The Web Haunt of Ryan K Lindsay

2010 is going to be a big year for comics. No doubt it’s already been planned out so far that writers are already getting promotions based on speculated sales alone, but let’s take a moment to project just what 2010 should and could be like for the four colour medium, or at least how I would make it in my head.

Matt Fraction and Gabriel Ba bring back Casanova

Casanova is one of the smartest, densest, greatest comics to come out in a long time. It was originally pitched to Marvel as a Son of Dominic Fortune series, where the titular character opened with a card game against MODOK. Obviously, the series was passed on and it then became something completely different in the transition to Image. I would give quite a lot to be able to see Fraction’s initial Marvel pitch document. It would be interesting to see how much he was able to change once he was no longer beholden to the Marvel U.

The main character is a Mick Jagger look-a-like who trips the spy fandango across multiple dimensions, becomes his own evil twin, and then turns good, in a world where such lines are blurred and by Casanova Quinn taking a side he solidifies that line just a tiny bit. The world created is completely whole in its extravagances and nuances and benefits from repeat readings as you’ll constantly enjoy new hints found within the story.

The book doesn’t take its style from anywhere specifically, but it’s bold and confident enough to tale its own pastiche-style to another level. It’s metatextual and the art from twins, Ba and Moon, has been phenomenal. The book opened with a great arc, Luxuria (Latin for lust), which introduced us to Casanova, and his strange spy family, and gave Casanova choices. He had reasons for his actions, and definite consequences from them. In the second arc, Gula (Latin for gluttony), we are thrown a curve-ball by Casanova not really appearing for most of the arc. We follow his sister, Zephyr, and her spy-terrorist antics with the enemy. It’s a great arc, and one many cite as their proof that the series is one of the greatest stories to be put to print in the four colour world since Kavalier and Clay invented The Escapist.

But then, the series ended. Well, it didn’t exactly end it just went on hiatus. Luxuria was collected in HC and trade but Gula has yet to be collected, which sucks for the trade waiting crowd and you can’t help but feel that Fraction means it too. Back when Fraction started, he ran columns on CBR, Poplife and The Basement Tapes with Joe Casey. I haven’t been able to track down in which column Fraction mentioned these two tid-bits so far in his past but they resonated with me anyway. Fraction spoke about comic series’ and their weakness for not being able to end. He said he wanted to see a series have the balls to just shut up shop for a while and not simply keep publishing because it can make money. Imagine if Spider-Man or Batman took four months, or more, off to get a new creative vibe going and then came back better than ever? Imagine if it had the gumption to leave the stands without it for a while but knew that instead of filling in issues with dreck it was biding its time to come back better, fitter, faster, stronger? That would be very cool and that is exactly what Fraction has done with Casanova. In fact, he’s taken nearly two years off to go and write Uncanny X-Men and Invincible Iron Man, and is now picking up Thor. He’s become the poster boy for Marvel stable properties which is funny considering he used to mock the crossovers as X-orgies and All-Ultimate Crisis Houses. Ha.

The other thing Fraction railed on about was that comics are a monthly, hell weekly, medium. You have to be there straight away. So, Fraction filled Casanova with extras that you could not get in the trades, much like Brubaker had already pioneered with Criminal. Fraction made you have to be there every month and it’s a plan I like because I’m already there every month. The first collection of Casanova did well, the series did critically very well, but then the second collection never came out. Anyone who trade waited has gone nearly two years on the wait and that’s gotta suck when you know your weekly pals have already read it a dozen times over. It’s harsh, but I also think it’s awesome, in a very ‘fuck you’ kind of way.

And Casanova hasn’t been seen since. That image up above was posted on the Ba and Moon blog last April advertising that Casanova was coming back as a webcomic. That day in April was the 1st, so that news sucked. And so we continued to wait. I was going to say that Fraction needs to bring Casanova back now but then Fraction gave us this word and it is below. And it is wickedly exciting.

Make of it what you will, but I guarantee, especially with the hype that Fraction has over writing Marvel’s first mutant family, Marvel’s futurist villain/bad guy for all crossovers, and now Marvel’s Asgardian prodigal god, that fans will be salivating for a return to Casanova where the writer is ready for it and it’s done for the art not for the sale. They’ll probably collect Gula and then the next month kick off the third Casanova arc, which should be called Avaritia. If it does expect it to be some of the biggest news of 2010.

Matt Murdock, aka Daredevil, headlines a bit of a crossover - Shadowland

Another great blog has covered this idea, Christine over at The Other Murdock Papers, and I’d like to think she’s onto something. Current Daredevil scribe, Andy Diggle, mentioned working on a big top secret Marvel project and Christine asked him on Twitter about it but he was obviously very sneaky in his reply; this is then coupled with the fact that Joe Quesada, Marvel EiC, has mentioned Daredevil as being the patriarch of a family of books and that there would be a future of more family oriented stories, and street-level guys getting their time to tell larger stories. It seems to add up to Daredevil possibly leading a bit of a storyline, nothing line-wide crossover large, but enough to hopefully include all of the DD cast regulars; Foggy, Dakota, Becky, Black Tarantula, White Tiger, and maybe even some Iron Fist, Luke Cage and Jessica Jones love as well. So, if this is all true, why is it awesome?

