All Paths Lead to Indecision

As I've mentioned recently, there are a few titles I've been buying I'm thinking about no longer buying. This is not a new problem. The question of when to give up on a comic is one I repeatedly struggle with, so much so I did a bunch of posts about just how often I went on buying comics after I stopped enjoying them.

Sometimes it's out of inertia; I've been buying the book, so I just keep on buying it. The fact most of the things I buy don't run very long these days actually helps on that score. Now it's more often I see things in the series I enjoy, and so I see ways the series could turn around, or come together in a really satisfying fashion. "If there could just be more of that, and less of this other thing I don't enjoy." Or, "These individual pieces aren't too interesting, but they might be combined in an interesting way."

But that leads back around to me potentially buying something I don't enjoy for a long time. But it's not too hard to tell the difference between the books where I finish one issue and I'm excited to see the next, and the books where I finish and my reaction is, "Well, this might pay off eventually." 

Simple enough to drop the books in the latter category, except sometimes those books do pay off. The question is how long of a leash do I use, because, again, I find myself potentially buying some dissatisfying book way too long. Like Hulk when Dr. Strange banished him to the Crossroads, I just keep ending up in the same place. I gave Batgirls 6 issues, but it's, in theory, an ongoing series. Letting it finish the initial story arc seemed fair, but doesn't really work for mini-series like Iron Fist or Ice Canyon Monster (assuming another issue of the latter ever shows up.) I don't know what Distorted is, so what's fair there?

So I'm tentatively going with the vague definition of enough issues to get a sense of the story. If I'm still guessing about what they're trying to do, it's can get a little more rope. It plays into my tendency to hope things will come together in an enjoyable way, but I'm not planning to sit around and wait forever for it to happen. At a certain point, I'll have a sense of what kind of story they want to tell, and I can decide if I give a crap.

Although I was thinking about this during a long, work-related drive yesterday, and realized this benefits the slow-paced books. Like She-Hulk, where 3 issues in, not a lot has happened. The plot is more theoretical than anything else at this point, which leaves my imagination free to run wild with all sorts of possibilities. But She-Hulk is, like Batgirls, an ongoing series, so I can see where it stands at the end of the first arc.

Guess I'll see how long this half-assed system holds.

Sixteen Years of Purchases

I'm stealing this from Gary at Crisis on Earth-Prime, who did this last month. Little graphical breakdown of my comic buying habits, since 2006, roughly when this blog started. Everything is in total number of comics purchased, I didn't want to make a second graph for percentages. You can click on it if you want to get a better look. Probably have to, actually.

 

As far as total across all publishers, 2006 and 2020 are the outliers, albeit in opposite directions. I thought 2007 would be as well, but I did one of those box and whisker, quartile graphs to check and, nope, it is right on the edge, but it's in. It's mostly been a slow downward trend, especially from 2008 to 2018, when it only went from 144 to 114. That's only about three fewer books a year. The last few years have been a little more chaotic. Total went up in 2019, then 2020's global clusterfuck, and then last year.

Marvel leads the pack every year. Usually the majority, but not always, and not often recently (see 2018-2020). Still, I think the smallest gap between #1 and #2 is ~17%, and that was in 2020. 2006 and 2007 are outliers, the only years Marvel's total exceeds 105 (exceeds it by a lot both years). Reviewing comics on this blog and realizing certain titles were disappointing me month after month did help me cut down on the excess. There's also 2020, again in the other direction. Marvel seems to hover in certain ranges for a while, then shift sharply. Three of the last four years, Marvel's been in the low-to-mid 50s. Before that, three years in a row in the low 70s. Couldn't tell you why that happens, just seems to go that way.

In that sense, 2014 is an outlier, too, at 101 comics (and just under 79%, next highest percentage after '06 and '07.) The 4 years prior went 79-70-64-80, and the next three were 74-73-72. Then right smack in the middle, one year where Marvel published a bunch of stuff I was willing to at least try, right before they canceled everything because of Hickman's Secret Wars.

DC's usually in second, although again, not so much lately. IDW got the silver in 2016, Boom! in 2018-2019, and Scout last year. DC peaked in 2010, the last full year before their big New 52 reboot, and they've been dropping pretty much ever since. 2015 was the last year DC averaged 2 books/month, and 2017 and 2020 are the only years since where it was even 10% of the total.

So if Marvel's cut has dropped, and DC's is down to almost nothing, the difference is going to all the other publishers, right? Yeah, pretty much. Their percentage went above 40% in 2018, and hasn't dropped below it since. Non-Marvel/DC comics made up over half of the total in 2019 and 2020. But I'm not sure individual publishers are getting much more, because I'm buying stuff from so many more companies now.

In the first 11 years of this blog, the highest number of non-Marvel/DC publishers I bought from was 5, in 2009. That was a grand total of 14 comics. In 2012 and 2013, when I bought 33 and 23 comics from those publishers, it was from three companies (Dark Horse, IDW, Red 5). It's only in the last few years I've really branched out and started scouring the Previews catalog for anything that looks good. But in a lot of cases, I'm buying one title from that company. So you get 2021, where I bought 51 comics that weren't from Marvel or DC, but they're divided among 10 companies. Nobody's really getting a big percentage.

Beyond that, it's mostly just interesting to see companies pop up, in some cases become the major player among the second or third-tier, then drop off the map for years. Boom! was a big deal in 2010-2011, then I didn't buy anything from them again until 2017. It was even beating out DC for a couple of years, actually had the best two years of any non-Marvel/DC company. Almost broke 20% in 2018. Now they're nowhere, because I'm not interested in Buffy comics or Power Rangers. 

Red 5 was doing very well from 2011-2014, then Atomic Robo switched to IDW, and viola! Nothing from Red 5 until White Lily last year. Scout and Vault have been doing OK the last few years, but who knows how long that'll last. Especially for Scout, which hasn't actually shipped any of the comics that were supposed to come out this year. Life on the fringes is volatile like that.

It's the Little Things I Want Back

Typically, Saturdays are my long run. Get up at sunrise (I inherited my mother's early rising tendencies), do 8-10 miles if my knees allow it. My reward to myself was to go to one of the local buffet places for lunch and read a book while I gorge, then go home and lounge on the couch. I would like to be able to do that again some day soon. Even going out and getting a pizza isn't the same.

It's a common joke among comic fans about us being addicts, all needing our weekly Wednesday fix. I really do miss new comics being out each Wednesday, though. Even if I didn't typically buy new comics each week, sticking to every other week or every third week depending on how many there were I wanted.

That surge of eager anticipation when you get an issue of the title you love most at the moment in your hands. (At the moment, Black Cat would hold that distinction). I always debate whether I want to read that comic first, or save it for last. I think it usually came down to what order the cashier stacked them when they handed them back. Good old random chance.

Or heck, even just getting to see the list of what titles are going to be out that week. It's a little disappointing when there's nothing I want, especially if the week before was light, too. Still, it's fun to look. Sometimes an issue I've been waiting for that's been delayed shows up. Sometimes a book shows up earlier than I expected.

Occasionally I'd spot something I missed when the monthly solicitations were released, or it just looks more appealing now than it did then, for whatever reason. I might not even get it that week, if it's a series already in progress, but at least make a note to catch it in a collected edition, or as back issues. Not an impulse buy, but a reconsideration.

Local Man Continues to Not Learn His Lesson

I haven't done this in a couple of years, but let's look at titles I eventually stopped buying, and when I should have really stopped buying them. Last time, I left off at the end of 2013, after I'd jumped ship on Rick Remender's Captain America run in less than a year. There were actually no ongoing titles I dropped in 2014 (although a few got canceled), so we're picking up right at the start of 2015.

Captain Marvel: This was the second Kelly Sue DeConnick-written ongoing for Carol Danvers. What did we end up with, three or four of those all told?  They paired DeConnick with David Lopez as the artist - who was a major step-up from the mishmash of wildly different artists they used on the previous series - and sent Carol into space. This is where the idea of Carol's cat being an alien called a Flerken comes from.

I dropped the book after issue 11, which was a Christmas-themed issue. Mostly because the book was about to be dragged into some crossover between Guardians of the Galaxy and the time-traveling teen X-Men called Black Vortex. That ringing any bells for anyone else? No? Me neither.

I thought the first 6 issues, which involved Carol trying to help a planet full of refugees who were dying slowly of a mysterious ailment, could have been an issue or two shorter. So that didn't help the book's initial momentum. The next few issues were various shorter stories that worked better. There was a Lila Cheney team-up in there somewhere, since it turned out Carol was a huge fan of hers. Which makes it tricky on when I should have abandoned ship. Either I should have skipped it entirely, or I hung on the right amount. Overall, Carol Danvers just doesn't seem to click for me as a solo character, no matter how many different creative teams I've tried, but I don't regret trying again.

How many issues too many: 0

Nightcrawler: Claremont and Todd Nauck's attempt at a solo series for Kurt Wagner. I dropped it the same month as Captain Marvel, although this book would only last another 2 issues anyway. But Claremont had dragged out the Shadow King again, because he can't help himself, and I didn't want to deal with that.

There were parts of the book I enjoyed. The color work by Rachelle Rosenberg was very good. This is probably the most I've ever liked Nauck's artwork, which has always seemed like a style I should enjoy, but never quite clicks. Claremont tried to deal with Kurt dealing with the fallout from leaving Heaven to return to the living world, but didn't write a mopey, depressed, or angry Nightcrawler. Kurt struggled at times, but still liked being alive.

On the other hand, Shadow King.

How many issues too many: 2

Harley Quinn: I gave up on this at issue 16. I was gradually getting used to Chad Hardin's art, even while I would have liked Amanda Conner to be drawing the book. It helped I thought Hardin was loosening up his style the longer he was on the book.

