New Comic-book Night - 5/29/13

It's that time of the week again - and although it's the "5th Wednesday," which often is an extra week that doesn't ship one's typical pull list items, two items that are on my "potential pull list" came out this week.  By "potential pull list," I mean that I am doing what my comic-shop owner calls "sampling." I have not committed to these titles, but have adopted a wait-and-see attitude.  This means either (1) it is simply too early to tell whether the series is good enough to get into long term (this is always true before I've read at least 3 issues, but lasted for 12 full issues with Superman recently), or (2) the series had been too mediocre to be sure I will like it long-term (but is either good enough to keep going on a month-by-month basis, or else something else is compelling me to keep giving it a chance).  The two titles that fell into these categories were +DC Comics'  Justice League of America, which just came out with #4 this month, and thus was "too early to tell," and +Marvel Entertainment's Captain America, which I started collecting because Cap is my favorite Marvel character, but which has been too strange and just plain too poorly written for me to put it on the pull list yet.

Along with these titles, I grabbed another issue of the third Supergirl series -- this was the second of two "New Krypton" crossovers for this series.  These issues appear in the 4-volume TPB Superman: New Krypton, but I have no interest in that story arc, and am only getting the Supergirl issues for completeness.  It was cheaper to just buy the two S-girl issues than to try and get the TPBs, especially since my comic shop doesn't have them (so now I'd have to pay for shipping on top of the TPB cost).

I haven't read Supergirl yet, but I have read JLA and Cap, and I've made a final "pull list decision" about one of them.

Justice League of America #4 - This series has been decent for four months, but also is slightly worrisome because it has been slowly backsliding.  I rated the first issue a 9/10, issues 2-3 8/10, and I only give this one a 7/10.  The art has deteriorated slightly, and the story is becoming tiresome.  The ending, which is supposed to be a cliffhanger, is ridiculous, because it seemingly depicts the death of a major character. This would have perhaps been suspenseful or dramatic, if not for the niggling little detail that the character depicted as dying has a series of his or her own, which is still ongoing.  Obviously this character cannot actually be dead or dying. So why am I supposed to be in suspense about this? The only question I have is how the character can look this "dead" but not actually be.  Also, again in terms of the art, the action sequences are really lame. There is no sense of kineticism or motion in the action panels. They all look like the characters paused in mid-action to pose for the camera.  Also, people's bodies are in very strange, ungainly positions.  So, this comic is staying on the "potential pull list." It hasn't been good enough, long enough, for me to commit to it.

Captain America NOW! #7 - This Marvel NOW! run of Captain America is perhaps the most disappointing series I have ever read in my life.  Captain America is the greatest superhero in the Marvel Universe.  He is one of the greatest superheroes in any universe.  He has always been one of the "weakest" in terms of power level, but that has never stopped him.  And for many years I was a huge fan of his comic, when the late, great Mark Gruenwald was writing it.  This series, however, is nothing like that wonderful run. It is without a significant supporting cast.  The plot is convoluted and strange.  Captain America is brutal and violent, and acts more like Wolverine than like Steve Rogers   His "12 year old" adopted son looks and acts like he's seven.  And the kid is so annoying that threats to him do not affect me, because I would honestly kind of prefer if this kid just died. I'd like it even better if they just retconned this whole psychedelic plot that reads like writer Rick Remender has been smoking some pretty intense hallucinogens before sitting down at his word processor.  I won't even mention the vomit-inducing art of John Romita, Jr., who has been such a horrible penciller for so many decades I cannot understand how the man still gets hired.  I rate this issue 3/10, and that's being generous.

And so with that issue, I have given up on Captain America.  Sorry, Cap. I tried. I really did.  I thought I could stick with it through this story arc and see where Remender is going. I gave it seven issues. But there's no end in sight for this thing, and I am not going to keep giving Marvel Comics money for a story that is so bad I wouldn't line a cat's litter box with it.  Perhaps the most bewildering thing is all the people writing in to say how much they love it.  I can only shake my head.  I can't imagine anyone liking this garbage. But as for me, at least, I'm definitely done.

