The solicitations for April’s DC titles reveal that four of their books will be ending, including Joshua Hale Fialkov’s I, Vampire and Paul Cornell and Ryan Kelly’s Saucer Country, alongside DC Universe Presents and Superman Family Adventures.

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With the cancellation of two New 52 titles comes the likelihood that May will see two new books launch, but here’s a quick rundown of the books which will be ending in April. DC Universe Presents was DC’s anthology series, which introduced various properties into the New 52 Universe for a story at a time. Challengers of the Unknown, Deadman and Black Lightning were amongst the characters who appeared in various stories in the series, but readers struggle with anthologies and sales were never high for the book.

Meanwhile, I, Vampire has also struggled in terms of sales but has valiantly surged to #19 issues, outliving several titles and the expectations of several critics. Artist Andrea Sorrentino has left the book after a long run with the character of Andrew Bennett, while Joshua Hale Fialkov wrote every issue. He took to twitter earlier to thank fans for their support, and confirmed that he was able to plan ahead to deliver a conclusive finale to the story.

Paul Cornell announced the news of Saucer Country’s cancellation. This was his first foray into creator-controlled comics, along with collaborators including co-creator Ryan Kelly as well as Jimmy Broxton. In his blog post about the end of the book, he vows that he will see the story conclude in some form or another, stressing that he’ll do so in a proper format. Not just as a list of could have beens, but as a comic or story. He notes that the rights for the series will revert across to him shortly.

Finally, Superman Family Adventures will end with issue #14. The creative team of Art Baltazar and Franco have been working on the book since the beginning, offering a version of Superman which didn’t speak down to kids but also wasn’t a baffling confusion of adult-orientated fantasy. It was another one of DC’s fun all-ages books, and it’s a shame to see it end. Let’s hope something will spring up to take its place.

24 COMMENTS

  1. Really disappointed by this Saucer Country news. One of the most interesting–not to mention creepy–books I have been reading each month. A mature, smart, compelling sci-fi political thriller.

    All the critics were quick to clarify last month, essentially, that “I come not to bury Vertigo, but to praise Karen Berger.” And yet… Fables is still strong, but Fairest has never quite clicked for me. Between this sad Saucer Country news and the loss of iZombie–which still rankles me–Vertigo’s bench is looking mighty sparse.

    Was the “old Vertigoverse” Constantine some sort of totemic voodoo doll?… cancel the series and the line folds?

  2. Man, the 8 year old I buy “Superman Family Adventures” for will be heart-broken. (Much as he was when “Tiny Titans” was cancelled.) :-(

  3. Very disappointed to hear Superman Family Adventures being cancelled. Arguably the best Superman book on the stands.

  4. I think you mean Superman Family Adventures 12, not 14.

    Loss of All Ages titles are just going to hurt them in the long run. Marvel is doing much at introducing characters to my little one.

  5. Nooooooooooooooooooooo! Superman Family Adventures should not be cancelled. It’s the best all ages comic out there. Art and Franco are the best creative team working in kids comics and had better get a new title immediately. Bad call DC.

  6. I cannot help but think the DC offices and higher-ups just do not really care for Vertigo and their all ages books. Then again.. I keep thinking DC allowed the Minx and CMX lines to happen only to fail and prove that their mainline cape books are all they need. I worry that Vertigo maybe be next and they are not properly promoting books like Saucer Country so that they fail and prove the self fulfilling prediction that only cape books and mainline DC titles will sell. If they put a fraction of their promotion and confidence of Before Watchmen behind these new Vertigo titles, they would not fail. Never mind BW is a giant distraction and waste of shelf space taking away from books like these.

  7. Xenos: No business introduces a product line for it to fail. However, the higher-ups will do a return on investment equation – if it costs the same to promote a $4.99 Batman book vs a $2.99 I Vampire book (or CMX, or Minx, or fill-in-the-blank title), the data must tell them that they are going to make more money off Batman, so that’s where they put the marketing dollars.

    This makes financial sense in the short term. However, the lack of all-ages books, and the strategy (or lack of it) for keeping their mainstream books at an entry age-point that is around 15-18, is going to kill their long-term growth. As a parent of a 10-year-old boy, even with my 35-year collection of DC comics, it saddens me that he has no modern entry-point to DC comics. There’s no chance I would show him one of today’s Batman comics.

    He loves the Avengers and Marvel Adventures however. Disney-Marvel knows how to market to him, his peers, and his 7-year-old sister. DC may have a win here and there, but will lose long-term with this strategy.

  8. Hate this news. I really adored I, Vampire and as a longtime DC fan am becoming irritated with the editorial mess over there. I love my Vertigo titles, but there should be more than we have. And the DC books just aren’t doing it for me much anymore. I like some of the Bat-books and WW, but I feel like most of their mid-tier books have been treading water for awhile now. Oh well.

  9. So bummed about I, Vampire. I knew it was in trouble, so it was inevitable, but until you read it in black & white… Nuts.

  10. I don’t get the DC Comics plan of killing their books for young, new readers. How do they plan on keeping their publishing arm alive if they don’t have books kids can read? Marketing and publishing to the same 30/40 year olds isn’t going to work. Hell, killing their cartoons is going to hurt them as well.

    And now I have to once again tell my son one of his favorite books is cancelled.

  11. I Vampire really breaks my heart…when they took the artist over to the revamped Green Arrow I sorta knew it was all over…very sad about this. Maybe the character will move over to Justice League Dark or something…Losing Superman Family is upsetting as well. It was nice to just have a fun DC book to read. Next to OMAC these are the two saddest cancellations in a while! :(

    How is Firestorm still going?!?

  12. Yeah, I’ve got a six year old little girl who is going to be heartbroken about Superman Family Adventures. We’ll just have to see what that great creative team does next.

  13. Adam – I’m hoping something NOT with DC. Those guys are so talented and someone like Random House, Scholastic or First Second should snap them up.

  14. Our 4 year old LOVES Superman Family Adventures – what a shame, it was a really fun title and a great way to bring young readers into the fold. Im a long time DC fan and Im really not enjoying some of the last two years of editorial decisions. This combined with the tv elimination of Green Lantern and Young Justice is especially disappointing. Heres hoping something fun and age appropriate fills the gap.

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