But it felt as though Conner and Jimmy Palmiotti just kept throwing ideas and situations into the book, only to ditch them in favor of something else almost immediately. Which made it difficult to care about any of it, since you weren't sure there'd ever be any follow-up. Also, Conner and Palmiotti's sense of humor doesn't seem to quite mesh with mine. The success rate of their jokes and gags wasn't terribly high as I recall.

That said, issue 9 had Harley actually using her psychiatrist training to help a guy who was obsessed with her, which I thought was a solid issue. And issues 11-13 were the team-up with an amnesiac Power Girl (which spun-off into an entire mini-series involving Vartox that took place between a couple of panels). So I didn't mind sticking with it that long.

How many issues too many: 3

Ant-Man/Astonishing Ant-Man: They were by the same creative team (Nick Spencer and Ramon Rosanas), and the second one picked up where the first left off after it was canceled at issue 5 because of Secret Wars.

Scott trying to run his own business and be a good dad for Cassie was encouraging. Spencer deciding to take away Cassie's powers because. . . reasons, was not so good. Scott deciding to have a bunch of villains who might reform as his employees? Had potential. Spencer writing Scott as a loser who everyone calls a loser and an idiot, because that's how the movie portrays him I guess? Not so good.

There was definitely the kernel of something in there for me to give a crap about, but Spencer dumped too much other crap on top of it. I gave up on Astonishing after the first issue, and that's what I should have done with the first series.

How many issues too many: 5

Starfire: This was part of one of DC's various attempts at rebranding, after they finally got the hint that the New 52 wasn't working. Having apparently learned nothing from my experiences with their writing on Harley Quinn, I tried Conner and Palmiotti's take on Starfire for 6 issues. There were parts of it I liked. The attempt to give her a large supporting cast of non-superhero types, trying to make the town she lived in feel like an actual community. I don't think it actually worked for me, but I appreciated the effort.

But like I said before, their writing just doesn't click with me. I mentioned in the Year in Review post at the time that it didn't feel like the supporting cast really had their own lives when Starfire wasn't around. Like everything was just on pause until she and the audience's attention moved back in their direction. But it was worth a shot.

How many issues too many: 0

Man, 2015 was not a good year for me, and 2016 wasn't much better.

Descender: I gave this 11 issues, despite misgivings about Jeff Lemire's writing. I had the impression he was very decompressed, or maybe deliberate is a nicer word, in his pacing, and that was pretty much my feeling after reading this.

That and I wanted him to focus on some of the central mysteries more, and he was more interested in other stuff. Like how the boy TIM acted as companion for became a bounty hunter/scrounger in the time TIM was out of commission. The book wasn't getting where I wanted it to go fast enough - and I wasn't sure it would ever get where I wanted it to, period - so I jumped ship. Despite Dustin Nguyen's very pretty, water-colored artwork.

How many issues too many: 3. The reintroduction of Andy was probably the point things veered off-course for me.

Black Widow: This was the Mark Waid/Chris Samnee book that started up once Secret Wars was supposed to be finished. It wasn't, but Marvel figured out it was stupid to keep their entire publishing line on hold because Jonathan Hickman can't properly pace a book to save his life.

Natasha is one of those characters I feel like I should like, but every story about her seems to revolve around some aspect of her past coming back to strike at her, and making all her friends and allies question whether they can actually trust her. And we got more of that here, so I left after 6 issues. Samnee and Matt Wilson made them a very pretty six issues, but still.

How many issues too many: There were some good action sequences and fights in the first few issues, so let's say 3. I'd say this was a sign I was getting smarter, but these books get canceled so fast anyway it hardly matters.

Illuminati: This started up in fall of 2015, like the previous book, but died in 7 issues. I dropped it after 6, so it was going away either way. I didn't enjoy Bendis' attempts to make the Hood some big-deal, hotshot villain, but this felt like Joshua Williamson was going to keep him on a smaller-scale. Small group of villains, loosely united by common goals to get paid, and none of them terribly impressed by Hood or his bullcrap. Plus, Shawn Crystal drew most issues, and I'd enjoyed his work on various Deadpool books previously. And the whole thing blew up in the Hood's face spectacularly, which was fun.

How many issues too many: 0. Looking back, I don't really regret giving this a try. Maybe it didn't make a strong enough impression for the negative aspects to linger.

Blue Beetle: And now we're up to DC Rebirth, when they tried to go back to more popular versions of certain characters. They handed Jaime and his cast to Keith Giffen and Scott Kolins and Giffen promptly made everyone unlikable and hostile towards each other. I wondered why Jaime, Paco, and Brenda were even friends for as much as they squabbled and sniped at each other.

Even counting the 0 issue, I gave up after just 5 issues. I vaguely remember wondering what was going to be the mystery of the scarab this time, since I vaguely recall Dr. Fate showing up to speak of dire portents. Oh, and Ted Kord was acting as a mentor trying to help figure out the scarab for Jaime. That was nice. Bit of a horror vibe to the book, but don't you usually want the audience to want the characters to survive?

How many issues too many: 5. When you want to see characters acting like friends, and instead they act like they can barely tolerate each other, that's not much fun.

Not much to go on for 2017 and 2018, but I've hardly been buying any ongoing to begin with, so that's no surprise.

Nova: I don't have anything against Sam as a Nova, but I was buying this because they brought back Richard Rider after he was killed off in Thanos Imperative. Considering Thanos and Star-Lord were brought back almost immediately, it wasn't really fair Rich had to wait 6 years for his turn.

But Rich did still have to share the book with Sam, and I didn't really care about Sam or his family too much, so it just didn't work and I dropped it after 4 issues. Then it was canceled after issue 6.

How many issues too many: Issue 3 had Cosmo and Death's Head in it, so I enjoyed that issue. let's say 1.

Ben Reilly: Scarlet Spider: This spun out of some Spider-Clone nonsense Dan Slott did, and focused on Ben Reilly trying to keep himself alive, and decide what kind of person he was going to be. There was some stuff in there about morality and mortality I thought had real potential. But Mark Bagley got shifted off the book onto some Venom series, and they replaced him with Wil Sliney. You might recall Sliney's art didn't do anything to keep me on Fearless Defenders 4 years earlier. if anything, it looked more computer generated than before, so action was stiff, facial expressions were weird, and one issue of that was enough for me.

They had Khary Randolph doing cover worked, and if Randolph had handled interiors, I probably would have stuck around.

How many issues too many: 1. I said it at the time, if I'd paid closer attention to the credits on the cover, I wouldn't have bought issue 6 at all. My bad.

Deadpool: I dropped Deadpool for good in 2018, but I'd skipped his book for most of 2017 as well. A combination of a crossover between three titles he was in, which then flowed directly into Secret Empire tie-ins will do that for you.

By the time I came back, everyone hated Deadpool again, and Duggan had him trying to kill Cable for Stryfe. Then he pissed off most of his remaining friends, and I gave up on the book.

I don't know. I enjoyed a bit of Wade dealing with the fallout from the complete catastrophe his life had become. All his friends dead or pissed at him (again). The bit where he kept making Captain America look bad was pretty funny. His attempt to at least protect Evan from Stryfe was touching.

On the other hand, the story where he "kills" Cable fell extremely flat. Having him kill a Cable who hates his guts and says they were never friends is a complete waste. At that point, I don't care that he's killing Cable. I only care about that guy because he's Wade's friend who sees something good in him. If you take that away he's just another judgmental asshole with a body count that should prevent him from throwing stones, but apparently does not.

How many issues too many: 9. The issue right after I picked it up again was fine, but avoiding the Cable storyline clearly would have been the smart play.

The main thing I notice is most of these books just didn't last long, on my pull list or in general. I think Deadpool, Descender, and Harley Quinn are the only ones that went past 2 years. And Deadpool is the only one of those three I bought for that long. Generally, if a book lasts that long, I've stuck with it (not that there have been many recently). Which may mean I haven't learned anything at all, just like the title suggests.

Also, I feel like my reasons for not sticking with something were either not as clearly defined these last few years, or I just don't remember as clearly. Maybe that's because I gave up on so many of these books so fast. If I only buy it for 4 issues, how much of an impression can it make? Or I was being more discerning about not continuing to buy books that I thought were only OK, just out of inertia. Which might suggest I learned something after all.

Unless the books didn't have enough time to build any inertia. If they were always just, "Well, I'll try this," then I probably always had one foot out the door. I think the increased prices do encourage that in me. To not keep buying the book and wasting money.

A Quick Update

I finally hit my limit on patience yesterday and went to the post office to find out what's up with the comics, and what the heck "acceptance pending" means.

It means they've been told expect a package from UPS, but it hasn't arrived. I was apparently the 20th person that day asking about an order stuck in that particular limbo since last Thursday. Which makes me feel a little better, since I've always suspected I'm pretty far up there on the impatience scale. But for that many other people to already come looking, maybe I'm more patient than I think.

So I tried UPS, and they don't know where it is. The person at the counter did search in the back room just in case, but came up empty. But I was assured it will show up sooner or later.

That's where we are at the moment, with everything up in air and my patience at the end. So Year in Review starts next Monday, whether the other books arrive or not.

Rising Prices Inhibit Buying Stuff. In Other News, Fire Hot.

With December's solicitations out, I have an idea of what's coming out through the end of 2017. If my estimations of what I'm going to buy over the next three months are correct, I'll end up buying 72 new Marvel comics this year. Last year it was 73, the year before 74. This isn't a jokey post about how, by 2087, I'll be down to 2 Marvel comics.  It's more that it's remained so curiously steady.

