Maybe it was because the world was supposed to end, but 2012 was the year where everything else ended. From the middle of summer until the end of the year, a large chunk of the comics I loved all disappeared. RASL, Scalped, The Boys, glamourpuss, Bendis's Avengers, Brubaker's Captain America, Gillen's Journey into Mystery, Butcher Baker, the Righteous Maker, even Joe Casey and Nathan Fox's Haunt... I'm probably forgetting some others as well. In there are some big books for me and they're all gone away. I knew some would be given what was said about them by the creators, but some took me by surprise in good and bad ways. The end of Butcher Baker was inspired in its surprise, while glamourpuss was painful to read with Dave Sim's editorial at the end. I don't know, they all just seemed to end at the same time. It was hard to deal with. And I had already committed myself to leaving. I never questioned that. In two days, I turn 30 and I'm done. This blog ends and I'm gone. Everything ends. I'm sure there's a way to see that as a good thing. I see it as a good thing, because something began in 2012 that trumps all of those endings: my marriage. That's the balance: comics stuff ends; personal stuff begins. It's an easy trade to make (not that it's really a trade). While I've filled some of the holes in my pull list, I don't feel like I've really filled the holes left by some of those books. There's no new Boys, for example. Bendis taking over the X-titles is nice, but it's not the Avengers. After all, is there a mutant equivalent of Luke Cage? No? Not the same then. Everything ends, everything changes. But, why so many endings all at once? That's what I can't get over. 2012 wasn't a year of endings really given all of the new books I tried and loved; it just felt that way because of the second half where even the new stuff got drowned out by the deaths of so many comics. But, it's a good thing. Most of them ended when they wanted, on their own terms. What more could you want? It's like your friend moving away to take a great job. It sucks, but it's all right. Or something. It's nothing like that. It's just comics. It's just comics.
In 30 minutes, I end this.
[Don't forget to donate what you can to the Hero Initiative (Details in this post)! After you do, let me know via comment or e-mail (found at the righthand side) so I can keep track of donations -- and who to thank.]
Wolverine #3 annotations
3 hours ago
