Six Questions About Your Comics Year

I will give this more considered thought when we do the 2004 poll, cause I'm always bad at remembering stuff that came out Jan-Jun, but I'm gonna go with She-Hulk -- there's no way it won't be in my top few.

2) What's your favorite comics related moment?

Spider-Man 2.

3) What's the worst thing to happen in comics in 2004?

I'm tempted to say "there's a Black Panther comic coming out and it isn't written by Priest."

4) What's your most fervid hope for comics in 2005?

I'd like to pitch something.

5) What aspect of comics in 2005 are you most looking forward to?

Morrison's Seven Soldiers, definitely -- based on what we know of what's coming out next year, that looks like the thread that'll tie the year together.

6) What's your worst fear for comics in 2005?

That the return of Rob Bluejeans Liefeld to Marvel and to X-Force, and the recent plethora of first issues and new ongoing series, means Marvel is headed back towards the mania and OCD of the 90s.

Seaguy.

2) What's your favorite comics related moment?

Getting back into reading the things again. Thanks frankly to ILC, awww.

3) What's the worst thing to happen in comics in 2004?

I've no perspective. It all looks fairly healthy from one angle and a little bit stagnant from another. At first it depressed me to discover how much the big publishers were completely reliant on their old franchises, then I noticed that this wasn't always true and also that what was going on between the covers of the old franchises wasn't all bad.

4) What's your most fervid hope for comics in 2005?

More paid work for Vic Fluro.

5) What aspect of comics in 2005 are you most looking forward to?

Reading more and more of them - I think the time might be right for me to dip my toe into the indie pool once more.

Oh, and Seven Soldiers.

6) What's your worst fear for comics in 2005?

Ongoing decline and rubbishness. Naff post-Identity Crisis stories making cape emo fashionable again. Finding that the indie sector in '05 is a load of thumb-sucking drivel and not the roiling sea of crazed ids that I'm hoping for.

2) What's your favorite comics related moment?
Incredibles -- though it was a GREBT year for superhero movies!

3) What's the worst thing to happen in comics in 2004?
End of X-Statix

4) What's your most fervid hope for comics in 2005?
I can actually start reading them again (e.g. time constraints) and getting to the store (e.g. transportatin constraints).

5) What aspect of comics in 2005 are you most looking forward to?
More Q&C.

6) What's your worst fear for comics in 2005?
No more Q&C.

At the moment, Seaguy. But Andy Diggle's 'Adam Strange' miniseries has the potential to push it very, very close.

2) What's your favorite comics related moment?

Mike Carey telling my daughter that his daughter didn't spot the lesbian stuff in 'My Faith In Frankie' either, and that she was a clever girl for not reading all the bad words. (She's 9, his is 11)

3) What's the worst thing to happen in comics in 2004?

The end of Cerebus, and Dave Sim's apparent retirement.

4) What's your most fervid hope for comics in 2005?

Pete Bagge publishes more stuff.

5) What aspect of comics in 2005 are you most looking forward to?

Mike & Dez bringing a new approach to UK conventions. Hopefully successfully.

6) What's your worst fear for comics in 2005?

Tep calls it right above - the return of Liefeld leading Marvel back into 90s insanity. Cover variants, the works.

2) What's your favorite comics related moment?
Finding out about What's Michael? from ILC, awwww.

3) What's the worst thing to happen in comics in 2004?
Catwoman (the movie)

4) What's your most fervid hope for comics in 2005?
I hear Seven Soldiers is gonna be off the chain.

5) What aspect of comics in 2005 are you most looking forward to?
I'm looking forward to buying more graphic novels and reading them all. There have been so many good suggestions around here that I've decided to give up picture-less books forever.

6) What's your worst fear for comics in 2005?
That I'll run out of money. And that aliens will come down from outer space, eat all the comics in the world and crap out brussels sprouts.

Last time he promised to stop writing super-hero comics, and spent seven years writing things that weren't super-hero comics. This time he's promised to stop writing mainstream comics, except for LOEG and if any artists who he already promised to write mainstream comics for decide they could be arsed to draw them (eg Jim Lee and Comet Rangers).

In 2005, I would like to have more time to go to to the comic shop and read comics!!

