Happy New Year.
The Mayans have their calendar; The Chinese: their’s. Geeks (and the publisher “Gods” ) follow a different type of timeline. Let San Diego Comic Con (A.K.A. SDCC, Comic-Con International: San Diego), the event with the biggest and best announcements in Geekdom mark our years. Before we look forward to the year ahead, let us reflect on this past year.
Alphabetically we can start with Archie Comics. Afterlife with Archie debuted to fanfare. After life after death, Life With Archie just ended, with a death. Mainstream’s first solo comic series starring a gay character, Kevin Keller, also ended…no death on this one. May he return in the new year.
Image Comics’ Saga still made TV set princes with Gay Porn screens required reading…God Bless, BKV.
The Marvel Movieverse debuted Agents of Shield complete with one LGBT cameo, Agent Brand…who died almost as fast as she appeared. Young Avengers got cancelled, won a GLAAD award, but still remains cancelled.
Nightcrawler’s back! But with that means Marjorie Liu’s Astonishing X-Men (staring newlywed Northstar and Karma) had to go. Fearless Defenders? Adios. Yet diversity is still strong- See: Ms. Marvel, Mighty Avengers, Black Captain America, Female Thor, Storm, Black Widow, She Hulk, (Menless) X-Men…etc etc.
Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark was turned off…for now. Finally? Too soon? How long will it be till we see a singing, spandexed Superhero on Broadway again? Not . Soon. Enough. Spidey also got a bit less Superior still when Amazing Spider-Man 2 was a bust.
Marvel was nice enough to introduce us to Sebastian Stan Winter Solider and Anthony Mackie Falcon. We are starting the New Year with an alien invasion from Guardians of the Galaxy.
X-Men Days of the Future Past , complete with new comer outer Ellen Page , took over the screens. Along with Transformers 4? 5?, Veronica Mars resurfaced. Teenage Mutant“I-have-lips” Turtles drops in two weeks. We are living in a geek renaissance, ladies and gentlemen.
Over in DC’s sandbox, LGBT advocate Gail Simone got her toys taken away: Batgirl was reassigned and will move out, leaving her Trans roommate to Craigslist and her spectrum underdogs, The Movement…cancelled. Stormwatch with Apollo and Midnighter? Gone. Teen Titans with the one man activist-in purple nevertheless-…gone, but resurrected with a new number one in good old comic fashion.
But the biggest loss might be JH Williams III and W. Haden Blackman and their Batwoman. DC announced the recently engaged Superhero would never marry and all Williams and Blackman really wanted was to just see her happy, if only for a wedding that would have been beautifully scripted and illustrated. Sigh.
#IAmComics showcased our acceptance and diversity while controversies revealed the ugly side. In the end, we moved forward as a community and many important conversations were put on the table.
Oh, and a little thing called Frozen happened. I don’t know if you heard that song? Welcome it back into your heads…
But all hope is not lost. Renee Montoya will be prominent on Gotham and Arrow is hinting a Oracle/Canary pairing we’ve wanted since Birds of Prey (oh, also cancelled this year: thanks, DC). Scarlet Witch and Wonder Woman might steal the big screens. Agent Carter will be all about Marvel Universe’s first Strong Female Character. Netflix will bring some Superhero joy, starting with Daredevil in 2015…
The year after 2013 SDCC may have been rife with cancellations and a lot of LGBT comic book deaths, but we are also moving forward hopefully. If comics taught us nothing it’s that death is never the end. So, fellow Geeks, have a happy and prosperous New-Geek-Year…and please, don’t let your favorite comics get cancelled.
