Cancelled
pac...@ohstpy.mps.ohio-state.edu
My question probably is not the ongoing haggleing about Legion nor Animal
Man. It is important to me though. A short time ago, a month?, one of my
favorite comics was cancelled, The Phantom. I recently organized my comics
and reread many of his issues and wondered, like I did when I heard they
cancelled it, WHY? I would like to now how the rest of you people feel
about a non Super-hero (TM) hero. Also I would like to know why he was
cancelled, poor readership, legal problems,...
Which brings me to my final question, how many people out there feel DC,
Marvel, etc sometimes cancelles a book when it is not needed, at least in
your opinion. And what titles were cancelled you wished weren't. Let us
know.
Mike Packard
Packard@ohstpy,mps.ohio-state.edu
Roger B.A. Klorese
>A short time ago, a month?, one of my
>favorite comics was cancelled, The Phantom. I recently organized my comics
>and reread many of his issues and wondered, like I did when I heard they
>cancelled it, WHY? I would like to now how the rest of you people feel
>about a non Super-hero (TM) hero. Also I would like to know why he was
>cancelled, poor readership, legal problems,...
There was an explanation in the letter column of the last issue, #13. Sales
on the book were not very good. In addition, it takes higher sales, for the
most part, to keep a licensed property like The Phantom coming out than to
support a non-licensed series, due to license costs, additional legal costs,
etc.
>Which brings me to my final question, how many people out there feel DC,
>Marvel, etc sometimes cancelles a book when it is not needed, at least in
>your opinion.
Usually, titles are cancelled because of low sales. Other factors can include
the desire of creators of creator-owned properties to get away from the
feature, the sense that the series is just getting out of hand, the lack of
available talent... but usually, most of these become visible in the sales
figures.
One additional reason companies (Marvel, specifically) cancels titles has to
do with *relative* sales, or the perception that, while a book is making money,
the creative team could be doing something more popular. (They're usually
wrong... one of the masterpieces of this was when they killed the Thing book
and put its creative team on Masters of the Universe. *Sigh*)
--
ROGER B.A. KLORESE MIPS Computer Systems, Inc. phone: +1 408 720-2939
MS 4-02 928 E. Arques Ave. Sunnyvale, CA 94086 rog...@mips.COM
{ames,decwrl,pyramid}!mips!rogerk "I'm the NLA"
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james a perreault
comics have been cancelled.
Namely:
All-Star Squadron
Infinity, Inc.
I am still hoping that they will return in some form or another.
I can also add to this list:
Electric Warrior
D.P. 7
Funny how most of the titles are D.C.'s .
Jim Perreault
Michael J. Vasiliou
>know.
The Helfer/Baker series of the Shadow. Single best example of truly
warped black humour in a 'Big Two' regular series I have ever come across.
The cancellation came completely out of nowhere, and interrupted the middle
of a storyline. I really miss this one.
On a lighter note, Blue Devil, one of the first of the 'just plain
fun' comics. Compared to JL* and their lot, this was consistantly more fun
than they have been in the past year and a half/two years. Still haven't
come across anything funnier than the Blue Devil Summer Fun Annual.
>
>Mike Packard
>Packard@ohstpy,mps.ohio-state.edu
Michael J. Vasiliou
Bob Maccione
>Marvel, etc sometimes cancelles a book when it is not needed, at least in
>your opinion. And what titles were cancelled you wished weren't. Let us
>know.
>
And speaking of cancellations, what's going on over at First comics ??
They have now cancelled Sable, Whisper, Scout and Nexus. That seems
to be more that half of the lineup. Any cules ??
( I think that Scout was a first line )
bob
Tim Fitzpatrick
but if you want "just plain fun" comics, try some alternatives
to the big two...
Some of my favs are:
ROBOT COMICS or FLAMING CARROT COMICS by Bob Burden
SAM & MAX : FREELANCE POLICE by Steve Purcell
REID FLEMING : THE WORLD'S TOUGHEST MILKMAN and HEARTBREAK COMICS
by Dave Boswell
"BOB'S" FAVORTE COMICS : THE OFFICIAL SUBGENIUS COMIC BOOK
NEAT STUFF by Peter Bagge
STEVEN by (arrh, can't remember his name right now!)
YUMMY FUR (for blacker humor) by Chester Brown
Can't think of any others off the top of my head, but try these...