The Supergirl Homepage

Earlier this year, I began listening to the Kara Zor-El podcast, which is run by +Danny Saab and Andrew Pinkham.  I really enjoyed their podcasts.  They both love the Supergirl character, and had been doing reviews of her current book, which is part of DC's New 52.  After each podcast, I wrote them a long e-mail to follow-up with their on-air conversation.  I held forth on many of the issues I have discussed here on this blog, including the lack of respect DC Editorial has had for Supergirl ever since her death in 1985, and my disdain for the H'el on Earth crossover (which Danny and Andrew share).  And I reminded them of a few similarities between what has been going on now, and what has been done with Supergirl in the past (such as comparing the air-headed crush Matrix Supergirl had on Lex Luthor, to the similarly vacant-headed love the current Kara had toward H'el).

Danny and Andrew read these e-mails on their subsequent podcasts (which was fun) and discussed them. Apparently they liked what they read, because a couple of weeks ago, they made some changes to their website about Kara, and they asked me to be part of it, along with several of their other listeners.  They changed the Kara Zor-El home page to The Supergirl Homepage, so that they could collect in one place all things related to Supergirl (since, to be perfectly accurate, Matrix Supergirl has no place on a website devoted specifically to Kara Zor-El).  They asked me to be one of their contributing authors, and of course, loving Supergirl the way I do, I could not possibly have refused.

My role on the website will be as a reviewer for comic-books involving Supergirl.  They gave me a choice of which comics I wanted to work on, and I opted for The Daring New Adventures of Supergirl.  I will readily admit that the creative team that worked on this book is not my favorite (that distinction goes to Peter David, Gary Frank, and Cam Smith, who worked on the 1996 Matrix-based Supergirl series). However, this version of Supergirl (the original) is my favorite, and so I wanted to work on something related to her.  Therefore, beginning this Friday, I will be writing a weekly review article for the Supergirl Homepage about the 23 issues of The Daring New Adventures of Supergirl (one issue a week).

In addition to that, since I seem to be the only person on the new staff who has access to all of them, I will be reviewing the Supergirl mini-series from 1994, and also her two appearances in Showcase 95 (issues 1 and 2).  The very first of these reviews can be seen here, and I will be adding more as the week progresses.

In the mean time, I am joined by a team of very dedicated fans of Supergirl, including Danny Saab, Andrew Pinkham, Valerie Cotrill, and Stephen Vaughan.  Each of us has taken custody of a particular time period in the Girl of Steel's history, and reviews will be added almost daily to the website.  Soon it will be a vast repository of knowledge pertaining to the greatest super-heroine of all time.

Although this means I will be doing a lot more "review" writing, it will not have any impact on this blog site.  I will continue to post my thoughts on current and past comic-books here as always.   In between times, if you want to read some good articles about comic-books, and in particular if you're interested in learning more about Supergirl, swing by the Supergirl Homepage and check out what they've got going on over there.

The importance of a supporting cast

 Most great works of fiction include a vibrant and memorable cast of characters who play a supporting role to the protagonist or the antagonist.  If you think back to the greatest novels and movies of all time, you will almost certainly find yourself thinking about some characters who were not the stars -- not the main characters -- but who nevertheless had an important role to play in the story.  In fact, some of the supporting characters end up being quite memorable.  Here are a few examples:

• In the Star Wars movies, the two droids, R2-D2 and C-3PO, play an endearing and important supporting role in all six films.
• The Harry Potter series includes a vast array of popular and lovable supporting characters, including the Weasley children (Fred, George, and Ginny), Sirius Black, Remus Lupin, Professor McGonagall, Dobby, and perhaps most memorable of all, Professor Snape.
• Supporting characters play pivotal roles in the Lord of the Rings, including Treebeard, who causes the destruction of Isengard and the downfall of Saruman, and Eowyn, who slays the Witch King of Angmar.

Supporting characters serve a number of roles in any story, but one of the most important is to hold a mirror, or perhaps I should say a magnifying glass, up to the main character.  By this, I mean that we learn a great deal about our main character through the interactions he or she has with the supporting cast. Often, we learn far more from these interactions than we do from the protagonist's conflict with the villain of the piece.  For example, we see Harry Potter's kindness exhibited in his treatment of Dobby (in contrast to how most other wizards treat house-elves).  Clearly, the supporting cast is of critical importance to most fictional stories, and good writers know this and make sure to provide good supporting characters.  

