Every year, we ask the two big shared universes – DC and Marvel – to listen to our harebrained ideas for how to improve their lines. Well, last year we expanded into a few other shared universes, including Valiant, the Mignolaverse, and Black Hammer. 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!
Do Something About Creators’ Royalties
Sadly, after all the smoke last year about comics creators’ royalties, people’s attentions went away because the issue of crunch in the visual effects industry (which Marvel Studios is dependent on) became known to the public, and far more topical. These are two sides of the same coin, of fair compensation for work on the world’s most popular property, and sadly, no one’s willing to press anyone who might be able to anything about the issue on them. – Christopher Chiu-Tabet
Embrace the Power of Tony Leung
The Mandarin hasn’t returned to comics, but Earth-616 Shang-Chi did gain the Ten Rings, so that’s fair I guess, they’re his weapons in the MCU now, and it’s really the spirit of Tony Leung’s great performance that you want to bring to his comics counterpart. I’m glad, for the time being at least, that “Wenwu” and Shang-Chi’s father will remain separate characters in print, meaning no one has to create some awkward retcons, and that a fresh slate is left for whoever eventually decides to revive the Mandarin. – Christopher Chiu-Tabet
“Guardians” by Eidos-Montréal
We didn’t get any new “Guardians” comics this year save for “Cosmic Rewind,” a one-shot tying into the Epcot attraction that opened in May, so that’s a shame. I imagine Embracer Group’s acquisition of the developer might’ve have had an impact on any comic starring their version of the Guardians, if Marvel had been interested; regardless, I’d still love to see the Game Guardians’ story continue in some form. – Christopher Chiu-Tabet
My wish for Marvel to continue to tell small, interconnected stories with the X-Men in the wake of Hickman’s departure has mostly come true. While the line isn’t quite as tightly-knit as it was under Hickman, there has still been some great connectivity, particularly between “Immortal X-Men,” “X-Men Red,” and “X-Men.” The X-Office doesn’t seem as lively as it once did, but the quality of the books seems to be as good or even better than they were in 2021, when the line nearly collapsed under its own weight. It’s not quite as glamorous as it once was, and we may never get to see Hickman’s full plans come to fruition, but at least we still have some good X-Men books. If the past 10 years are anything to go on, that’s certainly a blessing. – Zach Wilkerson
Find Your All-Ages Books
Sadly this did not come to fruition. We got another “Double Trouble” mini-series starting in November but the singles line is still stubbornly geared towards the teen-adult range (without ever truly being MAX levels of adult.) There is hope on the horizon for 2023 with a new “Moon Girl” series and a number of potentially promising minis, as well as a renewed focus on digital comics that I’ve sadly mostly missed, but I’m not holding out hope that we’ll see the kind of boom of quality all-ages books we had in the Marvel NOW era repeat itself. – Elias Rosner
Keep Shit in Print
With the supply chain a wreck and paper prices still high, this not coming true is partially forgivable – DC also had trouble keeping their hardcover omnibuses in stock. Still, it’d be nice if they were still available 4 months after releasing on the market. I know hardcovers are a difficult sell but come on y’all. You’ve got Disney money and the Marvel name. You know they’ll sell well.
I wish I had a better metric for measuring this honestly. It seems like they’re actually keeping trades around for a good while, seeing as how Amazon still has new copies of the paperback Complete Editions of Jason Aaron’s Thor run, but that’s just one book among many and a re-re-re-release at that. It still doesn’t feel like they have a strong stock of their older comics in print and until that’s true, or until I have real numbers as to stock length of paperbacks, I’m gonna grouse about it. – Elias Rosner
Continued below“Guardians” by Hickman
Well. We’ve yet to even get a “Guardians” series at all and only a teaser as to what Hickman’s next book is so until that’s announced to make it official, I’m calling this one a bust. – Elias Rosner
Jane Foster Rides Again
There were a couple Jane Foster minis this year but no ongoings, sadly. I really hope that the lackluster response to Thor: Love & Thunder wasn’t what ended up making Jane’s adventures as Valkyrie come to an end. Maybe she’s just a character that has to live like Hellboy for a bit, jumping from mini to mini? I’d love it if she became a mainstay of the main “Thor” title or even took it over again. With Torunn on that book right now, there’s certainly a non-zero chance of that. Or, it would be true, if she wasn’t billed as a guest writer.
Sigh. – Elias Rosner
Don’t Worry About the Movies
This one is hard to gauge, because it’s a request with a lot of wiggle room. Naturally, Marvel releases comics connected to the latest movies, because those will sell and drum up interest. But at the same time, when movies change things, we don’t want the comics to retcon themselves to match exactly what the movies do. And fortunately, that hasn’t been an issue this year. Ms. Marvel continues to be an Inhuman, even with the Disney+ series changing her origin. T’Challa continues on in the comics, in spite of the movie version passing on with Chadwick Boseman (may he rest in peace). And while the Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special just recently aired (so spoiler alert for those who haven’t watched it yet), I’m going to make a call now and say it’s unlikely that Peter and Mantis are suddenly going to be related in the comics as well.
