THINGS COMICKAL AND RANDOM

This may wind up being double posted, as the importer from Dreamwidth appears to be having Issues again.

media relations / 12 January 2012 / and the first shoe finally drops

DC COMICS IN 2012 – INTRODUCING THE “SECOND WAVE” OF DC COMICS-THE NEW 52
Thursday, January 12th, 2012
By Josh Kushins

In May of 2012, DC Comics will release a “Second Wave” of titles as part of its historic DC COMICS-THE NEW 52 initiative. Six new, ongoing series will build on the shared universe and bold concepts introduced in September 2011 with the renumbering of DC Comics’ entire line of comic books.[...] The six new series will replace BLACKHAWKS, HAWK AND DOVE, MEN OF WAR, MISTER TERRIFIC, O.M.A.C. and STATIC SHOCK, all of which will conclude with their eighth issues in April....

Given sales, I can't say that any of the cancellations surprises me. All but one of them would have been a hard sell, conceptually. I haven't heard much about Blackhawks, OMAC or Men of War -- I don't know anyone who read them, and I didn't care enough to look up the reviews. Everyone I know who tried it, and the few reviews I've read, say that "Hawk and Dove" was outright awful.

"Mister Terrific" was on my pull list, and I can say that ... it wasn't very good, frankly. [...] The one title where the cancellation saddens but doesn't entirely surprise me is "Static Shock." Sad, because it would have been nice if the title had been given a little more time to find its audience. Unsurprised because, if you didn't read the previous Static Shock title or watch the animated series, this title would have been utterly baffling....

(And on a purely webgeeky note: smart quotes in the URL, DC? Really? Surely you know better than THAT.)

You know, I never read the Authority or its related titles (except for Planetary, which is only distantly related), but this could get me to change my mind...

NEWSARAMA.COM: WWLA - GARTH ENNIS ON THE MIDNIGHTER:

At today’s Wildstorm/Vertigo joint panel at WizardWorld LA, two Garth Ennis projects set in the Wildstorm Universe were officially announced: The Boys (October) and The Midnighter (November). [...] As for The Midnighter, the new, ongoing series, set in the Wildstorm Universe, is illustrated by Chris Sprouse and Karl Story, and well…is the Midnighter. “He’s utterly lethal and he tells it like it is,” Ennis said when asked about his appreciation for the character. “He’s got a nice dark sense of humor, too.”

[...] Since nearly his first appearance in Stormwatch (v2) #4 alongside the Superman analogue Apollo, Midnighter has been seen as…well…”the gay Batman,” given his similarities to Gotham City’s hero. It’s a definition that Ennis doesn’t mind at all…although… “I always thought Batman was the gay Batman, but there you go,” the writer said. “I think the Midnighter is very much his own man; his sexuality is just one part of that. Never mind the fact that he doesn’t kill people, would Batman do the things we’ve seen the Midnighter do? Batman fights for the status quo, the Midnighter fights to make the world better. Simple as that.”

Speaking of his sexuality, and the fact that this will be the first ongoing comic from either Marvel or DC starring a gay hero in the title role, Ennis isn’t shying away from it at all. “His opening monologue touches on his sexuality, but not in the way people might expect,” Ennis said. “His sexuality is not a complex issue: he likes fucking men. He likes fucking one man in particular - but that doesn’t mean he wants to be around the guy 24/7, hence the solo book. He has no more questions about himself in that regard, so why should we? As for any controversy this may bring, well, if Brokeback Mountain proved anything, it’s this: gay characters piss off all the right people.”

Sounds like this could be a little ... different, as these things go.