Series Cancellations

[Talavar]

Well, add Birds of Prey, Robin and Nightwing to the stack of cancelled titles - apparently they're all ending as of February.

I'm starting to get annoyed here.  Birds hasn't been as good since Gail Simone left, but I've still enjoyed the title - at this rate, I'll barely be reading comics next year.

[Mr. Hamrick]

Nightwing and Robin being canceled don't surprise me in the least for this reason:

[spoiler]Nightwing is set to take over the cowl from Bruce post R.I.P and they have been teasing something with Tim feeling betrayed by Bruce for hiding his motives and for the whole Spoiler's faked death thing.  However, I suspect that Tim will quit being Robin in light of Bruce's quitting being Batman since Bruce is his legal guardian.[/spoiler]

[Podmark]

There's been a rumor of a new 'Batman And Robin' series coming up in the future. LITG suggested Bagley would be on art. So Robin's cancellation didn't catch me by surprise, but Nightwing and especially BOP did.

No comment on this until we know more, except that I'm disappointed that such long running secondary titles have come to an end.

[Talavar]

Add Blue Beetle to the cancellation pile.

[GhostMachine]

Marvel needs to realize that the New Warriors concept sucks and stop doing new versions of the team.

It'll never happen, but I'd like to see them do a new version of the Invaders, with Bucky America on the team instead of USAgent (who I actually don't call USAgent but something else, but since this is a family board.....) and the original Human Torch fixed with his powers back. Even if its only a mini-series.

Add Blue Beetle to the cancellation pile.

Hopefully that will mean DC will get some sense and bring Ted Kord back. But NOT in his own series.

[The Hitman]

To add to the Nightwing/Robin/BoP cancellations. I heard on a podcast, whom read somewhere (and I'll try to track down the article)...

[spoiler]
Dick Grayson IS taking over as Batman. Damien Wayne will be stepping in as Robin. There's gonna be a new book called Red Robin (take a wild guess). BoP is being cancelled for low sales, I guess. And Robin... I don't know. The guys on the podcast had a theory that Tim Drake is the one behing all of this current Morrison- CrazyBats stuff.
[/spoiler]

[Talavar]

In the interview where I got the Blue Beetle cancellation news from Didio denyed any of Nightwing, Robin, or BoP being cancelled due to low sales - they're all in the same, middle of the comic charts area.  As for firm reasons as to why they were being cancelled though, he would only say that it relates to what's going on with Batman.

On that note, if it's true that Bruce Wayne isn't Batman at the end of RIP, I'm going to read Neil Gaiman's short run on Detective Comics & Batman (I think it's only 3 or 4 issues, and won't be involved in much modern continuity I assume) then I'm outta there.

And while I like Ted Kord and would like to see him back, the new Blue Beetle comic was good.

[Podmark]

New Exiles is over.
http://www.comicbookresources.com/?page=article&id=18844
I suspect this might not be the end though.

[Previsionary]

New Exiles is over.
http://www.comicbookresources.com/?page=article&id=18844
I suspect this might not be the end though.

...

While I want to be happy...I won't express any joy about it ending until I know for sure Claremont is away from the picture. And if the idea is picked up again, hopefully the next writer will dump the current team sans Morph and maybe Sabretooth (when he returns to his top form) and bring in some none claremont creations (or some of the old team). Heck, I'll just be glad for a "good" writer with a love for the old book that doesn't have so many writing ticks.

[murs47]

New Exiles is over.
http://www.comicbookresources.com/?page=article&id=18844
I suspect this might not be the end though.

This is the best news I've heard since the doctor told me that lump on my foot wasn't a tumor! Yay! :thumbup:

[Talavar]

I hope New Exiles is ending; that'd be the one cancellation of all these that makes me happy.

[AfghanAnt]

Thank god, Exiles is going to be canceled. Really it was an awful comic.

Also, I'm a little annoyed at all the (not here) "good riddance" about Blue Beetle being canceled. It was a really good comic and I hate when people are always throwing the race card into the mix. I saw the same thing when Firestorm was canceled. The truth is both titles were very good but Golden and Silver age fans don't want to see new characters especially not "ethnics." It sort of hurts to see, "Finally, the last of the "ethnic reboots" has been cancelled..." in reference to Blue Beetle. It was a good title and honestly I thought Jamie was one of the good things that happened from the recent Crisis.

I guess people don't realize their ethnic group isn't the only one that should be represented all the time and with legacy characters, such as Blue Beetle, can be something other than fair skin and fine hair.

[Previsionary]

While I agree that more ethnic groups should be shown off, I don't think many of the readers are particularly one ethnic group that oppose another...consciously (or subconsciously). I think the main power at play is attachment to older characters and they're less than willing to give new characters a chance even when those characters turn out good.

Take for example Captain America...how many people opposed and still oppose the idea of Bucky taking over and came up with all sorts of reason to do so even though they never read the book, didn't know the direction, or even the situation behind many of the changes. They didn't even know samples of the writer's work, but constantly bashed the idea because "Steve" wasn't behind the mantle. I think the same idea comes into play for many characters that have been around for ages. I think it'll continue to happen as well until people open up a little more and are willing to break off their old attachments and give something new a shot.

[murs47]

"Finally, the last of the "ethnic reboots" has been canceled..."

Wow....you'd think comic book readers would be a little more open minded. Shocking.

I think Prev brings up an excellent point. I sometimes wonder if people just cling to these ideas of what certain characters should be and label any other interpretation or re-imagination as wrong. It's sad to see segments of the industry(*cough DC cough*) being dictated by these close minded fans. "As long as Bart Allen's The Flash I'm never buying anything Flash based ever again!" I'm sure we've all heard or read similar quotes to that on the topic of most character changes. Change brings more possibilities to a title in my opinion. Change is good. Except if Hershey's decided to change their candy bars from milk chocolate to dark chocolate...that would be bad.

