Every year, we ask the three big shared universes – DC, Marvel, and Valiant – to listen to our harebrained ideas for how to improve their lines. While sometimes we step backwards into being correct, the point of these is more to express our ideas, frustrations, and hopes for comics that we absolutely love.
That said, we want to know if we were right. Keep reading to see how far our influence traveled this year!
DC:
“Do 5G!” – Zach Wilkerson:
The “will they/won’t they” drama with DC and 5G was palpable. COVID-19 delays, the pulping of the Free Comic Book Day issue, the unexpected and sudden firing of Dan DiDio and the subsequent cancelling of the “Generations” one-shots all led me to believe that the shining promise of 5G was lost. Well, despite whatever Jim Lee has to say, the spirit of 5G seems alive and well in the post “Future State” landscape. Sure, we may never get to see DiDio’s masterful five generation timeline and the Trinity may not be octogenarians, but it seems like the promise of letting fresh new characters share the spotlight with old favorites is going to bear out. Bring on the Infinite Frontier.
Make the 35th Anniversary of “Crisis on Infinite Earths” feel special – Vince Ostrowski
I’m feeling charitable, so I guess I would award DC 1/4 of a point here. They didn’t put an event on the schedule with the word “Crisis” in the title, but they did put out an anti-Crisis in “Dark Nights: Death Metal,” wherein Batman returned to a version of “Crisis on Infinite Earths” in an attempt to undo the apocalyptic destruction of the 52 Earths by the villainous Perpetua. It’s a bit of a stretch to say that DC explicitly celebrated the 35th anniversary of “Crisis,” but “Death Metal” did turn the meaning of the word Crisis on its head while also feeling very much like one. Crises are usually intended to blow everything up so that DC can establish either a tighter continuity, more definitive “rules” about how their universe works moving forward, or to fix problems caused by past events or timelines that no longer make sense. At the time of writing this, we haven’t made it to the end of “Death Metal” yet, but if the covers, clues, and comics to be published after it are any help to figuring it all out, it kind of feels like DC is using a crisis to break all the rules about their universe moving forward. Instead of trying to create order out of 80+ years of chaos, they look to be embracing the chaos more and more. I guess one way of celebrating “Crisis on Infinite Earths” is to recognize that what makes DC great is that nothing necessarily needs to be thrown out.
Make sure “Doomsday Clock” was worth it – Vince Ostrowski
I’m not sure putting out a prestige “Rorschach” book in 2020 has anything to do with “Doomsday Clock” or not, and I’m also not sure it’s worth it. That said, I’ll award DC a half a point here because in 2020, “Aquaman,” “Young Justice,” and “Death Metal” all focused on really paying off some of the promise of “DC Rebirth,” which was the impetus for “Doomsday Clock.” “Aquaman” culminated in Kelly Sue DeConnick orchestrating the wedding of Arthur and Mera. In “Young Justice,” forgotten heroes found a place in the universe again. And in “Death Metal,” the Teen Titans reconciled decades of shifting teams and timelines. This was the promise of “Doomsday Clock”‘s resolution. For all its faults (and gosh, there were many), the final issue of “Doomsday Clock” saw Geoff Johns and Gary Frank lay out a promise that status quos will come and go, but the heroes and stories will always be there for us as long as there’s someone willing to carry the torch. By depicting different Earths constantly budding off of the DC timeline at various major turning points, this creative team crafted a roadmap that opened up infinite possibilities for stories to be told in the DCU. Finally, a way to make nearly perfect sense of all of DC’s wonderful contradictions. The only problem is that there is no guarantee that DC will use that roadmap. I’m optimistic. I guess that’s on my wishlist for 2021.
Continued belowBring “Far Sector” into the greater DCU – Vince Ostrowski
Another half-point for DC here, as Jo Mullein looks to take on a “Future State” role outside of her “Far Sector” miniseries, albeit it is unclear whether it will be temporary or something we can expect more of in the immediate future. In “Future State,” she’s the Green Lantern of the Justice League. How this happened remains to be seen, but DC has been adamant that while “Future State” may only be a temporary status quo, it is absolutely canon. After all, it takes over nearly all the titles for a couple of months. If I had to guess, we’ll see more of Jo in the post-“Future State” status quo, as many of the titles launching in its wake contain the same characters, creative teams, and basic concepts. Whatever the case, “Future State” tells me that DC is interested in an All-New, All-Different Marvel-style expansion of diversity and youth in an effort to spin these properties out into streaming series and movies. I think it’s a slam dunk that Jo Mullein would be a part of something like that.
Feed Me that Good Good Noir – Elias Rosner
*sigh*
Rather than taking this to heart, DC did the opposite when coming out of the pencils-down portion of the pandemic. I can’t blame them much, as the latter half of the year were the books that were supposed to last them until the fall, when things usually get interesting again. So instead of getting anything new, we just got the sunsetting of many of the older titles. But fuck. They sunset the kinds of titles that fit this bill.