Looking it over, when 2015 started, Marvel was in the midst of one of those "Marvel NOW!" pushes they did three of or four times. I can't recall if that one was All-New Marvel NOW! or Marvel Now 2.0. Both of those terms are ones I'm reasonably sure actually existed and were pushed by Marvel, and were not made up by me. More's the pity, at least I'm not being paid to come up with that.

But shortly after came Secret Wars, and the cancelation of every ongoing, followed by the subsequent relaunching of the entire line, even before Jonathan Hickman and Esad Ribic's mini-series had shambled and lurched across the finish line. There was Civil War II, and Inhumans vs. X-Men before CW 2 had even finished. And during all that, Marvel was throwing out a preposterous number of series, acting like the market would support two Dr. Strange books, or any Inhumans titles*. Then we had Secret Empire and now Legacy, which is more another attempt at vague branding, like the "Heroic Age" tag they used after Siege but prior to Fear Itself.

Point being, there's been a lot of flailing and nonsense over the last three years, and yet, I'm sitting at, on average, six books a month. The number fluctuates - I was at 8 books a month the first three months of this year, closer to 4 during the summer - but it evens out to 6. Which seemed strange. The only two books I've bought throughout were Ms. Marvel and Unbeatable Squirrel Girl (I'm not counting the month or two they were canceled, since it wasn't my choice to not be able to buy them). Somehow though, the flux evens out. Marvel cancels whatever I was enjoying, but eventually stumbles into a bunch of new series I'm willing to try, at least a few of which I end up sticking with until they're canceled, then repeat.

I've been considering that given the price of the books these days, 6 is basically what I feel I can justify buying. In the spring, when I was considering buying Iron Fist and Scarlet Spider, I started thinking more about whether it was time to ditch Nova and Great Lakes Avengers. Swap out two books to make room for two others. As it turned out, I dropped Nova but not GLA, which got canceled anyway. But Iron Fist ended up not working out, and ultimately neither did Scarlet Spider.  Which is the way it goes sometimes, but it's atypical to feel I needed to drop a book before adding another. Mostly because there haven't been so many books out there it seemed necessary.

2014 was the year Marvel started really pushing the $4 books. It was also a real outlier in terms of the number of Marvel comics I bought, 101, which is the most of any year going back to 2010 (by a lot, second place would be 2013's 80). At midyear, I was up to 10 ongoings (to the extent you could still count Hawkeye, which was firmly in its "it'll come out, eventually" death throes). Some books were still launching at $3 - Ms. Marvel and She-Hulk to name two - but others were starting at $4, and still others increased in price from one issue to another. Superior Foes of Spider-Man #11 was $3, #12 was $4.

Which would seem to counter the cost factoring in, but I was only at 10 books for three months. Two titles ended in the fall, two others got dropped in January 2015 because they weren't working, and even though I added Ant-Man and Squirrel Girl, by then we'd reached "everything's getting canceled because of Secret Wars", so it hardly mattered. Once we were past that, I couldn't find more than 5 titles I was interested in for about a year. It was only last winter Marvel threw enough stuff at the wall to the point I started to feel pressed about how many books I was buying.

Brief aside: I bought 79 Marvel comics in 2010, 70 in 2011, and 64 in 2012, when the $4 price point wouldn't have been a factor. The difference being, I remember there was nothing out then I wanted to buy. I was lucky to have 3 ongoings on my pull list each month, and the rest was random mini-series and one-shots. I remember adding Hawkeye in August of 2012, bringing me up to 5 ongoings for the first time since 2009. It was a wasteland of Bendis-written Avengers comics and Brand New Day Spider-Man as far as the eye could see. So, not exactly the same situation as we're discussing in the present.

For me, 6 $4 books is the same amount of money as 8 $3 books, though it means fewer stories, fewer chances to see something cool, or funny, or touching. I don't know if it works in Marvel's favor. I don't know the difference in price point for the retailers. Fewer books would mean fewer writers and artists to pay, but it isn't as though Marvel's pared the line as they've raised prices. The line had bloated considerably, and even after they cut it down somewhat for Legacy, there's still over 50 titles out there. They had to release a lot more shit just to get me buying enough books I started to consider capping the pull list. So I wouldn't call that a net win, especially since enough of the books I was buying were on thin enough ice I wasn't too bothered about dropping them.

* I tend to consider Ms. Marvel about as much an Inhumans book as Deadpool is an X-book. They're adjacent to their respective messes, but largely safe.

The Litany Of Poor Choices March On

What the hell, I'm going to continue looking back over series I dropped. I've taken this idea this far, I might as well keep going. Moving into 2009 and beyond.

Booster Gold: Let's see, started buying this with issue #0, which came between issues 6 and 7, because it was a Zero Hour tie-in. So Booster and the Beetles ran into Parallax Hal and Extant (ugh) in the Time Stream. I ultimately gave up on the book at issue #22, partway through a story about a dagger that was connected to the Beetle scarab somehow. I dunno.

Geoff Johns wrote the book up through #1 Million, which came after 10 but before 11. Then Chuck Dixon did a two-parter that seemed set in the '60s Batman era, and involved Booster dressing up as Killer Moth. Than Dan Jurgens started writing the book, as well as drawing it.

I mentioned this in my solicitations post a couple months ago, but Jurgens' work as a writer has never worked for me. Stuff happens, but it fails to connect. The ideas aren't bad in theory, but the execution is off. So the best idea would have been to jump ship after issue 12, when Dixon's story ended.

How many issues too many: 10

Deadpool: The Daniel Way-written series that started during Secret Invasion. Cable/Deadpool had ended about 6 months prior, and at the time this series started, I think it was the only Deadpool series going. That certainly didn't last. The book scrapped all the progress Wade had made by the end of C/D, along with his supporting cast. In return, Wade got to argue with his caption boxes and hallucinate. Some of which were good, but the lack of a consistent group for Wade to play off contributed to the aimlessness of the book, which Way at least tried to run with in the second year, having Wade drift from place to place, looking for somewhere to fit in, but usually ruining everything.

I dropped the book at issue 24, partway through a story where he ruined a gig Weasel had being the mech-suited muscle for a casino in Vegas. The book was on a fast train to nowhere, and the funny parts were getting thinner and thinner on the ground. I did enjoy the one-off #22, but I should have bailed before the Hit-Monkey story. Issue 22 introduced some redneck moonshiner with electricity powers called White Lightnin', but Wade mocked him, as he should. But the series played the kung-fu assassin monkey completely straight, which was a terrible idea.

Before that, he tried joining the X-Men, and they turned him away, which, what the hell? Let Mystique on the team even though she betrays them every time, won't let Deadpool on. Boo, X-Men. Before that, he tried being a pirate for two issues. That was good. So there's at least three places I could have dropped it.

How many issues too many: 6. The X-Men story at least had Wade puking in Colossus' face and Cyclops being forced to admit he was wrong. Just like he was wrong to have Hope use the Phoenix Force to make people into mutants. I will never stop bringing that up, because to hell with all Cyclops' apologists.

Power Girl: Like Deadpool, I started buying this when it first began. I dropped it at #17. Conner, Palmiotti, and Gray had left the book after 12 issues, and the Winick/Sami Basri team wasn't getting it done. Winick was bringing in a bunch of the Max Lord stuff that was running in Justice League Generation Lost, and Basri's art combined with the coloring had made the book look much colder and unfriendly. Tonally, the book was very different, everything was falling apart for Peej, and it wasn't what I was looking for.

Would have been better to bail when the original creative team did. Sometimes it's really easy.

How many issues too many: 5.

That gets us through 2010. Weren't many chances for me to drop books, since Marvel kept canceling everything so quickly. And then in 2011, DC rebooted their entire line, which killed ultimately four books I was buying at the time. Still, 52 new titles provided new opportunities to try books and grow disgusted with them.

Suicide Squad: I'm not sure this should even count. I bought it for 3 issues, when it first started. The first issue spent half its pages on the prospective Squad being tortured by Waller's people to see if they were cut out for the Squad. Then dumped into a mission without any treatment for the injuries sustained from the torture. Which I'm sure was meant to make Waller seem hardass, but really just makes her look stupid. Nothing like damaging the people you're counting on to save the day ahead of time.

A mistake on my part, but at least one I corrected fairly quickly.

How many issues too many: 3.

Grifter: I have no particular attachment to the character, but they were basically taking the idea behind that movie with Roddy Piper (or the concept of ROM SpaceKnight), and using it here. That seemed like it might be an exciting read. Eh, not so much. After four issues, I had no idea why the aliens were there, and hadn't been given any real reason to care about the characters. Grifter had a lady that was his partner in a series of cons, who wound up in trouble, and not only could I not be bothered to care, I couldn't even remember her name. Still can't. Dropped it after 4 issues.

How many issues too many: 4. Hey, maybe I'm really starting to learn! Or these books were so bad they were the equivalent of a brick to the face.

Avengers Academy: Started this around #6, at a time when I had exactly zero Marvel ongoing series on my pull after the cancelation of Hawkeye and Mockingbird the month before (which I would have dropped if it hadn't ended). Dropped it at #21, after Fear Itself had wrapped up, as a whole new crop of students and teachers were coming in.

Christos Gage was trying to use some of the rough treatment the teachers had gotten in recent years, and I suppose I should have appreciated that. But I frankly would have been fine if Tigra being pistol-whipped by the Hood had been allowed to sink quietly into the dustbin of history, or if we forgot about Speedball as Penance entirely. Then he followed that up by bringing in Korvac, who is one big Avengers foe I have never given a crap about. Glowing, whiny, naked neon purple guy is hard to take seriously.