Historically, comic-book writers have known this and have taken great pains to flesh out and develop the supporting cast for each super-hero.  Indeed, many of these supporting characters have become as integral to the heroes as their powers are.  What would a Superman story be, for instance, without Lois Lane and Jimmy Olsen?  And can anyone really imagine Batman without also thinking of his butler, Alfred?  And what Iron Man story would be complete without Pepper Potts?

That's why I've been so surprised, since returning to the comics world last December, at how many comic-book series have few, if any, supporting characters, and at how under-developed the supporting cast is, if it even exists at all.  For example, as good as Thor, God of Thunder is, we have seen eight issues now, and there are only three real characters in the story -- all of them Thor.  Captain America has been trapped in a dimension where he and his adoptive "son" are basically alone (for 12 years and 6 issues) against the entire world, leaving him with just the child as a supporting character.  And in 21 issues of Supergirl, there has not yet been one recurring supporting character.

The lack of a good supporting cast is, in my view, a critical flaw in these series.  Supporting characters add so much to a super-hero story that I can't believe writers would make the monumental error of leaving them out.  These characters add depth and soul to a story, and give extra dramatic weight to the decisions the hero has to make.  Supporting characters give the hero someone concrete, someone we know and love, to defend. We care about Lois Lane; we like her; and we want Superman to save her.  Superman's actions thus carry more weight than they would if he is just battling to save an abstraction ("the earth" or "Metropolis" or "innocent people").

Nowhere is the harm that can be done by lack of a good supporting cast more evident than in the current Supergirl series.  As I said above, it has been 21 issues (1-20 plus #0), or almost two years, and in all that time, the writers have not seen fit to include a single supporting character.  Oh, there have been guest stars, including the entire Justice League, Superboy, and the future Silver Banshee. But none of these characters can be considered part of Supergirl's supporting cast.  Instead, the Supergirl series has been all-Kara, all the time.

And as much as I love Kara, having the series be just about her has harmed it in a very serious way.  We have gotten far less insight into the character of Kara Zor-El than we would have if there were some supporting characters with whom she could interact.  We only see what Kara is like under pressure, in combat, trying to just stay alive against powerful enemies.  And although that can reveal some elements of character, the finer revelations of personality and disposition come in the quieter scenes. And the really important choices happen when people both the reader and the heroine care about are involved. So far, we have none of that in this new Supergirl series.

Contrast this dearth of supporting characters in the New 52 Supergirl with the supporting cast of the third Supergirl series, penned by Peter David in the 1990s.  

Peter David's Supergirl had an extremely strong supporting cast that included Linda/Supergirl's best friend, medical resident Maddie Hayes, Leesburg reporter Cutter Sharpe, Linda's boyfriend Dick Malverne, Linda's parents Fred and Sylvia Danvers, Wally the "God-boy," and horse-like hero Comet.  Except for Comet, all these characters appear in the very first few issues of David's Supergirl run, and they are seen frequently.  They interact with Supergirl and with each other, and serve multiple purposes in the story. 

First, the supporting cast adds some comic relief.  In particular, Cutter and Maddie engage in a frequently hilarious relationship that will leave the reader smiling. Second, they help Peter David raise the level of suspense, because they give him side stories to which he can cut, interrupting the main action of the book. Thus, he can get Supergirl into a suspenseful mini-cliffhanger within an issue, and then cut to Cutter and Maddie having a lovers' quarrel, making you want to turn the pages and see what happens back in the Supergirl storyline.  Third, they add weight to the choices Supergirl has to make.  It's not just "the people of Leesburg" who are endangered, but Linda/Supergirl's mother and father who are threatened.

Because David makes good use of supporting characters, he can also tell emotionally and intellectually deep stories.  For example, issue 23 tells the story of a white supremacist who is scheduled to speak at Leesburg University.  The minority students protest this speech, and try to get the university to shut it down.  Maddie Hayes, who is African American, is part of this group. On the other side are those who believe in freedom of speech no matter how hateful the words may be, and this side includes Maddie's boyfriend, Cutter, who as a reporter holds the First Amendment sacred.  Linda/Supergirl is friends with both of these characters, and ends up caught in the middle. The inclusion of supporting characters in the debate transforms Supergirl's choice from an academic question of free speech, into an emotionally charged dilemma where she has to choose between two of her best friends.  This story is compelling and powerful because of the involvement of the supporting characters. Without them, it would have had no teeth. 

