Marvel’s Avengers Inc. has been canceled as of issue five. G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero has big sales for Skybound. This is Comic Book Club News for November 27, 2023.
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Episode Transcript:
Avengers Inc. canceled.
GI Joe sells tons of comics.
This is Comic Book Club News for November 27, 2023.
Avengers Inc. Canceled With Issue #5:
Avengers Inc., a mash-up of detective stories and superheroes written by Al Ewing with art by Leonard Kirk, has been canceled with issue #5.
Editor Tom Brevoort announced the news officially thanks to his Substack newsletter, responding to a fan named Cathal asking about the status of the series. Said Brevoort: “Unfortunately, Cathal, there weren’t enough like you, so we will be wrapping up the series with issue #5.”
If you haven’t been reading the series — and it seems like most people weren’t — it teamed up an out-of-costume Janet Van Dyne with Victor Shade, the brain of The Vision’s secret identity in the body of villain Whirlwind. In each issue, they investigated weird mysteries in the Marvel universe, like a murder in Valhalla in the most recent issue. In the background, Ewing has been teasing the villain of the series is a resurrected Hank Pym, aka the original Ant-Man.
For fans worried about a lack of closure, the good news is that the solicit text for issue #5 teases a showdown between The Wasp and her ex-husband, Henry Pym, with a lot of answers. But for fans of unique concepts in Marvel Comics? A bummer, nonetheless.
The final issue will hit stores on January 31, 2024.
GI Joe: A Real American Hero Sells Big For Skybound:
The Energon Universe is a hit. From Void Rivals to Transformers to the upcoming Duke and Cobra Commander miniseries, it’s clear that people are loving the Hasbro shared universe. But it turns out even the unshared parts of the universe are big, too, as G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero #301 has sold over 50,000 copies to comic book stores.
As reported by Bleeding Cool, the issue that officially kicked off Skybound and Image Comics taking over the lauded title from IDW sold big at the retailer level. Still written by title stalwart Larry Hama, the subsequent issue also sold over 30,000 copies. And a reprint of the first-ever issue on newsprint sold a not-too-shabby 25,000 copies.
First published in 1982 by Marvel Comics, A Real American Hero ran for 155 issues and was written by Hama for nearly the entire run. The title was canceled in 1994 but came back for a non-Hama run at Devil’s Due Publishing for 43 issues. It returned its original numbering — with Hama at the helm — at IDW, before ending with issue #300. And now it’s at Skybound for the foreseeable future, with sales bigger than it ever had with the previous publisher.
Yo Joe, indeed.
For Comic Book Club News, I’m Alex Zalben. And I’ve got a pretty bad cold, which is why there are only two stories today. Hope that’s okay. Oh god.
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