Wednesday, 10 October 2012

From Secret Six To Hitman: A Baker's Dozen Of Much-Missed Super-People Comics Cancelled Since The Millenium

In which the blogger offers up a baker's dozen of much-missed, cruelly cancelled superhero comic-books from the Big Two since the turn of the Millennium. Other publishers and genres will appear in a later list, from both before and since the year 2000. For the sake of brevity, what follows doesn't include the likes of mini-series, tenures which came to their intended close, media tie-ins which reached the end of their shelf-life, or interrupted runs by creative teams who were bumped from continuing titles.   

The list begins with the most recently-cancelled title, and ends with the most distant termination.

1SECRET SIX, by Gail Simone, Nicola Scott et al - cancelled 2011

 
2THOR THE MIGHTY AVENGER, by Roger Langridge, Chris Samnee et al, cancelled 2011


    3S.W.O.R.D., by Kieron Gillen, Steve Sanders et al - cancelled 2010


4CAPTAIN BRITAIN AND MI-13, by Paul Cornell, Leonard Kirk et al, cancelled 2009


5. SHE-HULK, by Dan Slott et al, cancelled 2009

   
6. Agents Of Atlas, by Jeff Parker et al, cancelled 2009

        
7. The Irredemable Ant-Man, by Robert Kirkman, Phil Hester et al, cancelled 2007

        
8. Spider-Man Loves Mary Jane, by Sean McKeever, Takeshi Miyazawa et al, cancelled 2007

     
9. Gotham Central, by Ed Brubaker, Greg Rucka, Michael Lark et al, cancelled 2006


      
10. X-Force/X-Statix by Peter Milligan, Mike Allred, Darwyn Cooke et al, cancelled 2004

      
11. Black Panther, by Christopher Priest et al, cancelled 2003


12. Orion, by Walt Simonson et al, cancelled 2002

    
13. Hitman, by Garth Ennis, John McCrea et al, cancelled 2001

       
As is always true where the contents of the weekly lists on TooBusyThinking are concerned, your own thoughts would be very welcome.

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42 comments:

  1. Colin, I share your laments about most of the dearly departed titles on your list - the only reason I don't say "all" is because there were a few books that I never got properly acquanited with (although I'm sure I would've loved them if I had). In the case of HITMAN, however, I was always under the impression that Ennis and McCrea ended the title on their own terms, as oppposed to DC's. Or am I wrong on that score?

    And just to add to your list of titles: Andreyko and Saiz's MANHUNTER; Giffen, Rogers, and Hamner's BLUE BEETLE; Tobin's MARVEL ADVENTURES...these are all off the top of my head, so I'm sure that there are some that I'm forgetting...!

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    1. Hello Anthony:- I find it entirely probable that I've got the wrong end of the stick re: Hitman. I only started to enjoy the book on the recommendations of several kind commentors here, so my knowledge of the comic is largely after the fact. If that's so, then I suspect the second version of Xombi ought to be moved up into the list. I've been reading the first few issues of that today and it's rather splendid so far.

      By which I mean, I appear to be guilty of not supporting several books which I ought to have :-(

      I was fond of Manhunter and Blue Beetle, though I found the monthlies too thin for my taste and enjoyed them in TPB form instead. (I read the collection in which Kate defends Wonder Woman just this last weekend again.) Tobin's MARVEL ADVENTURES I fear I know nothing about at all.

      HOW MANY COMICS HAVE I SHAMEFULLY BEEN PARTY TO THE DEATH OF?

      The shame of it all ...

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    2. Tobin's MARVEL ADVENTURES is more several books he did for the M.A. line. Avengers, Spider-Man, Fantastic Four and the "whoever I feel like writing about this month" Super Heroes. The whole M.A. line-up was all-ages, continuity light and generally about as fun and far from..lets call it the Bendis-era Marvel books as you could get...

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    3. Hello LurkerWithout- Thanks for the advice. To my shame, I barely even heard of the Marvel Adventures books by Tobin, beyond a few mentions on this very blog. It sounds great, I'll be keeping my eyes open for it.

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    4. The Tobin Marvel Adventures run I hear brought up often, if at all, is usually his Marvel Adventures Spider-Man, which ran from #53-61 of volume 1 and #1-24 of volume 2 (the title was altered to Spider-Man Marvel Adventures). I thought volume 2 gets somewhat uneven halfway through the run because of a mandated story format change that necessitated dropping all subplots.

