Highway 62

But since I can’t resist picking scabs… Epic, which could have been a viable outlet for creator-owned material as well as encourage a potential new generation of artists/authors, died before birth. Tsunami, which was supposed to compete with manga and get the tweenie girl set reading comics, is limping along (though with standout titles like Runaways keeping the works on life-support). Maybe it’ll pull out, but I wouldn’t hold my breath. The Ultimate titles seem to be moving along, though The Ultimates is hampered by chronic tardiness. Ultimate Fantastic Four certainly seems poised to make a splash, but I’m left wondering if any of the Ultimate titles have actually succeeded outside the pool of comics readers (as was one of their intended goals).

2003 saw the dissolution of the unstoppable duo of Joe Quesada and Bill Jemas. It also saw the (unsurprising) wringing of hands and cries of readers bemoaning Mr. Jemas’ departure, when only weeks before, many of these same readers were calling for his head on a stake and a public burning of his body (yeah, Marville was bad, but it wasn’t that bad). Ostensibly, Mr. Jemas is still working his magic at Marvel, but the days of NuMarvel are all but over.

And any discussion of 2003 would be sorely lacking unless there was reference to the Talent Wars between DC and Marvel (where “exclusive” really means “exclusively not working for our competition”, as proved by both Brian Bendis and Greg Rucka, both of whom are betrothed to Marvel and DC respectively, but can write for other publishers, so long as they aren’t DC and Marvel, respectively.) We can argue the point back and forth all year, as to who “won”, though on paper DC sure looks like they gained a lot of ground. Ultimately, what matters is what these creators are allowed to do within the confines of their particular publishers, and as much as it pains me to say so, DC seems to be the better place to be. Marvel is interested in bottom-line franchise maintenance. That’s always, always going to bite into the kinds of freedoms that creators will enjoy.

Could 2003 be remembered as the year that imagination died (at least in the mainstream superhero realm)? Possibly. By imagination, I mean not simply the ability to tell new stories (or to recycle old ones creatively), but I mean raw imagination, the ability to utterly transport the reader to Somewhere Else. I know that I wasn’t the only guy to notice fantasy giving way to something more “grounded.” For every Filth or Promethea or New X-Men, we got a hundred “street-level” superhero stories set in the real world. When done well, these sorts of stories can shed some light on the relationship between humans and superhumans, between the mundane and myth. Mostly, though, we just get a sheen of grim and grit, no verve and nothing that plays up to the strengths of the medium. Sure, The Ultimates might have visual spectacle, but Jack Kirby showed more insight as to The Superman in the Modern World in three panels of Tomorrow People than Mr. Millar has managed to in 12 issues. Superhero comics have always worked best (with a few exceptions, and only a very few) as fantasy, not as noir, which seems to be almost totally lost on the industry these days.

That’s not to say that there isn’t good noir out there. There is. Evidence, the work of Ed Brubaker and various collaborators on Catwoman and Sleeper (two of the best series of the year, really). But these are the exception and not the rule. Most of the other superhero-books-trying-to-be-crime-books just don’t seem to manage the balance for me. Brian Azzarello and Eduardo Risso’s take on Batman of late (though I love the art) just doesn’t read right. Doing superheroes totally straight (in this case in the Chandlerian style) just doesn’t ring true to me. He’s a serious detective, so why’s he dressed up as a bat? I think that it’d read much better without the capes and masks, but that’s me. I also think that one of the reasons that Catwoman worked better than the current Batman run was the artwork conveying the story in an ultra-expressionistic style (as rendered by Cameron Stewart and Javier Pulido) and leavening the darkness of the story a bit.

I suppose I should talk about Crossgen, since 2003 has turned, somehow, into a make-or-break year for them. I’d really love to, but I haven’t read a single one of their books, other than El Cazador, which is beautifully rendered and colored (though part of me wants to see it in black and white) but isn’t an essential read. It’s fun and light, (not unlike The Losers, which I really enjoy, but find myself wanting to wait on the trades for). At least, though, someone out there was willing to try genres that were untested by the marketplace as a whole. That’s something worth applauding, even if the success of the enterprise is in serious doubt as of this writing. I’d also point out Future Comics as someone who was willing to try something a little different, though they relied far more on the standard superhero fare than other publishers. As much as I respect the creators involved with their books (many of whom worked on favorite titles of mine in the 80s) the books themselves just didn’t interest me all that much.

