With the cancellation of Robin, Nightwing, Birds of Prey, Legion of Super-Heroes, Checkmate, and Blue Beetle, anyone wanna place their bets on the next round of DC titles the company gives the axe to?
On my list are Jonah Hex, something I’ve been proclaiming for a couple of months, that god-awful piece of crap Simon Dark, and I’m keeping my fingers crossed that Batman Confidential also bites the dust. DC killed Blue Beetle just weeks after his debut on Batman Brave and the Bold, The Legion of Super-Hereos appear on an upcoming episode of Smallville with the comic series ending a month later, so why not axe Jonah Hex when the movie is right on the verge of moving into production? Makes perfect sense…
I could see the company trying to make the move on its Vertigo and Wildstorm imprints, but those have never sold gangbusters, and some of those titles are actually selling better in the non-direct market. Gears of War is estimated to have sold 450,000 copies by getting out of the LCS and into other venues, even though the ICv2 has its estimates at just over 19,000 copies sold. My guess is World of Warcraft is doing similar sales overall.
Time for you to weigh in as we slide into the weekend. Keep it DC only for now, we’ll examine what is being shuffled off to the retirement home from other companies in the coming weeks.
6 Comments
Please don’t make it Jonah Hex. I read it as well as others around here. We are all (un)patiently waiting for vol 2 of the Showcase which DC canceled months ago, but I think it’ll happen eventually.
Hmm, I could see “Batman and the Outsiders”, which I don’t think ever really caught on, getting the axe. And what about Judd Winick’s godawful “Titans”? As long as they’re destroying the books I love, how about the new “Secret Six” book? It’s only well-written and drawn, like Blue Beetle, Jonah Hex, Birds of Prey and Manhunter, so it must not be long for this world.
Oooh, did that come out bitter? My apologies.
JONAH HEX is selling in incredible quantities as collected editions in Europe. It’d have to sink below 10K in US floppy sales to even be considered for the axe — and, even then, it’d likely continue in production for the overseas markets.
The Wildstorm Universe titles (as opposed to the licensed or creator-owned books) are likely number-one fodder for the chopping block. There seems to be nothing that can be done with the properties to make them click any longer, as massive crossovers, enormous sweeping changes to the world itself, high-profile creative teams and even linking up with the mainstream DCU have been completely ineffective in getting readers’ interest.
THE SPIRIT is probably on a very short leash, as well; maybe six months to capitalize on the movie before getting the plug pulled. (Anyone else think that running some of the classic material as back-ups in a $3.99 version of the book might actually help sales on this title?)
The new Secret Six is a 6 issue mini, isn’t it? So by definition it’s already “cut”. I’m guessing the LOGICAL fodder for the block might be Wildstorm, but what will disappear next is something like … wow, I am having a really hard time thinking of titles that haven’t been cancelled and aren’t “Legacy books” like Green Lantern Corps, JLA, etc… I can only think of Booster Gold, and I’ve probably said too much about how much I enjoy that one. :D MAKE MINE GOLD!
Nope. To my knowledge, the new Secret Six is an ongoing series…
Diamond doesn’t have Secret Six listed as a miniseries. The series from 2006 was 6 issues.