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    5. Hello there:- Thank you for the direction :) It's much appreciated!

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  2. Such...Good...Books! And I have to agree with Anthony about Blue Beetle and Manhunter, which were fabulous. And Nextwave. God I miss Nextwave.

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    1. Hello Sally:- I think I must have been in one of my more over-serious periods when I came across Nextwave. It was the period of my enforced retirement, and I fear my sense of humour wasn't as pronounced as I prefer to believe it normally is. I'll go hunt down the collections at the back of one cupboard or another. The odd thing is, I didn't enjoy Nextwave much at the time, and yet, when I recall any aspect of the book, I find myself smiling.

      Something wrong there. I must go investigate :)

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    2. To throw myself into someone else's conversation (coughcoughahem) -- like a lot of comedies, Nextwave took a little while to find its voice. The first few issues were dire, and oh sweet jeebus, nothing's as painful as failed comedy. Then Ellis hit his groove, and we got skateboarding Mindless Ones and the new and improved Devil Dinosaur, all gold. Comedy is so much about tone and character that it's rare you can get it working right out of the gate.

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    3. Hello Harvey:- Devil Dinosaur I recall, but skateboarding Mindless Ones? I can't have read that, because I wouldn't ever have forgotten it.

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  3. I'll add Nextwave to the list- I helped kill it, only buying the trades- and Incredible Hercules. I still haven't read the last 2 or 3 trades, but the trades I have are good fun. Oh, and I liked Jeff Parker's Exiles series and wish it got at least one more story arc before getting the axe. And The Order! Matt Fraction & Barry Kitson got me invested in the characters, enjoying the stories, then poof!

    I've read most of the comics you listed, and think it's a shame so many great comics didn't catch on. At least we live in the era in which everything gets collected and rereleased.

    - Mike Loughlin

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    1. Hello Mike: By chance, Sally mentioned Nextwave in the comment just above. Perhaps I might direct to my reply to her there? Suffice to say, I think I've probably got that judgment wrong.

      Incredible Hercules is a very good call, although the individual issues could be a touch thin for my taste. What's needed is an Omnibus of those issues, a great thick, use-up-all-your-book-tokens doorstop collection. Because I too am a tpb or four behind. I was particularly taken by the Secret Invasion crossover, which really took the book into some unexpected, smart territory.

      Exiles passed me entirely, but the local library has copies flying around. I'll check it out. The Order I enjoyed in the day, but I've not thought to check it out since. I will do.

      You're so right to emphasise the privilege of an age when even the cancelled comics might very well get collected. Mind you, some of those recent collections can sell out fast and become really expensive. I was trying to track down Kieron Gillen's Beta Ray Bill collection the other day and couldn't find a copy under £25.

      But then, the Howard The Duck Omnibus from a few years ago is going for £300+ in some places. If you don't invest your book tokens wisely and promptly, things can get very expensive indeed.

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  4. Going through this list is really painful. So many great, beautiful titles and they're all gone, some of which in favour of vastly inferior titles that don't have even a fraction of the charm, creativity nor intelligence of any of the titles here. I still especially miss Secret Six since it's the most recent, and I still haven't quite gotten over its cancellation

    Also, yes, Xombi and Manhunter should be here as well.

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    1. Hello Sean:- I share that sense of wistfulness. And I've certainly not got over the cancellation of Secret Six. But then, I've not got over Steve Gerber being sacked from The Defenders, or Rick Veitch never being allowed to finish his Swamp Thing time travel epic. Though there's a huge amount of material out there to greatly enjoy, those books which REALLY connect are still comparatively rare, and their absence is always a Very Bad Thing indeed.

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    2. I just remembered; the cancellation of Thor The Mighty Avenger is even more frustrating if you take into consideration that Roger Langridge has stated that he only needed to make it to issue 12 to wrap it up, but Marvel couldn't wait to cancel it for some reason.

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    3. Hello Sean:- I didn't know that, and you're right, it's a frustrating thing. That run was an absolute pleasure from beginning to end. Even the way the guest stars were handled was exemplary. Namor, the Warriors Three, Jan'n'Hank; the Cap Britain bar-room bonding issue was a gem.

