the most "generic" appearance of the three. It's setup and action, so it's a typical first chapter. It does evoke some of the flavor of that first season, and since it's a mini-series, I'm inclined to keep reading.

[Sparky Prime]

I hate that there are only two issues left. Putting these characters in a dying universe and making them fight to survive has made for good drama, and the setting itself is an interesting one. A dying universe with its versions of the Lantern Corps fighting themselves and others for the rapidly diminishing resources creates a nicely desperate scenario. It seems like such a waste not to keep exploring it.

Yeah, this is easily a more interesting title than the main GL book, not to mention potential to expand on Relic and the whole Emotional Reservoir thing that I really think the story could use. I'm disappointed they're cutting it short. Unfortunately, I get the impression they're going to make a quick return to status quo. It's the only reason I can think of why they'd cancel a book that's performing well.

In other news, one canceled DC title is getting a reprieve... sort of. Omega Men was announced to be ending with issue 7, but Lee and DiDio have said it will now be ending with issue 12 instead because they promised fans it would have 12 issues and have decided to stick to that commitment.

[JediTricks]

Star Wars Kanan 4 and 5 - finishing out the arc, the story had finally gotten interesting in #3 and stayed interesting is 4, but unfortunately had to compress the actual interesting part to get us to the end of the arc, which was based on some pretty dodgy character work that will resonate throughout the canon (all new Marvel comics are in-canon) for clones, namely that Order 66 was a momentary thing, not an ongoing one. This leads to a moment that finishes the tale which borders on deus ex machina, and also requires a visual narration that the character we're in the memory of can't know. I dunno how to call this.

Batman '66 #24 - Marsha, Queen of Diamonds is not a villain we need more of, her story is so generic and repetitive. This was fine, a few good gags, art was nice except a few off-model secondary characters, but nothing overall dazzled (pun intended). Plus, the poor Batmobile. Still, if this is to be part of its last gasp, I'll be sad to lose the series.

Rick and Morty #1 - tongue in cheek and a fairly wry writing style can't save what's essentially an unimaginative comic book that lifts too hard from its source material without understanding WHY that stuff is what it is. And ending on a serialized cliffhanger did nothing to draw me into looking at the next issue.

[Dominic]

Star Wars Kanan 4 and 5 - finishing out the arc, the story had finally gotten interesting in #3 and stayed interesting is 4, but unfortunately had to compress the actual interesting part to get us to the end of the arc, which was based on some pretty dodgy character work that will resonate throughout the canon (all new Marvel comics are in-canon) for clones, namely that Order 66 was a momentary thing, not an ongoing one. This leads to a moment that finishes the tale which borders on deus ex machina, and also requires a visual narration that the character we're in the memory of can't know. I dunno how to call this.

Sounds pretty sloppy. Who is writing this?

The pattern I am noticing is that Marvel/Disney is putting a-list talent on the "Star Wars" series. But, that talent may well be working under too many mandates to do their jobs well. "Darth Vader" had a scene that read like "somebody wanted Vader to visit with Jabba in the first issue dammit", which was far beneath Gillen. The impossible flashback you mention may have been similar. ("We need to show this, here, even if it does not make any good sense.")


-edit: Just read your review at SSG.

That's a pretty deep shift, it asks a lot of the audience to accept that the clones are still "good guys" who only had a momentary, forced lapse in judgement, yet still serve blindly without that programming's influence. Do they serve the Galactic Senate or only the Chancellor? Do they have qualms about the blatantly wrong acts they're ordered to do? If they served on the Death Star and were deceived into serving, does that not invalidate the moral victory that Luke and the Rebel Alliance enjoys in the destruction of that facility? A lot of potential ramifications come out of that change.

I am not sure it is as deep a shift as you are saying.

I assumed that Order 66 was a contingent order, planning for the sort of thing that nobody likes to think/talk about but those in power need to consider.

Consider "Case Red" (a US plan to invade Canada that was considered viable until WWII). Similarly, the Feds and military do have plans to put the US under martial law if things break down too much. (Soldiers will be stationed away from the areas they are native to, to maintain loyalty to the Feds, not local institutions.) These are not tin-foil hat stories. They are "worst case scenario" plans.

I always figured that Order 66 was some kind of contingency against a coup or other mischief from the Jedi. (It would be a terrible enough prospect that the Republic would have been lax not to account for the possibility.) If we assume that the Chancellor is the Senate (as he identifies himself in Episode III), then serving one is serving the other. And, following orders would be a result of training/conditioning more than brain-washing.

"Innocent parties on the Death Star" has been a question among fans for decades.

[JediTricks]

Sounds pretty sloppy. Who is writing this?

The pattern I am noticing is that Marvel/Disney is putting a-list talent on the "Star Wars" series. But, that talent may well be working under too many mandates to do their jobs well. "Darth Vader" had a scene that read like "somebody wanted Vader to visit with Jabba in the first issue dammit", which was far beneath Gillen. The impossible flashback you mention may have been similar. ("We need to show this, here, even if it does not make any good sense.")

Greg Weisman, which makes it that much worse. Like you said, he's quality talent but it feels like there are Marvel/Disney constraints put on this already.

I am not sure it is as deep a shift as you are saying.

I assumed that Order 66 was a contingent order, planning for the sort of thing that nobody likes to think/talk about but those in power need to consider.

Consider "Case Red" (a US plan to invade Canada that was considered viable until WWII). Similarly, the Feds and military do have plans to put the US under martial law if things break down too much. (Soldiers will be stationed away from the areas they are native to, to maintain loyalty to the Feds, not local institutions.) These are not tin-foil hat stories. They are "worst case scenario" plans.

I always figured that Order 66 was some kind of contingency against a coup or other mischief from the Jedi. (It would be a terrible enough prospect that the Republic would have been lax not to account for the possibility.) If we assume that the Chancellor is the Senate (as he identifies himself in Episode III), then serving one is serving the other. And, following orders would be a result of training/conditioning more than brain-washing.

Order 66 isn't a contingency, it's a crucial part of Palpatine's Sith plot to destroy the Jedi and rule the galaxy. While the pre-prequel days made it seem as if Palpatine changed the will of the Republic to shift against the Jedi which helped justify hunting them down, the prequels put that entirely on the backs of the clone troopers. Order 66 didn't need a set of circumstances framing the Jedi for evil deeds to shift the minds of the troopers (the prequel-era EU does have this tiny motivational seed buried in their news feeds suggesting that the Jedi Order stole babies against the will of their people, but that didn't come close to getting touched upon in the canon films), it didn't need to mock up a betrayal by the Jedi; all that had to happen was Palpatine to utter the words "execute order 66" and the minds of the clones, who for some had been close and friendly with their Jedi generals, immediately and without hesitation became trained to kill all Jedi without a hint of conscience. There's no pretense of the Jedi being traitors for the clones, that only comes later with the Senate; and of course, there couldn't be because otherwise the Jedi would have felt the clones' distrust of them, there could be no order in their active minds which read "kill your generals" lest the Jedi see it through their mysticism.

"Innocent parties on the Death Star" has been a question among fans for decades.

I know, and it's been fairly easy to dismiss them up until now because the vast majority of those on the Death Star were evil stormtroopers. Now though it appears that they may have been tricked by biology into being there and actually have consciences that weren't heard.