DC Comics released their August 2013 solicitations earlier today, and with it came another spate of cancellations. I read John Jackson Miller's articles on Diamond Comics' monthly sales stats on a semi-regular basis and it is plain to see that many of the lower-tier New 52 titles are floundering badly. It is no coincidence that a significant chunk of the surviving New 52 titles are tied to tent-pole franchises such as Superman, Batman, and Green Lantern.

Four titles are getting the axe this time around, with my analysis on them individually below.
  • Legion of Super-Heroes - This is quite a surprise, especially since the Legion is a traditional DC Comics mainstay since the late 1970s when they took over Superboy's monthly book. DC Comics has rarely been without a Legion title since. Heck, it was popular enough in the mid-1990s to sustain two monthly titles (Legion of Super-Heroes and Legionnaires).

    What went wrong? The Legion had one reboot too many! 1994 saw the first reboot under the auspices of Mark Waid, Tom Peyer, and Stuart Immonen. It was an attempt to update the Legion, which was mired with a lot of history and very dark storylines during the Tom & Mary Bierbaum/Keith Giffen era just a few years prior, as well bringing youthful energy back into the franchise. 2004 saw the second reboot (oddly enough again by Mark Waid), which proved to be less popular. Not even Jim Shooter could save this version of the Legion.

    Geoff Johns would ultimately tie all three incarnations/versions of the Legion together in 2008's Final Crisis: Legion of Three Worlds, ultimately leading to the return of the original adult Legion from the 1980s and Paul Levitz back at the helm of the franchise. And then New 52 came along and demanded another reboot (of sorts) and by then it is not hard to imagine that readers and fans alike simply gave up.

  • Demon Knights - Along with O.M.A.C., this was a title I took a risk on back in September 2011. The original creative team of Paul Cornell and Diogenes Neves crafted a surprisingly fun read detailing the medieval adventures of Etrigan and Jason Blood, Madame Xanadu, Vandal Savage, and Ystin the Shining Knight, along with new characters such as Exoristos, Horsewoman, and Al Jabr. Along with the hinted connections to StormWatch and how the team shaped the secret history of the modern day DC Universe, this book was filled with storytelling potential. Again, it was obvious that something went wrong as the connection with StormWatch became thinner and thinner, and storylines involving Merlin and King Arthur did nothing to combat the malaise the title fell under. Paul Cornell was recently replaced by Robert Venditti, who is doing an amazing job with Valiant Comics' X-O Manowar, but he proved to be an ill-suited replacement, with an arbitrary fast forward 30 years into the future and an unoriginal storyline involving vampires and the Holy Grail. With dwindling sales (below 20K copies I think), it is no surprise that this title is cancelled, despite my hopes that Robert Venditti would be able to turn things around with a second story arc.

  • Dial H - The only title edited by Karen Berger, founder of the Vertigo imprint. It should come as no surprise that this title had a very heavy indie feel to it, and would be at home with Vertigo. Unlike Swamp Thing and Animal Man, two characters that had been with Vertigo for quite some time, Dial H failed to find similar success out in the DC Universe. I myself am guilty of not sampling this title, mainly due to disinterest in the odd book China Mieville and Mateus Santoluoco were producing. It was simply too quirky and too odd for the marketplace.

  • Threshold - A title featuring C-grade sci-fi characters from the farthest end of the DC Universe? No surprises why it got canned after only eight issues, especially now that Orange Lantern Larfleeze has graduated to his own solo title.
With this, another two of the original wave of New 52 titles are gone. Out of the original 52 that debuted in September 2011, only 31 titles remain. That is a 40% cancellation rate. Of the Second Wave of titles (I had provided my initial thoughts on them when they were first announced in January 2012), only Earth 2 and Worlds' Finest remain. To be fair, Batman Incorporated was intentionally cancelled now that Grant Morrison was done with his story. Regardless, this is a 66% cancellation rate! Threshold is a Fourth Wave title. Make of that what you will.

