Fans are mourning the end of the cult comic book Blue Beetle, which is ending its run with issue #36. Though sales have not been huge for the title, it had built a loyal fanbase and has been received with critical acclaim. But what went wrong? Why did Blue Beetle fail?
Well, one issue is the idea of a comic book series having to go 100 or 200 issues in order to be considered a "hit." I think this is an outdated concept. I'll go on a limb and suggest that largely, the comic book buying public and the comic creators do not have the attention span anymore to produce the huge, monolith runs that have defined much of the past. I mean, the current numbering on Detective Comics & Amazing Spider-Man may go on, but I don't foresee most of the series that have been launched within the last three years as going on to last 200+ issues.
Instead, what I believe you will have in the future are more mini-series or "volumes" of certain titles. Books with a planned end-point, extended by new mini-series or volumes if the public demands it. Viewed in this way, Blue Beetle was actually a great success. And quite adept at dodging the bullet. The title had rumors of cancellation swirling around it even in its infancy.
Let's go on to the content itself. I've only read the first two volumes of Blue Beetle trades, so my knowledge here is not all-inclusive.
The writing, by Keith Giffen and John Rogers, was generally very good. The characters were very well-delineated and engaging, and it was very successful in making the reader care about their lives and travails. It also had the trademark "Giffen Funny," which is always a plus. I think in later issues, when they got into the New Gods and stuff like that, things got a little dense and confusing at times. I enjoyed most from the series the unique world of Jaime Reyes, and did not like leaving it to engage in Fourth World and "big event" type stuff.
The art was good, but a little inconsistent. Cully Hamner's work was very striking and emblematic, but there were too many fill-ins. Ideally, you want to have the same artist and style on at least the first six or so issues that make up the first trade. Even though the fill-in artists were for the most part quite capable, this lack of consistency can hurt the viability of a young book. And Duncan Rouleau's art really didn't match the established style of the series at all.
Understand, this quibble about consistency of artists is not a mere nitpick; if we are looking at possible reasons why a book is not doing well, this has to be taken into account. My gut feeling when I see too many fill-in artists in a relatively new title? That something is wrong. That the company doesn't care, or has the title lower on their priorities, and/or that sales are poor and the "star" artist was yanked to work on other stuff.
But in general, the quality of the storytelling was quite high, and Jaime Reyes an excellent new character. So what else could have went wrong?
Did naming the book "Blue Beetle" help or hurt it in the end? Does the name cachet bump up sales -- or does such a drastic reboot alienate your core readership? When some hardcore readers saw it was not Ted Kord as BB anymore, but this new guy nobody has heard of before, did they resent it and stay away? Think about it, three reboots: Atom, Firestorm, and Blue Beetle. Relatively short runs. What if you had the same creative teams, the same stories, but slightly different powers and totally different superhero names?
What if Blue Beetle was instead called "Shellshock" or something?
Does "legacy" hurt or help?
When considering this, we should keep in mind that Barry Allen and Hal Jordan were once in similar situations.
Did the fact that the new Blue Beetle was Hispanic hurt the book in any way? I really don't think that was a factor (outside of those Ted Kord fans who wanted to see "their" BB), and I think most readers are open-minded enough at this point to embrace a well-done comic no matter the race or nationality of its characters. It is fairly obvious that BB/Jaime Reyes is one of the best new characters DC has thought up in the last several years, and that his ethnicity has only enhanced and enriched his comic book. In fact, he was so so popular, he was chosen to be the first guest-star in the new "Brave and Bold" cartoon series -- debuting, ironically enough, during the week of Blue Beetle's announced cancellation.
Finally -- is the mass market of comic book readers accepting of any new comic that doesn't involve a Bat, an "S," a spider, or an "X"? Certainly, books like Captain America, Thor, and Green Lantern do well. But what about brand new concepts? Or reboots that stray too far away from the "established" history? How much of a chance do they really have?
Or did books like Blue Beetle have the potential to reach beyond that traditional market and reach teenagers who might not even read comics? And reach women? Or even, if DC had decided to put out more Spanish-language issues, reach whole new relatively untapped (and huge) markets?
My final assessment: I'm not surprised Blue Beetle was canceled. If anything, I'm surprised books like that and Manhunter lasted as long as they did. I expected them to fail not because I thought the books were crappy, but because I'm cynical. However, I do think DC's decision to cancel the book is shortsighted. Why couldn't they have followed through and start a test program where they put Blue Beetle out in both Spanish and English? Or why didn't they follow Marvel's lead and market the title more aggressively to teens, even down to a more digest-sized format?
In this situation, there is only one person who wins:
I think that the "failure" of the title is, like you are saying in the column, too narrowly defined. Jamie Reyes, like Manhunter are succesful new characters. That they can't carry their own titles in the world of three/four dollar comics is not surprising.
ReplyDeleteI'm actually hoping for more good team/anthology titles. Until someone figure out a way for me to subscribe to DC's current output in a Rhapsody like subscription plan, I pray for the continued success of good titles like JSA, and the success of anthology titles like Adventure looks to be. Brave and the Bold would work for me if the stories felt less.. contrived for the book.
