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Some of the best series ever made got cancelled way too soon.
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00:00You know how amazing television series like Firefly get cancelled way ahead of their time?
00:05Well, unfortunately, the same can happen to comics, taken from us far too soon.
00:10With that in mind, I'm Will for WhatCulture, and here are the 10 best comics cancelled before their time.
00:1610. Chase. Chase was a series launched in 1998 and revolved around Cameron Chase,
00:22an agent of the Department of Extranormal Operations,
00:25which was tasked with monitoring superhuman threats to national security in the United States.
00:30Basically, it was a cross between The X-Files, the Department of Paranormal Activity, and S.H.I.E.L.D. all rolled up in one.
00:37Chase was an agent who had a considerable distrust of superhumans,
00:40seeing as her father was one, but was killed while she was still a young girl.
00:45The series was well written and beautifully illustrated,
00:48but one of the key features was that it centred around a female lead,
00:51with the character of Cameron Chase being well-structured and fascinating.
00:56Sadly, the series failed to find an audience,
00:58with only nine issues of the main run being published,
01:01and the tenth issue tying into the DC One Million storyline.
01:05That issue won the Comic Buyer's Guide Fan Award for Favourite Story back in 1999,
01:10which goes to show just how well-written Chase actually was.
01:149. Semper Fi.
01:16These days, it seems odd to think of comic books featuring stories about warfare,
01:20but when you look back, that's one of the ways comics gained popularity in the early days of World War II.
01:26Since that conflict ended, comics left the genre behind,
01:29but returned to it in later years due to the Vietnam War.
01:32Enter Semper Fi, which focuses primarily on the United States Marine Corps' involvement in Vietnam.
01:38The book was written by a veteran of the conflict, Michael Palladino, who was a devil dog himself.
01:44Each issue was broken down into two stories,
01:46a main one illustrated by John Severin or Andy Kubert,
01:50and a backup story illustrated by Sam Glansman, a veteran of World War II.
01:55Even with great writing and illustration, the series only managed to last nine issues,
02:00before Marvel pulled Semper Fi from its lineup,
02:02and the team went on to work on other projects.
02:05The title is Latin for Always Faithful,
02:07and is the Marine Corps' motto still in use today.
02:118. The Crew.
02:12Caspar Cole was a New York City police officer who took over the role of Black Panther to help his career get a boost.
02:18His activities got him involved with a dangerous gang,
02:21but he also managed to pick up some of the same superpowers the Black Panther enjoyed.
02:24This pushed him to create a new identity for himself, White Tiger.
02:28This story unfolded in the new title, The Crew, which was first published in 2003.
02:34Cole was joined by three other men,
02:35who were also at war with the gang he was trying to take down as the Black Panther.
02:40Honestly, the book had a lot going for it when it launched.
02:42The amazing artwork perfectly highlighted the storyline written by Christopher Priest,
02:47which followed the first few issues on each team member,
02:50and what brought them into the group called The Crew.
02:52Unfortunately, the book didn't make much of a splash, despite the talent behind it.
02:56It was cancelled by Marvel after only seven issues were published.
03:00The series was relaunched in 2017 as Black Panther and The Crew,
03:04but that also got cancelled after only five issues.
03:08Seven, Justice Society of America.
03:11The Justice Society of America was a prominent superhero team for DC Comics in the pre-crisis continuity,
03:17but following the crisis on Infinite Earths, the group went missing.
03:20In 1991, they were brought back in a miniseries,
03:23and that success helped launch an entirely new series in 1992.
03:27In the new Justice Society of America,
03:29the heroes of old are forced to adjust to their new lives in the modern DC universe,
03:35which proved rather difficult.
03:36Ultimately, they worked together to get through their transition to become the heroes they once were.
03:42While the art by Mike Parabek and Mike Mucklin looked incredible,
03:45and Len Strzuski's writing was top-notch,
03:48the series just couldn't achieve the same level of success as the Justice League
03:52and other superhero teams the publisher had out at the time.
03:55It was cancelled after only three books,
03:58but ultimately saw the publication of 12 complete issues.
04:01Six, Sword.
04:03Sword, otherwise known as Sentient World Observation and Response Department,
04:07made its first appearance in Astonishing X-Men 5 in 2004.
04:11The concept worked well enough,
04:13so Marvel greenlit an ongoing series in 2009,
04:16but it didn't run for as long as the creators might have liked.
04:19In the opening story arc,
04:21Norman Osborn was in charge of the organization,
04:23as well as S.H.I.E.L.D.,
04:24and he was none too happy with their performance
04:26in not stopping the secret invasion events.
04:29With this enticing hook,
04:31with the green goblin in charge of S.H.I.E.L.D. and S.W.O.R.D.,
04:33it's a shame the series didn't make it past five issues.
04:37The first issue managed to sell just under 22,000 copies,
04:40but the second issue saw a drop of nearly 7,000.
04:43That's spelled death for S.W.O.R.D.
04:45It was later collected into a trade paperback
04:47titled S.W.O.R.D. No Time to Breathe in 2012.
04:51Five, Thor Mighty Avenger.
04:54It's difficult to imagine,
04:55given his popularity in comics and the MCU,
04:58but a Thor comic failed to find much of an audience
05:00when it was released back in 2010.
05:02Thor The Mighty Avenger was released in advance
05:05of the first Thor movie
05:06with the intention of following that continuity in comics.