Of the 45 surviving New 52 titles, the only ones that stand on their own without ties to the other franchises are Flash, Constantine, Aquaman, Green Arrow, Katana, All-Star Western, The Movement, The Green Team, StormWatch, Suicide Squad, Teen Titans, and Wonder Woman. (yes, even though some of these titles are bunched under the Justice League family, I am excluding them because they aren't exactly Justice League titles per se).

This means that 73% of the New 52 titles are franchise books! I don't know about you, but I find this rather unhealthy for the DC Universe as a whole. Do we really need three Superman monthlies, four Batman monthlies, and four Green Lantern monthlies?

So what do I predict is next for the next round of cancellations? I'd place my money on StormWatch, The Green Team, The Movement and Batwing. Geoff Johns obviously has plans for Vibe, so Justice League of America's Vibe would get a longer lease on life than the other titles.

What will DC Comics introduce to bring the number of titles back to 52? Perhaps the oft-rumored Justice Legion, the return of BWAHAHA with another incarnation of Justice League International (itself one of the earliest First Wave cancellations), and of course Geoff Johns and Gary Frank's Shazam!. Considering how badly the WildStorm characters are doing, I'm not surprised that there is no sign of Wildcats yet and even the Daemonite storyline seen in early issues of StormWatch and Superman have disappeared altogether.

 
 
Current Mood: fullfull
 
 
13 May 2013 @ 08:37 pm
The Borders outlet at The Curve had a comic book event over the past weekend, a belated celebration of both Free Comic Book Day and Star Wars Day, which took place on 4 May but was understandably postponed due to the elections on 5 May. Comic book talents Sheldon Goh and Tan Eng Huat were there for signings, and Borders upped the discounts in the bargain books section up to 70%. The biggest steal was Devil Dinosaur by Jack Kirby Omnibus for RM31, which is a steal for an oversized hardcover with thick glossy paper and crazy Kirby artwork at the of his 1970s craziness.

Needless to say I took advantage of the sales, and participated in the Comic Book Quiz event to score some free swag. And simply because there really weren't many participants in the Comic Book Quiz as well as the fact that I was the first to submit the answer sheet, I scored the grand prize comprised of an original Superman (in his Man of Steel motion picture costume) sketch by Sheldon Goh, an Avengers mug, and a Friday the 13th T-shirt.

Below is what I picked up. All of them are at 70% off, with the exception of Fables: Werewolves of the Heartland and Fairest: Wide Awake.

Avengers: Standoff HC

The Boys: The Innocents TP

Devil Dinosaur by Jack Kirby Omnibus HC

Fables: Werewolves of the Heartland HC

Fairest: Wide Awake TP

Fritz Leiber's Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser TP

Guardians of the Galaxy: Legacy TP

Hulk: Skaar - Son of Hulk TP

Hulk: Son of Hulk - Dark Son Rising TP

Invincible Iron Man: The Five Nightmares TP

Prince Valiant: Free Comic Book Day Special Edition

Team-Ups of the Brave and the Bold HC

Thing: Project Pegasus HCTroublemaker: Book Two HC

In addition, I finally found the time to head over to Earth 638 Comics at Kelana Mall to pick up the items I won in their recent Facebook auctions. I thought I won more than just two items, but I guess I hadn't paid attention to the auctions towards the end.

Inhumans Special Edition # 1Vampirella # 0

 
 
Current Mood: annoyedannoyed
 
 
13 May 2013 @ 08:15 pm
I was issued a summons from Majlis Perbandaran Sepang today... despite having paid for parking!


Worse, the dude who was issuing summons was right there when I paid for parking and dropped the parking ticket in my car. And yet he issued me a summons probably no more than 5 minutes after I walked away from my car.

WTF man?

I now have to waste my time going to the MPSP building tomorrow to dispite this. Grrr!!