      Even one more issue would've been a blessing. But then, the comics are STILL to be collected in a full-size volume not padded out with irrelevant, money-saving stories. (Splendid old Lee/Kirby stuff, but that's not the point.) And the free comics day Thor/Cap tale isn't collected at all.

      Pah and sigh ...

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  5. The Priest "Black Panther" was a damn fine comic that died a damn sight too soon. His reinterpretation of the character was perfect: Priest took the best parts of the character's history, extrapolated more from those elements, and added in fresh ideas of his own to create a hero who filled unoccupied niches in Marvel Comics: the master planner as hero, the king as hero.

    When they retooled the comic near the end of its run to appeal to new readers, Priest created a new character who I still think is one of the best Marvel's had in twenty years: the White Tiger.

    Priest wrote twisty-curvy stories that could get confusing, and artists who weren't perfectly clear in their layouts could and did sometimes make his stories hard to follow, but what ambition. To make a weird parallel, they were like Kirby's "Fourth World" books, in that they had to be read differently than other comics. They formed unique subgenres that had to be decoded differently than the other books on the rack. In Priest's case, you had to pay close attention to bits of writing that other comics had trained you to disregard and skim as filler.

    I'm still annoyed at the way the artist and colorist hosed a great joke in his later series "The Crew." A Hispanic mercenary is on the run from Our Heroes and flees into a house of worship to hide. Turns out that it's an American Muslim establishment, and so the crowd is all black folks, so he sticks out like a road flare. But...the artist or the colorist or both botched it and portrayed the Muslim worshipers the standard multi-hued crowd, killing the joke. Argh.

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    1. Hello Harvey:- I think it could well have been a mention from you about the Black Panther which eventually sent me back to the book. I'm barely into the run, picking up issues on Ebay when they're affordable, but it's witty and ambitious and I appreciate reading it even when I can't say that I'm entirely enjoying it. As you say, there's ambition there that's matched to craft. If the artist's not really on their game, then everything tends to sag. It takes discipline to throw away key aspects of the rule book. In that - as well as the key aspects you mention - I do see the parallel with the 4th World. If you're going to break the rules, then you have to know how the rules work. As far as my reading so far indicates, CP does indeed know what he's about.

      Of course, Kirby invented most of the rules ....

      And of course it's a great version of T'Challa himself.

      The White Tiger is still in my future. I'm going to resist the urge to jump ahead. Sadly, that means the sequence involving American Muslims and the botch job you describe is still to come ...

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  6. Might I add to the list, 2005's Breach from DC Comics written by Bob Harras with art by Marcos Martin? Eleven issues and gone. For some reason it has stuck with me all this time, though.

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    1. Hello Daniel:- One of the real privileges of blogging is receiving nudges in the direction of previously unconsidered books. I look at, for example, Marcos Martin's association with Breach and think "I have to check that out". And I will :)

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  7. While the void left in the wake of Gotham Central's end has never really been filled in the DCU, I'm not entirely sure how it could have continued, given the reversal in the GCPD status quo shortly following its cancellation. Since I'm not aware of what happened behind the scenes, it feels a bit like a chicken or the egg conundrum: did those changes come to be because the book was no longer a factor, or did the book end because the upcoming changes made continuing it untenable? Similarly, I've never known if bringing Crispus Allen and Renee Montoya to the super-hero fold was something that Rucka and company had planned on their own, or if it was them making what lemonade they could out of editorially-mandated lemons?

    As for my own additions...Young Justice: as enjoyable as the cartoon is--even if it is, as you said, very Claremontian in approach--the book was something special, and I loved every bit of it to pieces. The Batman Adventures: Easily one of the best Batman runs ever, and an excellent bookend to the Timm/Burnett/Radomski incarnation of the character; we never got to learn who The Red Hood was, either. Gen 13, which at the time was under the stewardship of Adam Warren, whose ideas and characters I've always had time for; while Empowered is in many ways its spiritual successor, I really miss these particular takes on these particular characters. And yes, Xombi.

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    1. Hello Ian:- My memory of why Gotham Central changed and then sunk is vague and entirely untrustworthy. I wonder very much whether the whole connection to the Spectre was something the comic's creators would have chosen. Memory tells me that it wasn't, but memory, and mine in particular, is not to be trusted. It may be that GC will need to be dropped from the list. Nextwave and Xombi currently head the list of replacements.

