Ranked | 10 Best Comics Cancelled Before Their Primes - video Dailymotion

Australian Cinephile

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 10th 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-

01:45Casper Cole was a New York City police officer who took over the role of Black Panther to help his career get a boost.

01:51His activities got him involved with a dangerous gang,

01:53but he also managed to pick up some of the same superpowers the Black Panther enjoyed.

01:57This pushed him to create a new identity for himself, White Tiger.

02:01This story unfolded in the new title, The Crew, which was first published in 2003.

02:06Cole was joined by three other men, who were also at war with the gang he was trying to take down as the Black Panther.

02:13Honestly, the book had a lot going for it when it launched.

02:15The amazing artwork perfectly highlighted the storyline written by Christopher Priest,

02:20which followed the first few issues on each team member and what brought them into the group called The Crew.

02:25Unfortunately, the book didn't make much of a splash, despite the talent behind it.

02:29It was cancelled by Marvel after only seven issues were published.

02:33The series was relaunched in 2017 as a book.

02:36...after only five issues.

02:41Seven, Justice Society of America.

02:44The Justice Society of America was a prominent superhero team for DC Comics in the pre-crisis continuity,

02:50but following the crisis on Infinite Earths, the group went missing.

02:53In 1991, they were brought back in a miniseries,

02:56and that success helped launch an entirely new series in 1992.

03:00In the new Justice Society of America, the heroes of old are forced to adjust to their new lives

03:06in the modern DC universe, which proved rather difficult.

03:10Ultimately, they worked together to get through their transition to become the heroes they once were.

03:14While the art by Mike Parabeck and Mike Mucklin looked incredible,

03:18and Len Strzezewski's writing was top-notch,

03:21the series just couldn't achieve the same level of success as the Justice League

03:25and other superhero teams the publisher had out at the time.

03:28It was cancelled after only three books,

03:31but ultimately saw the publication of 12 complete issues.

03:34Six, Sword.

03:36Sword, otherwise known as Sentient World Observation and Response Department,

03:40made its first appearance in Astonishing X-Men 5 in 2004.

03:44The concept worked well enough, so Marvel greenlit an ongoing series in 2009,

03:49but it didn't run for as long as the creators might have liked.

03:52In the opening story arc, Norman Osborn was in charge of the organization,

03:56as well as S.H.I.E.L.D.,

03:57and he was none too happy with their performance in not stopping the secret invasion events.

04:02With this enticing hook, with the green goblin in charge of S.H.I.E.L.D. and Sword,

04:06it's a shame the series didn't make it past five issues.

04:10The first issue managed to sell just under 22,000 copies,

04:13but the second issue saw a drop of nearly 7,000.

04:16That's spelled death for Sword.

04:18It was later collected into a trade paperback titled Sword,

04:21No Time to Breathe, in 2012.

04:245. Thor, Mighty Avenger

04:27It's difficult to imagine, given his popularity in comics and the MCU,

04:31but a Thor comic failed to find much of an audience when it was released back in 2010.

04:35Thor, The Mighty Avenger, was released in advance of the first Thor movie,

04:39with the intention of following that continuity in comics.

04:42The idea was that people who enjoyed the movies,

04:45but didn't know much about the comics,

04:46could pick up issues of Thor, The Mighty Avenger, and bridge the gap.

04:50Instead of requiring a new reader to know about decades of comic book history,

04:54they could pick up one or two issues and be hooked.

04:56However, the series only managed to kick out a total of eight issues before being cancelled.

05:01It featured numerous characters from Thor's gallery of friends and foes,

05:04but despite the excellent storytelling and gorgeous artwork,

05:07Marvel killed the title.

05:094. The Thing

05:10The ever-loving Blue-Eyed Thing is one of the most beloved superheroes in Marvel Comics Publishing Library.

05:16The character first debuted alongside his famous teammates in Fantastic Four 1,

05:20and since that time, has appeared in thousands of comic book issues across the Marvel Universe.

05:26While he works exceptionally well as a member of a team,

05:29it seems he doesn't do as well on his own title.

05:31Writer Dan Slott and illustrator Andrea DeVito got together to bring him into his own title back in 2005.

