10 Best Comics Cancelled Before Their Time
Some of the best series ever made got cancelled way too soon.
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00:00 You know how amazing television series like Firefly get cancelled way ahead of their time?
00:05 Well, unfortunately, the same can happen to comics, taken from us far too soon.
00:10 With that in mind, I'm Will for WhatCulture and here are the 10 Best Comics Cancelled
00:14 Before Their Time.
00:16 10.
00:17 Chase
00:18 Chase was a series launched in 1998 and revolved around Cameron Chase, an agent of the Department
00:23 of Extra-Normal Operations, which was tasked with monitoring superhuman threats to national
00:28 security in the United States.
00:30 Basically, it was a cross between the X-Files, the Department of Paranormal Activity, and
00:35 S.H.I.E.L.D. all rolled up in one.
00:37 Chase was an agent who had a considerable distrust of superhumans, seeing as her father
00:41 was one, but was killed while she was still a young girl.
00:45 The series was well-written and beautifully illustrated, but one of the key features was
00:49 that it centred around a female lead, with the character of Cameron Chase being well-structured
00:54 and fascinating.
00:55 Sadly, the series failed to find an audience, with only nine issues of the main run being
01:00 published and the tenth issue tying into the DC One Million storyline.
01:05 That issue won the Comic Buyers Guide Fan Award for Favourite Story back in 1999, which
01:10 goes to show just how well-written Chase actually was.
01:14 9.
01:15 Semper Fi
01:16 These days, it seems odd to think of comic books featuring stories about warfare, but
01:20 when you look back, that's one of the ways comics gained popularity in the early days
01:24 of World War II.
01:26 Since that conflict ended, comics left the genre behind, but returned to it in later
01:30 years due to the Vietnam War.
01:32 Enter Semper Fi, which focuses primarily on the United States Marine Corps' involvement
01:37 in Vietnam.
01:38 The book was written by a veteran of the conflict, Michael Palladino, who was a devil dog himself.
01:44 Each issue was broken down into two stories, a main one illustrated by John Severin or
01:49 Andy Kubert, and a backup story illustrated by Sam Glansman, a veteran of World War II.
01:54 Even with great writing and illustration, the series only managed to last nine issues,
01:59 before Marvel pulled Semper Fi from its lineup and the team went on to work on other projects.
02:05 The title is Latin for "Always Faithful", and is the Marine Corps' motto still in
02:09 use today.
02:10 8.
02:11 The Crew
02:12 Caspar Cole was a New York City police officer who took over the role of Black Panther to
02:16 help his career get a boost.
02:18 His activities got him involved with a dangerous gang, but he also managed to pick up some
02:22 of the same superpowers the Black Panther enjoyed.
02:24 This pushed him to create a new identity for himself, White Tiger.
02:28 This story unfolded in the new title The Crew, which was first published in 2003.
02:33 Cole was joined by three other men, who were also at war with the gang he was trying to
02:37 take down as the Black Panther.
02:39 Honestly, the book had a lot going for it when it launched.
02:42 The amazing artwork perfectly highlighted the storyline written by Christopher Priest,
02:46 which followed the first few issues on each team member and what brought them into the
02:50 group called The Crew.
02:52 Unfortunately, the book didn't make much of a splash, despite the talent behind it.
02:56 It was cancelled by Marvel after only seven issues were published.
03:00 The series was relaunched in 2017 as Black Panther and The Crew, but that also got cancelled
03:06 after only five issues.
03:08 7.
03:09 Justice Society of America
03:11 The Justice Society of America was a prominent superhero team for DC Comics in the pre-Crisis
03:16 continuity, but following the Crisis on Infinite Earths, the group went missing.
03:20 In 1991, they were brought back in a miniseries, and that success helped launch an entirely
03:25 new series in 1992.
03:27 In the new Justice Society of America, the heroes of old are forced to adjust to their
03:32 new lives in the modern DC Universe, which proved rather difficult.
03:36 Ultimately, they worked together to get through their transition to become the heroes they
03:40 once were.
03:41 While the art by Mike Parabeck and Mike Mucklin looked incredible, and Len Straszewski's
03:46 writing was top-notch, the series just couldn't achieve the same level of success as the Justice
03:51 League and other superhero teams the publisher had out at the time.
03:55 It was cancelled after only three books, but ultimately saw the publication of 12 complete
04:00 issues.
04:01 6.
04:02 SWORD
04:03 SWORD, otherwise known as Sentient World Observation and Response Department, made its first appearance
04:08 in Astonishing X-Men 5 in 2004.