 
 
Current Mood: annoyedannoyed
 
 
07 May 2013 @ 11:11 pm
Just a quick post, with only two graphic novels received today from Kinokuniya. They were actually part of the order that included all the Fables trades, but they were delayed due to lack of stock.

With this shipment, my Essential X-Men library is all caught up with my single issues (at least until the end of the Grant Morrison/Chuck Austen era).

Essential Wolverine vol.6Essential X-Men vol.11

 
 
Current Mood: tiredtired
 
 
I was supposed to write a blog post last week with my predictions on the outcome of the 13th Malaysian General Elections, which took place on Sunday (5 May). Unfortunately things went crazy at work, and whatever little free time I had at the keyboard disappeared. This was compounded by my travelling to Kampar on 1 May, and then to Penang on 2 May for some R&R ahead of voting day.

In any case, below are my predictions on the outcome, and how they matched against reality.
  • Barisan Nasional would perform better than the 12th General Elections in 2008 - Of course this was proven completely wrong. Everyone knew Barisan Nasional would go all out with their cheating in this election, but it looks like the popularity of the opposition coalition Pakatan Rakyat was more than sufficient to ride above their opponents' chicanery. I should have had more confidence in my fellow Malaysians. :-)

  • Nurul Izzah Anwar would lose to Raja Nong Chick in the battle for the Lembah Pantai parliamentary seat - Again, I was happy to be proven wrong here. Despite being a douchebag of massive proportions what with threatening to withhold land and strata titles and ceasing basic services such as rubbish collection as punishment should he lose, he nevertheless remained a popular figure amongst the lower income residents in the area. Even with very obvious cheating, what with police cars dropping mysterious ballot boxes in the counting center at the eleventh hour, Nurul Izzah still managed to win, albeit with a small majority. It is still an amazing and miraculous victory nonetheless and I wonder how large her majority could have been if there had been no trickery involved.

  • Pakatan Rakyat would lose Kedah, but gain Perak and Terengganu - I consider this a partial accurate prediction. Losing Kedah was no surprise considering the poor performance of the past PAS-led state government, but it was shocking to see Barisan Nasional maintaining control over the latter two states, especially considering early vote tallies pointed to a resounding victory for Pakatan Rakyat, only to be a sudden swing to the Barisan Nasional literally at the eleventh hour.

  • Pakatan Rakyat would make significant inroads to Melaka, Johor, Sabah, and Sarawak - Another partially accurate prediction, what with Pakatan Rakyat's surprisingly poor performance in Melaka. However, not all was lost, especially with Lim Kit Siang's stunning victory in Gelang Patah in Johor, easily ousting local UMNO warlord Abdul Ghani Othman. His victory there over serves as an important beachhead for Pakatan Rakyat, especially considering that the state of Johor had always been an UMNO stronghold. Equally important are the inroads made to the urban parts of both Sabah and Sarawak.

  • DAP would be the biggest winners in the election - DAP is now the second largest party in the Malaysian parliament, although it is a distant second against UMNO. Good show all around, although as expected UMNO is taking this opportunity to attack the Malaysian Chinese community again, since DAP has always been traditionally perceived as a Chinese political party.

  • MCA and Gerakan would lose in every seat contested - Alas this is not true, as MCA somehow managed to retain four seats and Gerakan a single lone seat. Nevertheless, both parties have never teetered closer towards oblivion and irrelevance. I expect UMNO to replace Gerakan as the ruling party in the Penang chapter of Barisan Nasional very, very shortly. It is no coincidence that party leaders Chua Soi Lek and Koh Tsu Koon were conspicuously absent at Najib Razak's victory speech in PWTC.

  • Pakatan Rakyat easily retains Kelantan and Penang, although Selangor is won through a tough battle - Well, who would predict otherwise? Kelantan has traditionally been a PAS stronghold thanks to the tough nature of the local Kelantanese folk. Meanwhile, Penang has been transformed into a DAP stronghold over the past five years thanks to Lim Guan Eng's exemplary leadership that not even the likes of Perkasa, Ibrahim Ali, and the various racist so-called NGOs could dent. As for Selangor, considering that Najib Razak's grandiose promise of a victory there for Barisan Nasional, the general population has successfully issued a resounding rebuke with PKR and DAP leading the way in the state.