05:37The book was based off a plotline from J. Michael Straczynski's run on Fantastic Four

05:41that set up Ben Grimm as an independently wealthy man.

05:45The idea was that Grimm had earned a considerable amount of money

05:48thanks to his time in the Fantastic Four,

05:50and the series took a look at the crazy ways he would spend that cash.

05:53The series was fun and entertaining,

05:55going as far as to end with The Thing throwing a massive superhero poker tournament

05:59based on his longtime hobby of hosting smaller superhero games.

06:03However, like the other titles on this list,

06:05it failed to find its audience when it was published,

06:08which resulted the book's cancellation due to low sales figures.

06:123. New Gods

06:13The New Gods was a comic series introduced by the legendary Jack Kirby in 1971.

06:19The series introduced various elements of the DC Universe that are still in play today.

06:24Beings like Apocalypse, High Father, and Darkseid were a part of the New Gods mythology.

06:28The series was one of those books that was so well written,

06:31it didn't land with the wide audience when it was first published.

06:35It touched on issues dealing with religion and mythology

06:37by delving deep into the concepts of an old pantheon of gods,

06:41as well as the new gods who replaced them.

06:43The original series, sadly, only lasted for a total of 11 issues

06:47before DC Comics gave it the axe in 1972.

06:50But the concepts didn't lay dormant for long.

06:52Many of the characters and concepts of Kirby's original books

06:55were brought back as a reprint in the mid-80s.

06:57But by 1989, a 28-issue series hit the shelves.

07:02Since then, the New Gods have been featured in various books

07:04and published in additional volumes, proving that Kirby's work endures.

07:092. Contest of Champions

07:11Contest of Champions was originally a video game that pitted heroes against villains,

07:16which itself was based loosely off the 1982 comic of the same name.

07:20Translating that to a comic book series required a story,

07:24which is why Marvel hired Al Ewing to do just that.

07:27One of the ways Ewing managed to make the book work

07:29was by digging deep into Marvel's archives.

07:32He pulled out characters few remembered,

07:34including Punisher 2099, Night Thrasher, and Outlaw.

07:37He didn't stop there, though.

07:38He utilized the entire Marvel catalogue

07:41to pull in characters from different realities of the multiverse.

07:44The stories and concepts afforded to Ewing for this book

07:47made it an astounding read.

07:49It was full of interesting trips

07:50through the more obscure elements of the Marvel Universe,

07:53and thanks to the killer artwork, it looked fantastic to boot.

07:57However, because of poor sales, the series ended up getting cancelled early.

08:01But given the amount of room Ewing had to work with,

08:03this could have developed into a truly remarkable comic.

08:061. Incredible Hulk

08:08Believe it or not,

08:09the very first Incredible Hulk comic book series got cancelled before its time.

08:14Back in 1963, Stan Lee joined forces with Jack Kirby

08:17to create the giant green Rage Machine in his launch series,

08:21but it only managed to make it to six books before it was cancelled.

08:25The early Hulk series was a lot different from the books that followed,

08:28which may have had something to do with its cancellation.

08:30For one thing, he could only turn into the Hulk at night,

08:33until that went away and Bruce Banner was always the Hulk.

08:36Then the story made it that he could only Hulk out with a gamma radiation machine.

08:40By the sixth issue of the original series,

08:42Bruce Banner had managed to find a cure for his condition,

08:45but as we now know, it didn't take.

08:47The series ended with that sixth issue,

08:49and it took his joining and then leaving the Avengers

08:51for the character to truly cement his status in the Marvel Universe.

08:56Two years after the cancellation of this series,

08:58Marvel returned the Incredible Hulk to print,

09:01albeit in the pages of Tales to Astonish.

09:03He eventually went on to become one of Marvel's greatest characters,

09:07but his first series only managed six issues,

09:10which is pretty crazy when you look back at the Hulk's lauded history.

09:14And there you have it, folks.

09:15Ten comics cancelled before their time.

09:17Feel free to drop this video a like if you enjoyed it,

09:19and drop me a follow on Twitter at UslyDougYu.

09:22I'm Will for WhatCulture.

09:23Thanks for hanging out,

09:24and I'll see you next time.

Ranked | 10 Best Comics Cancelled Before Their Primes

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