      I agree entirely about the DC animation titles, and I certainly understand why you'd want to celebrate them. I in particular loved the TBA title, and I've a soft spot for the JLU run too. As I said in the post, I didn't choose to discuss them here, but they have been, as you suggest, consistently worthwhile, and sometimes quite excellent, books.

      Gen 13 I know nothing about at all. I struggled with a few early issues and never returned. I've recently read Gail Simone talking about her time on the book and that made me curious. I'll add Mr Warren's issues to the list of tales to check out. Thank you :)

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  8. I think its time to accept superheroes have lost my attention. Of all the books mentioned by you I'd only read one, Spiderman loves Mary Jane and from those mentioned in comments only Nextwave. Nextwave and Planetary are the only two books I've read by warren Ellis that lived up to his hype. While there are still books that are an entertaining read no doubt, Superheroes have entered the realm of nostalgia for me, that "they're not as good as when I was a lad" type of thing where pop music, westerns and film musicals currently reside. I love the medium and believe in its limitless potential but superheroes in the main have lost their footing in the blood spilling of grim and gritty and now reside in the sewers.


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    1. Hello Peter:- There's an irony, I think, in the fact that all of these books would - to a lesser or greater degree - help you believe that the superhero book is a very good thing indeed. And yet, if the sub-genre is still showing signs of considerable life amidst all that dross, the work will still be there in 5 years or 10 if you want to check it out. It's not as if there's not a huge number of fine non-superpeopel books to keep you going :)

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  9. I don't know whether to suggest James Robinson's Starman to the collection - it did end in 2001, although don't really know if it was 'cancelled' by DC or Robinson decided to wrap it up.

    Either way it just sneaks in, ending in 2000 and for my money is the textbook way to handle that slippery snake that is continuity. It was the first DC book I read regularly and whilst it certainly knows it's history, it's primarily concerned with telling a good story about family. I grew up on Marvel so obviously was familiar with the genre conventions but I never felt out of my depth in terms of DC history. The standout point been early on when the original Mist (in the advanced stages of dementia) reminisces about a fight in Dallas in 1974 with the original Starman IIRC, I've never felt the need since reading it over 15 years ago up til now to find out whether there was such a fight actually published by DC at the time but the reminiscing serves the story perfectly.

    Also Runaways, read the Brian K Vaughan/Adrian Alphona run in the digest collections and loved it, great story telling/art, entertaining characters and in interesting set-up providing a new way to look at the Marvel Universe. I've not read it beyond that run, not due to any disliking of the creators involved since, just that I felt no need to read any more, rather like the X-Men after Grant Morrison's New-X-Men or the Young Avengers after the original Heinberg/Cheung run.

    Looking at the titles I'm familiar with on the list (X-Statix, Captain Britain & M-13, Antman She Hulk and Hitman [Which I'm only just reading the recent trade collections from DC]) Starman, I would say the common factor is that they introduced something new and knew how to end - not necessarily final (which we all know given the intellectual property/brand licencing nature of Marvel & DC is never going to happen) always leave them wanting more as the old show-business adage goes.

    Ultimately my attitude is try not to be sad that it's over, be glad that it happened (and pick up the trades when you can, especially with Marvel)

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    1. Hello timber-munki:- My understanding - which is repeatedly shown not to particularly trustworthy - is that Starman ended when Robinson decided, although I'd be happy to learn otherwise. But if we're looking at fine super-books cancelled since the Millennium, then it would simply have to be there. I enjoyed its first few years in particular, when it cleverly and movingly showed respect to DC's past at a time when most at the company were trying to pretend that there was no such thing. After awhile, I will admit to finding the comic began to feel less and less compelling for me, but I'll always be grateful for the way that Robinson - along with a few other writers such as Waid and Morrison - refused to pretend that DC Comics was really Image in a suit and tie.

      I have the same feeling about Runaways. I respected it, enjoyed it when it began, but gradually felt less and less interested. As for why .... I suspect I'd need to really give the matter some thought. As with most things, I suspect Starman and Runaways would read very differently to me now. My opinions are typically not what they were. I feel some chin stroking coming on ....