I intended to drop the book before Fear Itself, since that seemed like a good jumping off point, but Jack kind of goofed and kept sending it. And I wound up enjoying the horror vibe of the cadets being trapped in the mansion in the Microverse with a possessed Titania and Absorbing Man. Not enough to stick around after it was over.

How many issues too many: Enjoyment of the Fear Itself tie-ins aside, I wouldn't have been that bad off dropping it after the Korvac story. So, 9 issues. It wasn't my fault, though! There was a mix up at the shop, a mix up at the shop!

Damn, there was not a single ongoing in 2012 that I dropped. I should have dropped Resurrection Man, but stuck it out to the bitter end. Ditto the Matt Fraction-written Defenders. What a couple of disappointments those were. Let's see 2013.

X-Men: This was the book written initially by Brian Wood, that was notable initially for its team roster consisting entirely of female characters. But I liked all the characters, liked Coipel's art, while knowing he'd never be able to maintain a monthly schedule, and didn't have anything against Wood's writing (or know anything about him as a person).

But then I'd finish his stories, and not be able to tell if he was trying to set things up for future stories, or was just leaving big holes in his stories. And the book was on its third artist by issue 8, and the current one was Terry Dodson. I generally like Dodson's work, but he is going to give all the female characters extremely similar body types, which is not great, especially in this scenario. I was having real difficulty distinguishing characters from each other. And the book wasted two or three issues on some crossover event involving multiple groups of time-traveling X-teams, and yeesh.

Anyway, the first 3 or 4 issues should have been sufficient. Once crossovers and artist shifts started, it was definitely time to go. Although skipping the entire thing would have been fine, too. None of it gained purchase in my collection.

How many issues too many? Call it 8. Just ignore it entirely.

Fearless Defenders: So the moral here is, don't be the chump who gets excited about books consisting entirely of fictional female characters, unless you really trust the creative team to do something good with it. In this case, I gave up after 4 issues, because the book felt lifeless. Nothing about Bunn's writing or Sliney's art felt inspired or had any impact. It was the kind of terrible that smacks you across the face, it was just dull. Mark Brooks' covers were the best thing about the series.

How many issues too many? 4. So maybe I'm getting better at bailing on books. Now I just need to get better at avoiding some of them altogether.

Green Arrow: I started buying this because Ann Nocenti was writing it. It was a bit of a mess, but like most of Nocenti's stuff, I found things in there that interested me. It always feels like there's something going on in her writing. How clearly it's conveyed can be another matter. And unfortunately, she didn't exactly get spectacular art teams. Harvey Tolibao seemed to fail repeatedly at panel-to-panel continuity, and presenting things clearly. Freddie Williams was an upgrade, but not by that much. Anyway, Nocenti left the book after issue 16, and so did I. Which I think put me in the distinct minority, since most everyone else I saw online hated her run and bailed sooner. But people on the Internet are notoriously imbeciles, so who cares what they think?

How many issues too soon: 0. I wouldn't list it as a favorite run of Nocenti's but I was at least entertained by it, and I left the book when she did, so I got what I wanted out of it. I can't think of any other way you're going to get me to buy Green Arrow.

Batman Beyond Unlimited: I don't know if this should even count. A collection of digital-first released stories in an anthology comic? What the hell, why not? Let's see, I bought it when it started, and gave up at issue 17. By that point, Norm Breyfogle, who had been drawing the Batman Beyond story, had left a month or two earlier. And so had Dustin Nguyen, who had been drawing the Justice League stuff. Which left a rotating cast of artists on that, Adam Archer on Batman (good but not Breyfogle), and the JT Krul/Howard Porter Superman stuff, which was the millstone around the neck of the book, as far as I was concerned.

If you had told me at the start the Batman story would be collected in a trade all by itself, I'd have bought that and ignored the book entirely.

How many issues too many: But I didn't know that would be the case, so let's say 4. Breyfogle left after #13, that was the point I should have jumped off.

Captain America: OK, last one. This was the Rick Remender-written series. I bought it because he was going to dump Cap in Dimension Z, and I anticipated lots of cool stuff of Cap encountering strange new enemies and allies, trying to hold onto himself in a hostile alien environment, all drawn by John Romita Jr. Captain America Beyond Thunderdome, or something. Instead it was about Cap raising some baby he rescued from Zola, and fighting Zola and his creations mostly. The alien setting was mostly dealt with in an issue or two, then a big time-jump and back into the battle against The Man With a TV in His Chest.

And by the last few issues, Romita was only doing breakdowns, and so the art was pretty reliant on whether it was Scott Hanna or Klaus Janson finishing things up. And then Carlos Pacheco took over starting with issue 10. Cap was back on Earth, and I bailed.

How many issues too many: 10. Probably would have been best to avoid it entirely. It was never going to be what I wanted it to be.

Of the series listed here, 4 would seem to fall into a category of series I enjoyed because of a particular writer, artist, or combination thereof. Conner/Palmiotti/Gray, Nocenti, Geoff Johns (strange to type that now), Norm Breyfogle. And once they left, it was time for me to mosey on as well. A couple of times I did that pretty swiftly. A couple of other times it took a little longer.

The majority of the series, 7 of the 11, were books I simply shouldn't have bothered with at all. They weren't what I was hoping for, even if I did buy some of them because of the presence of creators I enjoyed (Romita Jr.). In those cases, I shouldn't have ever bothered. I probably would have eventually forgotten I ever considered buying them anyway. I know there have been Marvel series among the flood of titles in the last few years I didn't pick up at the time that I never got around to later, and can't remember now. Which is a sign I wasn't that into it in the first place, just hoping it would be worth the time.

Anyway, that's up through 2013. Hey, we covered 5 years, all right!

More Titles I Should Have Dropped Sooner

As we await today's scheduled extinguishing of the Sun, and presumably all life on Earth (about time!), I'm going to resume looking back at ongoing series I dropped, and how much money I wasted by not dropping them sooner. Which makes it sound much more like an exercise in self-flagellation than I intended. We're up to 2007 now, so we haven't yet reached that point where it was more common for the titles to get canceled than dropped.

Ultimate X-Men: I started buying this around issue 5, I think. It was when I got back into comics, and I grabbed most of the issues the store had on the shelf, so it's hard to say which was the most recent. I bought it through the Millar/Kubert initial run, Bendis' time writing the book, the Brian K. Vaughn run, which I remember enjoying although I didn't keep any of it, and finally dropped the book at #79 during the Robert Kirkman/Ben Oliver run. I had been a little disenchanted with the story Kirkman did where Nightcrawler abducted Dazzler from the hospital and kept her hidden in a spot underground to try and make her his girlfriend. Then he brought in Ultimate Cable, who was Wolverine, but older and missing an arm. Which is simpler than actual Cable's origin, I guess.

I could have done without Millar and Bendis' runs on the title. I can't even remember most of it. Magneto trying to cripple Quicksilver, Sexual Predator Wolverine, Cyclops being dropped off a cliff (that was funny). Vaughn's is the only one I have many fond memories of, aside from a two-parter Chuck Austen wrote about Gambit, of all things. Like mixing vomit and goose shit and somehow getting a delicious frosty chocolate milkshake. Anyway, even with Vaughn, I could have dropped off before the last story, Magnetic North, which seemed mostly about how the Ultimates are reactionary assholes and the X-Men are hotheaded kids. Which was already the point of every interaction those groups had. Well, every Ultimates story was about them being assholes, but that's beside the point.

If we assume I would not have started buying the book at Vaughn's run if I wasn't already buying it - a sound assumption - #60 would have been the last issue.

How many issues too many? 19

Exiles: Exiles was one of the first books I started buying after this blog began (I had started picking up X-Factor just prior to starting it). I started getting it because, it had Longshot and Spider-Man 2099 in it? Or I was disillusioned by Bendis' work on New Avengers and wanted a more interesting team book. Something like that. It was in the middle of an exceedingly long and ultimately overly drawn out story about chasing Proteus through realities. Though that may have been due to Chris Claremont's scheduled taking over of writing duties from Tony Bedard being delayed by health issues.

Once Claremont did take over, at #90, he immediately moved Psylocke onto the team, and then brought Slaymaster into the mix, and it was time to go. #94 marked the endpoint. All that said, I don't regret giving Claremont a shot. The man has written team books I liked, and there was something to be said for pairing Psylocke with a version of Sabretooth and seeing it play out, since one had killed her previously. Plus, I like Paul Pelletier's artwork.

How many issues too many? If we're being extremely uncharitable, 5. But I'm going with 0. Giving him one story to show me something wasn't unreasonable.

Shadowpact: By the time I picked this up, I'd dropped every other DC title I had going. But the concept had sounded intriguing, and issue 8 was focused on Ragman and seemed interesting. That didn't last long. I couldn't really get into Willingham's writing style, and Tom Derenick's art always feels a little off. Everyone's anatomy is a little too exaggerated to the point they start to look misshapen. I dropped it by issue 16, probably could have done so after 11 or 12, the fight with Etrigan was somewhat cool.

How many issues too many? 4.

Amazing Spider-Man: I resumed buying Amazing Spider-Man in the last few months of Howard Mackie's run on the book. They had started the numbering over a couple of years previous, trying to shake off the stink of the Clone Saga still, I guess, so it was around #25. A while later, they kept that numbering, but would show the combined number in a lighter color ink next to it. So by that system, it was #467. Right around the conclusion of a plot by Norman Osborn to make Peter his heir involving drugged toothpaste.

Straczynski took over as writer within the next six months, and he and Romita Jr. made a pretty good team for a couple of years. Eventually Romita left and Mike Deodato took over as artist, and things which had already started downhill slightly earlier, picked up speed. There were a couple of stories in there I enjoyed - a decent one featuring the New Avengers that was better than anything Bendis managed with the roster he put together - but there was a knock-off Molten Man character, then The Other, and then we were into Civil War tie-ins and the Back in Black story. By the time it was wrapping up, we knew enough about One More Day that I knew it was going to piss me off, and why pay for the privilege? So I bailed after #542, the issue where Peter whups the Kingpin.

