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The Worst Answer at Baltimore

Courtesy of Newsarama's DC panel coverage...

Q: What's the future of the All-Star line?

A: DiDio said that while Morrison and Frank Quitely did have more stories they wanted to tell, scheduling has caused them to pull All-Star Superman to a close with #12, and the series is now "on hold."

"on hold"?!?!

You're killing me here!

  • Posted on September 29, 2008 @ 08:24 AM

32 Comments

Wait..they had more stories??? Man..i hope they re-start it with a new #1 (Volume 2.) or continue the numbering...or even put JMS on it if Morrison doesn't want to do 'Superheroes' after FC.

Didn't Morrison say, at some point, that he was going to do some shorter stories with other artists after the Quitely arc?

Come on dude, it's Quietely, are you really surprised? Technically isn't almost every issue he does late?

To quote a great scholar, this development if true will prove to be legen.....wait for it....dary.

I could swear I read an article somewhere (Newsrama interview?) where Morrison said he didn't have anything more to say with Superman. I thought it was a given that that the series would be canceled after #12 because the All Star line was being canceled altogether because of the lateness problems. Maybe I'm just reading too much rampant speculation :)

Well, look on the bright side. All-Star Batman & Robin the Boy Wonder is still continuing.

Wait, that's not a bright side.

I bet that witty bon-mot sounded a lot more insightful in your head, M Bloom.

Actually, no, A_T. He's spot-on. ASSBat is a blight on comics.

Why is this the worst answer? Isn't this a good thing?

If All-Star Superman only comes out, say, in twice-yearly specials from now on, that is a very good thing compared to absolutely no more All-Star Superman. In fact, since no issues after #12 were solicited, this is nothing but good news.

"On hold" isn't so bad. The worst answer Didio could have said was:

"The series is over. We're also burning all copies ever printed so no one can re-read it. Soon the joy you experienced will be a distant memory. Oh and we're doing our best to make sure none of All-Star Superman rubs off on the core titles. Look for the return of the super mullet!" *evil laugh*

I believe the worst would have been "We're continuing it as an ongoing monthly with a new creative team."

And while ASSBAT sucks, it's hardly a "blight on comics." It's just a not-good superhero book. Plenty of those.

I second Joe Rice.

"We're continuing the fine tradition begun by Morrison and Quitely...
...with Loeb and Benes"

:snark off:

Maybe it's "on hold" like McCain's campaign was.

This doesn't bother me so much. Would have been nice to see Morrison and others do some more cool shit with Superman, but we have 12 issues of one of the best uninterrupted runs in the history of comicdom. Seeing it taken over by lesser talents with a lower standard (The Spirit, anyone?) would not have been a good thing.

I'm happy with the 12. Now give them to me in an oversized hardcover, DC. With sketchbooks and scripts and all the other fanboy jerk-off material.

I disagree, ASSBAR is great, simply because it is probably one of the few good Dick Grayson portrayals we've gotten since Marve Wolfman ruined the character in New Teen Titans.

Well, I guess Manhunter was "on hold" for months and months, so you never know....

(... wait, seriously, one of the few good Dick Grayson stories? Okay, it's a decent version of him as Robin (although both Year Ones were more fun), but Dick's been one of the few DC characters that's been consistently well-written over the past two decades. Well, aside from the Bruce Jones stint and whatever parallel universe Winick's stuff exists in....)

Dick Grayson is a a major superhero who has not won a respectable fight in 3 decades. At least Frank Miller actually portrays him as being competent at his supposed expertise, which is supposed to be FIGHTING. Wolfman didn't, and set the tone for the next 3 decades of Dick Grayson wallowing in daddy issues and being unable to beat no one in a hand to hand fight except for total scrubs and anonymous henchman.

Wow, T, I'd agree if superheroes were pro wrestlers and needed to get heat based on who they did and didn't beat in hand-to-hand combat.

Wait, you mean stories gotta end?

Perish forbid!

This isn't bad news, is it? Did anyone get to the end of issue 12 and think, 'oh, issue 13 will be out any day now!'

I mean, considering that the best we could previously hope for was Morrison doing some done-in-ones with various artists, the news that "Morrison and Frank Quitely did have more stories they wanted to tell" is great, IMO.

Aren't they working on something else now? I like them on Superman but I wouldn't mind seeing different stuff from them.

Morrison announced this, like, six months ago.

Let me add my voice to those saying this is great news. I'd heard that Morrison would be doing specials with other artists, but word of him re-teaming with Quitely is new to me and is exactly what I want to hear. A bad answer, as other have said, would be if the series was continuing with another creative team.