This is one example of why supporting characters are critically important to any story, but there are many others that could be invoked from the comic-book series of the past.  Supporting characters make the story better; they make it more impactful; and they raise the emotional ante.  Without them, all those things are lost, and we end up with a comic-book that is just about super-fights.  And without the emotional jolt provided by including supporting characters, even the super-fights become rather empty.

I've been back to reading comics for six months now, and I've read a fair few since my return (I'd estimate over 200).  Throughout this time, I've felt that something is missing from today's comics.  I've been struggling to figure out exactly what.  I suspect a lot of things are to blame, but probably the biggest one is the lack of a solid supporting cast for many of the series on the market today.  They can still have good stories and can still be interesting, but the emotional impact will always be lower without a supporting cast.  And it also becomes harder to relate to a super-hero, if there aren't any normal people around him or her with whom we can identify.

Supergirl, in particular, has been struggling to find her way in this New 52.  Her character still has not really been established yet (except that we know she has a very hot temper and can fly into super-powered rages at pretty much the drop of a hat).  We know so little about her as a person -- as a human being.  We know far less about her in 21 issues than we knew about the Linda Danvers character in the first nine-issue story arc of Peter David's run.  And why?  I submit the main reason is that the New 52 Supergirl hasn't had any supporting characters with whom she can interact. So we only see her temper, because we only see the "action" -- the fight scenes.

This over-dependence on action is not making comic-books better. It's making them worse -- because it's hamstringing the writer's ability to provide depth and complexity to the stories, and it's removing the traditional primary source of emotion and humanity -- the supporting cast.  If DC and Marvel know what's good for them, they'll bring back supporting characters in a big way -- and ASAP.

New Comic-book Night - 5/22/13

I had a rare slow week this week for New Comic-book Night.  I've hit a bit of a roadblock with the 4th series of Supergirl.  I have the series in trades through issue 33 (except for issues 20-22, which were never collected in a trade, and I therefore have individually), and the next trade, Who is Superwoman?, covers issues 34 and 37-42.  Issues 35 and 36 are not collected in a Supergirl trade, but are, rather, part of the Superman: New Krypton arc, and appear in the second trade paperback collecting those comics.  However, I honestly have no interest in the New Krypton trades -- I'm just trying to get all the Supergirl series stories.  So rather than bother with a bunch of trade paperbacks that really aren't about Supergirl, I decided to go ahead and buy issues 35 and 36 individually.  This week I picked up one of those, issue 35.  It was quite good. This is the second issue of the Sterling Gates run (I won't get to #34, the first issue of the Gates run, until I get my hands on the next trade, which my comic shop does not have in stock).  I enjoyed it. 9/10.

The other comic I got was the only new issue from my pull list to come out this week, Justice League #20. JL has been faltering, lately.  The Throne of Atlantis story arc had a very weak ending in issue 17, and issues 18 and 19 were just not up to the standard set by the earlier issues in the series.  This isn't to say they were bad, but in my database, I have the pre-17 issues all rated 9/10 or 10/10, and 17-19 are rated 7/10 or 8/10.  However, I thought #20 redeemed writer Geoff Johns a bit.  The action was good, but there were also some great moments of quiet drama, especially a great discussion between Batman and Superman about what happens if one of the JL members goes rogue.  This issue served as a lead-in to the Trinity War crossover that is coming next month (apparently), and we can sort of see at least some of what is going to happen, as they are starting to set up the obvious conflict between the JL and the JLA.  I gave this one a 9/10 also.

Finally on a personal note, the main reason NCN was so sparse this week is that I am trying to rein in the spending and especially the buying of anything that will need to be moved, as I prepare to close on my new home in early June and move in late June.  By July I should be back to normal, but for these next few weeks, I am trying to keep the amount of stuff I bring into my apartment to a minimum.

So they CAN still make comics like they used to...

The last time I seriously collected a comic-book put out by +Marvel Entertainment was way back in 1991, when they were still called "Marvel Comics."  I had slowly given up on my Marvel comics, and switched one by one to DC.  The last hold-out, in 1991, was Captain America.  After I stopped buying that title, for 22 years, I did not touch a Marvel comic-book.