Best case, I should have bailed after that New Avengers story, so around #520, 522. Worst case, I should have left after the two-issue Loki team-up, which ended in 504. Either way, outside of a four month stretch in early 2010, I haven't bought Amazing Spider-Man regularly since.

How many issues too many? 22 minimum, 38 maximum. Ouch, so much for progress.

Batman and the Outsiders: For some reason, this book went through three creative teams in the first three issues, and the cast shifted at least 50% until Chuck Dixon came on the book. Me, I was just there in the hopes of getting a well-written Cassandra Cain for the first time in two years. And we did, and it was good, and I also enjoyed Julian Lopez' art.

Then Chuck Dixon left the book because he was having to make changes to his scripts at the last minute because editorial was making all the Bat-books do Batman R.I.P. tie-ins, and Morrison was holding his scripts back until the very last second so editorial couldn't mess with them (or so the legend goes). I recall a lot of yelling on the Internet between the forces that were for and against Morrison at the time. Maybe that's always going on. I was just annoyed Dixon was off the book, and replaced by Frank Tieri, and that it was Batman R.I.P. tie-ins, and that once those were done, Cass was being shuffled off the team by whoever was taking over the book next (Keith Champagne?). I left the book at #14, holding out for good Cass moments to the bitter end. I should have jumped ship when Dixon did.

How many issues too many? 4. Sometimes circumstances make it very easy.

Ms. Marvel: The Carol Danvers version, not Kamala Khan. Marvel tried to give Carol a push coming out of House of M, since she was the world's best super-hero in that universe, and she wanted to live up to that. Then they put Carol on Tony's side during Civil War, which sure as hell wasn't going to win her many points. She was written woefully inconsistently, being the hardass one minute, but then refusing to own up to her actions the next. Impending Secret Invasion tie-ins were the straw that broke the camel's back, and I jumped off at #24.

When should I have bailed? Probably post-Civil War, her choices in that storyarc poisoned the well for me. But then I'd miss out on the addition of Nextwave-flavor Machine Man to the cast. The only issue I still have is #20, when he dons a big fake mustache as part of an undercover recon mission.

How many issues too many? At minimum, 4. At maximum, 16.

Ultimate Spider-Man: Like Ultimate X-Men, I started buying this when I got back into comics, and grabbed all available issues. But I'm sure they were still somewhere in the origin story, so maybe #5 here as well? I bought the book up through #122, when a combination of factors made me drop it. Impending Ultimatum tie-ins. Tie-ins to the Ultimate Spider-Man video game, which had annoyed me and never been finished. The return of Ultimate Venom. Growing dissatisfaction with Bendis' multi-issue stories. And I hadn't entirely adjusted to Stuart Immonen's artwork, though that by itself wouldn't have driven me off the book.

When should I have dropped it? I don't know. I actually liked the two done-in-one stories that I bought right before dropping it. I liked the Ultimate Knights arc that concluded Bagley's run on the title, so I'd need to go to 111. The Green Goblin story that kicked off Immonen's run was horribly paced, even by Bendis' standards. At times I think dropping it when he introduced Ultimate Carnage would have been the smart play. I kept a lot fewer issues after than story than before (about 16 out of 60).

How many issues too many? At least 11.

X-Factor: Started buying it when it came out, dropped it after #32. More accurately, I picked up #33, thumbed through it, had an eyeball explode at seeing Larry Stroman's art, and dropped the book. To be fair, I'd been considering it for awhile. #33 was simultaneously a crossover with She-Hulk (which Peter David was writing), and a Secret Invasion tie-in. The book had lost both Rahne and Layla Miller to Messiah CompleX-related nonsense, and even before that, had seemed to lose momentum after a strong first year.

Still, I enjoyed the issues about Jamie trying to track down his various duplicates so he'd feel more whole, so I'd want to go to at least #16. There was an appearance by Arcade right before I dropped the book, but I felt pretty blah about it, which is a bad sign, when Arcade can't get me excited.

How many issues too many? 16.

The Punisher: OK, last one for today. This was the MAX version of the title. I had started reading Ennis' Punisher work sometime during the initial "Welcome Back, Frank" mini-series, and stayed with the title when it became a Marvel Knights ongoing (which was a mistake overall), and on into the MAX run of the book.When Ennis wrapped up in #60, I considered dropping the book, but figured I would give Gregg Hurwitz a shot. Three issues later I reconsidered and dropped the book.

I'm sure Hurwitz is a fine writer, but I didn't know him from a hole in the ground. So that bit I wrote in the Exiles' section, about Claremont having earned a test story? Doesn't apply here. Should have dropped the book at #60. I've read all the Punisher comics I ever need to.

How many issues too many? 3.

Well that's a lot better than the last time. There are actually multiple titles I stayed with for less than a year longer than I should have. Amazing Spider-Man is the most egregious, and hey, it's Spider-Man, that connection was hard to break. But credit to Marvel, they persevered in their attempt to break it, and eventually succeeded. Good work guys! Sure saved me a lot of money over the last decade, and not just because it meant I wasn't buying the Amazing when it was triple-shipping every month. If I could just walk away from Spider-Man, then there was no character I couldn't draw a line under and say, "Enough".

There are still other titles that got dropped after the end of 2008, but like I said, most of them get canceled instead. The beginning of the New 52 being an example as well. That took at least three books I was buying out in one swoop. So I may return to this again, or maybe not.

A Trip Down A Trail of Bad Purchasing Decisions

Due to the holiday, my comics didn't arrive in the mail until today. Meaning I'm not prepared to do reviews, so a different idea. We've all had series we ultimately dropped, that looking back we should have dropped even earlier. It doesn't happen as often for me these days. Mostly because Marvel cancels books so fast that by the time I'm considering dropping a title, it's already gone.

So I'm going to look at some titles I dropped in the past, and then when I should have dropped them. This may be a recurring series, we'll see. I'm going to start as far back as I can recall and work gradually forward. Feel free to share any series from your own experience in the comments.

JLA: I started buying the book during Mark Waid and Bryan Hitch's "Queen of Fables" story arc, probably because there was a lot of buzz from the just concluded "Tower of Babel" story (aka, the one where Ra al'Ghul uses Batman's own secret plans to take down the League). I stuck with it until around #110, in the middle of some story involving the Qwardians and the Crime Syndicate of America from the anti-matter universe. I had no idea what the hell was going on. Probably dropped around #113 or a couple issues earlier.

In retrospect, I should have dropped the book sometime back during Joe Kelly and Doug Mahnke's run. Maybe after the story where Martian Manhunter overcomes his weakness to fire (with DIRE CONSEQUENCES). That would be roughly issue #88, but that means I would have stuck it out through that Axis Amerika story, so maybe I'd be better off jumping ship before that, so #79.

How many issues too late - 23 at minimum, possibly as much as 34. Although the book was double-shipping for a little while there.

Uncanny X-Men: Started with Joe Casey's run, probably #396, stuck through the entirety of Chuck Austen's run, into the return of Claremont and Alan Davis. Stupidly enough, it was being introduced to X-23 (wearing the costume of the character Fang from the Shi'ar Imperial Guard for some reason in-story) that drove me off. Oh boy, a girl with a couple of Wolverine's claws, past Calvin said while rolling his eyes.

Well, I also remember wondering what the hell the X-Men were doing being part of the XSE, which was a thing they introduced to the status quo at the time, considering that was part of the mutant-hunting organization Bishop had worked for in his hellish time. But the X-23 thing really seemed to be the straw. I think because with Austen, I had kept thinking he'd either leave and Casey would come back, or they'd get back to the plots Casey had been writing eventually. I didn't keep track of creative team changes to the extent I do these days. Claremont and Davis brought this whole new status quo with them, which seemed to be a clear signal there wasn't going to be any going back to Casey's stuff.

So that's. . . Jesus, did I really buy the book all the way up to #450? It didn't seem like it was that long. Smart play would have been to jump off when Casey and Sean Phillips did, so #409. Austen's first story, which brought in the Juggernaut, wasn't terrible, but why take chances?

How many issues too many - 41. That's gonna be tough to beat.

Sensational Spider-Man: Originally was titled Marvel Knights Spider-Man, switched to Sensational after The Other storyline, and with Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa and Angel Medina taking over the book from Reginald Hudlin and Pat Lee, I think. I couldn't tolerate Medina's art, and the book hadn't been doing it for me for awhile, so it was dropped at #25.

The book started with a Mark Millar/Terry Dodson 12-issue story, which as Millar-written things go, I found good then, almost tolerable now. There are parts of it I like, the Black Cat getting to play a prominent supporting role being one, but there's also Millar trying too hard as usual to introduce some big reveal. I didn't end up keeping any of the series in my collection, so I could have skipped it entirely. Failing that, I definitely didn't need to stick around for Hudlin's run.

How many issues too many - 13 at minimum, 25 maximum.

Wolverine: This was the second ongoing Logan by that title, the first had concluded after about 190 issues. It started with Greg Rucka/Darick Robertson, then went to Millar and Romita Jr., and eventually wound up in Daniel Way's hands. I dropped it after some particularly boring story where Logan remembers Winter Soldier took some kid of his we never knew Logan had (and neither did he, prior to House of M), and goes after him for revenge. Of course it accomplishes nothing, nobody dies, whoop-de-doo. I wasn't interested in the traipsing through Logan's past, so I dropped the book. And then dumbly picked up the first issue of Wolverine Origins before realizing it was what I was trying to get away from.