  • It is impossible for Pakatan Rakyat to win this General Election even if Barisan Nasional did not cheat - This is a controversial one, but I stand by it. Why? It all boils down to the way the electoral borders are drawn, with the states of Sabah and Sarawak carved into 56 parliamentary seats. This is a key factor because most of these these seats are in rural parts of the country that are still lacking Internet access and whatever information they have are garnered from very biased mainstream media. This rule also applies to Peninsular Malaysia, albeit to a significantly lesser extent. It is no surprise that Pakatan Rakyat's victories are restricted to the urban parts of the country, which are further rigged by very high voter populations, some numbering in the hundreds of thousands. Despite Pakatan Rakyat again garnering the popular vote, this was not translated into parliamentary seats, which is what determines which party gets to form the federal government. Last but not least, Najib Razak himself is very popular in the government sector, and has made significant inroads with the lower-income sector thanks to BR1M.

For all their victories and gains, as a coalition itself Pakatan Rakyat still has a long way to go before they can prove to the fence-sitters that they are ready for prime time. Especially irksome are the facts that the coalition itself has yet to be registered with the Registrar of Societies, no agreed upon common ground over the controversial Hudud issue, party candidates contesting against one another (especially in East Malaysia), and the lack of a Shadow Cabinet! If they want to be taken seriously as a true parliamentary opposition, these are the things they need to do before even thinking of taking over the reins of the federal government.

The 14th General Elections will take place within the next four or five years. Will prominent leaders such as Tok Guru Nik Aziz Nik Mat and Karpal Singh still be around for another battle? Even if they are, are they in any physical condition to do so? Can Anwar Ibrahim struggle for another five years even as he is hounded by one character assassination campaign after another? What sort of Malaysia will we see when the thuggish lout Muhyiddin Yassin inevitably replaces Najib Razak as the president of UMNO and subsequently as the Prime Minister of Malaysia within the next one or two years?

However, all is not lost as Pakatan Rakyat has a bounty of talented folks in it, including but not limited to Nurul Izzah Anwar, Rafizi Ramli, Teresa Kok, Elizabeth Wong, Jagdeep Singh Deo, Gobind Singh Deo, and Jeff Ooi. Meanwhile, the only Barisan Nasional politician that I can muster any respect for is Khairy Jamaluddin, who despite his position as the president of UMNO Youth will find himself making little headway in the party itself so long as Dr Mahathir Mohamad wields influence.

At the end of the day, the ultimate victor is the Malaysian rakyat, regardless of their political affiliation. With a voter turnout of over 80%, democracy is alive and kicking in Malaysia despite what others may say. Politics has never been more widely discussed, especially amongst the young. Hope has never been brighter, and with luck we will finally see Anwar Ibrahim installed as the Prime Minister of Malaysia before the end of the decade.

 
 
Current Mood: tiredtired
 
 
28 April 2013 @ 11:28 am
Action Comics vol.2 # 19

Archer & Armstrong vol.2 # 5 2nd print

Archer & Armstrong vol.2 # 9

Archer & Armstrong vol.2 # 9

Avengers vol.5 # 9

Batman: Li'l Gotham # 1

Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Season Nine # 20

Earth 2 # 11

Flash vol.4 # 17

Harbinger vol.2 # 11

Harbinger vol.2 # 11

Harbinger Wars # 1

Harbinger Wars # 1

Masks # 5

Shadowman vol.4 # 2 2nd print

Shadowman vol.4 # 6

Shadowman vol.4 # 6

Transformers: Regeneration One # 90

Transformers Spotlight: Trailcutter

Worlds' Finest # 11

Young Avengers vol.2 # 1 2nd print

 
 
Current Mood: hungryhungry
 
 
19 April 2013 @ 09:48 pm
As expected, I totally got hooked on Bill Willingham's Fables after picking up the first half of the trades last weekend. In a fit of compulsion (as I am wont to do), I ordered all of the remaining Fables and Jack of Fables trade paperbacks yesterday, and they arrived by courier today! Looks like I will be doing lots of good comic book reading this weekend!