Daredevil is a great character, but he’s always kind of removed from the centre of the Marvel U, and that’s how we like it. He declined the offer to be a New Avenger, he’s just taken over a legion of ninja assassins, and put in a group with females he’s liable to sleep with them all. But, it would be nice to see Murdock get the chance to gain a little more recognition, and the scope to have a story that could draw in a lot of street level characters, maybe even with the likes of Moon Knight joining in, or Nick Fury making a subversive appearance. What’s the story actually about, no one knows. Could be many characters trying to take down The Hand, or maybe working with The Hand to make it closer to what Murdock wants it to be. Who knows, but it all sounds good and a mini event that will actually pique my interest.

Iron Fist comes back stronger than ever

Kung. Fu. Billionnaire. It is a great proposal, and for over two years it was a great sell. Ed Brubaker, Matt Fraction, and David Aja brought the Immortal Iron Fist back to stands and fans and critics alike were impressed with the level of game they brought. The team brought us 16 issues, just one more than Claremont ever managed when he had the solo title back in the day, and expanded the Iron Fistory and Fistology to show us more than we could have possibly known we had wanted to see. It was a hit but then they all sadly left. I, for one, liked Duane Swierczynski’s take on Danny Rand, I just wished Travel Forman had been able to keep up with him on the ideas side of things. Swierczynski showed us the Eighth Capital City, and it was full of monsters and crazies and could have looked a lot cooler than it eventually did. But now there doesn’t appear to be anymore Iron Fist, though it also hasn’t been confirmed as cancelled. I mean, c’mon, this thing was nominated for an Eisner for best new on-going series, how have people fallen away from it so quickly. I hold onto hope that it will come back better than ever, with Swierczynski firing on all cylinders and a new artist who can match David Aja for ability with Rand. I will not rest if Iron Fist gets cancelled, it is just easier to keep it going and keep me quiet, and happy.

Black Tarantula gets his own Mini

I have spoken about this at length, and I stand by my reasoning. Carlos LaMeurto, aka Black Tarantula, is a cool character and needs his own spin-off mini. He’s a big bad ass ninja with healing abilities and he’s now Daredevil’s best friend. He’s in The Hand and he’s got enough potential to spawn a few issues of worth, surely. I pitched my idea, but hey, get your own writer and pitch if you don’t like it Marvel, just make it happen. He carried two Daredevil annuals, and one of them was really bloody good, so get someone else good in there and give him some screen time. If some of these other stooges can get their own mini simply because they’re based in the middle of this Dark Reign then surely LaMeurto can as well. It’s worth a gamble and I think Marvel would be surprised at the repsonse if they put a good creative team behind it.

Jonathan Hickman rocks out one complete, massive, and solid Fantastic Four story

I am loving Jonathan Hickman on Fantastic Four. I have never before read Fantastic Four and I honestly never really thought I would. They just never really interested me, but after a bunch of good press for Hickman’s opening issues I had to know, so I dipped a toe and I was very happy with what he did. Hickman had impressed me with his work to date and you have to give a creative team, or person, some chance to impress you with something new. An opening three issue arc was perfect, the next one-shot was pretty cool (and I loved that he didn’t decompress it into six issues like so many others would have). His latest issue, another done-in-one was okay, but I want to see Hickman get back on the rails and bring me some crazy. And just as I’m thinking it then I see this Tweet.

And I just can’t describe how excited I am about the prospect. I have never been a massive Inhumans fan, but I do concede that they are a wicked concept and can be done really well. I insanely believe in Hickman to be the man to do this job perfectly. I want to see him craft a smart and fantastic story for this four that’ll take a year to get through, much like Fraction has so recently, and perfectly, done in Invincible Iron Man, and will set the bar for the FF forever more. I don’t want to set the bar too high, but this is the man who did The Nightly News. The hype is warranted, easily so. I’ll read each month in 2010 and hopefully watch something majestic unfold.

I’m also keen for his other writing in general, and how could you not be when he’s dropping bombs like this to the public? YOu almost get the feeling that Hickman has been left alone to just play with his toys instead of having his hands tied by history and canon.