I think #39 was the last issue I bought, didn't even stick around for the conclusion of the story.  Enemy of the State and Agent of SHIELD had a certain action movie appeal to them. A Mark Millar written story approximating the dumb summer blockbuster feel? The hell you say. So maybe I could have stuck until #31. But I probably would have been fine dropping after issue #12. Rucka's last storyline is one I didn't even remember until I looked back over the series online.

How many issues too many - 27 maximum, 6 minimum.

New Avengers: I can't even remember why exactly I bought this. I guess because I was buying Avengers when it was canceled, and then this was the only Avengers book on the stands. Hard to believe these days, I know. And I probably figured Bendis could write Spider-Man OK, so it would work out. In theory, I still liked the core of the team he put together (Spidey, Cage, Spider-Woman, Captain America, Iron Man). In practice, well. . .

I dropped the book at issue #20, after the lousy "Collective" story, just before Civil War tie-ins commenced. It would have been better never to buy it at all. There are sporadic pieces in there I liked, but they're scattered among a lot of other junk.

How many issues too many - 20. Let's hear it for blogging about each issue, which helps confront me with the realization I'm not enjoying titles more directly!

Robin: Issue #85, as I was drawn in by the combination of the "Batman Dies!" blurb on the cover, plus the image of an uncertain-looking Robin inside the Joker's head. The book went from Chuck Dixon/Pete Woods, to Woods and Jon Lewis, to Bill Willingham and a slew of artists (mostly Scott McDaniel) to eventually Adam Beechen and Freddie Williams II. Which was when we got the delightful story about Cassandra Cain being crazy and evil. Dropped at #152.

Looking back, it's a bit tricky. The simplest answer would be to drop the book when Willingham took over. There was some initial promise there, but it got buried under a lot of decisions that were out of his hands, like Spoiler's death in War Games, and the death of Jack Drake in Identity Crisis. On the other hand, it was because I was buying the book that I started buying Batgirl, because of a crossover between the two titles. If I drop the book with Willingham, I miss out on Cassandra Cain's series. There's always the chance I come back around to it later, like I have all sorts of other series, but there's no guarantees. So, either #120 or #133 for final issue.

How many issues too many - 18 a minimum, 31 maximum.

Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man - Bought right from the start because heaven forbid I not buy all Spider-Man books. It opened with parts of "The Other", and I dropped it at #8 when it seemed like they'd introduced an alternate universe version of Uncle Ben who was murdering people. That was a bridge too far, apparently.

Turned out to be a version of the Chameleon from an alternate universe. Or was it a Mysterio? I forget. Smart play would have been not picking it up at all. There were some good issues in there - there's a two-parter where Spidey gets roped into fighting this mysterious luchador being pursued by his own specialized hunter - but there wasn't anything essential.

How many issues too many - 8! Woo, progress! Let's hear it for getting angry about silly things! Impatience won out for once.

Teen Titans - This was the Geoff Johns-written book, combining parts of the Wolfman/Perez Titans with the crew from Young Justice. I started buying it somewhere between #11 and 14. I had #11 for sure, but I'm not positive I bought the next couple of issues. I stuck with it through Identity Crisis fallout, Infinite Crisis tie-ins, and gave up a couple of stories into One Year Later, issue #41. No one on the team liked each other or seemed to want to be there, so why the hell should I keep buying?

Dropping it after #20, the issue that deals with Tim Drake trying not to deal with his father's death, would have been a sound decision. The next story is the one that introduces Speedy (Mia Dearden version) onto the team, but also brings in not-magically lobotomized Dr. Light. Then after that comes a story where Luthor controls Superboy, and man, I have always thought making Superboy's human genetic material come from Lex Luthor was just stupid. It's trying to be too cute, or too obvious with some metaphor. I know, not a surprise coming from Geoff Johns.

How many issues too many - 21. Hmm, so much for progress.

That carries us up through 2006, which seems like a decent place to stop for now. Looking at it, there is just that inertia that's hard to fight against. A story is real good, but I stick through to the end to see if it picks up. It doesn't, but here's another story, maybe they'll do better this time. The potential is there, I'm sure of it. I've liked what the book was doing before, or liked the character before, why can't they just do more stuff like the stuff I liked? Or in the moment, reading the issue, I'm into it, and it's only afterward, going back and looking at it that I shake my head and wonder what I was thinking. Although sometimes the writer or artist does something in the story that prompts that response. Using Teen Titans as an example, Johns teased this mysterious blue arrow Roy Harper left for Mia. What could it be? Turns out to be a Phantom Zone Arrow he stole from the Fortress of Solitude on a tour Superman gave, which she tries using against Superboy-Prime. And it works - for about two panels. All that build-up for that.

Where was I? it feels easy to just drift along, buying the book I was always buying. Before I know it, I've got a crapload of comics I never want to read again, that I have to find someplace to donate or otherwise unload them. Still happens now, though not as often. Sometimes even with my back issue hunts. I try something, it turns out to be a dud. Just one of those things.

Anyway, like I said, if you've got a story of a title you stuck with too long, share it in the comments. I'm not going to point and laugh. I mean, you've seen some of the dreck I bought, I've no high ground.

Nobody Bats A Thousand

I've stopped picking up Black Widow. The skill of the people involved was obvious, but it didn't interest me. The Black Widow is a character I can sometimes appreciate, but isn't one I seem to have any innate affection for. I picked up the Marjorie Liu-written Black Widow series from several years ago in a back issue search, and it was much the same: Well-done, but nothing I regretted not buying when it came out.

Of course, you could say the same for my feelings on several characters, including Daredevil, but I loved Waid and Samnee's (plus plenty of other talented artists and colorists) work with old Hornhead. The difference is, there it felt like they were going against the routine. All those years of Murdock's life being an unending string of misery and woe, and they opted to instead have him fight against that. Which didn't always work, but he made the effort. Let his friends in, leaned on them when he needed to, kept smiling in the face of hardship, refusing as much as possible to let it drag him down. I've already read a run where Matt was shattered and flew from the wreckage he made with his tail between his legs - it was Ann Nocenti and John Romita Jr.'s run on the title. Didn't really need to see it again, because I wasn't likely to enjoy a sequel more.

And Waid/Samnee mostly avoided falling into the same old "fights ninjas/the Hand" deal most writers since Frank Miller seem compelled to do (Nocenti being one exception). Ikari is close, but unique enough to be interesting. Instead he's fighting bizarre echoes of Klaw, or the Spot. Teaming up with the Silver Surfer, or going after the Book of the Darkhold with Satanna and Werewolf by Night. Even when he does go to the well of Kingpin or Bullseye, he uses Fisk as someone Murdock turns to out of desperation as a savior, and Bullseye as someone trying to use his gift for hitting any target to strike at Daredevil from the shadows. It's at least somewhat an inversion of the norm (although Fisk and DD have had this co-dependent do-si-do going on for years).

Black Widow felt pretty much like every Black Widow story I can remember reading. Natasha's past comes back to haunt her in some way. It's always the Red Room striking at her, or another of their products trying to exceed her, or some awful misdeed coming home to roost. Doesn't make it a bad approach to take, but it isn't one that's struck a chord with me yet, despite a number of writers and artists trying.

Little Annoyances Build Up

There are two things in the comics/fandom realm that are annoying me lately. Actually probably a lot more than two, but these are the ones that drift to the forefront most often.

One is, when a book is swiftly canceled, for people working in comics to blame the audience for not pre-ordering the book. This came up last month, I think, when Marvel's recent Nighthawk book, to the surprise of pretty much no one, died a quick death.

The other thing is when writers try for some big shake-up/shock ending to the first issue, and people react poorly. Then you get other fans telling the first group, "it's probably a fake out" or to "give it time". Recent examples being Nick Spencer's "Captain America works for HYDRA" thing, and again with last week's first issue of Jessica Jones. It isn't the cheap "everything you knew is wrong" aspect of it, I'm used to that, and hell, there's probably been a fair number of those I've enjoyed over the years. The goal is to hook the reader, sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. It's the insistence the audience owes the creative team another issue, or another five or fifteen.

The common thread is this placing of all responsibility on the audience. It's the audience's job, apparently, to make a book a success by buying a copy based on some flimsy information about who is working on it (which may change by the time the book is released, to say nothing of all those "TBA" artists) and whatever nonsense the solicitation text might provide (if you get anything more than "CLASSIFIED"). They won't even see this book for another two or three months, but they must agree to pony up for it right now. If the writer goes for some lame twist, the fans are again responsible for giving up more time and money until they see if some decent explanation or payoff is provided.

Of course, people pre-order books that get canceled all the time. If you've ever pre-ordered comics, then you've probably had something you were reading canceled. In 2009, Marvel canceled 6 different series I was pre-ordering. Someone was pre-ordering Nighthawk, for all the good it did them. Even if I could get every person who reads this blog to pre-order a book I asked them to, it probably wouldn't tilt the needle enough to do anything. Point being, telling fans who are dismayed a book they enjoyed would have survived if they'd only pre-ordered is a load of crap, because odds are, those people already were pre-ordering, or would have if they could. I'm not expecting these creators to fix the Direct Market, however you would do that, but punching down isn't going to help either. Of course, punching down is comics' favorite pastime, from companies towards creators, and creators towards fans, or creators with more tenure towards less-secure ones, or large groups of fans towards more marginalized sections, so maybe it's no surprise.

