"It was an environment in which a person could go from a bad place to a worse place, and eventually into despair."[1]
2008 was a bad year for a lot of people, some of whom actually died. But babies were born, the circle began anew, eventually, yes, those babies will grow up and die. Still, let's not rest our haunches in gloom and doom! Let's look to our past, and beg for its resurrection.
In exchange?
We Will Offer a Sacrifice.
What Vertigo Comic Needs to Come Back in 2009 and Why:
Back in the late 90's—oh, it was a heady time—Vertigo was tossing out great anthology comics right and left.
Heartthrobs,
Strange Adventures,
Gangland, and the
Flinch ongoing; with contributors like Peter Kuper, Joe R. Lansdale, Dave Gibbons, Richard Corben, Frank Quitely, Glenn Fabry, Tim Bradstreet, Bob Fingerman, Dean Motter, Bill Sienkiewicz, Danijel Zezelj, David Lloyd—that's not anything like a full list.
Like any anthologies, the stories were up and down in quality, but rarely was there an issue that didn't at least have one good tale. Nowadays, your mainstream anthology, if you get it all, is a shlock fest of one/two pagers thrown together to celebrate the made-up sense of accomplishment that shows up when a comic hits an issue number that's a multiple of 25. While there's probably one good answerable reason—low sales—why Vertigo no longer churns these mothers out, that doesn't make them any less missed, or any less valuable. Many of the creators working in them rarely participate in anything else that DC does, and some—Brian Azzarello for one—got their DC start within their pages. Bring ‘em back.
What Vertigo Comic We'll Give You in Exchange:
How about
Air,
House of Mystery or
Jack of Fables?
House of Mystery is practically an anthology already, except for its addiction to the tiresome framing story. Then again, Bill Willingham fans are almost as vengefully crazy as Hal Jordan fans. Get rid of
Air.
What DC Comic Needs to Come Back in 2009 and Why:
There's really no contest here, unless you're a big Jamie Reyes fan. Then again, if you're a big Jamie Reyes fan, you're probably still trying to figure out why the computer won't turn on. (
It's because you covered it in peanut butter, because you are an infant.) No, the best DC book, the one that they need to bring back, the one that left a gaping hole in the DC line-up when it departed, despite what was the most promising upcoming line-up in the last twenty years of DC/Marvel history?
Solo. The five dollar comic with the white cover, the 48 page, no ad-having, one-creator anthology comic that allowed people like Brendan McCarthy, Paul Pope and Darwyn Cooke (and more) to do whatever they wanted with whomever they wanted. For the length of its too-short 12 issue run,
Solo was the most rewarding bang-for-your-buck comic on the stands. Unless you like lost chances and spilling tears, don't look at the wikipedia entry for the series and see the possible future creators who were in talks to do an issue.
What DC Comic We'll Give You in Exchange:
Well, it's a tough one again, but only because DC has been nice enough to go ahead and cancel
Blue Beetle,
Birds of Prey,
Robin,
Nightwing,
Simon Dark,
Supergirl,
Teen Titans, and
Titans.
Wait, I just heard that they haven't cancelled
Simon Dark,
Supergirl,
Teen Titans or
Titans. Paint me shocked and awed! Cancel all four, and give
Solo the extra pages.
What Marvel Comic Needs to Come Back in 2009 and Why:
Remember when you used to like Warren Ellis comics? I know you're thinking "
Man, Wildstorm published Desolation Jones and Image publishes Fell, so I don't know what you're referring to Marvel-wise. Nobody cares about Newuniversal or Ultimate Fantastic Four." No, I know, trust me.
Nextwave though!
Nextwave was great! Let's bring
Nextwave back, even if they have to sell it for 5 bucks and fill half the pages with zit cream ads! We're all going to buy it in trades anyway.
What Marvel Comic We'll Give You in Exchange:
Well, this one is easy enough. Line up all the comics that say "Avengers" on them in some fashion and throw a dart. It's not like any of those comics are telling separate stories anyway.
What Marvel MAX Comic Needs to Come Back in 2009 and Why:
There used to be this comic that Garth Ennis wrote called
Punisher: MAX. It was pretty sweet.
What Marvel MAX Comic We'll Give You In Exchange:
There's this comic called
Punisher: MAX that Garth Ennis isn't currently writing. There's something wrong with it. Make it go away.
What Wildstorm Comic Needs to Come Back in 2009 and Why:
…
What Wildstorm Comic We'll Give You in Exchange:
No, seriously. Just stop. The people
writing these comics aren't even reading them at this point.
What Dark Horse Comic Needs to Come Back in 2009 and Why:
In an interview back in 2006[2], Paul Chadwick mentioned having "files full of story ideas" for his Concrete character. Since then, there's been some nice reprints and one mini-series,
Human Dilemma, which was what he was promoting at the time of the interview. Although Chadwick's reasons for not working are probably fiscal, still: new
Concrete! For serious! Let's get something cooking!
What Dark Horse Comic We'll Give You in Exchange:
Oh god. I don't care. Keep
B.P.R.D. and that
Goon one going, I'd trade anything else. I'd miss some of them, sure, but c'mon. New
Concrete!
Tucker Stone's writing may be found in print in Comic Foundry and online at The Factual Opinion, where he frequently reviews new releases.
This Ship Is Totally Sinking is © Tucker Stone, 2008
