BRILLIANT! ...But cancelled.

[WOLVERINE25TH]

A while ago there was a special on TV about great shows that just never seemed to make it like they should have. Well, this is the thread for the comics that have suffered the same fate! Be it lack of timing, lack of interest, or what have you...tell us about some of your favorite books that got axed.

I'll kick it off with Dan Slott's Thing. Great characterizations, humor, and interesting non-TPB designed stories. A gem that deserved to go beyond #8.

 

[droogiedroogie2]

Black Lightning, the one that ended up with an issue in the Cancelled Comics Cavalcade. And while we're on that topic, Secret Society of Super-Villains, which got two issues in the CCC. Oh, hey, and how about the original Secret Six--still don't know who Mockingbird was.

Never really got cancelled per se, cuz it wasn't ongoing, but there always should've been more Clerks comics.

 

[Ben Urich]

The Crew
Nextwave

Thanks a lot, Marvel.

 

[Elijya]

Nextwave isn't cancelled

The NEXTWAVE Thing


Some of you have been asking, a lot of you won't have the faintest idea what I'm talking about, but for the sake of completeness:

---

Okay. I just this second got the go-ahead from Nick Lowe to talk about this. So here we go:

Sales on the singles are okay, if not great. Sales on the first collection have apparently been terrific.

We were on such a roll with NEXTWAVE that I was actually into the idea of doing a second year, which is highly unusual for me and work-for-hire properties. So Marvel sat down and looked at the numbers, as they wanted to do a second year too.

What they found was that, at our current sales levels, they could afford for me to write it, but not for Stuart to draw it. Stuart, as a Marvel-exclusive artist, commands a fee commensurate with his astonishing talent. I'm WFH-exclusive too, but they just send me whisky and loose women and I'm fine. So, basically, I could continue to write NEXTWAVE, but we'd need to find another artist. This, to me, was just wrong. I mean, Stuart would obviously be given a far better job that had actual readers attached to it, but it still seemed a bit like the numbers were conspiring to fire him for doing his job too well. Everyone at Marvel pitched in to try and make it work, but the numbers were just against us.

So NEXTWAVE #12 will be the final issue of the ongoing series.

(To clear up a common misconception: NEXTWAVE was always pitched as an ongoing series. However, my original intent was to do 12 and then pass it on to someone else. This got garbled, somewhere down the chain of communication, and so the first issue or two got solicited as "part xxx of 12?.)

However. The numbers game changes when you posit things in terms of limited series.

NEXTWAVE #12 will be the last issue of the ongoing series: but there will be more NEXTWAVE to come, presented as a sequence of limited series.

This was all worked out some months ago, so I had plenty of time to work the final NEXTWAVE sequence into a conclusion of sorts. #11 even features a twelve-page spread that you'll have to buy six copies of the comic to assemble into its full splendour. Everyone wishes I'd thought of that eight or nine months ago.

That was the news. Return to your duties.

– W

(feel free to copy and spread far and wide, thereby saving me the job.)

 

[Themanofbat]

Nextwave isn't cancelled

It should be.... it's garbage that spits on previous people's work so Ellis can show the world what a big wang he has.

Ooops.... one day probation for having an opinion.

 

[Saved]

This isn't a marvel comics(DC), but Deathstroke should have kept on running.

 

[GNR]

The Crew.

 

[Dope Nose]

It should be.... it's garbage that spits on previous people's work so Ellis can show the world what a big wang he has.

Ooops.... one day probation for having an opinion.

perhaps if you actually explained your opinion rather than just taking shots at the writer. and what's with the probation talk? given the above post and the thread you started here it really sounds like you're playing the victim, or at the very least asking to be put on probation.

 

[Themanofbat]

perhaps if you actually explained your opinion rather than just taking shots at the writer. and what's with the probation talk? given the above post and the thread you started here it really sounds like you're playing the victim, or at the very least asking to be put on probation.

Maybe if you knew what I was talking about, you wouldn't be so abraisive.

I have my reasons for being cryptic and it works well enough for me.

Thanks for asking.

And as far as my opinions of Nextwave, I've made those out in MANY threads... since you're so good at finding my work, you could probably easily find one of those.

However, sensing laziness on your part, I'll give you the Reader's Digest version.

Ellis is a genius when it comes to his own creations. I love his work when he does his own stuff.

