It’s been a pretty great year in comics. We’ve seen a lot of cool things. We’ve already gone through our favorite things along with your thoughts on favorite comic book TV shows and movies. As we sit here on the eve of the New Year, its also fun to look ahead. What could we possibly see and expect in the new year to top this one?
Obviously there will be plenty more big surprises and developments in 2015 that will catch us off guard. These are just a few things that immediately come to mind.
Marvel Star Wars Comics
Dark Horse did a spectacular job with the Star Wars license. There’s no denying that. My only problem with them is the lack of consistency. Some comics were really good and others fell a little flat. There were times you simply weren’t sure what you were going to get, despite the Star Wars name being attached. While it is unfortunate that Dark Horse will no longer be producing Star Wars comics, there is something exciting about seeing them return to where they first began, at Marvel.
With Jason Aaron and John Cassaday on STAR WARS, Kieron Gillen and Salvador Larroca on DARTH VADER, and Mark Waid and Terry Dodson on PRINCESS LEIA, it’s obvious Marvel is putting some of their big names on the books. Marvel and Star Wars are both owned by Disney so there is more of a feeling of it all being connected as well. Like it or not, Disney is in charge of the franchise now. The teaser trailer was exciting. They aren’t going to want to release just anything that could tarnish the name. Even though the comics so far seem to be locked into the time period between A New Hope and The Empire Strikes Back (just like Brian Wood’s wonderful STAR WARS comic at Dark Horse), there’s something about it all that really gets us excited.
Batman Post-Endgame
When it comes to Scott Snyder and Greg Capullo on BATMAN, we always ask, what’s next? How can they top this story? They appear to be going all out on Endgame. Scott’s already made some teasing comments on Twitter about what’s next:
working on end of batman: endgame, and what comes after today. truly, truly believe that what we have coming is our wildest, most fun stuff
— Scott Snyder (@Ssnyder1835) December 23, 2014
He goes on to say:
“It’s like an internal joke that I ALWAYS say after THIS arc, I’ll take my foot off the gas a bit, do small stories. But then I have an idea for something bigger and out there and personal and risky and…I WILL do small mysteries at some point before leaving Gotham. Even if it’s my own little thing. But when Greg and I have an idea that’s something felt and bold that we haven’t seen before…just have to try….Just a heads up, Endgame doesn’t close with a bow. Not a quiet ending. It opens things for bigger craziness. Other thing - I know it sounds corny, but it’s true: Greg & I will never hype shit to you falsely for DC or anyone. If we say crazy, it is.”
What could be crazier that Joker returning along with the other revelations we just saw in issue #37? There really is no telling but it’ll be a long wait as we go through the Convergence months at DC.
Marvel Secret Wars
Thestrange coincidence is Marvel and DC are kind of doing similar ideas. We’ve strangely seen this happen before. Who came up with the concept first? Who cares? With Jonathan Hickman behind SECRET WARS, we know it’s going to be a crazy ride. On a personal note, I absolutely loved MARVEL SUPER HEROES SECRET WARS.
While this will be a big event (yes, another event), in the Marvel Universe, it’s not meant to take the place of every single title begin published. This will involve many characters along with different versions of the ones we’re currently reading, but it will be it’s own thing. There may be repercussions that spill into other books but it feels like there will be more cohesion in the story. Plus if we get the Beyonder back as he should be (not the mutated Inhuman idea we saw years later), I couldn’t ask for more.
DC Universe Post-Convergence
We mentioned Convergence earlier at DC. We’re going to see some cool and crazy things during those two months. We’ll admit, we are skeptical over it all. There will be some interesting creative teams and characters returning but we’re not quite sure how it will all go or how excited we should get.
What we are curious about is what happens AFTER? We know seventeen books are ending in March, right before Convergence. It’s safe to assume DC will be launching or re-launching new titles to make up for the cancellations and endings. Will we see more books from the Green Lantern corner? Will we see any of the other/older version characters somehow find their way in the New 52 universe? Will this change what we know of the New 52 or will everything return to normal in a nice and neat fashion? There’s a lot we don’t know and it’ll be a few months until the June Solicits are released.
Image Expo and New Image Books
On January 8, Image Comics will be holding another Image Expo in San Francisco. Each time they have one, we get the announcements on several new creator-owned books by some of the industries top creators. Already announced to attend are Brian K. Vaughan, Todd McFarlane, Scott Snyder, Emi Lenox, Jeff Lemire, and Marjorie Liu. It’s not clear if all they are all announcing new books but there will also be other “surprise guests” there. It was also announced that Emma Rios, Brandon Graham, and James Robinson will be attending.
Even if all the creators in attendance aren’t announcing new books (some were announced last year and are due to come out in 2015), it’s going to be an exciting time having all these great creators in such a small venue.
Archie Meets Predator/Mark Waid & Fiona Staples on ARCHIE/Dark Circle Comics
Archie Comics has been doing some cool things in 2014. We’ve been loving AFTERLIFE WITH ARCHIE. We’re hoping to get more on some sort of a regular schedule. As if Archie and zombies wasn’t crazy enough, we found out Archie and the gang would be mixing it up with the Predators. The ARCHIE series is being relaunched with Mark Waid and Fiona Staples as the first creative team. Red Circle Comics is being relaunched as Dark Circle Comics. Many still have a certain perception on Archie Comics but it’s clearly time to change what you think you know about the publisher.
Honorable Mentions:
- Brian Buccellato on INJUSTICE: GODS AMONG US. Tom Taylor has done a great job on the franchise. It'll be interesting to see what Buccellato has planned.
- New Marvel titles. We'll keep our fingers crossed for ANT-MAN, ALL-NEW HAWKEYE, SPIDER-GWEN, SPIDER-WOMAN (in her new costume), HOWARD THE DUCK, and the weekly WOLVERINES series.
- X-O MANOWAR: DEAD HAND. This is the first full-on cosmic storyline for the series.
There's bound to be loads more this year. We still have a bunch of great series from 2014. Let us know what you're looking forward to in 2015 besides finally getting a working hoverboard.
Log in to comment