Ronald Azuma
>your opinion. And what titles were cancelled you wished weren't. Let us
>know.
'Mazing Man Ok, the art was going downhill near the end,
but it was still a lot of fun. Not many
other books could pull off something like
"Brenda's Story" or the scene where K.P.
and Brenda just talk at a diner and have it
work.
Power Factor Does anyone else remember this one? I only
saw one issue. In it, the Mob had essentially
eliminated or forced the retirement of all
superheroes, but the heroes were about to
attempt a comeback by wearing different
costumes in each appearance, so the Mob
couldn't tell who was who. Interesting
concept, but apparently didn't get past the
1st issue.
Urusei Yatsura Hey, there's only 200+ episodes worth to
translate. Why stop at less than ten issues?
They didn't even get to the point of
introducing several of the major characters
(Benten, Ran, Jariten, Mendo, Ryunosuke, etc.)
Captain Confederacy A friend handed me the issues and once I
started, I ended up reading them all in
one sitting. Interesting stuff about
an alternate future where the CSA won
the Civil War, with an anti-racist
message. Too bad there's only 12
issues...
Concrete Is Chadwick taking a sabbatical or has
he given up the book permanently?
BTW, did someone post something about Zot! having lousy sales
figures? I'd hate to see that book disappear. Maybe we should start
an "Endangered Books" list...
Ron Azuma
(az...@dopey.cs.unc.edu)
edward tyrrill
>And speaking of cancellations, what's going on over at First comics ??
>They have now cancelled Sable, Whisper, Scout and Nexus. That seems
>to be more that half of the lineup. Any cules ??
Nexus hasen't been cancelled. In fact they recently announced the story
line through something like issue 72 or 73. Nexus is the best it has
been in a couple years IMHO, and the only thing that could improve the
title right now is the return of Steve Rude (which, unfortunatley, will
not take place in the near future.
>( I think that Scout was a first line )
Scout is put out occasionally by Eclipse.
Edward Tyrrill internet: cer...@ucrmath.ucr.edu UUCP: ...ucsd!ucrmath!cerebus
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Don't apply YOUR morals to ME. | The "War on Drugs" is a war on *people*.
Cisco's Buddy
} And speaking of cancellations, what's going on over at First comics ??
} They have now cancelled Sable, Whisper, Scout and Nexus. That seems
} to be more that half of the lineup. Any cules ??
} ( I think that Scout was a first line )
No, SCOUT was Eclipse, and that was cancelled because it came to a natural
end. Truman planned it as a limited run, and is taking a break (doing some
other projects) before he starts up another Scout series.
As for the others, sales have just gone down. SABLE's sales started
declining after Grell left, and they finally reached the drop point.
WHISPER was never a big seller to begin with, and First kept it going
because of a movie option that has recently expired. NEXUS is being
cancelled because sales have been slipping steadily without Rude on the
artwork. The one difference with NEXUS is that while it's stopping at
#75, it's not ending there. It'll be back as an irregular series of
mini-series with Rude as permanent artist.
I believe that First is sticking with the NEXUS LEGENDS and MIKE GRELL'S
SABLE reprints, though.
--
"He sits there in his house watching the same stupid movie over
and over again."
"Bad taste is films is not a criminal offense."
"Wait till you've seen it."
--- jayembee (Jerry Boyajian, DEC, "The Mill", Maynard, MA)
UUCP: ...!decwrl!ruby.enet.dec.com!boyajian
ARPA: boyajian%ruby...@DECWRL.DEC.COM
William Paulson
> And speaking of cancellations, what's going on over at First comics ??
> They have now cancelled Sable, Whisper, Scout and Nexus. That seems
> to be more that half of the lineup. Any cules ??
I read recently that Nexus was not really going to be cancelled,
instead First was going to cancel the continuing series, and then continue the
stories as limited series and specials. All of these are supposed to be
written by Baron and have art done by Rude. Which is a good idea if
it was the only way to keep Steve Rude on the book, his fanatastic art
is what made the series. Just check out some of his painted covers.
-->Bill
"I'm real sorry Mr. Clay. Sometimes these things just jump right out of
my head" - Doom Patrol
Roger B.A. Klorese
>bo...@qip.UUCP (Bob Maccione) writes:
>
>>And speaking of cancellations, what's going on over at First comics ??
>>They have now cancelled Sable, Whisper, Scout and Nexus. That seems
>>to be more that half of the lineup. Any cules ??
