Well, on Tuesday I was going through the solicitations and I noticed that there was still no new SUPERMAN issue out by Carlos Pacheco. When I was at the SALON DEL COMIC in Barcelona I had asked him how long his stint on Superman was going to be and he answered me that he had signed on for twelve issues. Since there only had come out nine issues so far with artwork by Carlos Pacheco I thought that sooner or later the last three issues would come out. But since it had been so long since an issue by Carlos Pacheco had come out I decided to search the internet to find out if there was some news about it.
Whatever happened to the artist of tomorrow ?
It seems that I have to visit the newssites more often. It seems that with the internet not working at all from time to time and my focus on my own blog to post on a more frequent schedule I missed all news concerning the future of Superman. To say it bluntly : Carlos Pacheco is out !
It seems that the powers that be at DC were not happy with his output and took him of that title. As of this moment there is no info on which will be his new project since his exclusive contract with DC is still valid. There are some rumors about a possible continuation of ARROWSMITH ( since Kurt Busiek also left Superman ) but at this point I´m not holding my breath till I have the first issue in my hands.
What went through my mind when I heard this news was : what has DC been smoking ? No, really. I mean am I really the only one who has realized that Carlos Pacheco is not the fastest artist ? I´m not saying he´s slow. When you take a look at all the breathtaking art he puts out and the amount of detail he puts in his work you know that he is really working hard. But that quality comes with a price and that´s time. You have to wait for the issues and I have always been patient in that regard. It´s always been worth it. When I finally read his arc on SUPERMAN / BATMAN I was really blown away. And I have reread it at least ten times since April last year.
Even when Carlos Pacheco was at Marvel doing FANTASTIC FOUR ( which in my opinion is one of the most underrated runs ever ) there were many complaints by fans that he was too slow. Which makes me wonder how DC got the idea that if he was put on a monthly book his speed would somehow miracuously increase. Like with Adam Hughes the best course of action would have been to bring out the issues when they´re all done. I really don´t know what the editors at DC are doing.
Whatever happened to the storyline of tomorrow ?
If you´re reading the Superman title you may be asking yourself : what about the CAMELOT FALLS storyline ? It´s not been finished in the pages of the regular Superman title. Where will it be resolved ?
Well, like with the WHO IS WONDER WOMAN storyline DC has decided to put the finale of the CAMELOT FALLS story in an annual to be exact. Superman annual 13 ( figures ). The last part of CAMELOT FALLS was supposed to be published in Superman 668 which was solicited with this cover.
Only when it came out it had this cover and the story had nothing to do with CAMELOT FALLS. And the art was by Rick Leonardi - I think.
I´m not sure since I haven´t read the issue yet. Maybe there was some information inside about this. I asked my brother about it since he also has the title on his pull list but he hadn´t read the issues either.
So the Superman annual 13 that was first solicited as SUPERMAN ANNUAL 2007 was first solicited with this cover
was later published with another cover altogether : the original cover for Superman 668. Which would have been a hint IF I had seen the actual annual in the store. Which was not the case since nobody knew it would contain such an important story so nobody ordered it - apart from the hardcore Superman readers. If you wonder what happened to the original cover of the Superman annual it was used as a cover of the regular Superman title since the storyline that should have appeared in that annual was published in the regular Superman title. All a bit confusing. And that´s not the only thing. Superman 663 was solicited with this image.
But when it came out it had this cover since the image shown above was never the real cover but an image from inside the issue.
Anyway, what I did when I found out that Carlos Pacheco wasn´t on Superman anymore and wouldn´t return was to go to blackdog in Berlin ( not in person thanks to the wonders of the internet ) and order the annual since my new comicshop didn´t have it. I had to order a few other comics as well since it´s not very costefficient to order only one issue so I also ordered the YOUNG AVENGERS PRESENTS PATRIOT issue, issues 15 and 16 of WONDER WOMAN and issues 1 to 4 and 6 of BOOSTER GOLD - since I alreday had issue 5 and buying the trade was no longer an option. I send out the order on Tuesday and received the comics on Wednesday. It´s really the fastest online comic shop I know as long as you don´t order trades because then you have to wait two weeks. Okay, that part was done.
The next thing I did was to call my comic shop and cancel my subscription to Superman. I would have liked to end it with the final issue of Carlos Pacheco but I knew that I had all issues from the next story in my bag as well as the first issue of the new INSECT QUEEN storyarc. And since I had just started as a new customer I didn´t want to begin with not buying issues I ordered. So I´m still reading Superman till the end of the INSECT QUEEN ( or is it Queen Bee ? ) story which wraps up in this issue.
Because this is the new artist on Superman and I really don´t want to be on board to see it. It´s too cruel even for my tastes. Although I might get to see it since my brother hasn´t answered yet if he is also throwing the title out of his pull list.
Sometimes it takes a bit long for him to realize that a title has gone beyond the point of no return. Okay, his endurance has paid of on NIGHTWING since Rags Morales is going to take over the book but I have no idea what´s he waiting for on SUPERMAN / BATMAN. Ed McGuiness, Carlos Pacheco, Michael Turner....they all DID their magic and it´s not like Adam Hughes, Paul Pelletier or Frank Cho are going to do storyarcs anytime soon.
The whole deal with the annual has left a sour taste in my mouth since it looks very much like a moneygrubbing stunt to get readers to buy an annual they wouldn´t buy otherwise. It´s no wonder that the comics industry is in the current state with things like this happening.
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