So I’m going to call this one a win. – Robbie Pleasant
More Avengers Variety
Considering this year has shown us a huge variety of multiversal Avengers, I would say that yes, we got a lot of variety. But also, they’re almost all variants of established and popular Avengers; a hundred different Steves, different versions of Carol Danvers, and so on. There’s also a range of legacy characters from the past and alternate timelines – multiple Starbrands, Ghost Riders, even a prehistoric Moon Knight.
Fortunately, this one isn’t a “technically yes,” because the Avengers roster has also been switched up a bit. Valkyrie is now on the team, as is Namor, Maya Lopez as the Phoenix, and even Nighthawk. While most of the core members remain (Iron Man, Thor, Cap, etc), there’s been enough rotation to keep things fresh. – Robbie Pleasant
Outside the main Avengers team, there’s technically the “Savage Avengers,” but… there’s not really much that can be said about them, since they’re mostly just trying to survive and get back to their own timeline. They scarcely be considered an Avengers team, all things considered.
Still, I got what I asked for. – Robbie Pleasant
Jeff
“It’s Jeff” returned to Marvel Infinity in September, so thankfully, we are getting more Jeff the Land Shark. So far, that’s all we’ve really been getting from Jeff this year, but with a new “Deadpool” ongoing starting, maybe we’ll get even more of everyone’s favorite land shark. If not, then at least the infinity comic will tide us over until Jeff takes his rightful place as the best-selling comic in Marvel history, complete with an award-winning MCU trilogy. – Robbie Pleasant
Get the “Squirrel Girl” Team On a Book
This was always a bit of a long-shot so while I’m sad it didn’t happen, I’m not too shocked. Perhaps in the next couple years (or beyond) we’ll be able to get the team on something, since Lemire’s planned things out through 2024 and then will be shrinking the “Black Hammer”-verse titles for a bit.
Madame Butterfly Horror Anthology
OK. So. This didn’t happen but it did get announced. Kinda. Sorta.
First I should admit that I got Madame Dragonfly’s name wrong in the title last year. I’ve preserved it here for posterity. Of course we were never going to get a “Black Hammer” Madame Butterfly series. As for a “Madame Dragonfly” series, Lemire announced in his Tales from the Farm newsletter that Dean Ormston will be drawing the series and it’ll be coming out in 2024. Hopefully. So while this isn’t the “visions” style EC-comic anthology I was hoping for, I still count this as a win. I mean, what was I going to do? Say a new series with Ormston’s art was bad??? Heaven forbid.
Continued belowExplore the Pre-Superhero Era
None of this yet but perhaps in a post “phase 3” book? Right now he’s very much concerned with wrapping up the story of Black Hammer, the superhero mantle, and less with expanding the world too much more. That’s fine with me, even if it does make me sad we won’t see Lemire’s take on pirate comics or whatnot anytime soon.
More Barbalien by Brombal and Walta
Disappointingly we didn’t get a book by Brombal and Walta this year or a Barbalien book. We did, however, get an announcement for a non-“Black Hammer” Walta & Lemire book AND the Brombal-written “Colonel Weird and Little Andromeda” series serialized through the newsletter. I, sad to say, have yet to read that series since I wasn’t a paid subscriber. I am excited to check the hardcover out though. Again, while it would be really cool to have them reunite, I’m glad to see them working on more projects with Lemire separately.– Elias Rosner
An animated Hellboy Universe series
I would’ve been extremely surprised if this one happened (or if it ever happens). Never say never and all that, but this one really felt like a wish, y’know?
New Lobster Johnson
This one, however, actually came true, though in a very unexpected way with the Lobster showing up as a fever-induced hallucination in “Young Hellboy: Assault on Castle Death.” And it was even from writer Thomas Sniegoski as I’d hoped. I still have my fingers crossed for a Sky Devil and the Lobster story at some point. And I’d still like to find out when the Lobster went to Chicago and why. (I assume it has something to do with the Heliopic Brotherhood of Ra. . . )
Deluxe editions of the novels
Another one that didn’t happen, and I don’t think is likely to happen, at least not anytime soon. That said, there are some interesting things happening in the comics now that started in the novels. For example. . .
Anastasia Bransfield
So, yeah, I called this one! Anastasia is in the comics now, running around chasin’ goblins with Hellboy in “Hellboy in Love,” a series that is literally wish fulfilment for me. And there’s more coming in 2023. Wait till you see Matt Smith’s cover for issue #4. It’s fantastic. If this was the only thing on my wishlist to come true, I’d still be thrilled.