>
>Nexus hasen't been cancelled. In fact they recently announced the story
>line through something like issue 72 or 73. Nexus is the best it has
>been in a couple years IMHO, and the only thing that could improve the
>title right now is the return of Steve Rude (which, unfortunatley, will
>not take place in the near future.
Almost completely untrue. NEXUS will be cancelled as a regular series in the
late 70s (issue numbers), and will return as frequent mini-series by Baron and
(yay) Rude.
Whisper simply wasn't selling; with a limited but dedicated audience, high-
priced packages like graphic novels are the way to go, and Whisper will return
as a GN or high-end mini.
Sable had dropped off seriously in sales. I spoke to First execs in San Diego
last summer, and the perception was that there hadn't been any consistency on
it since Grell. They have cancelled the regular series and will continue the
reprints of Mike Grell's Sable for a while, until they come up with a team, a
concept and a format to continue the series.
>>( I think that Scout was a first line )
>
>Scout is put out occasionally by Eclipse.
Scout was indeed an Eclipse title. Both Eclipse and First have decided to
shift their attention to other formats, due to te popularity swing back to
the Big Two. First is focusing on Classics Illustrated and special projects;
Eclipse, when capable of shipping anything, is focusing on manga and books.
Michael Rawdon
>In article <8092.2...@ohstpy.mps.ohio-state.edu> pac...@ohstpy.mps.ohio-state.edu writes:
> Concrete Is Chadwick taking a sabbatical or has
> he given up the book permanently?
No, he's still working on it. "Concrete Celebrates Earth Day" with something
like 23 pages of new story is due out soon, and Dark Horse has announced
a new policy of publishing a number of their "big" titles as consecutive
mini-series, not to be published until the entire story is completed by the
creator, to help avoid scheduling problems, and Concrete is definitely
on the list to be published in this format.
--
Michael Rawdon | You can mend the wires
Tulane University | You can feed the soul a part
New Orleans, Louisiana | You can touch your light
raw...@rex.cs.tulane.edu | You can bring your soul alive!
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
These opinions my own, and are not intended to represent any sort of
objective truth, nor the opinions of any other individual or group.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Karen Williams
>And speaking of cancellations, what's going on over at First comics ??
>They have now cancelled Sable, Whisper, Scout and Nexus. That seems
>to be more that half of the lineup. Any cules ??
When did they cancel NEXUS?
jus...@inmet.inmet.com
/* Written 6:05 pm Mar 14, 1990 by az...@unc.cs.unc.edu in inmet:rec.arts.comics */
>know.
An entertaining concept indeed. Somewhere there is deep irony that this is
one of the few books from the Eternity/Malibu/etc. clique that died quickly
(as opposed to all of the ones that deserved to, but stuck around...)
> Captain Confederacy
As I understand it, this *is* supposed to return someday; there's a sequel
mini-series plotted, presumably waiting until Shetterly/Bull/Ford have
enough spare money lying around that they can afford to lose it...
(This is, BTW, a fine little alternate-world story, and is recommended to
fans of moderately intelligent superhero books...)
-- Justin du Coeur
Random Quote du Jour:
"Complex issues handled with the simplicity and finesse of a brontosaur in an
egg-packing plant!"
-- Da Roach
Tim Fitzpatrick
continued as a series of min-series drawn ONLY by RUDE.
And as much as I'm enjoying it now, I don't think it is nearly as good
as the early issues. The last great storyline was THE NEXT NEXUS.
David Yang
(Well, with all the talk of Stinz coming back, it's not
totally implausible, is it?)
David
Lord Mephron of Ghormenghast
WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!!!!!!!!!
<POUT POUT>
|-------------------------------------------------|
Geoffrey M. Depew - Rather UPSET Maniac for Hire!
Minor Deity and Guardian of Free Will on Earth
Mortal Foe of the PMRC and Moral Majority
akcs.mephron@tronsbox
Don't ask me - it's someone else's idea.
Sean Davey
>What, no mor CONCRETE!?!??!?!??!?!??!?!?!!?!?
>
No, actually I just read that a new Concrete is coming out soon (like within
a few months) and of course I can't remember where I read it, probably in
one of those free newspapers. Also I think I read that Chadwick is going to
be doing to the covers for Lone Wolf and Cub.
Sean
-if the above is way wrong, then even I don't know what drugs I'm doing!