News is breaking that DC Comics is cancelling Legion of Super-Heroes, Threshold, Dial H for Hero, and Demon Knights in August. We knew about two of these cancellations and suspected the other two. The timing is coincidental since I was just asked by someone this morning if a cancelled comic equals a failure of the creators, a failure of the publication company, or of both. Instead of considering a cancelled comic as a failure, I think people should consider it as a success.
Every one a cancelled comic: Demon Knights, Dial H. for Hero, Legion of Super-Heroes.
Cancelled Comic as a Success?
I guess I try to look at some aspects of the comic book industry with as much optimism as possible. A simple run through of the comics in Overstreet will point out that there have been thousands of comics which have been cancelled over the years. Sometimes these comics have run their course. Sometimes a cancelled comic has lost favor with the fans and they have moved on to something else. At other times, the comic has lost favor with the publisher and it decides it needs to move to greener pastures.
Success from Failures
Yes, comic book publishers do often make the same mistake twice…but they often learn from their mistakes. If a comic needs to be cancelled, a publisher will have made a long and hard decision to end the run. Publishers take many factors into consideration before a cancelled comic is declared. These factors create the lessons which will guide creators and planners in the future.
It’s Better to Recognize
As fans of comic books and the comic book industry, we should all be happy when we hear about a cancelled comic. Sure, we might be upset because a title we liked hit the garbage, but would you rather a publisher spread itself thin with titles people are not buying or focus on the ones people are reading? Would you rather they try to focus on a comic which has failed or on a title which just needs that extra nudge to become great? Would you rather a publisher be held down by its uncertainty or allowed to soar because of the hard decisions it made in the past?