      I'm certainly with you on the matter of being grateful for the good comics that were published. I raise my hat to all involved in the above, and in the alternative suggestions made in these comments.

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    2. I think the thing with Runaways is it could and probably should have ended with the defeat of the evil parents. That seemed to be its reason for being and taking them down the superhero route, as quirky as it was at times, just felt like flogging a dead horse.

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    3. Hello Peter:- It's been a very long time since I last read the Runaways, and I fear I was never the fan that a great many people are. Which doesn't mean that I didn't enjoy the book. I just never quite adored it as so many good folks did. (I have my fondest memories from the BKV issues in which the team visited New York.)

      The book's mention in these comments does make me want to go back and discover what I'd think of it today. Yet I will agree with you that I was often unconvinced by the way in which the team related to the rest of the MU. By which I mean, there's too much help out there to make the team's isolation entirely believable, and that's something which became all too obvious - for me - when their parents were defeated.

      I suspect that Runaways would have functioned all too well as a creator-owned property. Whether that suspicion holds after I re-read the comics is, of course, another matter :)

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  10. I'm glad to see SWORD, X-Force/X-Statix, Priest's Black Panther, and Secret Six on the list, but I'd second Manhunter, and throw in Slingers, Captain America and the Falcon (another Priest book that could've been a classic but didn't get the support it needed), and Dan Slott and Ty Templeton's Batman Adventures.

    I considered throwing in Spider-Girl, but Marvel did right by it, keeping it around longer than they really had any right to for nearly 150 issues (although it could've easily ran twice that).

    Have a good day.
    G Morrow

    tdsacomic.com

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    1. Hello G Morrow:- A fine day to you too :) Manhunter is a book which almost made it to the above list, and if folks keep finding reasons why titles shouldn't be here, then it'll soon be in the baker's dozen. I did enjoy it, I bought the TPBs up until the end. The only problem for me was that it was far too quick a read in individual issues.

      Slingers and CA&TF are both unknown to me. I shall watch the Ebay auctions. I did however follow and enjoy Batman Adventures. If I'd've been including licensed product in the above, Slott and Templeton's work would've been there, I do assure you.

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    2. If it helps, Captain America and the Falcon has been collected in full (#1-4 and #8-14 are volumes 1 and 2; #5-7 are included in the Captain America: Avengers Disassembled trade), but Slingers hasn't been collected. I was sure it would be at a point since Marvel collected the "Identity Crisis" storyline that led up to it recently, but it hasn't materialized yet.

      That said, it's absolutely worth tracking down the individual issues. Same with CAatF if the trades are hard to come by.

      Have a good day.
      G Morrow

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    3. Hello G Morrow:- Thanks for the buyer's advise :) It's really helpful to this neophyte where these comics are concerned.

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  11. As wonderful as Nextwave is, I don't know if it counts. Ellis has said that he wanted to continue it with Immonen, but Marvel wanted to move Immonen to a higher-profile book, and Ellis didn't want another artist, so he pulled the plug. I get the sense that sales were fine and Marvel would have been happy to continue with it.

    But yes, you should read it. It's wonderful.

    Hitman ran its course. It's possible that DC told Ennis to finish it up because sales weren't good, but by the point where it ended, there's really no way it could have continued. So I don't think it counts.

    And yes, you should read it. It's wonderful. For me, it's one of the best comics I've ever read. At our blog, Brian is doing his 100 Best Runs poll for the second time, and both times, Hitman has come in second for me. If that means anything!

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    1. Hello Greg:- Well, I suppose the company breaking up the creative team can be seen as a book being floored by factors other than the creators themselves. But you're right, it's not a straight-forward business. Why don't we replace NW with Xombi then?

      I've just made it past the Superman guest-spot in Hitman. Which means I'm sadly more than half-way through. The end is nigh.

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  12. that Irredeemable Ant Man is probably great! And I just began to notice that recent volume of X-Factor, 2 yrs back into comics as an adult now- the art looks good. Perhaps a TPB collection exists-

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    1. Hello Super-Duper Toybox:- I thoroughly enjoyed Irredeemable Ant-Man. It was available in a couple of pocket-sized, affordable collections, and well worth checking out. It's probably my favourite work by Robert Kirkman.