A return to the Outerverse
We’ve had at least one Outerverse title every year since 2010, but this year the chain was broken. And for good reason! Artist Bridgit Connell had a baby. After having a few years now of comics being delayed because of bad news, usually COVID related, this delay genuinely makes me happy. That said, keep your eyes peeled. I get a feeling the Outerverse will be back in 2023.
Short stories, original graphic novels, and library editions
2022 continued as 2021 had, putting out some great one-shots but no short stories. As I said in my wishlist, the short stories have an ebb and flow. They always come back eventually. We didn’t get any OGNs either, but I’ll hold hope for this yet. (I still think “The Sarah Jewell Mysteries” would be fantastic in this format.) We didn’t get any new Hellboy library editions, but we did get an “Amazing Screw-On Head and Other Curious Objects” library edition for the comic’s twentieth anniversary and there’s a “Our Encounters with Evil” library edition coming out next week, so that’s rather splendid.
Surprises
2022 had quite a few surprises. I was expecting a story with Sara May Blackburn, but I didn’t expect she’d get her own miniseries. The British Paranormal Society has been kicking around the Hellboy Universe since the beginning, but even so, I never expected to see it get its own series. Oh, and of course there was “The Sword of Hyperborea,” which leaves the door open for several characters to be explored elsewhere. Hopefully we’ll be seeing more Graf Ling de Gotha. . . And then there was “Frankenstein: New World.” Frankenstein takes up the Hyperborean blade! Frankenstein explores the New World! And other stuff that I can’t talk about yet, because the last issue isn’t out till late December!
Continued belowLike I said last year, my number one item on my Mignolaversity wishlist is the thing that I don’t even know about yet. And the biggest surprise for me ended up being “Leonide the Vampyr.” It is such a wonderful series, and among my best reading experiences of the year.
I cannot wait to see what surprises 2023 brings. – Mark Tweedale
I’m honestly not sure what to write in reaction to last year’s wish-list. Everything I suggested didn’t come close to materializing in any meaningful way. Valiant as a publishing entity is doing at best one book a month, when it isn’t trying to scam on NFT bullshit. Whatever value that outfit had is being hollowed out in an attempt to strip mine it for parts. All my suggestions about looking at the book market and crowdfunding would be useful if the infrastructure was in place to capitalize. Valiant as it is currently structured is not interested in being an actual publisher of comics. There is no reason to read or consider Valiant going forward with the large variety and easy access of comics today. – Michael Mazzacane
DC:
Highlight a Wider Range of Characters
I’m going to say yes and no. DC included a wider range of characters, but didn’t really highlight too many of them. The most we got to see out of a larger cast of characters was in the pages of “Dark Crisis,” where Jon Kent pulled together a new Justice League out of the surviving superheroes, and it was great to see such a wide variety there! (And I’m not just saying that because Blue Beetle and Booster Gold were among them.) Unfortunately, they didn’t really get to do much outside of be in some big fight scenes, so I wouldn’t really call that “highlighting.”
But hey, we’ve got a new Justice Society comic starting, so maybe that’s about to change. – Robbie Pleasant
Don’t Forget Kong Kenan
Technically yes, they didn’t forget him. He makes some appearances when we get the wider Super-family groups, like in the backup stories in “Action Comics.” So he’s there and acknowledged by his fellow Supers, which is technically what I asked for. Let’s just hope he gets more to do in 2023, whether as part of Superman’s fellow heroes or in his own stories. – Robbie Pleasant
Maybe Give Us a Good Future For Once?
Well, considering “Future State: Gotham” continued to run throughout most of the year, and we haven’t really been taken to any utopic futures, I’m going to mark this one as a “no.” We got a “Batman Beyond” story, but that was even set further off in Tony’s future, and it still sucked for him. And I get it – if everything becomes safe and nice, then there’s no more need for the superheroes. There’s not much you can get in the way of stories out of that. But at the same time, it would be nice to know that there’s a future worth fighting for, instead of seeing how the heroes just make everything worse. – Robbie Pleasant
Don’t Forget Your International Fans
DC Universe Infinite did finally launch outside North America, but only as a mobile app, which is not how I prefer to read comics. My wish was most certainly granted, but in a fairly hasty manner, and with the Ultra tier’s arrival, it feels even more behind what it should be. Hopefully, things will improve over the next year. – Christopher Chiu-Tabet
Do a MonsterVerse Crossover
It was a long-shot, but we got “Godzilla vs. the Mighty Morphin Power Rangers” instead, so that’s OK right? – Christopher Chiu-Tabet
Keep the Line Paired Down
Sadly, I can’t really comment on whether or not they did this. I fell behind on DC comics this year thanks to life getting busy and ComiXology, where I normally read DC comics, became such a noxious place to read and find comics that I gave up entirely and only recently was able to catch up with a couple mainstays. From what I could see from the outside however, the spirit of this idea was not kept particularly well.
