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SEQUENTIAL CULTURE #23 5 Mar 04 |
The State of American Comics Address, 2004 |
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JULIAN DARIUS |
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This is the fourth annual State of American
Comics Address that I have given. The
State of American Comics Address is intended to sum up, in retrospect and for
the historical record, the American comics industry of the previous year. The address not only notes the highs and
lows of the previous year, but offers commentary on where the industry is
going, addressing relevant concerns and issues. Marvel In recent years, Marvel has garnered a lot
of attention. 2003 has seen some
sliding. Before discussing this
reversal, which focused around Bill Jemas being outed as Publisher, it is
worth noting a few of the major stories relating to Marvel during 2003. |
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While not up to the level of Gaimans literary best, 1602
has intrigued many with its transposition of Marvels heroes upon the
Renaissance and found a new level of success in intelligently blending
super-heroics with history. |
There was, of course, 1602 -- the
Neil Gaiman-scripted mini-series begun in 2003. While not up to the level of Gaimans literary best, the story
has intrigued many with its transposition of Marvels heroes upon the
Renaissance. However simplistic it
seems in comparison with truly literary comics, the story has found a new
level of success in intelligently blending super-heroics with history. The aborted firing in 2003 of Mark Waid
from Fantastic Four can only be read as a remarkably shortsighted
move, especially given the multitude of disparate stories surrounding the
reasons for the firing. In restoring
Waid, Marvel must at least be credited with admitting wrong, however. And it is worth noting, in the following
consideration, that Bill Jemas in this case seemed against talent and
innovation, preferring the team that would eventually work on 4 to
Waid and Wieringo. Bendis and Maleev continue on their
landmark Daredevil for Marvel Knights, at least following David Macks
disappointing and widely panned five-part fill-in arc. The series (under Bendis) effectively
removed its protagonists secret identity and which set the stage for others,
including Captain America at Marvel Knights, following suit. Grant Morrison, now concluding his
noteworthy run on New X-Men, similarly took the characters out of
their tights and into more leathery uniforms, adding a more realistic tone to
the characters and their situations.
Planet X, his penultimate storyline featuring Magneto, garnered tons
of attention and praise even if it rather lacked a proper ending. Marvels Epic Imprint |
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One of the boldest initiatives of 2003 was Marvels revived Epic
imprint. |
One of the boldest initiatives of 2003 was
Marvels revived Epic imprint, announced in March 2003 and spearheaded by
then-Publisher Bill Jemas. Epic
promised to take unsolicited series proposals, offering unknown creators a
chance to publish, through Marvel, stories featuring Marvel characters as
well as creator-owned material. Marville
#7 devoted itself entirely to the guidelines of soliciting to the
imprint. Fans were ecstatic; critics
wondered about lines suggesting these comics would neither sell well nor even
be effectively copyedited. Deluged by proposals, Epic suspended
taking submissions for creator-owned material. Many expected this suspension to be permanent, and they were
proven correct. Epic quickly
suspended taking submissions entirely.
