Cyber E.
03-28-2003, 08:26 PM
Late last night, at both the Comic Boards (http://www.comicboards.com/powercompany/view.php?trd=030327042341), and messageboards (http://dcboards.warnerbros.com/files/Forum25/HTML/000790.html) at DC Comics.com, Kurt Busiek confirmed that The Power Company has been cancelled with July's issue #18. Busiek’s post reads:
It's true, I'm sorry to say. POWER COMPANY is ending with #18.
The book simply didn't catch on. I can't fault DC, who supported and promoted it all along, and gave us more chances than most books get. And I can't fault the art, which has been splendid right from the get-go -- Tom Grummett is one of the best, and we've had good inking and coloring the whole time.
But not enough readers who tried it liked it enough to stick with it, it's as simple as that.
I think we stumbled coming out of the gate -- the launch specials didn't work, and the first story was the wrong kind of story to open with. And looking back, had I known then what I know now, it'd have been a very different book all along, with much more of an emphasis on the business -- and on how the characters dealt with the job -- rather than on the action, and how the characters dealt with the villains. Much like how a show like ER is about medicine, but at heart it's more about surviving a stressful job than about who gets saved that week and how.
In the end, we were too much of a traditional superhero book, and it was the wrong time for a book like that.
That said, I'm delighted to have had the chance to do it, and I think we did good comics along the way. And DC gave us enough advance warning that we're able to wrap things up pretty well in #16-18, with a blowout final story that'll answer a lot of readers' questions. You'll see what happened to Dr. Cyber, you'll see what that big blue crystal thing is and what it's up to, you'll see the Haunted Tank, and a major fight to save the world. We may be going out, but we'll go out with style.
And hopefully, this won't be the end for the characters -- there's been some talk of doing a Manhunter-JSA mini, pitting them against their common foe, the Council, and we could easily see the other Company members as well. And hey, X-Men came back from cancellation. Teen Titans comes back over and over again. And the Hulk was cancelled after six issues, and look at him now!
So it's over for now. But that doesn't mean it'll be over forever
Comments?
-aJb
It's true, I'm sorry to say. POWER COMPANY is ending with #18.
The book simply didn't catch on. I can't fault DC, who supported and promoted it all along, and gave us more chances than most books get. And I can't fault the art, which has been splendid right from the get-go -- Tom Grummett is one of the best, and we've had good inking and coloring the whole time.
But not enough readers who tried it liked it enough to stick with it, it's as simple as that.
I think we stumbled coming out of the gate -- the launch specials didn't work, and the first story was the wrong kind of story to open with. And looking back, had I known then what I know now, it'd have been a very different book all along, with much more of an emphasis on the business -- and on how the characters dealt with the job -- rather than on the action, and how the characters dealt with the villains. Much like how a show like ER is about medicine, but at heart it's more about surviving a stressful job than about who gets saved that week and how.
In the end, we were too much of a traditional superhero book, and it was the wrong time for a book like that.
That said, I'm delighted to have had the chance to do it, and I think we did good comics along the way. And DC gave us enough advance warning that we're able to wrap things up pretty well in #16-18, with a blowout final story that'll answer a lot of readers' questions. You'll see what happened to Dr. Cyber, you'll see what that big blue crystal thing is and what it's up to, you'll see the Haunted Tank, and a major fight to save the world. We may be going out, but we'll go out with style.
And hopefully, this won't be the end for the characters -- there's been some talk of doing a Manhunter-JSA mini, pitting them against their common foe, the Council, and we could easily see the other Company members as well. And hey, X-Men came back from cancellation. Teen Titans comes back over and over again. And the Hulk was cancelled after six issues, and look at him now!
So it's over for now. But that doesn't mean it'll be over forever
Comments?
-aJb