Your Depressing News of the Day
DC’s outstanding “Blue Beetle” series is being cancelled.
One of the books that I’m most disappointed about in that regard is a book like Blue Beetle, which we are cancelling. That’s a book that we started with very high expectations, but it lost its audience along the way. Recently, we felt that it was standing on firmer ground, and was getting a more positive response. The problem is that the firmer ground and positive response is not enough to keep the book afloat. So unfortunately, we had to cancel that series.
This comes on the heels of DC cancelling “Robin,” “Nightwing,” “Birds of Prey,” and “Manhunter.” That’s an awful lot of prominent and well-regarded comics to toss onto the trash heap.
Of course, the problem is that DC is a business, and “Blue Beetle,” no matter how much critical acclaim it’s received, just hasn’t sold well. And with the economy on a screaming downslide and everyone worried about rising unemployment, flat wages, and everything getting more and more expensive, leisure-based businesses, like comics, gaming, electronics, etc., are cutting back.
It’s really kinda hard to fault DC here. They’ve given “Blue Beetle” lots and lots of time to find an audience, and for some reason, the audience has stayed away. I wish they could keep giving it more chances, because I love the book. I love the El Paso setting, I love the focus on Hispanic culture, I love all the awesome characters. I’ll miss the book enormously, and the comics industry as a whole will be worse off for losing it.
So read the single issues while you can, pick up the trade paperbacks while you can. DC’s best monthly comic is riding off into the sunset soon.
RAB Said,
November 13, 2008 @ 3:55 pm
Maybe the whole idea of an ongoing monthly comic series itself has become an anachronism. John Rogers wrote a good story, concluded it, and left. That run became a complete entity unto itself. His successor did a great job too…but maybe we’re ready to consider that a different creative team means the story becomes an entirely different entity and should be treated as such. That wouldn’t mean the end of monthly comics, just that they might all become “limited series” of whatever length was appropriate. (James Robinson’s Starman was by this definition a limited series, as it was written with a conclusion in mind and reached that ending and stopped, though it took several years.) I’d like to see more publishers pursue that direction instead of trying to keep an ongoing series alive by treating writers and artists as interchangeable cogs. It’s a holdover of the idea that corporate properties are all that matter, not the individuals who craft the work, and that’s an idea I’d like to see cancelled permanently!
swampy Said,
November 13, 2008 @ 6:48 pm
what a shame, but it has been in the works for quite awhile. I am gonna miss the title
Fred (SpaceBooger) Said,
November 19, 2008 @ 5:48 pm
This is my favorite 2nd tier (hero status) comic book ever!
I will be sad to see it go, but at least Jaime is able to put “Saved the Earth from and invading alien armada with a couple of friends.” to add to his resume.