Then, a few months ago, having loved the Avengers movie, and just gotten back into collecting comics, I tried Avengers Assemble. It was terrible, and after four issues I gave up.  A couple of weeks ago, having heard good things about some of the Marvel NOW! titles, and having gotten rather fed up with most of the sewage being passed off as "comic-books" by +DC Comics, I decided I would go ahead and try Marvel again.  I started with Captain America #1-6, about which I'm ambivalent. The story is odd, and the choice of having Cap age 12 years between issues 2 and 3 is going to be trouble in the long run.  I usually know after 6 issues whether I want to put a comic on my pull list or not, but I'm still reserving judgment on Captain America.  I'm leaning toward not putting it on, and it's going to have to get dramatically better by the end of this first story-line to prevent that.

I thought that might be the end of a very brief, probably misguided, attempt at re-acquainting myself with the Marvel Universe.  Two attempted series, one a dud, the other highly questionable. I decided to give Marvel one more try, this time with the Marvel NOW! version of Thor -- Thor, God of Thunder.  I'd heard good things about it from several people, and I've always liked Thor.  The comic shop had all 8 issues still out on the "current" shelves, so I didn't have to pay inflated "back issue" prices for it.  Picked it up on Wednesday, and started reading it... and could not stop. Within 24 hours I had devoured all 8 issues.  What a gem this title is.

By any metric of measurement, Thor, God of Thunder is sequential story-telling at its best.  The story-line is broad and sweeping, yet still delves deeply into character.  The dialogue rings true -- a difficult task with the normally stilted, old-fashioned speech patterns of Thor.  The art, although stylized, is exceptionally good and appropriate to the story-line -- moody, but with a surrealist quality to it.  The panels look almost like oil paintings rather than pencil-and-ink drawings.  As I say, just these characteristics alone would make Thor, God of Thunder a good read.

However, what struck me the most as I was reading these eight first issues of Thor, God of Thunder was just how much this sweeping, epic story-line reminds me of another great Thor story-line -- the one by Walt Simonson back in the 1980s.  Like Simonson before him, Aaron has delved deeply into the mythology of the Marvel Universe, creating new elements to it that feel like they have been there forever, while simultaneously drawing on older material that has been around since Marvel's inception.  Beyond this, the series has remained, at least for the first eight books, almost completely independent of the Marvel Universe (other than a brief cameo by Iron Man, you wouldn't even know this title shares that universe).  It can be read completely on its own.

One really important feature that reminds me of the old days, however, is not the story nor the art, but rather, the fact that this series (and apparently all Marvel titles) still has a letter column!  For regular readers of this blog, you know that I have complained vociferously about the lack of a lettercol in current DC titles.  Well, Marvel still prints letters in the back of their comics (well, e-mails... but it's the same thing), and they answer the letters as well.  How refreshing it's been to read those letters.  And how connected it makes me feel to the other comic-book fans -- much more so than the so-called "social media" do.  I'm not sure why that is, but it does.  In each issue there's a letter by someone like me, who hasn't been reading comics, or Marvel, for years (or maybe ever), and decided, for one reason or another, to pick up Thor, God of Thunder and give it a try.

What I love about the lettercols is that they allow writer Jason Aaron to respond directly to readers, and tell us what is on his mind.  He explains what he is thinking, hints at what he is planning.  And best of all, in issue 5, when a reader complained briefly about the Iron Man cameo and said he doesn't want a bunch of guest-stars and crossovers in this title, Aaron responded as follows:

That shared universe is one of the hallmarks of the House of Ideas. But I also want Thor to be a series you can continue to read and enjoy even if you're not following the overall thread of the Marvel U, though at the same time feeling big enough to be relevant to that universe as a whole. In other words, I wanna do big, epic Thor stories that anyone can enjoy.

This is what comics used to be like.  The shared universe was a backdrop, years ago, not an excuse to try and force people to buy every title in the line.

Another thing that seems readily apparent from both the way the story unfolds and the answers Aaron gives in the lettercol, is that, on Thor, God of Thunder, the writer is in control of the plot. Although I'm sure the editor has a say in the book's direction, there is no doubt who is in charge here.  Marvel seems willing to let Aaron, and presumably its other writers, do what they're supposed to -- write stories.

