Look Ahead?

By Regie Rigby

Well, here we are in a brand new year with all sorts of interesting comics ahead. Thus far 2008 is unsullied by lousy cross over events, lazy storylines, bad art or silly storylines. At the moment we can sit back and ponder with pleasure the panoramic view of perfect possibility that still dances in our pristine future.

I’m tempted to offer a spread bet on how long it takes some bugger to come along and spoil it.

The thing is, I have no idea. Looking back through the archives, I notice that once or twice I’ve done “The Year Ahead” style columns at this time of year, previewing what I anticipated would be the high and lows of the coming twelve months. I cannot imagine how I did this.

I dimly remember a time when I knew what publishers, both big and small had planned for the future. I knew which crossovers were coming, which characters were getting new books, which were likely to be cancelled and above all, what was going to be “hot”. As I gaze nostalgically back at this information fuelled past I can’t help wondering how I knew this.

In the early days of the column I didn’t have any contacts anywhere who could tell me what the major companies had in mind, and I didn’t really know anyone on the “small press” scene either. Indeed, now I think of it, I used to know that stuff even before I started the column – which means I used to know about forthcoming attractions even before I had access to the Internet. How did I do it?

The answer I suppose is simple. I used to make the effort to find out – and I used to do that because I was interested. These days, well, if I’m honest I care much less. It’s not that I’ve lost interest in comics – far from it. It’s not that I’ve gotten lazy either, and although I’ve had a goodly number of time management issues over the last two years or so aside from the odd crisis (normally around the time my students are getting close to their coursework deadlines) I’m not really any busier than I was in the early days of the column. Indeed back then I was new to the teaching lark. In theory at least I’m an experienced teacher now and so if anything the job should really be easier.

So, why don’t I want to know all the latest news anymore?

Well, partly I suppose it’s the sobriety of middle age catching up with me. I am now well into my mid-thirties, and hype has much less of an effect on me than it did back when I was a student. I used to read Comics International, that venerable newspaper of the UK scene with an avidness bordering on obsession, and when I finally got on the ‘net in 1999 I spent an enormous amount of time checking out news sites, rumour sites, publisher and creator’s websites desperate to get every scrap of news.

Now?

Well, I’ll be honest. I don’t read any of that stuff anymore – not regularly at least. While I still check out former SBC columnist Rich Johnston’s Lying in the Gutters reasonably often, apart from that I haven’t looked at a news or rumour site that wasn’t here at SBC for years. Is it just me? Or has there been a bit of a cultural shift in the industry, or in fandom?

I’m beginning to think that it might well be the latter.

Oh, I’m sure it’s partly me. The continued existence of sites like Newsarama and CBR, and indeed the obvious continued popularity of the Richmeister himself suggests that there is still an appetite in fandom for up to the second news of the latest thing in comics. But I don’t detect the same level of rabid desperation to know every advance detail that I know I and others felt back in the late nineties. Swapping rumours about future story arcs, and the next project from favourite artists used to be the core topic of conversation in comics stores back then. These days? Much less so.

Perhaps it’s because we know that we pretty much can find out pretty much anything we might want to know pretty much as soon as we want to know it, there honestly is much less urgency to seek the information out until we actually need to know it. All you really have to do is ask. On the internet, somebody always knows the answer. Hell, sometimes it’s even the right answer.

You know, it strikes me that that’s how the world of internet punditry has changed in the time I’ve been involved – over eight years now, can you believe. Back when I started people logged on to be told what was happening. These days they log on to share what they know. And that’s what I want you lot to do now. Even if I did have a clear handle on what is coming up in 2008, you really don’t need me to tell you because you probably already know.

So, lets get interactive. The Message Board is open, and my Inbox stands ready. Tell me what you are looking forward to in comics this year – and why? What are you dubious about? What are the huge comics related accidents you can see are simply waiting to happen? What are your predictions for 2008? This is your chance to set the agenda – tell me, and your fellow readers, what you think they should be looking out for, and what they should be avoiding. I’ve been banging on here since May 1999.

Time you had your say, don’t’cha think?