Bill Jemass removal as publisher in October also removed the
imprints defender, and many saw it as not being long for this world. Again, these cynics were proven correct. The imprint began publication with the
five-issue mini-series Trouble, which in retrospect seems a rather
ironic title. Scripted by Mark
Millar and unofficially featuring Spider-Man characters, the series sold
fairly well, but apparently not well enough:
its trade paperback collection was cancelled after solicitation. Crimson Dynamo, the lines only
ongoing, experienced artistic changes before being announced -- prior to #3s
publication -- that it was being put on hiatus following #6. On the upside, its low-profile writer, John
Jackson Miller, was tapped to take over Iron Man. The creator-owned Gun Theory,
solicited as a four-issue mini-series, was cancelled with #2 -- despite
critical praise and that the story was only half told. Epic announced that its already accepted work would be repackaged together as a quarterly anthology, with sales determining whether the anthology would continue. This seemed dubious given American comics readers dislike of both quarterlies and anthologies. After hassles over Marvels changes, one series -- Phantom Jack -- moved to Image Comics. Epic Anthology would include Robert Kirkman and Khary Randolphs Sleepwalker, Rob Worley and Andy Kuhns Young Ancient One and Jason Henderson and Greg Scotts Strange Magic. The book received little promotion and was incorrectly solicited with a $8.99 cover price, though Diamond Comics corrected the price to $5.99. The final nail to Epic came in mid-February, when Marvel announced that #1 would indeed be the final issue. |
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Epic must be remembered as one of 2003s noblest experiments, and
its failure must be remembered as a sad note for the health of the industry. |
Epic must be remembered as one of 2003s
noblest experiments, and its failure must be remembered as a sad note for the
health of the industry. If accepting
tons of proposals (perhaps literally) was unwieldy, certainly some solution
could have been worked out. The real
problem remains Marvels commitment to publish fewer comics that sell better
than its competitors, a plan that has succeeded well but left the company
with very little diversity. It has
painted itself into a corner with its utter focus on its line of
super-heroes, and even if these characters generate profit from Hollywood in
the present (under Avi Arads influence), Marvels future remains
uncertain. Artistically, it relies
upon effectively buying popular and talented creators who produce secondary
or inferior work for the company on a work-for-hire basis. Commercially, it relies upon a largely static
if not shrinking base of super-hero readers.
Epic, perhaps the ultimate fulfillment of Marvels increased relevancy
under Publisher Jemas and Editor-in-Chief Quesada, has understandably been
the first to go in the wake of Marvels post-Jemas conservatism. Marvel 2003 in General If Epic represented a bold but flawed
initiative, Tsunami represented a confusing and equally ill-conceived
one. A non-line of supposedly
manga-influenced ongoings, Tsunami sought to respond to the growing popularity
of manga -- an understandable desire.
What exactly constituted this response, however, varied title by
title. Many titles were illustrated
in a manga-influenced style. Others
featured some Japanese element. Many
had little discernable connection, however, to manga at all. Perhaps most crushingly, these were titles
featuring new and ancillary characters, running around the Marvel universe,
rather than having the approachability and self-contained nature that draws
so many to manga. It seems as if,
much like briefly assigning a Japanese manga artist to Uncanny X-Men,
the desire was to capture the success of manga without any substantive
changes. In this, Marvel is not unique, although
the lackluster Tsunami stands as the largest exemplar of this poor thinking. This line of thought -- or lack thereof --
has led, throughout the industry, to various levels of manga-influenced
artistic styling, often on titles for which such a style is utterly
inappropriate. Imagine a writer who
thinks of Watchmen as an exemplar illustrated by an artist who would
be at home illustrating Go Panda! or somesuch. Thinking this will increase sales somehow
stinks of a remarkable lack of imagination. At the same time, the controversy Marvel
projects have generated in recent years, often through somewhat gutsy
projects, seems rather dead following Jemass departure. Moving a number of titles early this year
to the slightly more edgy Marvel Knights imprint seems part of an agenda that
sees the mainstream Marvel titles getting more traditional and
kid-friendly. Marvels recent trends
-- away from costumes and secret identities, instead moving towards personal
and political stories -- now seem to have reversed themselves. 2004 will see New X-Mens title
changed back simply to X-Men, a symbolic emblem for Marvels return to
traditional super-hero costumes and conflicts. This agenda may also be seen in the new
Marvel Age imprint that explicitly focuses on kid-friendly material. The MAX imprint of mature readers comics,
certainly deserving of praise, seems ever in jeopardy. Its sole star is the noteworthy Supreme
Power. While Marvel continues its
aggressive and praiseworthy program of trade paperbacks and various
publication schedules, those publishing devices mean little if content is to
be dumbed down to avoid alienating potential movie franchises. |
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Indeed, it is in the movie field that Marvel seems to be doing
best, and we can now call Marvel a movie-generating company just as it was officially
a toy company in the 1990s before its bankruptcy. Marvel appears to be deliberately regressing. |
Indeed, it is in the movie field that
Marvel seems to be doing best, with a dozen or so movies now in production, and
we can now call Marvel a movie-generating company just as it was officially a
toy company in the 1990s before its bankruptcy. We might well question the outcome of this maneuver. Marvel has gone in recent years from a
repressive, in many ways backward company to an industry leader in a number
of respects. Now, as DC moves
increasingly towards diversity and international content, Marvel appears to
be deliberately regressing. Titles such as Brian Michael Bendiss Daredevil,
Mark Millars The Ultimates and his forthcoming Spider-Man, J.