Between the sweeping, high-quality story, solid artwork, lettercols in every issue, and the writer's ability to control the story-line, I really felt, reading these eight first issues of Thor, God of Thunder, as if I'd gone back in time 25 years, to the days when comics were truly great, and high quality was the rule in both major comics companies, rather than the exception it's become today.  Since coming back to comics, with a few rare exceptions (Red Sonja, Batgirl), I had been wondering if they could even make comics like they used to.  Here, we have the answer... yes, they still can.  Thor, God of Thunder, is one such book.

Now, don't get me wrong.  The actual specific story is not like one would have read in the 1980s... it would have been far too violent and bloody, and the old Comics Code Authority would never have allowed it.  However, although the plot is modern and far more adult than the stories in those days, it is executed like they did back in the day -- executed the way the greats like Simonson, Perez, Wolfman, Mantlo, and Levitz used to do it all those years ago.

Kudos to the creative team.  Thor, God of Thunder is the first Marvel comic to officially make it onto my long-term pull list in 22 years.

New Comic-book Night - 5/15/13

For this week's New Comic-book Night, I picked up 10 new issues... two of them are the latest installments on my pull list, Supergirl and Batgirl, and the other eight are for a new title for me -- Thor: God of Thunder.  I chose to try Thor for two reasons.  First, although issue 8 came out last week, my comic-book shop, which is quite good about such things, still had issues 1-7 in the "current" section, meaning I was able to get them all for cover price -- no "back issue markup."  Second, I have heard excellent things about this series from the people at the Comic-book Community.  I'm still wary of Marvel because of the mutants (I absolutely hate the mutant concept at this point), but Thor usually doesn't have much to do with mutants so I figured it was safe to try this series.

I have not read Supergirl or Batgirl yet, but I have read the first three issues of Thor.  So far, it is outstanding.  Esad Ribic's art is heavily stylized but quite good, and the moody inking and coloring definitely fits the story being told.  Jason Aaron's writing is quite strong.  He's doing something highly experimental here -- telling a story that takes place 1,000 years in the past, with a very young Thor; in the present with today's Thor; and 1,000+ years in the future with a very old Thor.  In each time period, Thor battles against a character called the "god butcher," who has been going around killing gods on many various worlds.  Flipping back and forth between three different eras separated by thousands of years could be a story-telling train-wreck, and most writers would probably not be able to pull it off. There's a very real risk of the story becoming incomprehensible to the reader. Aaron, however, has done magnificently in the first three issues.  The story is clean and easy to follow.  The mystery of the god butcher's motivations and actions is tantalizing. And Thor's single-minded determination to track this villain and protect all the other gods drives the story forward.

As I say, I have only read the first three issues (I am about to head off to read issue #4 right now, in fact). But if the series continues to be this solid through all eight issues, this series is going on my pull list the next time I stop by my comic-book shop.

Note, I can not say the same for Captain America, even six issues in... despite the fact that I like Cap better as a character, what's going on in his comic is just... too weird for me.  I am giving that one till the end of the first story arc (I'm guessing issue 8 or so) and if it doesn't get better, I'm done.  But Thor is looking like a keeper.

Is everything just a mini-series now?

In the last couple of years, practically every series in +DC Comics and +Marvel Entertainment has been rebooted.

In September of 2011, +DC Comics closed down every one of their ongoing series, and restarted them all on number one.  Fifty-two series in all were begun that month on "issue 1," prompting the company to name its line "the New 52." Since this "relaunch," 16 out of the 52 titles have been canceled -- six after just eight months, six earlier this spring, and four more have been announced for termination as of August.  That's 16 series, or 30% of the line, that lasted less than 24 total issues, and many less than 10. Because DC insists on publishing 52 concurrent titles, this means 16 new series replacing the old, or a total of 68 new series started in two years.

Meanwhile, Marvel has created its own version of a relaunch, with the Marvel NOW! line, which will consist of more than 30 titles by year's end, all starting over on "issue 1" (with the older series generally being canceled).  Although this is certainly not the entire Marvel line, as it was with DC, we can say that a huge chunk of the Marvel titles have been re-started as new series.