Why I think it is bad news is because they announced in the past that Morrison would be doing new All Star Superman one-off stories with other artists.

This makes it sound like that will not be happening, doesn't it?

FunkyGreenJerusalem

September 29, 2008 at 8:50 pm

I thought it was a given that that the series would be canceled after #12 because the All Star line was being canceled altogether because of the lateness problems. Maybe I’m just reading too much rampant speculation :)

I think the making money part outweighs the lateness problem.

The book was always planned as 12 issues, so it wasn't canceled.
Neither was The Sandman, Starman or Preacher.

I think Morrison had already said the one-off specials weren't happening, though. They certainly weren't going to be happening anytime soon, anyway. At least this way, there's the chance of some more Morrison/Quitely/Superman magic one day!

Quitely said recently that his next project was going to be something with Grant, it just has to be confirmed. Probably won't be Superman, but it probably will be awesome.

FunkyGreenJerusalem

September 29, 2008 at 10:36 pm

Quitely said recently that his next project was going to be something with Grant, it just has to be confirmed. Probably won’t be Superman, but it probably will be awesome.

All Star Anima?

It would get people talking...

Wow, T, I’d agree if superheroes were pro wrestlers and needed to get heat based on who they did and didn’t beat in hand-to-hand combat.

So you're going to claim that a character's competence in their life's calling is irrelevant? The whole point of the character's existence is to fight crime and beat criminals. It's a superhero comic, and thanks to Wolfman Dick Grayson is incompetent at his main purpose in life, beating up criminals. Fight competency is not an irrelevant secondary trait, otherwise there wouldn't be fights in almost every issue of a superhero comic.

I am judging the character on who he is under Wolfman: a character trained from birth to do one thing who has grown up to do it incompetently for the past 30 years and has daddy issues to boot. At least with ASSBAR, Millar breaks the Wolfman cycle and actually writes a Dick grayson that can win a fight and who you can actually picture taking over for Batman one day.

Torn on this.
I never really expected All Star Superman to continue. After maybe Didio mentioned it WOULD a few months ago - he called it a "fact" in his weekly column - the subject has never been mentioned again by Morrison in his numerous interviews about Final Crisis and Batman. He's made it pretty clear that once Final Crisis is over, he's sticking with Batman but will mostly be "that weird Vertigo guy" again with projects for that line.

As for the apparent "death" of the All Star line? Again, mixed feelings. On the one hand I was glad we had it, if only as a venue for Morrison to tell Superman stories he would not have gotten out of his system otherwise. BUT do we really need a "line" or "trade dress" for these stories. Can't DC just say - "Hey everybody, Grant Morrison and Carmine Infantino are going to do a special Flash miniseries that has nothing to do with the current series and is their own vision of this classic character. Look for issue one in December!"
Comics are so insular at this point that I find it hard to believe a majority of readers won't figure out what's in and out of continuity and which titles they want to buy.

And when you think about it it was hard to say exactly WHAT All-Star was supposed to be? Did the powers that be ever really have a clear vision/definition of what fit the All Star line?
Morrison on a kind of out-of/in-continuity Superman that honored the Silver Age with subtle winks at other incarnations and a heavy dose of Morrison's own DC One Million? That fit the bill. Morrison is about as All Star as they come.
So is Miller, like him or hate him and his equally "out of continuity" Dark Knight.
But where do you go from there? It seemed like the other All Star titles were all just excuses to get "hot" creators like Geoff Johns writing a certain character. Would they be "out of continuity"? And really, is someone an All Star when they're already writing like ten DCU books (I'm looking at you, Geoff Johns).
JUSTICE by Alex Ross and Jim Krueger fit the bill perfectly, but it wasn't sold as an All Star title.
So to me the writing was kind of on the wall for this concept.

FunkyGreenJerusalem

September 30, 2008 at 6:07 pm

I am judging the character on who he is under Wolfman: a character trained from birth to do one thing who has grown up to do it incompetently for the past 30 years and has daddy issues to boot.

Sounds like any random Marvel character, but you wouldn't complain if that was the case.

Sounds like any random Marvel character, but you wouldn’t complain if that was the case.

Can you name me a top Marvel superhero that has been in continuous print for the past 30 years yet has not won a SINGLE FIGHT AGAINST A DECENT OPPONENT? Please name me one.

Also, name me the last 3 impressive hand-to-hand victories Dick Grayson has had against respected opponents?

FunkyGreenJerusalem

September 30, 2008 at 11:27 pm

How are we defining decent?

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