I thought I’d mention some good 80′s-90′s stuff that started out good
but eventually got cancelled and where are they now?
-New Warriors, a 90′s team book that started out great. Then when
Bagley and Fab left (and the team took on to much unnecessary
baggage) it just wasn’t as great as it used to be.
-Darkhawk, an early 90′s idea that started out great. He was also a
rare superhero who had long hair and looked like a punk rocker.
Eventually artist Mike Manley left and the whole tone and feel
changed. The stories also turned real bad and the costume was
redesigned into super crap (oh why?). Was this guy’s face (under the
helmet) ever shown on panel? Eventually cancelled. Which is a shame
since he had a good supporting cast! Did his father ever return? Did
he live?
-Speedball, Short lived series (but had stories in Marvel Comics
Presents and Marvel Superheroes quarterly books). Like Darkhawk, I
liked the supporting cast and villains he encountered. Unlike the New
Warriors version, he originally did not crack jokes in battle and
didn’t want to engage in battles.
-Sleepwalker, interesting concept but unlike the above two, I don’t
think Marvel made it interesting enough to get a good following. Even
I tuned out of this series in under five issues. (Which is pretty
rare for me back then.)
-Ghost Rider (volume two), Originally it had great art, concepts
and mysteries. Then the art became crap and they involved all the
crap from the first volume (which I think helped ruin the series).
This was something fresh and new. Then all the old baggage came
onboard and cluttered stuff up. Heck, this stuff caused volume one to
get canceled! So what do they end up doing? Tying it all tightly
into volume two! Guess what? Volume two got canceled! Way to go!
I for one liked the fact that finding the bike was a random accident
and could happen to anyone. But no, it was a destined thing that only
his bloodline could do. Yeah, let’s put John Blaze in their and make
him his crime fighting partner! (Yeah what great ideas. Note to
future volumes, try to start out fresh and avoid the previous stuff
as much as possible!)
-Quasar, now this was a cool book. Especially the first few years of
stuff. Too bad he then kept changing costumes for what seemed every
fifth issue. He was making so many changes it’d put Iron Man on superhero
fashion notice.
-Thunderstrike, I liked when Eric Masterson was Thor. Those issues
rocked. This was more of the same (since Thor had to return
eventually) Marvel gave him a new identity. I’m surprised how this
series concluded and just who Bloodaxe was (which was kind of a let
down). Maybe Darkhawk could’ve beneffited from this fate.
-Green Goblin, Phil Urich another short lived series. Word
I got was that this got canned not because of sales but Marvel editorial
changes. The new editorial crew did not like the Green Goblin book
and what it was about. They wanted the Green Goblin to only be a villain.
And so this book could not survive.
Anyone else care to mention (or remember) new books and character
concepts that started in the 80′s / ’90′s that eventually got
canceled by decades end?