Sadly, the 80s franchise revival seems not to have lost as much momentum as I’d hoped. The close of 2003 sees some of these still going strong. Nothing personal against the creators working on those books, but it seems that most of these only exist because of the license, not because of any driving force to tell a particular story. And really, I didn’t read GI Joe when I was a kid in those halcyon days, and I see no reason to read it now. Same with Transformers, but I know that those books will get the bills paid for a lot of artists and writers, so it’s not an all bad thing. I just wish that folks buying these books would skip a month and try something like The Goon or Sleeper instead.

I know, I’m suggesting that folks read something fun rather than something that’s good for ‘em (when I could be pushing Blankets or the like). I’m awful like that.

And what discussion of 2003 would be complete without talking about the superhero motion picture phenomena? X2, Daredevil, The Hulk, League of Extraordinary Gentlemen as well as all the projects being talked about for next year. (Hey, a sentence fragment!) All those came and went. X2 seemed to do pretty well, but I still think that it couldn’t deliver on what made the comics great. It was a decent movie, but far from the hearkening cry that people seemed to think would lead folks from the movie theatre to the comic store. In fact, the one thing that I never say any of was an active effort to direct the audience of the movie to any of the source material. Hell, I didn’t even see any comic adaptations of these movies try to break out ANYWHERE past the direct market at all. Novelizations aplenty, sure, but nothing to get the comics any higher visibility.

Sadly, I don’t see that trend changing anytime soon.

This year, there was an awful lot of talk about alternative distribution markets (alternative to Diamond, that is) such as bookstore distributors. This topic is going to pick up steam next year, mark my words. Smart retailers are being serviced by more than one distributor and taking advantage of returnability and greater flexibility in their credit/capital options (remember, the books that get stocked every week have to be paid for before a single one of them is sold. That’s a lot of lettuce.) With the rumors of competition to Diamond starting up on the Direct Market side of things, this topic will heat up.

As will expansion of comics into markets outside of the Direct Market. First bookstores, now Wal-Marts. Though I’m wondering if direct market distributors will be comfortable with how Wal-Mart does business (since they’re the 800 lb. gorilla, they make the rules, and those rules tend to benefit themselves first, others…maybe.)

Ah yes, this will also be remembered as the year that the sockpuppet roared. From the anonymous “Felicia” who leaked the story of Mark Waid being sacked from Fantastic Four (only to have him come back a few months later) to the composite “Jess Lemon” who held sway at Comicon Pulse for a brief moment (but longer than Felicia’s moment in the sun) sockpuppets gave grave pronouncements and hammered easy targets in reviews. Unfortunately, it doesn’t speak well of things when people have to feel compelled to wear masks to express their opinions (which is why I love guys like James Sime, Larry Young and Beau Smith who say what’s on their mind.) Candor, while not beloved in politics, still has its place in the business. And yeah, if it were up to me, I wouldn’t allow pseudonyms on messageboards or bylines. But that’s a rant for another time.

Weirdest thing that happened this year? Probably the fact that I’m even writing this column right now. At the beginning of the year I was just sort of poking around message boards and getting back into the world of comics. Now I’m writing here and getting my first graphic novel together. Oddly enough, I probably have Marvel to thank for it. Though I’d written before, most of my efforts stalled out. Marvel’s open door policy (brief as it was) gave me a kick. Sure, things didn’t work out on that front (spectacularly didn’t work out) but I’m writing and moving forward on my own stuff, and there’s certainly worse places to be. Second weirdest thing would probably the Grant Morrison panel at this year’s SDCC, and if you know how weird he can be, then you know how crazy it is to be here.

Thanks for reading, folks. On to 2004.