As for the second irritant, a writer can't tailor their story to appeal to everyone, I know that. Some people are not going to enjoy what the writer or artist does. Sometimes that's going to build slowly, that gradually dawning realization this book just isn't clicking. Nick Spencer's Ant-Man stuff is like that. There are parts I enjoy, but the whole didn't come together in a way I could get with. The idea Spencer and Rosanas were somehow owed my eternal patience and money while they moved things along is absurd. They had their chance to get me to stay, they failed, that's how it goes. Better luck next time. There's a million things out there to read, watch, play, or listen to. Expecting people to keep throwing away money on something they don't like or that actively angers them, just because the creative team haven't finished revealing their brilliance, is nuts.

Yeah, the audience can cop to the fact they're making judgments based on one issue, or five, or however many they gave the book, but beyond that? I figure if someone says, "I'm not buying Jessica Jones because I don't like that Bendis appears to have broken up Jess and Luke's happy marriage," that's fair. Bendis chose to go that route (or give the appearance of going that route), they can choose to walk away because that was something they enjoyed. A person can choose to give a creative team a second chance, but they don't owe it to them. The saying is "let the buyer beware", not "let the buyer shut and keep giving us money for shit."

There's A Fair Chance I Won't Buy Half The Books I'm Thinking About

By July, we'll be 3 months into Secret Wars, and 2 months into whatever DC's calling its post-Convergence line. As a result, there's a lot of books I might get, but I may change my mind entirely when the time comes.

In the safe world outside linewide hullabaloo, Descender and Roche Limit: Clandestiny continue. At DC, the Secret Six relaunch seems to have gone entirely off the rails. Issue 3 was originally supposed to ship before Convergence. Then it was delayed until June. Now issue 3 is going to be something entirely different, and issue 4 will have the story that was supposed to be in 3.

It might be time to write that book off, if you haven't already.

Outside of that, I haven't decided whether I'll pick up Batman Beyond or not, and now I'm having second thoughts about dropping Harley Quinn in favor of the Harley and Power Girl mini-series, considering she's about to meet that Popeye stand-in from Bronze Age Superman comics, Captain Strong. I don't think I can justify buying both, though. Maybe I can buy the mini-series in trade later. Good news is, Batman's appearance in Section Eight appears limited to one issue. But issue 2 is going to involve Green Lantern. Hmm, Garth Ennis writing GL. This could be hilarious, or abysmal.

On the Marvel side, Kamala finally gets to team-up with Carol Danvers, so high hopes for that story. I'm debating whether to buy the Spider-Island mini. Not out of any interest in that (sorry Christos Gage), but because that Spider-Girl story I was looking forward to is a backup feature in that mini-series. Crap.

Ant-Man's having an Annual, rather than a regular issue, and it features Scott teaming up with Pym. I have no idea what to expect from that, but between this, and the skip month they have listed for June or whenever, the book is getting a little wonky. The good news is, the Annual is at least by the regular creative team. Daredevil is down to its penultimate issue, Unbeatable Squirrel Girl rolls on, and there's going to be a Captain Britain and the Mighty Defenders series? mini-series? Who knows? I wouldn't normally pay it much mind - Brian Braddock has never done much for me - but Alan Davis is drawing it, and I've heard mostly good things about Al Ewing as a writer, so it's a possibility.

There's just a lot of uncertainty in it for me these days. What's worth my time (and more importantly, money), are these mini-series going to be any good. In Marvel's case, how much is being part of Secret Wars going to taint these books. This may be one of those times were not getting books the week they come out is a blessing. Because I have all of you to act like my food-testers, and tell me whether the truffles are poisoned or not.

June Has A Lot Going On

First order of business is actually left over from May's solicitations. The next segment of Roche Limit, Clandestiny, will be starting up then. I missed it because I guess I was expecting them to pick up the numbering where they left off, with #6. Instead it's a new #1, so I guess this is really more a series of Mini-series than an ongoing. So I probably ought to factor that in to my 2014 Year in Review.

On to DC. It's the first month of post-Convergence, and there's a lot to unpack. Secret Six #3, which was originally supposed to come out in February, is pushed back to June. These sorts of delays don't bode well for the book. It's starting to remind me of that Grant Morrison/Jim Lee WildC.A.T.S. book that only shipped an issue or two then vanished. So maybe it'd be best to give up on Secret Six.

Harley Quinn got bumped up to $4 an issue, which is probably the tipping point for me to drop it. I'm thinking about buying the Harley Quinn/Power Girl team-up mini-series instead. It's still at $3 and I did find Harley and Peej's interactions amusing.

They gave Bryan Hitch a Justice League of America book to write and draw. Over/under on number of issues he completes before fill-ins or a new creative team shows up is set at 2. Place your bets! Also, because Comic Book Resources put all the Joker variant covers first, I thought they were adding him to the Justice League, which would be bold. Though I'd call bullcrap if Batman's head didn't explode on the first page. I have no intention of buying that book, it just seemed worth mentioning.

As far as new offerings I'm interested in, Starfire is a sure thing, though I wonder how much different of a tone Conner and Palmiotti will take from their work with Harley. I'm not sure they can write the books the same way, considering Starfire isn't crazy. Section 8 is almost a certainty, the only thing that holds it back is the promised appearance of Batman. I fear Ennis' usual "hur, hur, superheroes are dumb and useless" shtick, and I'm not sure I can handle multiple issues of it, even if he's poking fun at Batman. But I'll have to at least try it.

Beyond that, I'm thinking about the Lost Army Green Lantern book. It could be kind of cool, but I'm not sure about Cullen Bunn as writer. The only thing of his I've read previously was Fearless Defenders, which you may recall I dropped not because it was bad, but because it felt relentlessly mediocre. There was no spark to the writing (or the art), and I worry that could be the case here. Maybe Bunn only gets amped for his own stuff, as opposed to work-for-hire. And then there's the Batman Beyond book. The idea of Terry lost in a weird mash-up of Kirby future concepts, all on his own has promise. It seems like an odd enough setting to allow for some good stories, and you do something with trying to ration the Batarangs and such, since there's no one to make more, or to patch up the suit. Have him scrounging around, trying to help people as he can, finding lost caches of technology. Fallout 3 as a Batman comic, basically.

Of course, that's essentially what I was hoping for when I tracked down back issues of Bishop: The Last X-Man, and I wound up hugely disappointed. And I don't have the best track record with Dan Jurgens' stuff, so who knows.

On the Marvel side, we're another month into Secret Wars stuff, and a lot of ongoing series have just vanished. I could at least understand if May was the final issue of Daredevil. I don't recall it saying that specifically, but with that book, once I confirm the creative team hasn't changed, I'm in, so the solicit doesn't get much more than a glance. But Rocket Raccoon and Ant-Man are both gone, too. But Ms. Marvel and Unbeatable Squirrel Girl are still there, although Kamala's stuck in a "Last Days" tie-in. Boooooo, boooooo.

As far as the horde of mini-series they're unleashing go, I'll probably try Marvel Zombies, because Elsa Bloodstone's in it, and Kev Walker's drawing it. Also Mrs. Deadpool and the Howling Commandos. A story where Shiklah gets to be the star could be good, and it's not as though the pull list is stuffed to the bursting. Most of the mini-series, though, are either ones that don't sound good, or I can't deal with the creative team. Like, oh look, a Hulk-based mini-series written by Peter David, but oh, oh no, they put Greg Land on art chores. Or look over there, a mini-series where Peter Parker and MJ are married and have a baby! Oh, Dan Slott's writing it? Never mind. At this stage, I just can't trust him not to write something that's going to really irritate me, so the smart play is to simply avoid him.

At least it wasn't a boring month.

A Follow-Up On The Comic Shop Thing

Late January I found out my comic guy had been lying to me about the reasons my comic were taking so long to get here, as he pointed the finger at the post office instead of his own, I don't know, laziness, incompetence, one of the two. I said at the time I'd wait and see if he could show he actually cared about customer service, but I changed my mind. I called him last Thursday and told him I needed to close my pull list. He didn't seem surprised or concerned, he didn't even ask why, which sums things up, doesn't it. I was feeling slightly bad about taking my business elsewhere, because of some old connection with an earlier incarnation of the store, and he never cared.

He did ask whether I wanted him to send along what he'd pulled for me over the last month, and while it was tempting to tell him to keep it, I said to send it along. What the hell. He said he might be able to ship them out that next day, but we'll see. If he did, they might show up today, but I won't hold my breath. {Edit: Nope, didn't show up today. Oh well.}

Things Are Uncertain With May's Releases

May could end up being the calm before the storm on the comics front. Convergence will be wrapping up, but we won't really see what comes out of it until June. I want to see the solicitations for all these new books DC is going to put out before I start making any decisions on that score. So look forward to that next month, I guess.

I still can't believe they got Ennis and McCrea to do Section Eight. When I saw that title I glossed over the creators, so I just assumed it was another book about yet another paramilitary, semi-secret group. Like Team 8, or Suicide Squad, or that spy group Dick Grayson is a part of now. But no, I guess it's going to be about Sixpack and Dogwelder and the rest. Maybe. They could do something entirely different. Have to wait and see.

On the Marvel side, it's the start of Secret Wars! Oh boy! *fart noise* And here we see the beginning of the likely to be nearly endless wave of tie-in mini-series. The only one they have listed for May I might buy is Master of Kung-Fu. I skipped that recent Shang-Chi mini-series because I doubted Tan Eng Huat's art was up to the task, and I generally haven't heard good things about it, so score one for me. But this has Dalibor Talijac listed as artist, and from the few Deadpool things I remember him drawing, that's fairly encouraging. As I'll be down to a measly 5 ongoings from Marvel by then - Rocket Raccoon, Ms. Marvel, Ant-Man, Squirrel Girl, and the rapidly approaching its end Daredevil - I can spare the space. At some point there's going to be a Spider-Girl or MC2 mini-series with the Tom DeFalco/Ron Frenz team, and I'll probably get that, too, but beyond that, who knows? And I read somewhere Ms. Marvel is definitely doing one of those "Last Days" tie-ins, which is what I was afraid of. Secret Wars is too big for books to just ignore it.