They canceled (or failed to extend) brilliant series like “John Constantine: Hellblazer” and “Suicide Squad” — I refuse to believe Taylor only had 11 issues planned, even if he made that shit work — fun romps like “Young Justice,” and weird, fun classic feeling mid-tier books like “Hawkman” and “Justice League Odyssey.” And that’s not even all of them!
“Batgirl” was canceled for crying out loud. BATGIRL. I may not have been as sold on the current direction but you let “Red Hood” survive but cancel BATGIRL?? 2020 didn’t see a single new addition to any imprint either. No Wonder Comics books. No Young Animal. No Hill House. No Jinxworld even. Sandman Universe is one maxi-series and, arguably, they only retitled it because of the pandemic, as G. Willow Wilson was coming on the title anyway. (OK, “Hell & Gone” also counts & “Lucifer” is finishing in trade but the point stands.)
Whatever. 2020 was a wash. ‘Future State’ & beyond looks like it’s gonna be strange and weird and I am very much excited for it. We’ll just have to see if 2021 can do better.
It’s Black Label, Baby – Elias Rosner
As with everything, this gets a big ol’. . .maybe? Black Label is still about as worthless a moniker as ever and 2020 didn’t do anything to fix it. It remains a mix of a singular non-DC character related book/RPG (“The Last God”), a bazillion Batman/Joker titles, a new spin-off universe that makes me roll my eyes so hard they could dent a Lex-o-suit, and sequels to former Vertigo titles (“Sweet Tooth” & “American Vampire.”) Generously you could say “Rorschach” and “Hellblazer: Rise and Fall” were new titles but the only one that really seemed to fit the bill was “Strange Adventures.”
Maybe what Black Label in 2020 really solidified was that every story published under it is, essentially, an Elseworlds tale. Not quite as “what if” as that, though “Wonder Woman: Dead Earth” would disagree, but the canonicity of these books is dubious at best (“The Question: Deaths of Vic Sage” & “Harley Quinn and the Birds of Prey”) and laughably set in a different universe from the main series due to it moving beyond the original stories at worst (“Batman: Three Jokers” and “Batman/Catwoman.”)
But then we got the illuminated textbook that is “The Other History of the DC Universe” and that theory goes out the window.
At least the Batman/Joker percentage went down.
Resolicit the Rachel Pollack Doom Patrol cowards! – Elias Rosner
Continued belowI mean, what did I expect.
Hire More Women – Elias Rosner
Considering this article came out in September, the pandemic kinda stopped them from hiring people in general, and they canceled a bunch of the female-focused titles, I’d say this was a wash. Get your shit together in 2021 DC.
For the Love of God, Don’t Re-Release All Star Batman and Robin – Elias Rosner
Amazon has it listed for 2079 so we have a stay of execution until then!
More Neighborhoods, Less Islands – Brian Salvatore
2020 saw all of DC’s plans kicked down the road a bit, so any overall change to the status quo was abandoned, including my plea to make the books feel more connected by family. That appears to be more in the cards for 2021, with a trimmed down line with the families of books seemingly a little more connected. The idea of the ‘omniverse,’ or whatever DC is calling its new status quo is loosening the strictures on timeline and continuity, and so that may help group certain books/characters together, or it may blow up the idea of continuity for the foreseeable future. Time will tell, I suppose.
Don’t Think “Legion of Super-Heroes” Fills Your Diversity Quota – Brian Salvatore
It is hard to tell exactly who is sticking around post-‘Future State,’ but Tim Fox as Batman and Yara Flor as Wonder Woman are high profile examples of DC, at least theoretically, committing to a more diverse set of characters on the page. Making John Stewart the focus of “Green Lantern” is also a good step, as is putting Naomi on the Justice League. For DC to really make diversity on the page important, however, it has to commit to diversity off the page, too, and that, too, seems like something DC is slowly working towards. I understand that there are people who will say that progress moves slowly, but fuck that. Bite the bullet, DC. There is plenty of room for creators and characters of color without sacrificing the creators you currently value, especially with noted pieces of shit like Scott Lobdell have moved on.
Don’t Fuck Up the JSA – Brian Salvatore
The fact that I basically had to write the same blurb this year shows how poorly this one was handled.
Figure out legacy numbering, appoint more “Heads” (and make some of them women), have Jordan D. White teach a public relations class, experiment with some imprints – Jake Hill
Last year, I really wanted to see Marvel get organized. I had ideas about the numbering of books, how they are marketed, and other principles that would make Marvel easier to follow. None of my ideas transpired… in a way that weirdly honored the spirit of my suggestions. Covid threw Marvel into total disarray. We’re still figuring out if some books were canceled or are just taking a long break. A lot of series went away. But the result is that the Marvel landscape is just a bit easier to parse. Instead of a dozen wild new series that don’t connect to anything, new series tie into some big ideas, making everything easier to read.