      I included - for what little it's worth - the 2012 X-Factor in my lists of comics well worth buying. I wish there was an affordable door-step collection of the past few years on the title.

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  13. Hi Colin:
    I'm assuming that since Mark Waid was able to wrap up the storylines, that Irredeemable and Incorruptable weren't cancelled, but I thought I remembered reading that low sales somewhat forced the end? I may be manufacturing reality again, but I'd add those series if they fit your definition of "cancelled".
    I agree with other commenters about the animated Batman series by Slott and Templeton. I LOVED Nextwave, but hadn't thought of it as cancelled. And I appear to be in the minority, but I was still reading and enjoying Runaways as long as BKV was writing it.
    Additionally, may I ask you to modify your list, in that Sean, not Ted, McKeever was the author of the Spiderman/Mary Jane series.
    As always, a delight to come to this blog to read thoughtful commentary.

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    1. Hello Brian:- As always, a delight to have you here as a welcome guest :)

      I didn't know that there'd been a commercial aspect to the end of Irredeemable and Incorruptable. The first I've read a fair deal of, the second nothing of all. An undeniable smart-minded proposition, but somewhat deconstructed and familiar in its meta-mindedness for my own tastes. Which isn't to say that I don't like or admire the book. I'm just not mad about it. Yet I'd agree that the market is poorer for the absence of anything which Waid is engaged in.

      I've modified my mistake re: Mr McKeever, a substitution error which I should have caught. Thank you for the correction. You are an egg, good sir.

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  14. It is Dan Slott's amazing work on She-Hulk that makes his recent stuff on ASM all the more disappointing. Then again, it is probably easier to do whatever you want with a "side character" like She-Hulk than with a flagship character.

    I was so disappointed, but not surprised, by the cancelling of AoA. Some of the issues were a little thin, but overall, I thought it had a lot of promise and I enjoyed the off-kilter characters.

    Hitman is the best thing Ennis has ever done, but yeah it ended well - so I can't complain.

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    1. Hello Mr Oyola:- I'm glad to know that Hitman ends well. I'm closing in on that point and I'm glad to know that it's well worth persevering. Much as I've enjoyed Hitman so far, I will say that, for all its strengths and charm, Dan Dare is still my favourite of GE's work.

      I think you're right that the pressures must be very very different for Spider-Man compared with She-Hulk. Which is not to suggest that Mr Slott isn't doing exactly as he wants. He's always sounded entirely enthusiastic and committed to the franchise. But Spider-Man HAS to be a big deal, doesn't it? And that means EVENTS ...

      I too was disappointed by the passing of AoA. It was a smart book which, in addition to being entertaining, also put a great deal of Marvel history to good use, reclaiming misused characters and adding new and interesting ideas to the MU too.

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  15. CJ HÃ¥kansson15 October 2012 12:22

    I was so glad when Peter David took over after Dan Slott, since I really detested Slott's run, then heartbroken when it got cancelled almost immediately after. Is Peter David the new Keith Giffen - the master of the I-got-cancelled-after-only-six-issues genre?

    Comic book nerds doesn't seem to like female protagonists portrayed as people. They rather have them as wank-objects with the notion maintained by the writer that the reader one day might actually have a shot at them. Either by describing them as inviting, or as men or in this case, as a character whose sole personality is a guide in familiar territory - comic book nerdism.

    As soon as the female turns realistic, it seems like the average comic book reader runs screaming for the hills, or gets vehemently angry at her portrayal as an agent, instead of a claimable trophy.

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    1. Hello CJ:- Did you really hate the Slott She-Hulk? I thought it was rather splendid, though I admit I read it in collected form. I don't know how I would've felt reading it month by month, though memory tells me that each issue would have been a good dense read in its own terms.

      I fear that Peter David isn't allowed access to books which don't have large sales-figures built into them. Or at least, that's the impression. Perhaps he would be welcome on a line-leading Spider-Man title or the like, and perhaps he prefers to work in the parts of the MU where there's less editorial intervention going on.

      It's true that women don't receive far and equal treatment in most super-books. Which is why it's good to note books such as Batgirl, Batwoman and Captain Marvel on the stands. If those titles can establish themselves further, perhaps they and their fellows might be joined by more female-centric superbooks.

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