05:09The idea was that people who enjoyed the movies
05:12but didn't know much about the comics
05:13could pick up issues of Thor The Mighty Avenger
05:16and Bridge the Gap.
05:17Instead of requiring a new reader
05:18to know about decades of comic book history,
05:21they could pick up one or two issues and be hooked.
05:23However, the series only managed to kick out
05:25a total of eight issues before being canceled.
05:28It featured numerous characters
05:29from Thor's gallery of friends and foes,
05:31but despite the excellent storytelling and gorgeous artwork,
05:34Marvel killed the title.
05:36Four, The Thing.
05:38The ever-loving blue-eyed Thing
05:39is one of the most beloved superheroes
05:41in Marvel Comics' publishing library.
05:43The character first debuted
05:44alongside his famous teammates in Fantastic Four 1,
05:47and since that time,
05:49has appeared in thousands of comic book issues
05:51across the Marvel Universe.
05:53While he works exceptionally well as a member of a team,
05:56it seems he doesn't do as well on his own title.
05:58Writer Dan Slott and illustrator Andrea DeVito
06:01got together to bring him into his own title back in 2005.
06:04The book was based off a plot line
06:05from J. Michael Straczynski's run on Fantastic Four
06:08that set up Ben Grimm as an independently wealthy man.
06:11The idea was that Grimm had earned
06:13a considerable amount of money
06:15thanks to his time in the Fantastic Four,
06:17and the series took a look at the crazy ways
06:19he would spend that cash.
06:20The series was fun and entertaining,
06:22going as far as to end
06:23with The Thing throwing a massive superhero poker tournament
06:26based on his longtime hobby
06:28of hosting smaller superhero games.
06:30However, like the other titles on this list,
06:32it failed to find its audience when it was published,
06:35which resulted the book's cancellation
06:37due to low sales figures.
06:39Three, New Gods.
06:41The New Gods was a comic series
06:43introduced by the legendary Jack Kirby in 1971.
06:46The series introduced various elements
06:48of the DC universe that are still in play today.
06:51Beings like Apocalypse, High Father, and Darkseid
06:53were a part of the New Gods mythology.
06:55The series was one of those books that was so well-written,
06:58it didn't land with the wide audience
07:00when it was first published.
07:02It touched on issues dealing with religion and mythology
07:04by delving deep into the concepts of an old pantheon of gods,
07:08as well as the New Gods who replaced them.
07:10The original series, sadly, only lasted
07:12for a total of 11 issues
07:14before DC Comics gave it the axe in 1972.
07:17But the concepts didn't lay dormant for long.
07:19Many of the characters and concepts
07:21of Kirby's original books
07:22were brought back as a reprint in the mid-80s.
07:25But by 1989, a 28-issue series hit the shelves.
07:29Since then, the New Gods have been featured
07:30in various books and published in additional volumes,
07:33proving that Kirby's work endures.
07:36Two, Contest of Champions.
07:39Contest of Champions was originally a video game
07:41that pitted heroes against villains,
07:43which itself was based loosely
07:45off the 1982 comic of the same name.
07:47Translating that to a comic book series
07:49required a story,
07:51which is why Marvel hired Al Ewing to do just that.
07:54One of the ways Ewing managed to make the book work
07:56was by digging deep into Marvel's archives.
07:59He pulled out characters few remembered,
08:00including Punisher 2099, Night Thrasher, and Outlaw.
08:04He didn't stop there, though.
08:05He utilized the entire Marvel catalog
08:07to pull in characters from different realities
08:10of the multiverse.
08:11The stories and concepts afforded to Ewing for this book
08:14made it an astounding read.
08:16It was full of interesting trips
08:17through the more obscure elements of the Marvel Universe.
08:20And thanks to the killer artwork,
08:22it looked fantastic to boot.
08:24However, because of poor sales,
08:26the series ended up getting canceled early.
08:27But given the amount of room Ewing had to work with,
08:30this could have developed into a truly remarkable comic.
08:33One, Incredible Hulk.
08:35Believe it or not,
08:36the very first Incredible Hulk comic book series
08:39got canceled before its time.
08:41Back in 1963, Stan Lee joined forces with Jack Kirby
08:44to create the giant green rage machine
08:47in his launch series.
08:48But it only managed to make it to six books
08:51before it was canceled.
08:52The early Hulk series was a lot different
08:54from the books that followed,
08:55which may have had something to do with its cancellation.
08:57For one thing,
08:58he could only turn into the Hulk at night
09:00until that went away
09:01and Bruce Banner was always the Hulk.
09:03Then the story made it
09:04that he could only Hulk out
09:05with a gamma radiation machine.
09:07By the sixth issue of the original series,
09:09Bruce Banner had managed to find a cure for his condition.
09:12But as we now know, it didn't take.
09:14The series ended with that sixth issue
09:16and it took his joining and then leaving the Avengers
09:18for the character to truly cement his status
09:21in the Marvel Universe.
09:23Two years after the cancellation of this series,
09:25Marvel returned the Incredible Hulk to print,
09:28albeit in the pages of Tales to Astonish.
09:30He eventually went on
09:31to become one of Marvel's greatest characters,
09:34but his first series only managed six issues,
09:37which is pretty crazy
09:38when you look back at the Hulk's lauded history.
09:41And there you have it, folks.
09:4210 comics canceled before their time.
09:44Feel free to drop this video a like if you enjoyed it
09:46and drop me a follow on Twitter at youslydaogu.
09:49I'm Will for WhatCulture, thanks for hanging out
09:51and I'll see you next time.
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