While I was reading Avengers Academy the other day, I noticed something rather remarkable: Avengers Academy still exists.
“That’s odd,” I said. “Shouldn’t this have been ripped violently out of my hands about six months ago, vanishing in a puff of black smoke as its screams echoed in the night?”
Depending on whom you ask, that question could either come across as deeply cynical or sound like the paranoia you’d find ‘neath many a tinfoil hat. People with longer, more bitter memories, however, may recall that around this time last year there seemed to be a rash of new, exciting Marvel books that were announced, published with a flourish of fanfare, and then sadistically strangled in the crib while readers watched helplessly, weeping and screaming “Why?!” at the sky. Everyone seemed to have a candle in the window for one of them. Young Allies. Doctor Voodoo. S.W.O.R.D. Agents of Atlas. Not only were these books canceled, but most were canceled with shocking suddenness, almost abruptness. Several of them didn’t even make it to issue #6, shut down without the benefit of a second story arc. Once, we had lamented Captain Britain and MI:13 getting the axe too soon; now, with a shelf-warping fifteen issues, that book looked like Paul Cornell's magnum opus.
I’m writing about this as if it weren’t still going on, but you need only look to recent titles like She-Hulks and Hawkeye & Mockingbird to realize it’s just become unremarkable. Now, axes fall from the sky so consistently it’s like living in the boss level of an old video game. We know to expect it. Every time they announce issue #1 of some new series—and make no mistake, they are still desperately shoveling #1s into the marketplace like coal into a wheezing locomotive—my initial thought is always, “Oh, that sounds like it will make a delightful lone trade paperback next summer.”
By the way, every time someone asks a Marvel staffer about these brutal cancellations, they always say the same thing: “we know exactly when to cancel these books because our marketing department has the preternatural ability to predict precisely how many copies each book was going to sell.” No one ever asks the follow-up question, “If that is true, how did they ever get published in the first place?” There’s a freebie for your back pocket, interviewers! Anyway, where were we? Ah, yes. Interesting new things, gutted one after the other.
Then, just to remind you there’s a sun up in that sky, along comes a book like Avengers Academy. Here is a book creeping up on issue #14 starring honest-to-God characters that didn’t exist a year ago. It even overcame the fact that the surprise twist ending of its first issue happened to be the book’s actual premise, making it all but impossible to effectively sell to people. It was good; people who read it saw how good it was and talked about it; the people they talked to bought an issue and found out that one was good, too. A year later, we’re still reading it. It barely seems possible.
But Avengers Academy isn’t the only sunbeam around here. I am renowned for my bubbly goddamned cheer, and so it seemed like this was as good a time as any for us to embrace positivity and tip our hats to those books that were being launched around the time of what my household calls “S.W.O.R.D.Fall” and are still going strong. Let’s browse through the last couple of months on the Comics page and see which books are in their teens…
First of all, a big thumbs-up to Incorruptible, Chew, and young The Sixth Gun. As hard as it is for a book to get attention these days, it is harder still without the DC Nation or Mighty Marvel Marketing Machine behind it. These are series that seem to have staying power with nary a Wolverine in sight. When Chew skipped ahead to issue #27 last week, it didn’t even register at first. A number that high on the cover seemed like the most natural thing in the world.
…Wow, have American Vampire and iZombie really been coming out for a year already? (Man, I miss having semesters dividing up my years.) That’s pretty impressive, too. I mean, there was a time when being a Vertigo book seemed like a license to put your feet on the desk and make yourself comfortable, but these days you can’t take anything for granted. This also means American Vampire has been running without Stephen King for as long as they were running with him, and they show no signs of slowing down. Well done, all around.
Of course, the whole reason this is on my mind is because of Marvel and DC. Which books did they launch a year or so ago that are still plugging away?
Looking at DC, we’ve got Green Arrow, Birds of Prey, Legion of Super-Heroes, Zatanna, and The Flash. So… what’s the median age on that group of characters? Eisenhower administration? And that’s with Birds of Prey wrecking the curve. Also, The Flash just ended for some reason.
Still!…
No, I can’t spin that. That’s dispiriting.
Now Marvel, Marvel’s got… let’s see… Avengers, New Avengers, Secret Avengers, Cool Ranch Avengers, Adjectiveless X-Men, almost Uncanny X-Force, and Deadpool Corps. A good chunk of those are just renumberings. Also, Deadpool Corps just got canceled somehow.
Wow, I am starting to wish I had not looked that up. A cloud is creeping across the sunbeam.