Michael Straczynskis Supreme Power, Garth Enniss The Punisher,
and Mark Waids Fantastic Four will keep Marvel relevant -- or at
least readable -- in 2004, but these titles are now distinctly bucking the
trend rather than leading it. DC 2003 |
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This has been a year of transition: with Marvel on the wane, DC appears on the ascendant. DC remains a more artistically secure
company, widely diverse in its publications. |
This has been a year of transition: with Marvel on the wane, DC appears on the
ascendant. This is in part because of
Dan DiDio, who has -- as editorial vice president -- snatched scores of
talented creators to exclusive contracts, fighting back against Marvels recruitment
of talent that sparked Marvels recent renaissance of sorts. DiDio appears to be taking risks, and DC
remains a more artistically secure company, conservative in its publishing
practices (e.g. long delays between acceptance and publication) but widely
diverse in its publications. Formerly Known as the Justice League was an enjoyable sleeper hit, while Superman
/ Batman returned the classically fun if fluffy team of Loeb and
McGuinness. Hush, running in Batman,
garnered high sales but proved a critical disappointment, ultimately leaving
more questions about the identity of Hush -- the storys mystery villain --
than answers. 2004 promises a revival of the Superman
line, and we shall have to see whether it satisfies more than Hush. The real story of 2004 for DC may well be
its launching of European and manga imprints, expanding the already
remarkably diverse company -- that already includes mainstream and
kid-friendly and mature readers and mature reader super-heroic and
creator-owned imprints. The move may
also but American comics in real dialogue with both the French and Japanese
traditions for arguably the first time. DC / WildStorm Gone are the days of WildStorms heyday,
in its first years at DC, with The Authority and Planetary. Sales are far lower. But WildStormss Eye of the Storm
titles, suggested for mature readers, have brought a slight edge to
super-heroics. If the relaunched The Authority
seems lackluster, Stormwatch: Team
Achilles certainly has a smart niche market. As does Sleeper, which has garnered absolutely
tremendous critical acclaim and is slated for relaunch. Wildcats 3.0 cleverly blends
corporate stratagems with super-heroics.
And Planetary returned, although it looks to be going back on
hiatus. |
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Having the world explicitly dominated by super-heroes who are
neither entirely good nor entirely bad -- in continuity -- is typical of the
quiet revolution going on at WildStorm. |
Early 2004s Coup dtat storyline,
which actually had the Authority taking over the U.S., surely must stand as a
remarkable moment in corporate-owned super-heroics: having the world explicitly dominated by super-heroes who are
neither entirely good nor entirely bad -- in continuity, establishing a new
status quo -- is typical of the quiet revolution going on at WildStorm. DC / Vertigo January 2003 marked Vertigos tenth
anniversary, and it was a good year overall. The big story for Vertigo in 2003 was Neil
Gaimans The Sandman: Endless
Nights hardcover, featuring stories illustrated by European greats as
well as American talents -- including Milo Manara (drool...), Barron Storey
(long neglected), P. Craig Russell, Bill Sienkiewicz, and Frank Quitely. It has received rave reviews and brought
attention to comics, combined as it was with Gaimans mainstream bookstore
work. Fables continues to be the standout book, artistically, for
Vertigo. Y: The Last Man might get more buzz,
being an easier read, but Fables satisfies for fun as well as
intellectual cleverness -- a rare accomplishment. New debuts The Losers and The Human Target are
also worthy of note. DC / WildStorms Americas Best Comics |
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Americas Best Comics continues to publish fairly important, if
not revolutionary, comic books. |
Receiving a disproportionately large
amount of critical attention to its sales, Americas Best Comics -- published
by DC / WildStorm and created by Alan Moore -- continues to publish fairly
important, if not revolutionary, comic books. This comes as Moore is publicly retiring from comics, outside
of League of Extraordinary Gentlemen sequels. He has already left Tom Strong, the
flagship ABC book. His mini-series Smax,
a follow-up to the early ABC classic Top 10, is a wildly different
beast than its precursor and probably the best fantasy story in years. Terra Obscura, a six-issue
mini-series mostly written by Peter Hogan, ably reinvented largely forgotten
Golden Age characters that Moore had brought back in Tom Strong years
ago. Tom Strongs Terrific Tales,
an anthology, continues to be a mixed bag with some very high
highlights. Promethea, the
critical darling of the bunch, is in the process of wrapping up its run --
and perhaps the ABC universe itself -- under Moores direction. These are certainly titles deserving of
increased sales, and probably even additional recognition. A Note on Warren Ellis |
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It is worth pointing out that Warren Ellis, who became a comics
luminary with The Authority and Planetary, has seen his star
fall as of late. |
It is worth pointing out that Warren
Ellis, who became a comics luminary with The Authority and Planetary,
has seen his star fall as of late.
