Orginally published at ComicBooked.com
This is it folks! The end of our journey. The assembled comic literati have commented upon the best geek properties and creators of 2011. It is now time to look to the future!
As far as 2012 is concerned, there were two rather large elephants in the room – Avengers and The Dark Knight Rises. Six out of the total twelve contributors to this feature mentioned both films as a prospective highlight of the coming year, although most gave the caped crusader the nod as their preferred of the two.
Reynard City’s Rob Turner put it quite simply, stating “I’ve loved all Nolan’s films thus far and I’m intrigued to see how he wraps up his trilogy”. Brien from Virgil’s Diner was equally hopeful, albeit with the caveat that “this could be the greatest (or most disappointing…) summer movie season in quite a long time.” Jorge Solis cited the entertainment value of Marvel Studio’s already released comic book movies as being positive indicators of The Avengers, as well as mentioning how he was looking forward to Whedon’s *other* 2012 film The Cabin In The Woods. However, he was most excited about the parallels between The Dark Knight Rises and the classic Knightfall storyline – “Just the cover alone, Batman #497 is quite unforgettable. Bane promised he would break Batman and he did it by crippling him[…]I’m really psyched for this movie!”
Other prospective highlights proffered included Ed Allen’s suggestion Avengers vs X-Men (“Brian Michael Bendis is going to be leaving the Avengers titles behind after an epic run – over 200 issues! – that made the series the center of the Marvel U and AvX has made a lot of big promises that will be hard to live up to”); the latest sequels from Diablo and Mass Effect have Sarah from Essieteric on the edge of her seat (“I can’t wait to engage with these narratives once again”) while also crediting DC’s New 52 for introducing her to various creative teams resurrected by the relaunches; Ryan from Geek Of Oz listed anime projects Usagi Drop and Fairy Tail, as well as Martin Scorsese’s Hugo among his soon-to-be-favorites; Mitch from All Star Comics gave his vote to two new comics projects (“The things on our radar for next year at this stage are Brian K Vaughn’s new ongoing series Saga, coupled with Brubaker’s and Phillips’ Fatale also from Image”); while Colin Bell echoed Mitch’s recommendations of Fatale and Saga (on Vaughan and Fiona Staples’ book “They’re pitching it as ‘Star Wars meets Game of Thrones’. Surely that ticks everyone’s boxes?”), as well as listing the latest Doctor Who, Jonathan Hickman’s Feel Better Now and the writer’s latest collaboration with Nick Pitarra The Manhattan Projects.
Jason Franks decided to raise the flag for indies again, looking forward to visionary artist Colleen Doran’s collaboration with Derek McCulloch on Gone To Amerikay, an original book from Vertigo about Irish immigration. “Derek’s an incredible writer and I think everybody knows how good Colleen is”, says Franks. “I’m expecting something beautifully written and drawn, rigorously accurate, meaty and thought-provoking.” As for the rest of the year, Franks also has some personal projects that he is looking forward to seeing completed –
“I’ve just started writing a new volume of The Sixsmiths. I have a novel coming out called Bloody Waters. I’m working on new projects with Jose Pimienta, Paul Abstruse and Paul Mason. I’m working on a new McBlack graphic novel and another one shot. And I’m editing a newsstand comics magazine called Terra.”
Both Sarah and Ed were looking forward to joining the writing staff of Tastes Like Comics (I swear, I didn’t feed them that line), with the former also taking the time to thank some special people. “I need to give credit to my “trusted comic circle” – Tim McEwen, Paul Mason, Emma-Jean Stewart, Gavin Thomson, Paul Murton and Jason Franks.”
Stacey from Word of Mouse Book Reviews is looking forward to Comicon in Toronto for 2012 (“I was way too pregnant last year to attend and I always find new and exciting artists and works to blather on about”), as well as continuing to share excellent children’s literature from Canada with her readership. Mitch from All Star Comics teased that the store was planning ‘something’ involving local talent from Melbourne. The cad! Brien has interesting plans for the near future – “Virgil’s PopCult Dineris currently putting together a one-stop resource for news, rumors, commentary and trailers for the upcoming summer movies. We’ll also be launching a daily web show – Virgil’s Booth – at the start of the year.” Marc Tyler Nobleman was also looking forward to the final publication of his latest work – “After five years of work, my picture book Bill the Boy Wonder: The Secret Co-Creator of Batman will come out in July.”
Rob Tuner took a moment to thank all the creative talent involved in putting Reynard City together and helping to promote the webcomic. “When I say it’s a project I’m working on I merely supervise some great creative people. Reynard City is not just a webcomic, we’re also working on a pilot with a view to getting a cartoon series and we hope to have a video game out next year. For people who haven’t read it before it’s a surreal twist on the kind of 90′s anthro type cartoons (eg Thundercats, Biker Mice, Ninja Turtles etc) – except the lead character is a psychic vixen superhero who inflates on contact with caramel.”
I want to go to there.
Jorge Solis will be continuing to produce comic reviews for Fangoria and is also working on his debut novel. Colin Smith is planning a revamp of Too Busy Thinking About My Comics for the new year (“Twitter! Polls! Editorials! Comic strips with photographs! Links to weekly essays at Sequart Publishing!”), while our other favorite Colin, Mr Bell, has plans of his own –
“2012 will see me and artistic wunderkind Neil Slorance continuing our weekly robot divorce sitcom webcomic Jonbot Vs Martha, which will also see actual, hold-it-in-your-hands, print – both in pseudo-syndication and in purchasable comic book form by the end of the year. I’m also gearing up to start at least one more webcomic, and there’s an incredible project that I’m involved in with my pals at the Glasgow League of Writers that’s so secret, that if I told you what it was I’d have to print out this email and eat it to destroy the evidence or something. But if you ask me later in the year I’ll probably be quite happy to tell you.”
And that’s it. Bring on 2012. I would like to say thanks to everyone who helped me assemble this end of year feature, as well as all the readers and staff of Comic Booked. Have a good one folks!
