This weekend turned out to be a very busy one for comics news. As our chief steward, Heidi MacDonald, takes a well deserved rest this morning following the conclusion of Small Press Expo, let’s take a look at some of the big breaking stories from the last few days.
Omega Men Lives
When we broke that Omega Men had been cancelled early last week, the internet went wild. The #SaveOmegaMen caught some steam and after several heated Twitter discussions and pieces of journalistic coverage, DC Comics has decided to extend an olive branch. Co-Publisher Jim Lee took to Twitter late Friday Night:
Hassan-yer right. In talking to @dandidio1-we’ll continue #OmegaMen until least issue 12 b/c of the fans @DCComics https://t.co/s81K0exktz
— Jim Lee (@JimLee) September 18, 2015
So yes, 12 issues. I would love to see Tom King‘s and Barnaby Bagenda‘s richly imagined storyline continue to that point and beyond, so don’t stop talking about this book just because we’re getting the originally promised run. #SaveOmegaMen is about making this DC You standout a cornerstone of their publishing lineup for years to come.
Do the X-Men face the same fate that the Fantastic Four did?
Recently, rumors have started to surface that Marvel editorial is slowly killing off the X-Men in an attempt to hurt 20th Century Fox, the movie studio that currently holds the rights to the premiere mutant team. The story goes that Marvel is doing this to spite the company, who refuses to return the rights to X-Men and Fantastic Four to the House of Ideas. Marvel finished cancelling all the flagship Fantastic Four series a while back, so there is some precedence for this move.
Terrigen Mist, the substance that triggers the Inhuman gene, is apparently dangerous to Mutants. Given how similar Inhumans are to Mutants in conceit, if not in execution, it makes sense that Marvel might groom superstars like Ms. Marvel, who they actually own the film rights to, to replace old stalwarts who Kevin Feige and co. can’t cash in on.
While this all seems like relatively solid evidence to work off of, editor in chief Axel Alonso is dismissing this theory as a conspiracy. From CBR:
Given that a lot of fans have speculated that mutants and Inhumans may be in opposition in terms of how they’re currently viewed within Marvel — it’s not uncommon to hear X-Men fans express the concern that Inhumans are “replacing” mutants — and this series makes that a literal conflict on the comic book page, was there any, for lack of a better term, “meta” element that inspired this story?
Alonso: We’re aware of the “meta” connotations, but that’s not what inspired this development. People can keep speculating and click-baiting all they want; we have a cool story to tell.
Unlike the Fantastic Four titles, which had been languishing for a while prior to their cancellations, X-books still tend to do well in the sales charts. Does Marvel think they can make more off of Inhumans movies than they do off of X-Men comics? Is there no room for these properties to exist in harmony? I suppose we’ll find out soon enough…
Bill Finger will Receive Batman Co-Creator Credits in Batman vs. Superman: Dawn of Justice and Gotham
It’s an old story. Bob Kane and Bill Finger. Stan Lee and Steve Ditko. In the comics industry of yore, situations where people signed questionable contracts and got cut out of creator credits were very common. Over the last few decades, fans and the estates of these spurned creators have been pushing for people such as Finger to receive their due credit for the creation of American icons like Batman.
It is a monumental event for the Finger Estate, then, that Bill will now receive co-creator credits for The Dark Knight alongside Bob Kane in the second season of Fox TV show Gotham and the upcoming Batman vs. Superman: Dawn of Justice. The Hollywood Reporter broke the press release:
DC Entertainment and the family of Bill Finger are pleased to announce that they have reached an agreement that recognizes Mr. Finger’s significant contributions to the Batman family of characters. “Bill Finger was instrumental in developing many of the key creative elements that enrich the Batman universe, and we look forward to building on our acknowledgement of his significant role in DC Comics’ history,” stated Diane Nelson, President of DC Entertainment. “As part of our acknowledgement of those contributions,” Nelson continued, “we are pleased to confirm today that Bill Finger will be receiving credit in the Warner Bros. television series Gotham beginning later this season, and in the forthcoming motion picture Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice.”