His many mini-series for DC, usually for a creator-owned division of
WildStorm, have rather universally failed to satisfy. Each had some good idea, but he would have
done better to combine them into larger mini-series with two good
ideas. His original hardcover for
Vertigo, Orbital, felt fine but inconsequential. Even Planetary, while enjoyable,
has avoided the revolutionary highs it previously reached -- and avoided the
main thrust of its story, begun years ago and never finished. Ellis has now announced that his exclusive
contract with DC is at an end, and it remains unclear what DC really got out
of the deal, outside of the opportunity to publish a lot of lackluster
creator-owned work while Ellis continued to work throughout for Avatar (since
those projects were already planned). JLA / Avengers 2003 was also the year that saw the
beginning of JLA / Avengers, which weve only been awaiting for about
twenty years. While sales were
phenomenal, and the story had a crowded 1980s super-hero feel not unlike Crisis
on Infinite Earths, this was genre stuff to the core. The mini-series is bound to continue to
sell well (#4 has been delayed and has yet to see print), but Im willing to
bet that it will fare poorer as a trade over the next two decades than any
number of other works. Its hoopla,
and hoopla worth reading, but more of an event than a classic story. The Independents |
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Avatar Press deserves mention for its recruitment of major
talent. The mini-series adapting
Frank Millers script for Robocop 2, even if the chapter breaks are
jarring, is really rather stunning. |
Avatar Press deserves mention for its recruitment
of major talent. The publisher was
for many years known for its soft porn adventure comics until it recruited
Warren Ellis, who writes the Strange Killings series of mini-series
for the publisher. Unpublished,
unadapted, or forgotten Alan Moore stories were added as well. 2003 saw more of all of this, as well as
the beginning of a mini-series adapting Frank Millers script for Robocop
2 -- and the result, even if the chapter breaks are jarring, is really
rather stunning. Images Top Cow began Mark Millars Wanted
in December, even if the remainder of its output -- such as Tomb Raider
-- leaves a bit to be desired. The
other Mark Millar independent books -- loosely grouped under the title
Millarworld -- did not see publication in 2003 and included mini-series for
Dark Horse Comics and Avatar. |
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NBM continues to publish important work. |
Other publishers deserve some
mention. NBM continues to publish
important work, including European adaptations such as Les Cits Obscures
as well as great English originals such as work by P. Craig Russell. Dreamwave still publishes Transformers
comics, though fewer notice. Devils
Due took G.I.Joe away from Image.
CrossGen faced Armageddon -- both inside and outside of their comics;
its titles were radically slashed in 2003, it failed to pay a number of
creators, and it got an infusion of cash that has not resolved questions
regarding its long-term survival. Then, of course, there is Dark Horse. Ah ... The Escapist premiered this
year. No, this address is on
2003. Ah ... well ... they have a lot
of Frank Miller trade paperbacks, Lone Wolf and Cub, some Gaiman work,
P. Craig Russell work ... and ... well, they publish Star Wars comics,
dont they? |
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