[AfghanAnt]

I just think it is odd when people say they hate Jason Rusch Firestorm when Ronnie had gone through so may failed revivals, Elemental statuses, and just bad storylines. If anything I would be happy to finally see a character without so much baggage. DC comics becomes so convoluted because there is so much change that doesn't stick and then they come through with the clean up crisis every twenty years or so "fix" the inconsistent characterization or flat out character assassination.

As far as Blue Beetle Jamie, he's a legacy character. I think it was interesting the beetle scarab actually did something like it did previously. Did Ted ever show any abilities with it?

Either way, I understand but I guess I would rather they be seen as Kyle Rayner or Connor Hawke where it was a hate for a new character rather than an ethnic character.

[Podmark]

Either way, I understand but I guess I would rather they be seen as Kyle Rayner or Connor Hawke where it was a hate for a new character rather than an ethnic character.

And where are Kyle and Connor now? Secondary characters to the restored originals. Firestorm is in the JLA, and I suspect Beetle will remain in the Teen Titans, so they seem to suffering a similar fate to those two. Kyle and Connor are among my fav DC characters, and I like the new Firestorm more than the old one. About even on the Blue Beetles. But yeah it's disappointing to see that attitude, but I doubt there'd have been a major difference if they weren't ethnic. Also is Connor Hawke ethnic?

February seems to be the month cancellations:
Ultimate X-Men
Ultimate Fantastic Four
She-Hulk
New Exiles
Nightwing
Robin
Birds of Prey
Blue Beetle

For most of these creative changes (RIP, Final Crisis, Ultimatum, Dark Reign) are to blame, and the rest low sales and the poor economy having publishers cutting off low selling books.

[murs47]

Also is Connor Hawke ethnic?

I believe so. Half white, half black. I'll check it out for you just to be sure. And yeah, Connor's a great character. I love his whole zen-buddha thing.

[Previsionary]

She-Hulk too? *sigh* I just started getting into the book this year. Typical.
-----------------

And I want to add that I remember reading several blog like post about Ultimatum and how it basically goes against the formula of the Ultimate verse and I think I agree.

Going off-topic...again:

The ultimate verse wasn't suppose to be big on events and continuity...so the whole background for Ultimatum and it's uber status change function (and really...these status change events don't really "help" things most the time) kinda contradicts the original premise. In fact...all the events the Ultimate verse has had has just created a bunch of convoluted continuity that slowly began to rip the universe apart. It didn't help that Marvel brought Bendis and Millar into the 616 universe to implement some Ultimate elements therefore making the Ultimate verse more or less obsolete. Goooo, Quesada! ^^

[AfghanAnt]

Also is Connor Hawke ethnic?

It depends on the writer it seems. I always thought he was half-Korean and Half-African from his mom & half-Ollie but with New Earth I no longer know. I always loved Connor because he was refreshing as well Kyle when they inherited their mantles. In a way I felt like I was finally inheriting iconic comic ideas myself.

She-Hulk

No! I was finally starting to like the title.

The ultimate verse wasn't suppose to be big on events and continuity...so the whole background for Ultimatum and it's uber status change function (and really...these status change events don't really "help" things most the time) kinda contradicts the original premise. In fact...all the events the Ultimate verse has had has just created a bunch of convoluted continuity that slowly began to rip the universe apart. It didn't help that Marvel brought Bendis and Millar into the 616 universe to implement some Ultimate elements therefore making the Ultimate verse more or less obsolete. Goooo, Quesada! ^^

I actually read that Loeb wrote the Ultimates script for 616 which I can easily believe.

[Previsionary]

The ultimate verse wasn't suppose to be big on events and continuity...so the whole background for Ultimatum and it's uber status change function (and really...these status change events don't really "help" things most the time) kinda contradicts the original premise. In fact...all the events the Ultimate verse has had has just created a bunch of convoluted continuity that slowly began to rip the universe apart. It didn't help that Marvel brought Bendis and Millar into the 616 universe to implement some Ultimate elements therefore making the Ultimate verse more or less obsolete. Goooo, Quesada! ^^

I actually read that Loeb wrote the Ultimates script for 616 which I can easily believe.

It's been mentioned a few times and I brought it up in the ultimatum thread. It's disappointing and it's even more disappointing that Millar was quoted as saying, "his storyline kind of matched where I wanted to go", and even Bendis helped to support this idea [he ad loeb shared scripts]. Writers I typically liked helped push this idea through without pointing out obvious flaws and making it more ultimized and it's sad.

[Talavar]

She-hulk's going too?  Come February, I'm not going to be buying many comics anymore I guess.  That sucks.

[the_ultimate_evil]

hmm i only ever got the tpb, but i stopped just before new exiles, i think the last one was where everyone went home

guess i jumped at the right time

[Podmark]

It's been mentioned a few times and I brought it up in the ultimatum thread. It's disappointing and it's even more disappointing that Millar was quoted as saying, "his storyline kind of matched where I wanted to go", and even Bendis helped to support this idea [he ad loeb shared scripts]. Writers I typically liked helped push this idea through without pointing out obvious flaws and making it more ultimized and it's sad.

It's funny, Bendis filled in for Quesada on his MySpace column Friday, and said that in creative summits Loeb is the one who always finds the logic errors in others stories. Considering he's usually worse than most at illogical stories that can't be good for Marvel publishing.

Or maybe no one does the same for Loeb's stories.

[AfghanAnt]

Or maybe no one does the same for Loeb's stories.

THIS.