Unfortunately, when it comes to working on other people's creations; in this case, the characters in Nextwave, he spits on past stories and continuity so he can tell HIS story.. and I find that attitude egotistical and down-right insulting. X-51 didn't need to become "Bender". If he wanted a Machine Man character that needed "beer", why didn't he just create somebody new instead of wrecking one of Marvel's C-listers. Maybe very few people cared about Machine Man, but obviously, some people did.

And for your information, I'm not playing a victim... I've never done that once in my 6 1/2 years here nor do I intend to start being one.

I'm merely making sarcastic comments at something that will (possibly) become evident soon enough.

Have a nice day.

 

[SonOfCthulhu]

Doug Rice's Dynamo Joe under the First Comics banner. Really cool Sci-Fi epic that got out just enough issues to wrap up its major storyline. The bad guys get defeated but with a plot hole left open for even more stories.

The elements used in the book weren't unique (we've seen talking human-sized space cats in Wing Commander games and the Khanate aliens still remind me of Vulcans with a hint of Japanese honor), but they were interestingly developed and their interactions with the human characters made for a very entertaining book.

The art was crisp and exciting. The giant mecha's looked cool (wish there had been toys!) and the space battles were fun.

 

[Andy C.]

Don't know if it was cancelled or not, but whatever happened to Usagi Yojimbo?

 

[Dope Nose]

Maybe if you knew what I was talking about, you wouldn't be so abraisive.

kind of why I suggested that you explain your opinion.

And as far as my opinions of Nextwave, I've made those out in MANY threads... since you're so good at finding my work, you could probably easily find one of those.

your "work"? pretentious much?

so you're suggesting I... what? research your other posts in order to gain some deeper insight into your opinions? yeah, that makes much more sense than you simply explaining what you mean in the thread that you post in. the only reason I stumbled across your other thread was because it, much like this one, was created today and showed up in the 'New Posts' search.

And for your information, I'm not playing a victim... I've never done that once in my 6 1/2 years here nor do I intend to start being one.

I'm merely making sarcastic comments at something that will (possibly) become evident soon enough.

doesn't sarcasm by definition have to be witty? all you've said/suggested in both threads is that you're going to get banned. and given what you've said above these comments were in reference to something that you choose not to explain and that may or may not happen.

 

[Kool-Aid]

NYX and Thing.

 

[CConn]

Hard Time. That is probably the most painful loss of a comic I've suffered in my two years of reading (yeah, yeah, I'm a newb).

 

[Themanofbat]

doesn't sarcasm by definition have to be witty? all you've said/suggested in both threads is that you're going to get banned. and given what you've said above these comments were in reference to something that you choose not to explain and that may or may not happen.

I never mentioned bannings... I mere;y said in both threads one day probations... which is the root of my vagueness.

 

[Dope Nose]

Oh, hey, and how about the original Secret Six--still don't know who Mockingbird was.

here's a bit from Wikipedia's entry on the Secret Six which includes a bit on Mockingbird's true identity -

The Secret Six first appeared during the Silver Age of comic books in the initial team's seven-issue title, Secret Six (May 1968 - May 1969).

Unusually, the premiere issue's story began on the cover, and continued on the interior's page one. This strike team of covert operatives consisted of August Durant, Lili Deneuve, Carlo DiRienzi, Tiger Force, Kit Langman, and King Savage.

Created by writer E. Nelson Bridwell and artist Frank Springer, the ongoing series ceased publication with the identity of Mockingbird unrevealed. The first two issues were reprinted in The Brave and the Bold #117 & 120, (March & July 1975).

The second team, artist Paul GulacyWriter Martin Pasko and artist Dan Spiegle introduced the second iteration as an eight-page feature in the omnibus title Action Comics Weekly #601 (May 24, 1988).

They revealed Mockingbird as Durant, who now reunited the team after five years while also assembling a new team consisting of Mitch Hoberman, Ladonna Jameal, Tony Mantegna, Luke McKendrick, Vic Sommers, and Dr. Maria Verdugo. The following issue saw the entire first team, including Durant, die. The feature ran through Action Comics Weekly #612 (Aug. 9, 1988), with DiRienzi succeeding Durant as Mockingbird.

