If you grew up with certain cartoon or comic characters and you wish you had new adventures with them, you just might check your local comics shop! They could actually be there!
Yes, I have used that phrase above several times in these columns, and for good reason! So many times, something that was popular for a time, then faded out, has come back, particularly into comic books!
In fact, right now just might be the “golden age” for classic characters when it comes to comic books! There are literally tons of them either making a big comeback or at least keeping their long-time fans happy when it comes to giving them new stories.
Let me point out a few examples:
- Dynamite Entertainment. They have several series’ out now, and I believe there are even more to come! The ones out right now include Space Ghost, Thundercats, Powerpuff Girls, James Bond, Robocop, The Shadow, Gargoyles, and Lone Ranger, just to name a few. As if these weren’t enough, upcoming titles are on the way featuring The Herculoids (a personal favorite of mine) and SilverHawks, with even more coming soon! You can add these to the many Disney titles this company is already making, including Darkwing Duck and the various villain books. And that doesn’t even consider the new Jonny Quest title they’re making, which I also buy and read!
- Mad Cave Comics. They’ve recently been putting out Flash Gordon and Dick Tracy stories, with more heading our way in the months ahead featuring The Phantom and Speed Racer!
- Archie Comics. It wasn’t all that long ago that this company had brought back all their superhero characters like Pureheart the Powerful (Archie), and others, but they have recently put out a new take on Archie being a superhero with him being Mr. Justice. Could they revive Dark Circle Comics? (He asked hopefully.)
- DC. Has anyone else been picking up the new JSA comic scripted by Jeff Lemire? I really enjoy the new version of this classic team of heroes, and I hope he stays on it for a very long time! Then, too, they have been printing various Batman versions (of course!) like Batman ’66 and Batman ’89 besides the ongoing Bat-titles and the new Absolute version.
I bet I’ve even missed a few, but it wasn’t intentional!
It’s funny how what seems to be the least popular comics are the ongoing ones that have been at it for several years. I don’t know if it is continuity that is driving people away (the keeping track of it, anyway), but for some reason, what seems to be working more these days are the new books about older characters or the revamped versions of established ones like DC’s new Absolute line or Marvel’s returning Ultimate books.
It’s so weird how it’s working!
I’m literally wondering if the industry would do better if they discarded the ongoing titles and replaced them with one-shots or mini-series’. It’s much harder to keep track of, but it seems that it would generate more interest!
I’m sure I’m not the only one looking around at other properties, perhaps ones that did big business in the past before reaching the end of their first cycle of popularity.
It wasn’t all that long ago that Dynamite did a mini-series on The Owl that I really enjoyed. It was written by J. T. Krul and had art by Heubert Khan Michael. Granted, this guy was a copy of Batman and he first showed up back during the 1960’s Batman TV show era. Hey, everyone was jumping on that bandwagon back then! Could he get another chance now? I’d certainly be interested!
There was also Captain Planet and the Planeteers. Their environmental focus could work in today’s environment.
Also, if we are giving The Herculoids their own comic, what about The Mighty Mightor? Turn Li’l Rock into a teenager, and it could be interesting. Then, too, there was Shazzan, the huge genie, as well as Moby Dick and his young companions. There were a lot of Hanna Barbera superheroes and other interesting characters that could be given their shot. Maybe have an HB anthology comic to give these guys a new spin? I really enjoyed DC’s Future Quest series a few years back. They did some updating of various heroes. Let Jeff Parker loose on them again! (He’s scripting the current Santa Claus yearly mini-series for DC, by the way.)
Being an animation fan, I was also a big supporter of Danny Phantom that was on Nickelodeon. I enjoyed the character-based adventures quite a lot, so he could be brought back to life!
There are all kinds of possibilities!
I truly hope that the people who have 24-hour-a-day networks are paying attention to all this! After all, they have hours and hours of programming slots to fill. We could see some of these folks show up on various networks. Of course, a revival of Gargoyles on Disney Plus would get me to re-up my subscription there!
Ben 10 recently came back as his younger self on Cartoon Network. Maybe go back to live action again?
As I’m writing this, James Gunn’s first series on Max has dropped, that being Creature Commandos. I’ve seen the first two episodes, and I have to say that the tone of the cartoon is all-too-similar to his recent Peacemaker show on that network. His previous work on Suicide Squad and Guardians of the Galaxy was very, VERY close to this in tone. This makes me worry about his upcoming DC-related shows. We’ll see how they turn out and are received.
While I’m on the subject, I recently bid the DC TV decade and more farewell with the end of Superman and Lois on The CW. It was touching, and the actor who played the Man of Steel did a vastly better job than I expected as the hero. I’m sorry to see them all go. This show is proof of why I hope Batman gets hitched to Catwoman at some point. Ah, well. The CW is now in my rearview mirror, sadly.
The point I’m trying to make is that these heroes and other characters in this genre have an established fan base that can turn a TV or movie project into a big success, if it is done right. The danger is, if it is NOT done right, well, you could be relegated to the back of the line at comic cons forever. Again, though, we’ll see!
Obviously, this revival of classic characters is currently on the march! The bad news is that this could simply be a temporary trend, much like the revival of 1950’s music was back in the 1980’s or 1990’s. Anyone else remember how short-lived that was?
So, let’s enjoy this time with some of our favorites in the spotlight as long as we can!
What do you think? Are you supporting the revival of these characters? Or have you moved on from them? What other characters that I haven’t mentioned would you like to see get their own comic book? Feel free to share your opinions below! I hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving last week!
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Wayne Hall creates the Wayne's Comics Podcast. He’s interviewed Scott Snyder, Greg Capullo, John Layman, Kyle Higgins, Phil Hester, Jimmy Palmiotti & Justin Gray, David Petersen, Christos Gage, Mike Grell, and Matt Kindt. On this site each week, he writes his "Comics Portal" column (general comics comments and previews) and reviews comics.