Guys who should have their own books

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Tom Foolery
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Re: Guys who should have their own books

Post by Tom Foolery »

In the Post-Secret Wars, All New All Different Marvel Relaunch, it seems like EVERYBODY is getting their own ongoing books. Well almost everybody. Not EVERYbody. But but pretty damn close to everybody. So I got to thinking about who doesn't have their own series, who's had an ongoing in the past, and who should get a shot at one in the near future.

After a cursory glance, there's close to 50 characters and/or teams who've had their own books in the past not currently or with upcoming books.
First off, I'll scratch any mutants, solo or teams, off the list. Not because I don't think they deserve ongoings, but because there's a rotation to those characters and eventually the wheel comes back to them. So Excalibur, Exiles, Generation X, X-Factor, X-Force, New Mutants, etc. And likewise Cable, Cyclops, Dazzler, Gambit, Magneto, Nightcrawler, Rogue, Storm, Weapon X, and any other X-Men capable of supporting their own books for a brief period of time in this cancel and relaunch happy publishing environment. The only one I'd give a pass on is Dazzler. I don't think she could carry her own book, but I'd be willing to see a pitch because she had her own solo back in the 80s and somebody could do something with the "celebrity super hero" angle in this age of social media.
Secondly, characters that recently had ongoings in the previous pre-SW cycle such as Deathlok, Elektra, Ghost Rider and SheHulk can wait until they get their next shot at short lived ongoings. And War Machine/Iron Patriot/Iron Man 2.0 or however Rhodey gets repackaged for his next series. Right now he's Carol Danvers' girlfriend.
Then there are the characters/teams who probably aren't getting series any time soon because of current storylines. Namor is missing a head. Alpha Flight has been repurposed in books like A-Force and Capt. Marvel. And the FF...wellll...you get it.

Now we're down to a couple dozen. Some characters are co-heading books like Power Man and Iron Fist. Or Araña/Spider Girl in Web Warriors and Spiders in general being fairly prolific on the racks. The Thing just joined the Guardians, which would make him the only GoG withOUT his own ongoing. And also: The FF (see above). I don't think Nightstalkers or Hellstorm or any of the Midnight Sons are getting books anytime soon, other than maybe support cast in Dr. Strange or Blade's new book. So they're out.

Other concepts not worthy of books. Well, anything has a chance but these aren't in my Top Ten of what's still on the table and why.
Nomad. The name's been passed around from the deceased Jack Monroe to the alt-universe(and also deceased) Rikki Barnes, to the current "son" of Steve Rogers who is really Arnim Zola's brat raised in another dimension. The word no comes to mind.
Thanos. He had a short lived ongoing about ten years ago. But he just had an Event a couple years ago. Not to mention Jim Starlin has been doing OGNs with him the past year or so.
Eternals. God bless Kirby and his imagination. But every time someone tries to do this series, it falls on its nose. The closest anyone came was Gaiman back in 2004. Just leave it alone.
Invaders. Likewise trying to make a WWII ERA super team relevant in the 21st century. Unless is was the codename for SHIELDs new super team and obviously they already have half the Avengers on staff. Nobody is invading anything anymore.

Honorable mentions:
Cloak & Dagger Too cool a name and a concept to let lay fallow. Unfortunately, the original concept of homeless teenagers with power has been resolved, so now these two just bounce around the Marvel U without a home or purpose. Even the recent twist of them "swapping" the light and dark of their powers wasn't enough to make them interesting. But if someone could come up with a fresh hook for an ongoing, these two deserve a shot.

Death's Head Who doesn't love giant intergalactic robot bounty hunters with zero brain to mouth filter? It'd be like the anti-version of Slott and Allred's current Silver Surfer series.

Ka-Zar There's too much crazy story possibilities of a jungle lord running around a lost Jurassic continent in the middle of Antarctica with a smokin' hot barely clad wife, a giant sabertooth tiger, Logan's illegitimate offspring, dinosaurs, and all kinds of mutants and shit. Ah well.

And now on to the Top Ten:

10. Wonder Man. The 90s series idea of Simon being in the thick of Hollywood is ripe for a revisit. Especially now that comicbook movies are all the rage. An ongoing poking meta fun at that concept is a no brained.

9. Sleepwalker. This kooky concept deserves a quasi-Vertigo style reboot with Rick Sheridan traversing the dream world fighting quirky villains.

8. Defenders. I'll just bet Marvel is sitting on this title until the Netflix series all come together. In 2018 we'll see a street level team book guaranteed.

7. Damage Control. Marvel is doing fantastic stuff with its humor books right now. Howard the Duck and Squirrel Girl are some of the funniest books on the racks. So why not bring back THE funny book from the 90s. Sadly McDuffie is no longer around to write it, but rumor has it ABC is doing half hour comedy.

6. New Warriors. I left Night Thrasher and Speedball off the list because they work better as part of this team concept. There are so many Avengers franchise books out there, we need a book of angry young heroes giving the finger to the establishment. But y'know, good like the original series in the beginning.

5. Quasar. Wendell Vaughn we miss you! A cosmic powered guy who is actually a decent nice person. I loved Mark Gruenwald's series back in the 90s and we haven't seen Quasar as anything other than cosmic wallpaper for a long time.

4. Darkhawk. I wouldn't mind seeing Chris Powell return, or they could give Drax's former sidekick surly space teen Cammie a chance to roam the Galaxy causing a rumpus in one of the last Raptor suits left. Either way, Darkhawk should fly again.

3. Machine Man. Ever since Nextwave, Aaron Stack has been begging for his own ongoing. He's like the Vision, except without manners. Why nobody has jumped on this idea is beyond me.

2. Agents of Atlas. A team of super heroes posing as a worldwide criminal organization in order to take out super villain groups like AIM and Hydra from the inside? Genius. This concept was never given a fair shake despite having had like 5 extremely short lived ongoings back to back. Maybe it's time for them to shine once more.

1. Power Pack. Okay, so Alex is off with the Future Foundation. And Julie was in Avengers Academy. But where are Jack and Katie? If they've aged at the same rate Alex and Julie did they should be around 16-17 years old by now. Teen superheroes are all the rage right now, if I'm looking at Ms. Marvel, Miles Morales, Nova etc. Bickering teen superhero siblings!! Let the Power rennaisance commmence Marvel!!
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