Do you have an idea for a book about young superheroes? That’s cool, it ties into the “Outlawed” idea. Maybe your pitch involves mutants? “X-Men” is going strong. The other perennial titles- “Iron Man,” or “Captain America,” and “Thor,” and “Spider-Man”- those are less stable, and finding their footing, but they also haven’t spun off into way too many miniseries… well “Spider-Man” has. But that used to be the rule and not the exception. I guess that seems like the mark of progress.
I also wanted to see the rest of the Marvel universe take cues from the success of “X-Men.” That didn’t exactly happen. There is no “Head of Webs” turning all the spider-titles into an energetic and exciting set of books. In fact what really happened is, we just got more X-titles while other books on the margin vanished. I don’t think “X-Men” makes up half the publishing line yet, but we are headed in that direction. It’s like the 90s all over again. Considering the quality of those books, I can’t complain. But I do hope that the stars align and more series figure out what makes those X-books tick, and bottles that lightning.
Continued belowCan you Cancel Series in Broad Daylight Please? – Elias Rosner
So. . .I don’t really know if this was accomplished. While it is true that Marvel was much better about labeling minis as minis and cancelling series with plenty of notice, the pandemic meant that a bunch of the usual suspects for this kind of cancelation got the axe during the shutdown and then had the final couple issues release digitally and, if they did well enough, finish up their print run. It’s hard to tell if this was gonna happen anyway but it seemed like Marvel was starting to give titles scheduled for ongoing status at least a trade and some time before canning them.
That said, series that never got off the ground were quietly canned, tie-in minis were removed from the schedule, and some titles still have yet to be re-solicited or officially cancelled. It’s a mixed bag and that’s not even getting into the question of how many non-“traditional” (white, male, etc) creators’ books were canned (this was a bigger DC problem it seemed.) But it’s been a long year and I don’t really have the numbers or the energy to dig more so if someone else can, please do.
Don’t Forget Your All-Ages Comics
Disney shopped its all-ages comics out to IDW so while they didn’t forget them, it also feels like they don’t care enough about them to integrate any all-ages titles into their main line. There are plenty of Tween-Teen friendly books but, like, I wouldn’t call either “Miles Morales” or “Amazing Spider-Man” all ages. “Power Pack” may be the only one and that’s a mini.
Maybe next year.
Valiant
Editor’s Note: This year, we did not include Valiant in our Wishlist segment, as their line has gotten inconsistent with release dates and our staff has simply not kept up
Don’t lose Joshua Dysart – Brian Salvatore
The architect of Valiant’s brilliant “Harbinger” saga is a mercurial dude who works at his own schedule and whose books are all the better for it. When the current regime came into Valiant, a lot of their marquee creators walked, and I was hoping, for the sake of the overarching Harbinger tale, that Dysart would stick around. It does not appear to be the case.
Try something new – Brian Salvatore
Valiant published very few books this year, and none of them broke new ground of any kind. So this is another miss.
Have a Faith ongoing – – Brian Salvatore
0/3, it seems.
Put Raúl Allén and Patricia Martin on a Book Again – Elias Rosner
Valiant. . .kinda imploded in 2020? So this didn’t happen, partly cause the only books that were published were “Bloodshot,” “Rai” and, uh, the conclusion to the other minis and partly cause they just weren’t brought back. A damn shame.
Radical Explosions Dude – Elias Rosner
The minis we got were a lot of fun! Ryan Browne on “Quantum and Woody?” Gimme more! But every ongoing (all two of them) is basically punch shoot grrr and while “Rai” is fine, I don’t care for the “4001” world. Didn’t get to read “X-O” since it got super delayed so maybe it will change my mind. Either way, 2020 was not the year of Valiant.
Do More Books like “Faith: Dreamside” and “Doctor Mirage – Elias Rosner
Lol.
Excited Creators, flashy flashy crisis, no, but what are we even doing? – Jake Hill
Oh Valiant. A few years ago I was a gif of that part of Brokeback Mountain where he screams, “I wish I knew how to quit you!” In 2020, I think I read less than a half dozen Valiant issues. Things have changed. The worst part is, the company really seemed to be addressing at least one of my big concerns! But it turned out not to be enough, which is probably a really sad and cynical lesson.
Last year I said I wanted a more connected and coherent line of comics from Valiant. I said I wanted those comics to be by notable creators who seemed to have a lot of passion about their work. And I said that they needed some kind of splashy event to rope me back in. And every time I open (or passingly glance at) a Valiant book, I see the names of cool, talented people. Dannis “Hopeless” Hallum is still going strong, and you can find issues by Cullen Bunn, Dan Abnett, Tim Seeley, and Magdalene Visaggio, and art by people like Brett Booth, Ryan Browne, and Juan Jose Ryp. But that murderer’s row has not been enough to get me excited and back into the books.
There was a Valiant movie in 2020, based on my least favorite Valiant character. I think that captures the problem for me. There’s no strong creative force, no auteur, making it all work. That could be fine for a publisher putting out creator-owned series, but Valiant is supposed to be making a coherent shared superhero universe. If I ever work Valiant back into my pull list, the books need a stronger through-line or every one of them needs to be superlative. If I want good work by these creators, I have plenty of other comics to turn to.