Outside those two companies, Descender will be continuing, but there's as yet no sign of Roche Limit. Though I haven't decided if I'll continue with it or not. See how issue 5 goes. No sign of an Atomic Robo mini-series, either, but that could be because it either hasn't started yet, or that when they decided to go the webcomic route, they're abandoning print versions entirely. Hopefully there'll still be trade collections. I still dislike reading comics on a computer. I have a few trades of other things I'm waiting to have come out, and if I like them, I might start buying those. That sci-fi/Western series Copperhead is the most notable, and the trade comes out this month, so if I get that quickly enough I may pick up the new issues where the trade left off. More wait and see.

I Should Post This Before The Next Round of Solicits Hits

First order of business in discussing the solicits for April's releases. Since I didn't send an order to my comic guy, there's no telling whether he'll send anything. In which case, by the time I decide to actually buy them, I may have heard a lot of negative stuff and change my mind. So this is kind of theoretical. Like, I want to get Deadpool #45, which is supposed to be the last issue of the current volume, but I don't think I want to pay 10 bucks for it. So I may not buy that one until several months after its release, when I can get a perhaps slightly damaged copy at a lower price. Like I said, as long as its readable and doesn't fall to pieces, I'm not too worried about condition.

I went over the Convergence mini-series I was thinking about buying a couple of weeks ago. Ultimately I settled on Batgirl, Suicide Squad, and JLI. But if I hear nothing but bad things when they come out, I may revise that plan. The joys of no longer feeling locked in because I specifically ordered something.

Pretty quiet on the Marvel front. Captain Marvel's tie-in to the Black Vortex came a month later than I expected, but there it is. As mentioned, Deadpool's ending for the moment, though I feel the rumors of his death have to be a joke. I'm hard-pressed to believe he's going to get killed by the incompetent dopes of U.L.T.I.M.A.T.U.M. Daredevil is either wrapping up, or getting really close. I wonder what Secret Wars is going to do to books like Ant-Man and Unbeatable Squirrel Girl, that have barely started? It feels like some of these books are ending because of the big shake-up, but if so, it was kind of stupid to start up a bunch of new titles.

I'm sure the stupid one is me, for thinking Marvel employed any sort of long-term thought or planning to all this. They really do careen from one thing to the next like a hog on ice.

Are These Solicits The Equivalent Of Coal?

It's the holiday season, so let's look at solicitations that came out this month! For books that won't be here until March! Delayed gratification is the sweetest gift of all! Or is it the cruelest? Whichever.

Speaking of cruel, DC is going to cancel a whole bunch of series almost none of us were reading. I mean, I was reading Klarion, but apparently I was the only one, and I know Sally was reading Red Lanterns, but maybe they'll start that one up again after this Convergence stuff. Anyway, DC is ending 13 series in all, and most of them aren't any surprise, because it's the ones that weren't selling. Credit to them for trying two Aquaman series, I guess. That was definitely a surprise, even if the fact it didn't last wasn't.

As for Marvel, March is surprisingly a month without a linewide crossover event. I wasn't sure Marvel still did that any more. They're still doing the Black Vortex thing among the cosmic books, and Hickman might almost, finally, be ready for time to run out, whatever that's going to lead to. A bunch of crap I'm going to ignore, more than likely. In the world of comics I'm actually buying, Scott Lang's going to fight Taskmaster, while Squirrel Girl's going to space to fight Galactus.

Look, you have to understand your level as a hero. Some people are meant to fight assassins-for-hire, and some people are meant to defend the world from fundamental cosmic forces. No shame in not being able to keep up with Squirrel Girl.

I have no idea who that is on the Daredevil cover. Looks like Boomerang, except a lady. Fred's been messing around with Chameleon's shape shifting serum a little too much. That stuff's a hell of a drug.

Oh, let's not ignore Marvel expects to start up a new Hawkeye series, which implies the current one will have finished by March. Sure it will. I won't be picking up the new one. I'm not interested in an investigation of Clint's past. If I'm going to buy anything Lemire's writing in March, it'll be that new series from Image he and Dustin Nguyen are doing, Descender. I don't know, the little kid android could be annoying, but I'm hopeful it'll be a big, weird universe, and Nguyen will make it look good.

The Shortest Month's Solicits Hold Few Surprises

I was wondering after the last set of solicits whether Roche Limit would come out in February, or if it would be on hiatus until the next 5-issue arc was ready to go. The answer apparently is "hiatus", though I don't know how long that will be.

There's not much new at DC for me. No new series, no cancellations. I'm really curious to see all the Convergance solicits in one place, whenever that happens. Another couple of months, I think? I expect they'll use that as a chance to cancel a lot of their lower selling books, though. They've used those special September events for that a couple of times. I'll have to live in suspense until then.

As for Marvel, well She-Hulk is gone now, which brings me down to just 7 titles from Marvel, and that's likely to drop soon. Yep, I believe February's Captain Marvel #12 is going to be the end for me. I know, I've said that before, but the book's about to be dragged into that Black Vortex Cosmic Marvel crossover, probably in March, so there's no better time to bail. Other than that, there's no movement. I'll be in my second month with Ant-Man and Unbeatable Squirrel Girl, so hopefully those will be going well.

These Solicits Are More Depressing And Strange Than Scary

Tomorrow is Halloween, so I guess these should be Spooooooky Solicitations? So try this one on for size: She-Hulk is cannnnnnceled with issue 12!

Wait, that's not scary, that just stinks. Let's try this again. Ahem. Nightcrawler will be fighting the Shadow Kiiiiiiiiinnnng! What, seriously? Dang it, Claremont, I don't think anyone actually likes the Shadow King but you. Admittedly, I am curious to see how Kurt is going to fight a non-corporeal foe, but I may really have to drop this.

All right, third time's the charm. Squirrel Girl is getting her own ongoing series, starting in January. OK, now that's a sign of the Apocalypse, and not the one from the X-Men comics. That being said, will I buy it? Yes, I definitely will. I'm gonna have a She-Hulk-sized hole in my pull list soon, anyway.

OK, enough of this faux-holiday nonsense. Captain Marvel is doing a Christmas-themed issue, proving that holiday spirit, like light, takes time to travel through space. Even with Christmas creep, it can't make it there on time.

Deadpool's done with Axis, which means it's back on my list, and I'm debating keeping Rocket Raccoon after all, because the solicitation for 7 promises that Rocket is trying to make amends for his past, because I'm a sucker. Rocket might actually behave like a good guy. On the other hand, it remains to be seen what his definition of "making amends" looks like. Well, I haven't shipped my order off yet, there's still a little time to decide.

I suppose after I proclaimed my love for Scott Lang, I really ought to buy his new ongoing. I don't really want to pay $5 for the first issue, though. Perhaps I'll start buying it with the second issue.

I know this has been really Marvel heavy, but there isn't a lot else I have comments on. Klarion is at least making it to issue 4, Catman has a new outfit, Harley's dating that guy who escaped from prison a couple of issues ago.

Roche Limit will be wrapping up its first arc. They had said in an interview the book will be three distinct 5 issue arcs, so I'm curious if there'll be a gap now, to give them time to get the next arc finished, or if the whole this is ready to go. Won't know the answer to that until next month, though.

The Horrifying Return Of The "Civil War" Post Label

So Marvel's thinking about doing Civil War with their movies, starting it off or building it up in Captain America 3. Which makes me not want to see Captain America 3, something I wouldn't have considered possible after I saw Captain America: The Winter Soldier. Such is the awe-inspiring revulsion of Civil War.

And the comics, never one to pass up a half-assed opportunity to synergize with their cinematic universe, may be planning to redo Civil War in the comics as well. Sigh. Look, it's not that there isn't a potentially interesting story in there, assuming you hand the job to someone other than Mark Millar. That doesn't mean it's a story I want to see redone. You're not going to convince me government oversight of superheroes is a good idea in a fictional universe where said government is routinely infiltrated by the Red Skull and Mystique, which gives a Cabinet post to a drunken former weapons dealer (Stark), when it isn't handing government agencies to complete psychopaths (Osborn). Given the way things are going these days, I'm pretty sure I wouldn't trust our government to have control of someone like Spider-Man, let alone a Hulk, given how people with power seemed inclined to abuse it these days. Assuming they were ever allowed to do anything*, it would probably wind up being something awful.

There's also the downside that this news lead to other people describing Civil War in articles, and calling the New Warriors D-list, or implying they were totally outclassed by flippin' Nitro. Sure, the team that faced the Juggernaut, Terrax, and the Sphinx can't handle Blows Himself Up Guy. Well, not when Millar is writing, obviously, but see, now I'm angry about that all over again. I had pretty much shoved the general stupidity of that whole event into the back corners of my mind, and here someone went and dragged it into the light again.

I'm hoping it would be relegated to a small mini-series that exists off by itself. Something that can be easily packaged into a single trade you can put in a bookstore for people who see the movie and are curious. Not the huge, sprawling, invasive mess the original was. The last Civil War played at least a part in the decrease in Marvel comics I bought over a span of several years. The tone it established for much of the line, the fact it was a success, so Marvel did more BIG EVENTS which also derailed books I had been previously enjoying. I'd rather not have a repeat of all that.

* I have this picture of the alien invasion in the Avengers movie, and the heroes aren't there, because they have to wait for the President to get Congress to declare war against this invading force. But the Republicans want to use conventional military, and demand more funding for it, which they suggest can be found by defunding the Affordable Care Act. So nothing gets done and Manhattan is destroyed.