Brian K Vaughan starts up another creator owned project

BKV has finished Y: The Last Man, and Ex Machina finishes very soon. He’s quit LOST, so sadly, and he has worked on scripts for the Y: The Last Man movie so what else is he going to do? He said that he wanted to commit all his attention to Ex Machina to ensure it finished strong. I dig that, and so when it does finish I want something else I can get on. BKV has writen his carte blanche with me, I’ll read anything he puts out, definitely. I thought Pride of Baghdad was superb, Runaways was a fantastic idea, The Hood’s introductory mini was pretty cool, but I still haven’t checked out his work on Ultimate X-Men. I just don’t feel BKV works best when faced with a bunch of other peoples ideas through history. He needs to paint on his own large blank canvas, and when he does it is undoubtedly legendary, so let’s just let him do it. I want more to read and there has to be something in order for me to read it. I want to see BKV launch something new and I want to get it every month. I don’t even care what it’s about, I trust him to do the right thing. I’ll trust him to operate on my open heart if that’s what it takes. But all it really takes is an idea, and I’m sure he has plenty of those, I just don’t know how he keeps them out of the news so well. He took an Internet ban a while ago and he really hasn’t been back since. Which sucks, I’d love to see what he would say on and about Twitter.

Image releases a second Gødland Celestial Edition HC

I have only ever read the first Celestial Edition of Gødland and I absolutely loved it. Basil Cronus is hilariously awesome and I want more, and I could get it in the simple trade editions but I don’t want to. I want my damn Celestial Edition Volume 2. Why did Image put out such an awesome collection in the first place if I could never get a follow up one? I don’t really want to get the simple trades but I guess soon i’ll have to because I want to know what happens next. If the second Celestial Edition were to be released I would promise, PROMISE, to buy it. So, there, that’s one guaranteed sale, right? Surely the first one didn’t sell so poorly that they’ll never do it again, did it?

Clay Mann gets on a brilliant ongoing series

I keep telling people how awesome Clay Mann is and yet I don’t seem to see enough of him on the stands at all. He drew a single issue of Daredevil, the first appearance of Lady Bullseye, where he drew one of my favourite Murdock moments ever; Murdock awakens in bed next to a sexy Dakota North and wonders what he has done? Well, actually he knows, in exquisite detail, just what he has done, he’s pondering why he has done it. Mann also drew the Elektra: Dark Reign series which I thought was really quite awesome. But now I don’t know where to find him next. It’s balls, man, simply balls. I want some more Clay Mann, and there’s got to be a good Marvel gig out there for him somewhere. Perhaps we could put him with one of the two series’ I’ve already mentioned, Iron Fist or a Black Tarantula mini. He’d be a great fit for Swierczynski on Iron Fist, so why have I not heard about the ink on the deal drying already? This will be the year that Clay Mann blows up big time, mark my words. Maybe he’s already working on something with BKV? Oh, man, that would be sweet.

Another cheap short anthology a la Noir from Dark Horse

Anthologies get ragged on all the time, but they’re awesome, there’s no doubt about it and Dark Horse proved it this year when they released Noir: A Collection of Crime Comics. It was a smart anthology, each story was short, and the price was even shorter. It was one of the must-buys of the season for all noir lovers in the four colour world. So, let’s follow it up with another. Not because it sells and can make money, but because it was good and plenty of writers and artists would help out again to make it happen. Maybe not a crime one, maybe a superhero one, or a Marvel or DC specific one, or simply a cop one, or a villain one, or a doctor one, or a sidekick one, or a…well, you get the idea. A nice themed anthology trade that won’t have crazy weekly prices and will sit nicely on many a reader’s shelf. It’s a simple request and one I truly hope gets up and running.

Marvel starts doing some back up stories in their titles

It’s been discussed before, by me and Matt on The Weekly Crisis (thanks for the image), and I think it would be an idea to get some legs before my Family Anthology idea gets up and running (even though that is a great idea, if I do say so myself). Plenty of titles get cancelled due to lower than hoped readership, but that still leaves thousands of readers missing one of their favourite titles, so why not attach it to something they already love, or so you hope. War Machine in the back of Iron Man seems a simple solution and a greater reason to justify, and have us happy with, the 33% price rise up to $3.99 an issue. If Iron Fist is to be cancelled then piggy-back him onto his old friend Daredevil and satisfy more for your buck. It’s a winning formula and one I hope Marvel wakes up to in 2010.

Steve Rogers will become the new head of S.H.I.E.L.D.

This final idea has surprised even me, but I think that’s what’s so good about it. Steve Rogers is about to/has already come back from the dead. He was lost in time and in his absence the much cooler Bucky filled the Avenger’s shield quite capably, and Rogers agrees as he is letting Bucky keep the title and Rogers will go on to do…something else. Norman Osborne is surely coming to the end of his Reign in the Marvel U and with it H.A.M.M.E.R. should be replaced once more by S.H.I.E.L.D. , so why not have Rogers run it? Nick Fury is busy bringing down HYDRA from his hiding place, and I don’t think he’d trust S.H.I.E.L.D. anymore what with the Leviathan connections he found linking HYDRA and the rest of them together, so he can stay underground and the greatest patriot of all can bring the espionage agency back to its former glory. I would quite possibly pick up a Steve Rogers: Director of S.H.I.E.L.D. comic, especially if written by someone decent like Brubaker or Hickman. Hell, you could even get Clay Mann to draw it, and wouldn’t that make this the greatest 2010 of all?

Answer, yes it would.

Posted on January 4th, 2010 by ryan
Filed under: Uncategorized