Longtime comic-book letterer Clem Robbins has said that Secret Six originator Bridwell did not have Durant in mind as Mockingbird:

"When I first began freelancing for DC in 1977, I was introduced to E. Nelson Bridwell, who wrote every Secret Six story [to that time] and originated the concept. I took him aside and asked him point-blank who Mockingbird actually was, since the book was cancelled before the issue could ever be resolved. Bridwell told me who Mockingbird was, and explained his logic in choosing that particular character."

 

[Elijya]

Hard Time. That is probably the most painful loss of a comic I've suffered in my two years of reading (yeah, yeah, I'm a newb).

!!!

such a good series, I still weep for it

 

[Ben Urich]

Nextwave isn't cancelled

No Immonen?

 

[Elijya]

No Immonen?

would you read the friggin thing?

The book sells well, but it doesn't sell well enough to afford Immomen's salary, and Ellis has decided he would like to keep doing the book instead of handing it off to someone else, but he only wants to do it with Immomen. So the series will end with issue #12, but will return at some point in the future when Immomen has time, likely as a couple of miniseries

 

[CConn]

Personally, I'm pretty happy with how things have turned out for Nextwave. I've enjoyed the series more than most, but it really doesn't strike me as a series I could consistently buy month in and month out. 12 issues are more than enough for now, and minis will be nice treat whenever they come out.

 

[Elijya]

oh yes, I agree, they're fun little vignettes, which is something sorely lacking in comics today, but there's no grand overall story to betold over many years

 

[droogiedroogie2]

Maybe if you knew what I was talking about, you wouldn't be so abraisive.

Maybe you should talk more.

I have my reasons for being cryptic and it works well enough for me.

Nobody who is not a fictional character has a good reason to be cryptic. It may work for you, but it doesn't work when you're trying to have a conversation. If you can't come out and say what you mean, why talk?

Ellis is a genius when it comes to his own creations. I love his work when he does his own stuff.

Unfortunately, when it comes to working on other people's creations, he spits on past stories and continuity so he can tell HIS story

Hellblazer, for example, which, through is devious self-important conniving, he completely revitalized and made exciting again. What a bastard.

I'm merely making sarcastic comments at something that will (possibly) become evident soon enough.

Unless you are Batman or Agent Graves, and what you're talking about is actually the secret plan to take down the Joker, or a massive conspiracy that is threatening the vitality and readability of your series, there's no need to talk this way.

 

[droogiedroogie2]

Hard Time. That is probably the most painful loss of a comic I've suffered in my two years of reading (yeah, yeah, I'm a newb).

I knew I was forgetting something. Yeah, that hurt to read the final issue. So much potential for that book, and it all had to be condensed into a well-written, but incredibly difficult (for me, at least) final issue. Difficult because I liked the writing, but I was so angry that I'd never get to see this stuff, not to mention that I'd never get to see all the stuff that didn't make it in, the nuances and smaller events that couldn't be squeezed into an issue-long parole board session.

If I ever got a job writing comics for DC, the first thing I'd ask to do would be to pick up Hard Time Season Two with a new Issue 7.

 

[droogiedroogie2]

The second team, artist Paul GulacyWriter Martin Pasko and artist Dan Spiegle introduced the second iteration as an eight-page feature in the omnibus title Action Comics Weekly #601 (May 24, 1988).

I never knew that! When I was reading the old Action Weeklies I was still pretty new to comics and I only read the stories that looked cool on the outside and didn't get into Secret Six until recently when they returned for Infinite Crisis and somebody told me about the old series.

Longtime comic-book letterer Clem Robbins has said that Secret Six originator Bridwell did not have Durant in mind as Mockingbird:

"When I first began freelancing for DC in 1977, I was introduced to E. Nelson Bridwell, who wrote every Secret Six story [to that time] and originated the concept. I took him aside and asked him point-blank who Mockingbird actually was, since the book was cancelled before the issue could ever be resolved. Bridwell told me who Mockingbird was, and explained his logic in choosing that particular character."

Wish we could have known who that was.

 

[Elijya]

If I ever got a job writing comics for DC, the first thing I'd ask to do would be to pick up Hard Time Season Two with a new Issue 7.

dude, sorry, ain't happening

first of all - the book was Steve Gerber's baby, you can't really pick up from him

second, the reason why there even WAS a season two was because the book was canceled, but they gave it a second chance with season two because they knew it was good, but the numbers didn't improve. There is no third chance, sorry