Continued below“Dark Crisis” fractured the line again while the Wonder Woman books were…convoluted and the Batman side was, well, the Batman side, it feels like things are becoming a little unwieldy again. Lots of random minis, interruptions, and gimmicks. Maybe I’m wrong and Brian and the DC3 boys are going to have my head for this. I trust my gut though. – Elias Rosner
Keep the Anthologies and Backups
They did it! They survived until the end of the year! Not longer, it seems, at least for the anthologies; I’m happy that backups seem to be going strong in the main books, if the covers are anything to go by. Sadly the titles I was thinking of when I made this, the likes of “Batman: Urban Legends” or even “Gotham: Future State” are finishing up soon and nothing seems to be taking their places.
Or at least I don’t think anything is taking their place. There’s rumblings that “Action Comics” is going to be split into multiple stories and I am here for that. With Discovery being DC’s new papa, anything is possible. Including the complete implosion of the company. Whoops! – Elias Rosner
Don’t Be Afraid to Get Weird and Dark AND Goofy and Fun
As I said at the start, I really fell off the DC train this year. Even more than the above points, that hurts my ability to judge whether this was true or not. I’m still going to try.
From what I can gather from a brief look at the titles, there were plenty of books that fit the bill in 2022. “Justice League Dark” may have ended but “The Joker” was kicking for a while and so was “Task Force Z.” We got “Multiversity: Teen Justice” and “The Jurassic League.” And a Gene Luen Yang book with “Monkey King!”
OK, looking more closely there weren’t nearly as many “goofy and fun” titles as there were “weird and dark” but if both “Sandman: Nightmare Country” and “The New Champion of Shazam!” can exist side by side and both be hits, then I think DC’s on the right track.– Elias Rosner
Let Tom King Rest
Sigh. – Elias Rosner
Give N. K. Jemisin Carte Blanche on One Series
Sigh. – Elias Rosner
The monkey’s paw really curled when it came to my DC wishes from last year. Yes, we technically got a big space story in the form of the Warworld Saga, but that ended up being a big bloated mess. Green Lantern sat out for most of the year and Bendis’s capstone on the Legion seemed a bit of a dud.
We did actually get a significant refocusing on Wildstorm this year, with the announcement of a new WildC.A.T.S. book, a 30th anniversary special, and an upcoming Black Label book. Too band the WildC.A.T.S. book is one of the worst things I’ve read in a minute. I don’t think I should do these wishlists anymore. – Zach Wilkerson
If the line will stay small, let the casts continue to grow
DC’s line didn’t grow by leaps and bounds this past year, but some of the more packed with characters books did go away: “Teen Titans Academy,” “Justice League,” “Green Lantern.” But when new books popped up, they tended to be more full of characters than books of 5 or 10 years ago: The short-lived but fun “Aquamen” is a great example of this, as is “Batgirls” and “Justice Society of America.” Plus, books like “The Flash” and “Action Comics” have been consistently growing their casts and making those corners of the universe feel fuller. I’ll call this a mostly-win. – Brian Salvatore
Don’t Let the Youth and Diversity Movement Fade Out
Like so much of my 2021 list, this was yet another way to say, “please keep ‘Teen Titans Academy’ going!” But, of course, that didn’t happen. But in other ways, this was a very successful wish. We saw both Tim Drake and Jon Kent come out as bisexaul and prominent roles for characters of color like Monkey Prince, Jace Fox, and Yara Flor. But for every step forward, there’s one back. We haven’t seen many new creators of color join DC and, even when we have creators of color like Christopher Priest working on titles, they are often off to the side and not part of central thesis of what DC is all about at the time. On and off the page, there is still a lot more to do. – Brian Salvatore
Continued belowGive Tim Sheridan More to Do
Well, about that…the more to do was “Flashpoint Beyond.” Yikes. – Brian Salvatore
Give Jeremy Adams More to Do
You’re not going to believe this, but……the more to do was “Flashpoint Beyond.” Double Yikes. – Brian Salvatore
Continue the Justice League Backups, but Vary the Team
Neither the book nor the backups lasted, sadly. That said, I wouldn’t be surprised if this premise doesn’t return at some point. – Brian Salvatore
Honestly? Just Keep It Up
Let’s call this another mixed win. Some books, like “The Flash” and the newly launched “Batman/Superman World’s Finest” kept the quality high, a lot of the other books got stale. Not bad mind you, but not that interesting. A few times, a new creative team didn’t solve the problem either, like over on “Detective Comics.” But, with the ‘Dawn of DC’ launching in January, it seems like a a good opportunity to give everything a fresh coat of paint. Let’s hope so. – Brian Salvatore