This is something of a new pattern for comic books.  Although reboots are nothing new for the industry, having entire company-wide relaunches on number 1, and cancellations of old, often standby series like Action Comics or Captain America -- reboots done for no other purpose than a re-number -- is definitely virgin soil for DC and Marvel.  In prior decades, companies prided themselves on having the longest-running series.  A series in the 100s or 200s or higher was a sign of success and good editorial management -- high numbers were evidence that the series had sold enough copies, consistently, for many years.  I remember the fanfare with which Action Comics hit #600, and Thor hit #400, and Captain America hit #300.  These comics had been around for decades, and had sold so well and consistently that they had never needed to be halted.

Thus, a series was something that, once begun, was intended to be published indefinitely, and companies did whatever they could to maintain their series line.  When a series started to falter, companies pulled out all the stops to try and keep it alive, because the fact that a title was being published at all meant that the publisher was committed to it.  To save a flagging title, new creative teams would be brought in. Old arch-enemies would be called upon to grace the pages. Former love-interests would make reappearances.

Sure, these gimmicks often failed, and the series was, perhaps, canceled anyway.  Many series made it no further than the New 52 titles have (like the New 52 Legion of Super-Heroes, set to be canceled this August, 1982-4s Daring New Adventures of Supergirl was canceled after 23 issues).  But, back in those days, you had the sense that the companies meant the series they started publishing to run indefinitely, just like Action Comics (which eventually reached past issue 900) was (at least until 2011, when it was canceled for the New 52 reboot).

But today, it seems like comic companies do not begin publishing a series with the intention of it lasting indefinitely.  Today, even high sales and high issue number counts, seem incapable of shielding a comic from cancellation.  Because "number 1" issues sell so well, every series is potentially on the chopping block every single month.  And most series have been canceled and rebooted so many times that they have many different volumes. A few examples:

• The New 52 Supergirl is technically volume 6, if you count the 4-issue mini-series in 1993.
• The New 52 LSH about to be canceled is volume 7, unless you count The Legion (which was about the LSH but under a slightly different title) in which case it's volume 8.  This troubled series has seen four separate issue 1 relaunches in 13 years, and the individual "volumes" have averaged 28 issues per series.
• The new Marvel NOW! Captain America is volume 7, with each of volumes 2-6 averaging 28 issues running length (after volume 1 lasted 354 issues by itself).
• After volume 1 lasted 127 issues from 1999 through 2009, Birds of Prey has been renumbered twice in the last four years, with volume 2 lasting just 15 issues, and volume 3 currently on issue 20.

The story is repeated for a host of titles.  Indeed, most comics, if they have retained their old titles are on at least volume 3 or 4 at this point, and many would be much higher than that if the companies did not (like Justice League) keep slightly changing the title name and calling it a "new" series.

When looking over all the different "volumes" of each series, and all the issue 1 relaunches, followed by cancellations, followed by re-relaunches, combined with the fact that hardly any series left in DC or Marvel's line will be higher than 30 by year's end, it seems to me like the concept of the series that is planned to be published indefinitely has gone the way of the dinosaur. The fans of a particular character need to prepare ourselves for a succession of short-lived series, rather than one long one.

Years ago, when a comic-book title was published with the intention of lasting a short while and then ending, they used to call it a "mini-series" (in DC) or a "limited series" (in Marvel). Mini-series stood as differentiated from regular series by this very fact -- that they were short-lived.  These days, with the rapid fire launch/cancel/relaunch sequence we've been witnessing, it seems like every series is expected to be short-lived.  Thus, every series on the market today can be viewed as a long mini-series, rather than a true, "permanent" series.  The only real difference is that we aren't told ahead of time that the series is of finite length, whereas with a limited series, they used to broadcast it ("issue 1 of 5").

What does this mean for the comic-book industry?  To be honest, I'm not really sure. I suspect it's not a good sign.  I'm sure the companies don't go into it with the plan to cancel these series right away. But I've got the definite sense that they lack commitment to these series, and that as soon as sales flag, they just quickly pull the plug.  It also feels a little like both companies are almost in what one could call panic mode -- that they are pulling any crazy idea for a title out of the hat, using any character they can think of, even ones who never had a series before, and trying to see if the book will sell.  If it does, fine, if not (like Threshold or Sword of Sorcery), pull the plug ASAP.

Whatever the long-term effects of this "musical series" pattern coming out of the comic companies, I'm sure of one thing as a reader and collector: we need to start viewing all series as mini-series. Even mainstays are not immune.  The days of the triple-digit issue number seem to be over.