Cinderella: From Fabletown With Love TP

Cinderella: Fables Are Forever TP

Fables: The Dark Ages TP

Fables: The Great Fables Crossover TP

Fables: Witches TP

Fables: Rose Red TP

Fables: Super Team TP

Fables: Inherit the Wind TP

Jack of Fables: The Bad Prince TP

Jack of Fables: Americana TP

Jack of Fables: Turning Pages TP

Jack of Fables: The Big Book of War TP

Jack of Fables: The New Adventures of Jack and Jack TP

Jack of Fables: The Fulminate Blade

Jack of Fables: The End TP

Red Lanterns: Blood and Rage TP

Red Lanterns: The Death of the Red Lanterns TP

 
 
Current Mood: happyhappy
 
 
I picked up the following from two different sellers I met at the LowYat forums. The Fables trades were a great deal at only RM300 for 12 softcovers and 1 hardcover. I had actually read the first trade (Legends in Exile) several years ago and I didn't really like it. Re-reading it now, I still feel the same. It was only once I reached the second volume (Animal Farm) that I got hooked and since then I have very quickly devoured all of these volumes, and I am now in the second half of volume nine (Sons of Empire). If this continues, I will have no choice but to order the other Fables and Jack of Fables TPBs at Kinokuniya soon!

Fables: Legends in Exile TP

Fables: Animal Farm TP

Fables: Storybook Love TP

Fables: March of the Wooden Soldiers TP

Fables: The Mean Seasons TP

Fables: Homelands TP

Fables: Arabian Nights (and Days) TP

Fables: Wolves TP

Fables: Sons of Empire TP

Fables: The Good Prince TP

Fables: War and Pieces TP

Fables: 1001 Nights of Snowfall HC

Cable # 88

Impulse # 77

Jack of Fables: The (Nearly) Great Escape TP

Uncanny X-Men # 325

Uncanny X-Men # 368

Uncanny X-Men # 369

Uncanny X-Men # 375X-Men # 93

 
 
Current Mood: melancholymelancholy
 
 
08 April 2013 @ 07:15 pm
Action Comics vol.2 # 18

Angel & Faith # 20

Aquaman vol.7 # 18

Avengers vol.5 # 8

Batman Incorporated # 9

Criminal Macabre: Final Night - The 30 Days of Night Crossover # 4

Flash vol.4 # 18

Harbinger vol.2 # 10

Harbinger vol.2 # 10

Justice League vol.2 # 18

Justice League of America vol.3 # 2

Life With Archie vol.2 # 28

New Avengers vol.3 # 4

Supergirl vol.6 # 18

Superman vol.3 # 18

Time Warp vol.2 # 1

Transformers: More Than Meets The Eye # 15

Transformers: Robots in Disguise # 15

Wonder Woman vol.4 # 18

X-O Manowar vol.3 # 11

X-O Manowar vol.3 # 11

 
 
Current Mood: sleepysleepy
 
 
My Marvel Comics collection breached the 4000 issue mark last Thursday with my purchase of the All-New X-Men: Yesterday's X-Men hardcover. I have mostly shied away from the X-Men franchise following Grant Morrison's departure from New X-Men years ago, but the post-AvX X-Men franchise is definitely interesting enough to capture my interest, especially with Brian Michael Bendis in charge.

On the downside, this hardcover felt cheap due to the lack of dust jacket and at US$24.99 for five issues it is rather pricey. I hope Marvel brings dust jackets back for future releases.

 
 
Current Mood: fullfull