I am sure there must be some I’m forgetting, right? I must be. I know it’s not like you guys to do this, but if I did make any mistakes, would you please let me know in the comments this time?
Even if that is it, I will not be downhearted. According to an authoritative source, this Facebook friend I have, 40 of the 45 new network TV shows that premiered this season have been canceled. There’s a lot competing for eyeballs out there, even when you’re as good as Avengers Academy. Still, I believe in new ideas, and I’m confident that this time next year a lot more books will be safely in their teens. After all, I’ve gotten something like six #1s in the last month and a half.
Jim Mroczkowski is also surprised that he has lasted this long, quite frankly.
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Cool Ranch Avengers- Nice.
Avengers Academy is great although the Korvac 2 issue arc wasn’t my favorite. It’s funny the prom issue featured characters from Young Allies who are just as interesting as the Avengers Academy crew, but that book couldn’t sustain an ongoing, but this one can? I will say that the Hank Pym/Tigra dynamic helps Academy a lot, and Allies didn’t seem to have the strong anchor characters to sustain a book. I love Firestar, Nomad, and Spider-Girl, but seems like they weren’t enough to keep the book going.
I’m pretty sure Punisher Max is hitting issue 13 this week. While I guess thats more of a renumbering than a brand new series its damn good.
Now this is a article I like
is that pic of spiderman with the Avengers Academy a solicit for the future? cuz if so, that’s fantastic
I feel like we do have to give DC credit for letting some books go for a while. Lord knows if I was in charge of DC I would have probably canceled Green Arrow by now and rebooted with a new number 1 and different creative team.
@wangman31888 It’s the cover for this week’s Amazing Spider-Man.
i remember reading an article a while ago about how Marvel came to overtake DC as biggest publisher in the 70s and 80s. The strategy was to flood the market with #1’s and minis…the idea was to get as much shelf space as possible by pushing out as much New series’ as they could. Even knowing some of it was total junk not meant to last very long.
I wonder if they still have a modified version of that strategy now?…albeit the creators are so much better now, even a series expected to fail will prob be pretty decent or even great like we’ve seen with Thor the Mighty Avenger, She Hulks etc. Also i wonder if its a way to tease new creative teams…get some good buzz so when they eventually get to a Main Avengers or X book, fans will flock? I dunno…just some stra-teg-ery idea-rs floating around my noggin.
I just read the SWORD trade last week. It was so good, it made me sad. I just pre-ordered the Academy trade.
How can you be surprised that Avengers Academy is still going?
YOU GUYS claim it’s one of the best Marvel books on the stands! It’s in the solicts so it must be true! 🙂
@TheNextChampion So what? We said the same thing about Thor: The Mighty Avenger. Quality and sales are two different things.
@conor: I wasn’t saying anything like that.
I’m just surprised Jim is surprised it’s around considering this website claims it’s one of the best series Marvel has to offer. Clearly he agrees with that statement, right?
I would buy Cool Ranch Avengers.
I would love for Marvel to make Ruse be an ongoing, but fear a quick death for it. Perhaps it’s for the best that we’re only getting 4 issues. Waid can tell a grest self-contained story and we’ll all be happy.
@TheNextChampion Yes, but the entire underlying point is that books that Jim thinks are good tend to get canceled.
X-23 has lasted a good ten issues so far, so w00t!
I forgot to mention Marvel Adventures Super Heroes, which just saw issue #14.
Also, All Stars managed to grind out 18 issues before finally getting the axe.
The renumbered Spirit is on issue #14 this week.
(Vengeance of the) Moon Knight got in about ten issues before they rebooted it.
I really don’t mind characters like Black Widow and Hawkeye having limited runs, as I’d rather see a good book featuring those folks than one that lingers past its prime. Sure hoping Jim McCann and Marjorie Liu get a chance to do something with those characters again soon.
I just hope Rick Remender’s Venom survives. I really dig that book
It is still a constant and pleasant surprise to me that The Spirit comes out every month.
Would Avengers Academy still be going if it wasn’t tied into Avengers continuity and had the word “Avengers” in the title? If this was called something else with new Marvel heroes, would it do just as well? The only other book on your list with that kind of connection was Thor: TMA, but that wasn’t in continuity.
@BC1 Having ‘Avengers’ in the title certainly has a lot to do with that book’s sales and appeal. I honestly believe that if Captain Britain and MI:13 was called Avengers UK (they wouldn’t even have to have changed the name of the team, just the book itself), it would have been able to sustain itself for longer than it did.