by Wayne Markley

As this is my last blog for 2016 I thought I would look back as 2016 and ahead towards 2017 in terms of things I am looking forward to as well as things I enjoyed in 2016. Along the way I will also point out both the positives and negatives of both years as I see them and I will give us all something to look forward to.

Snotgirl. A creator owned title Wayne enjoyed.

In the comic book world, 2016 was filled with a number of ups and downs.  It was a great year for new creators expressing themselves through a variety of formats and publishers. As with the last few years it is one of the most creative times for comic books with such a broad spectrum of genres and subjects being published today. There is surely something for everyone’s taste. On the other hand, the comic market one again drifted towards the lowest common dominator as retailers, and publishers, played the game of “variants” and limited editions which always seem to work in the short term but in the long run everyone gets burned by it.  Retailers order far too many books so they can get a “variant” which they can then mark up in price, hoping to offset the cost of the extra books they bought to get the limited edition.  It rarely works out.  Publishers once again restarted/rebooted/redid their publishing lines in an attempt to boost sales and gain market share, which again in sort term does work, but in the longer term it gives the fans the opportunity to stop buying the book as there is a clear ending point.  And a lot of fans take these opportunities to drop titles.  It is rare to have a comic that is over a 100 issues anymore. Outside of The Walking Dead, what is there?  (Yes, I know there is Action Comics and Detective Comics, but they went back to the 900 numbering to they can try and get to 1000 and make it into a marketing event.) It is not as if the titles were published consecutively to the current numbers, after all both of them had 52 issues that were out of the current numbering. Overall I see a comic market that is still making the same errors it has made in the last 30 plus years of the direct market, and I find that sad.  But, now on to more positive things.

Superman: Trial of the Super Sons

In 2016 my favorite DC Rebirth titles was Superman by Pete Tomasi and Patrick Gleason.  This book tells stories about Lois, Clark and their son, Jon.  This book is a mix of action and heartwarming family drama.  The stories range from Frankenstein Agents of SHADE to the family going to the state fair together.  Perhaps my favorite story was the Super Sons story were Superman’s son, Jon, got to hang out with Batman’s son, Damian.  This two part story was as warm as it was funny as boys were being boys, and Superman and Batman having to be parents. This was easily one of my favorite stories of 2016.

Low and behold, 2017 brings us a new title called Super Sons, about, yes, Jon and Damian and it is written by Peter Tomasi with art by Jorge Jimenez.  If this book is half as entertaining as the story in Superman was, then this could easily rise to the top of my favorites list. Given the creators, I have very high hopes for this book.

Avengers: Standoff

In 2016 there were a number of crossover events from a number of companies, both mixing characters from different companies (JLA/Power Rangers, Tarzan/Planet of the Apes) to internal crossovers (such as Marvel’s Civil War II). But I thought the best of the year, and to be honest this was not hard as most of the crossovers where not that good, was Avengers: Standoff. This was a fairly small crossover with an alpha, and omega issue and 13 other titles, which you did not have to read to get the story but they really did help flesh out the big picture.  The crossover was written mainly by Nick Spencer and told the tale of a top secret S.H.I.E.L.D. prison called Pleasant Hill.  Almost every issue is filled with twists and turns and true surprises.  This story is self-contained and reads great in one sitting, but it does lead into the current events in Captain America and Thunderbolts.  It is available in a spiffy hardcover collection.

Future Quest

2016 saw the return of the Hanna Barbara characters to comic books from DC Comics.  They basically tried to update classic characters, which I rarely think goes well, and this was no exception.  Of the four titles they did, Future Quest by Jeff Parker and Doc Shaner was my favorite as it featured Johnny Quest, Space Ghost, and many of the other HB adventure characters.  It was also the most true to the original concepts.  The others such as Wacky Raceland, Flintstones, and Scooby Apocalypse ranged from pretty good (Scooby Apocalypse), to downright awful (Wacky Raceland).  We can look forward to 2017 which will bring us a series of annuals with DC characters crossing over with the Hanna Barbara characters.  At first glance these look to be more in the traditional vain like Future Quest than the “modernized” versions of the HB characters, although each annual will have a backup story with an “updated” version of a classic Hanna Barbara character (Oh no!).  Titles announced so far include Green Lantern/Space Ghost and three others.

Supergirl: The Silver Age Omnibus

Finally, 2016 saw a number of great collections of historical material reprinted from a variety of places.  You had IDW continue their great newspaper strip collections, including Superman, Batman, Rip Kirby, Little Orphan Annie, Dick Tracy, and many more.  All of these will continues into 2017, and hopefully we will finally see the complete Ben Casey newspaper strips by Neal Adams. Fantagraphics continued with their amazing reprints of the works of Carl Barks and Don Rosa. Plus, they started the reprinting of the complete works of Guido Crepax, which has to be seen to be believed.  The second volume just came out and, like the first, it is actually mind blowing.  And of course there is also Fantagraphics slow, but great, complete reprinting of Walt Kelly’s Pogo.  All of these, and let’s not forget, their reprinting of Hal Foster’s masterpiece, Prince Valiant, will all continue in 2017.  Also a loud shout out to Fantagraphics for completing their reprinting of all of Charles Shultz’s Peanuts. An amazing feat. And a great read.  (The Sunday collections are truly amazing, the colors are fantastic). Also, not to be left out, Marvel has continued their Epic line reprinting in sequence their entire library of comics and Star Wars material. Not to be left behind, DC also started a similar program this year with Golden Age Batman and Superman collections as well as Silver Age collections of Flash, Green Lantern, Justice League of America and more.  DC also released perhaps my favorite collection of 2016, the Supergirl Omnibus, a truly joyous trip down memory lane.  All of these collections will also continue into 2017 and I am looking forward to filling my book shelves with them.

Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur

That wraps it up for me for 2016.  There were a lot of great books out this year, many of which can be found in my prior blogs.  I have high hopes for 2017 with a slew of new talent making their way into comics, and with publishers willing to try new genres and formats. (Image truly deserves credit for their diversity of titles). Also there are so many new, alas smaller, publishers that are doing amazing work, which once again due to the structure of the comic market, rarely get seen by a large audience, but they are worth looking for.  I am always amazed by the books people send me to review that I had no idea existed and how good they are.  Plus, there is the monthly selection of comics we have all come to know and love. I personally have been thrilled with the move towards lighter storytelling, with such titles as Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur, one of my favorite Marvel titles.  Check it out.

Everything I have written here, both positive and negative are my opinion and do not reflect the thoughts or opinions of Westfield Comics or their employees.  What did to you enjoy in 2016? What stood out to you? What books am I missing out on? I would like to know. I can be reached at MFBWAY@AOL.COM or on Facebook at Wayne Markley.  I truly hope 2017 is a great year for all of us all around the world in spite of how negative the world may look at times. As always,

Thank you.