DC's The New Frontier - like Tep, my mind is sieve-like when it comes to recalling what came out in January (or September, even), but for all-encompassing over-arcing wowness, TNF is my horse. (Honorable mentions too numerous to be listed here.)

2) What's your favorite comics related moment?

Leaving the theatre after watching The Incredibles, and feeling the sort of post-cinematic satisfaction and wonder I can't ever recall feeling (since, I dunno, Out of Sight or Three Kings or Being John Malkovich).

3) What's the worst thing to happen in comics in 2004?

Our Two Corporate Overlords doing the Time Warp and capitulating to the short-sighted ways & means of the Direct Market via alt.covers & nth chances for hacktastic fanboy crushes to scat across shelves and Red Skies x-overs.

4) What's your most fervid hope for comics in 2005?

More Grant Morrison, less Mark Millar, no Chuck Austen! (Literally & figuratively.) (Meaning more iconoclasm & risk taking, less overblown Bruckheimerian Big Events, and fuck a deadline if punctuality means shit product.) (Also, don't write for the trades if you're publishing on a monthly schedule.) (Bastards.)

5) What aspect of comics in 2005 are you most looking forward to?

The glut of spandex critical faves coming down the pike (Runaways, She-Hulk, Seven Soldiers).

6) What's your worst fear for comics in 2005?

More 90s nostalgia by The Big Two (CHROMIUM!) (NIGHT THRASHER!) (THUNDERCOCKNBALLZ!), coupled with the dissolution or disappearance of small indie publishers & related works (RIP Artbomb).

1) What's your favorite comic of 2004?

Seaguy

2) What's your favorite comics related moment?

JLA Classified #1: "No, I'm Goldfish Man."

3) What's the worst thing to happen in comics in 2004?

X-Force

4) What's your most fervid hope for comics in 2005?

Comics back to 50p

5) What aspect of comics in 2005 are you most looking forward to?

Seven Soldiers

6) What's your worst fear for comics in 2005?

Grant Morrison dies

Seaguy, though I've read a hell of a lot of great stuff this year, so it's a tough call!

2) What's your favorite comics related moment?

Getting a story out there in Commercial Suicide 2.0 was a big personal highpoint. Within the comics themselves, it was probably that two-page “wall of violence” spread in issue #2 of We3 (“visceral computer game action broken down and given an uneasy/horrific resonance blah-de-blah-de-blah”), and yeah, The Incredibles was pretty awesome too!

3) What's the worst thing to happen in comics in 2004?

X-Statix ending, even though it probably kinda needed to now that I think about it.

That and the fact that someone decided to do a “serious” Space Ghost comic. I mean really – what the fuck?

4) What's your most fervid hope for comics in 2005?

That all of the creators I like get to do more good work and that loads of new interesting talent catches my eye. Pretty uninspired hopes, I know, but fuck it; I don’t have any new analysis of the comic book market to offer or anything, so this’ll have to do for now.

5) What aspect of comics in 2005 are you most looking forward to?

Seven Soldiers, more comics by the Hernandez brothers, etc…

6) What's your worst fear for comics in 2005?

That John Byrne might be crowned “king of comics” and given the right to make everyone from Dan Clowes to Cameron Stewart do what he wants them to do.

2) What's your favorite comics related moment?
Specifically, seeing those Batman panels where Bruce Wayne give Dick Grayson a birthday spank. Generally, ILC.

3) What's the worst thing to happen in comics in 2004?
The strange and unwelcome return of the speculator.

4) What's your most fervid hope for comics in 2005?
I read comics, dude, I don't know what "fervid" means. But there seems to be a counter trend to the speculator, collector-wankery mentioned above, one that's giving really capable creators great opportunities (Morrison and Busiek on JLA books, Johns on EVERY OTHER SUPERHERO, Gotham Central, etc.)

5) What aspect of comics in 2005 are you most looking forward to?
I'm really looking forward to I Can't Believe It's Not The Justice League.

6) What's your worst fear for comics in 2005?
That they'll suck.

I'm probably going to put "New Warriors" issue 1 on my "First Issue Madness" thread. I kinda liked that series.

If What's Michael? isn't in the top 10 in the poll then I will be devastated.

Well, perhaps not. I don't suppose it's back in print, though?