I would love to read the comics online for a reasonable subscription fee, and buy them in trades when I enjoy them in bunches. With short runs like Old Man Wolverine, or the current Fantastic Four, or All Star Superman, I need to be able to read them and love them and then buy themin book form. I can't spend all of my waking hours in Barnes and Nobles sampling.
I started reading BB later into the series after Sturges took over writing. I've enjoyed it very much, and I really hate to see it end. This character is wasted in the current run of Teen Titans. He really needs his own title. With the coming changes hinted at over in Robin, DC won't really have a good title with a solo teen hero anymore.
ReplyDeleteAs well-written as your post was -and your argument sound and reasoned - you kind of lost me after you mentioned that sales weren't so great. I think that's why the title was cancelled.
ReplyDeleteMy only reason for scrutinising the decision to stop publishing would center around the upcoming Brave and the Bold cartoon show, which features the Jaime Reyes Blue Beetle - but that'll probably get a proprietary spin-off of its own in the style of Teen Titans Go! or The Batman Strikes, rather than create interest in the DCU version. DC seem to go out of their way to make DCU versions of currently popular cartoon shows as child/new reader-unfriendly as possible in recent years, so I doubt that even BATB being super-popular would have saved Blue Beetle.
A shame to see it go, all the same.
Why couldn't they have followed through and start a test program where they put Blue Beetle out in both Spanish and English? Or why didn't they follow Marvel's lead and market the title more aggressively to teens, even down to a more digest-sized format?
ReplyDeleteAll I can think of in answer to these perfectly sound observations is a quote from an interview with Alan Grant on the response he got when he asked about printing Lobo in latin-American countries (where it was still higly-popular at the time of its cancellation) and reprinting it in North America later only if demand called for it: "That's not how DC does things"
Bah, Ted himself said he was proud to have Jaime be his successor. :(
ReplyDeleteIn terms of the writing, I've got to admit, it didn't start out as strong. I gave the book's first issue a chance when it came out... and I wasn't impressed. It just felt boring. I hate to say it, but Giffen just wasn't that good on it. It wasn't funny and it seemed kind of slow when I read the first trade. It was only a year later, after John Rogers was the solo writer on the book, did I give it a second chance and I realized how entertaining it was.
And if you don't hit it out of the ballpark with the first issue, you're not going to keep the fanbase who gave it that initial chance and was only willing to give the first chance.
I don't think legacy hurts or hinders - at least in this case. I didn't pick the book up past #1 because it wasn't for me, but I did come back for the six issues or so leading up to #25, the big battle with the Reach.
ReplyDeleteThey were probably the best issues of the month I was reading them but I wasn't compelled to carry on picking the book up.
I agree that you won't get books reaching milestone 100 or 200 issues any more - in fact, I think when you look at books from the late 70s on, it's rare to find any that hit those numbers that aren't basically spin-offs, like the adjectiveless X-Men.
I don't think that's a bad thing though - and I don't think that 36 issues is a failure, by any means, especially in today's market.
I'll be honest. Even if I'm a huge Ted Kord fan, the real reason I didn't pick up the New BB was exactly because he was latin-american. Why? Because it felt incredibly gimmicky and pandering to me, as a mexican reader.
ReplyDeleteIn fact, I remember that around the time it was going to be launched, I was in SDCC and when I approached someone at the DC booth to ask for information about CMX, the answer I got to "I work on a manga magazine in Mexico" was "Oh, Mexico! Then you're going to love Blue Beetle, our new hispanic character!" (Paraphrasing. It was two years ago)
Now, as the years and the issues passed, I heard so many wonderful things about the book that I actually wanted to give it a chance, except that DC made so many bad decisions over so many other characters that I really didn't want to spend my money on them. So I think it's not so much that Blue Beetle failed, but that DC is failing their readership, and the newest characters and books are the first ones to really suffer from it.
I'd argue Legacy helps more than it hurts, in two ways.
ReplyDeleteFirst, for as many fans that swear off a book because it's replacing their favorite character, there seem to be more who give it a try just because of the name. Some stick with it, some won't -- but they try it out of the gate.
Second, Legacy makes *DC* want to stick with it. If they don't, they might have to start over and give in another try in a few years, and I doubt anyone wants that.
But Legacy titles (Blue Beetle, Manhunter, The Atom) tend to make it into the 20s and 30s, while most new, wholly original titles debuting at around the same time (Bloodhound, Monolith) get canceled within a year.
Finally, I agree with Tenzil (and you): We've really got to redefine success for this new market. Jaimie had 50% more issues of his title as Ted Kord had in his own DC run. Jaime's issue count eclipses Ted's Charlton run, as well, though their numbering is so kooky it's hard to be sure. Dan Garrett lasted 59 issues throughout the 40s, but to my knowledge, no one's calling for him to come back.
Whether Jaime is a successful character or not will probably more contingent on his staying power in the DCU, not on the length of his solo series. I still expect great things from him.
The only book that can say it has been one complete run is Ultimate Spider-Man since Bendis has been on that title since issue #1. But largely you are right that most books today should be considered there own volumes with a new creative team. If DC really wants to launch new titles I think it can help a character like Blue Beetle and Manhunter to appear in a team book first to build a following and then launch a solo book if the character is proven to be popular. But now DC and Marvel, moreso DC, aren't willing to give time to create any characters outside five issues and if they prove to be unpopular they give up.
ReplyDeleteTenzil Kem made a the best points. It's not the team on the books fault, it isn't necessarily the publishers, it sometimes just happens. Plus, was it not successful. To me...since late 90's, if you make it past 25, over 2 years, that is fantastic. That's plenty of time for character defevlopment and a background story to get some face time through the other arcs.
ReplyDeleteAlso, with it ending like this, I might back issue all of Reyes' Blue Beetle series. I heard it was really fun. Which reminds me of the complaints on Shadowpact. And, although good, Simon Dark I believe will be sobbing with all his heads by, I'm gonna say, Spring. Hopefully we won't hear Booster and Skeets crying anytime soon.
As a HUGE Ted Kord fan, i read and liked the Blue Beetle book. I think the legacy end of things helped a lot more than it hurt. They gace major tribute and props to Ted in the series and even had a very nice team up with Ted's JL team for issue #25. That's a nice lure in for Ted fans.
ReplyDeleteJamie was a well written character and I've come to like him a lot. So much that the only real reason I buy Teen Titans right now is becuase he's a team member.
Steven Grant had an essay on CBR awhile ago essentially saying the same thing. He said that everything other than Batman and maybe a couple others should be published in miniseries form or as a series of miniseries.
ReplyDeleteMakes sense to me. You can avoid delays and/or fill-ins. You can pretty much ensure that the artist is consistent and you can tell stories in the length needed. You can still retain overarching story points to be resolved by some future miniseries.
The legacy aspect of the book hurt with me; but for a stupid and nasty storyline that ended with Ted Kord being shot in the head on-panel, the now-canceled Jamie Reyes book would not have existed. So no matter how light-hearted or fun the book itself aimed to be, there was no getting past the fact that its origins are rooted in the nastiness and ugliness that has typified DC's output for the last half-decade or so.
ReplyDeleteI think the legacy in this case hurt it. The only thing Reyes shared with Kord is the Blue Beetle name. Other than that...he wasn't really inheriting any kind of legacy.
ReplyDeleteAs far as the cancellation goes, who can guess at the taste of other people? I read Manhunter based on the recommendations of a bunch of people who are generally reliable and thought it to be some of the most mediocre comics I've ever read.
If anything, I'd say the biggest problem is how low-stakes some of these things are. The neophyte hero trying to find himself is not really a trope you can sustain for very long. I liked BB, but I don't think it kicked into high gear until the arc with the Reach, when Reyes got the chance to be a HERO, not just someone who worries about his heroics. Dawdling never makes for interesting fiction unless it goes somewhere.
Anyone recall the disaster "ongoing series" launches of the mid-90s? Things like Black Canary and Black Condor and Primal Force (insert reference about how Black books don't sell here, grin), which lasted a whopping 12 issues. In light of those, I tend to think that a run of 30+ issues (Checkmate, Blue Beetle, Manhunter, Legion of Super-Heroes) is an improvement over what we had then.
ReplyDeleteThe way the comics industry runs today, a series gets an initial starting point and slides from there. It can get perk ups from events and stunts, but slides right back. The only true quantum leap up comes from a perceived creative overhaul with someone high profile. So second/third-tier titles like Blue Beetle? "Doomed" to a short (anything less than for-all-intents-forever) run, because you're unlikely to get James Robinson or Gail Simone or George Perez to commit to anything more than a 4-6 issue stunt, er, stint, and that won't "leap" the book.
Recognizing that nature, change your personal perception. Being dismayed over only 36 issues of Blue Beetle gets you nowhere. Instead, cheer his 36 issues, a rich supporting cast (yay, Traci 13!)and environment, and "graduation" into the Teen Titans (don't go there, but do relish that he is integrated into that book with the friendship with Red Devil) and the Brave & Bold cartoon show. Jaime is now in a position where he (a) can get his own book again someday and/or take on other prominent roles, and (b) is reasonably safe from being sliced up in the next Event.
"Jaime is now in a position where he (a) can get his own book again someday and/or take on other prominent roles, and (b) is reasonably safe from being sliced up in the next Event."
ReplyDeleteOn the other hand, he's got fans who care about him but can't sustain an ongoing series. This makes him ideal cannon fodder for the next DC EiC who decides to shake things up with a big stupid death.
He did bring in new readers ME! but i was too late and only got into it after it ended I have about 10 normal sized comics trying to find what i like and my 2 BBs are my favorite besides that i have like 3 JSAs and 5 GLs
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