04:11 The concept worked well enough, so Marvel greenlit an ongoing series in 2009, but it
04:16 didn't run for as long as the creators might have liked.
04:19 In the opening story arc, Norman Osborn was in charge of the organisation, as well as
04:24 SHIELD, and he was none too happy with their performance in not stopping the secret invasion
04:29 event.
04:30 With this enticing hook, with the Green Goblin in charge of SHIELD and SWORD, it's a shame
04:34 the series didn't make it past five issues.
04:36 The first issue managed to sell just under 22,000 copies, but the second issue saw a
04:41 drop of nearly 7,000.
04:43 That spelled death for SWORD.
04:45 It was later collected into a trade paperback titled SWORD - No Time to Breathe in 2012.
04:51 5.
04:52 THOR - Mighty Avenger
04:53 It's difficult to imagine given his popularity in comics and the MCU, but a THOR comic failed
04:59 to find much of an audience when it was released back in 2010.
05:02 THOR - The Mighty Avenger was released in advance of the first THOR movie, with the
05:06 intention of following that continuity in comics.
05:09 The idea was that people who enjoyed the movies but didn't know much about the comics could
05:13 pick up issues of THOR - The Mighty Avenger and bridge the gap.
05:17 Instead of requiring a new reader to know about decades of comic book history, they
05:21 could pick up one or two issues and be hooked.
05:23 However, the series only managed to kick out a total of eight issues before being cancelled.
05:28 It featured numerous characters from THOR's gallery of friends and foes, but despite the
05:32 excellent storytelling and gorgeous artwork, Marvel killed the title.
05:36 4.
05:37 THE THING
05:38 The ever-loving blue-eyed Thing is one of the most beloved superheroes in Marvel Comics'
05:42 publishing library.
05:43 The character first debuted alongside his famous teammates in Fantastic Four 1, and
05:47 since that time has appeared in thousands of comic book issues across the Marvel Universe.
05:53 While he works exceptionally well as a member of a team, it seems he doesn't do as well
05:57 on his own title.
05:58 Writer Dan Slott and illustrator Andrea DeVito got together to bring him into his own title
06:02 back in 2005.
06:04 The book was based off a plotline from J. Michael Straczynski's run on Fantastic Four
06:08 that set up Ben Grimm as an independently wealthy man.
06:11 The idea was that Grimm had earned a considerable amount of money thanks to his time in the
06:16 Fantastic Four, and the series took a look at the crazy ways he would spend that cash.
06:20 The series was fun and entertaining, going as far as to end with the Thing throwing a
06:24 massive superhero poker tournament based on his long-time hobby of hosting smaller superhero
06:29 games.
06:30 However, like the other titles on this list, it failed to find its audience when it was
06:34 published, which resulted the book's cancellation due to low sales figures.
06:39 3.
06:40 New Gods
06:41 The New Gods was a comic series introduced by the legendary Jack Kirby in 1971.
06:46 The series introduced various elements of the DC Universe that are still in play today.
06:51 Elements like Apocalypse, Highfather and Darkseid were a part of the New Gods mythology.
06:55 The series was one of those books that was so well-written, it didn't land with the
06:59 wide audience when it was first published.
07:01 It touched on issues dealing with religion and mythology by delving deep into the concepts
07:06 of an old pantheon of gods, as well as the New Gods who replaced them.
07:10 The original series sadly only lasted for a total of 11 issues before DC Comics gave
07:15 it the axe in 1972, but the concepts didn't lay dormant for long.
07:19 Many of the characters and concepts of Kirby's original books were brought back as a reprint
07:23 in the mid-80s, but by 1989, a 28-issue series hit the shelves.
07:29 Since then, the New Gods have been featured in various books and published in additional
07:32 volumes, proving that Kirby's work endures.
07:36 2.
07:37 Contest of Champions
07:38 Contest of Champions was originally a video game that pitted heroes against villains,
07:43 which itself was based loosely off the 1982 comic of the same name.
07:47 Translating that to a comic book series required a story, which is why Marvel hired Al Ewing
07:53 to do just that.
07:54 One of the ways Ewing managed to make the book work was by digging deep into Marvel's
07:57 archives.
07:58 He pulled out characters few remembered, including Punisher 2099, Night Thrasher, and Outlaw.
08:04 He didn't stop there, though.
08:05 He utilised the entire Marvel catalogue to pull in characters from different realities
08:10 of the multiverse.
08:11 The stories and concepts afforded to Ewing for this book made it an astounding read.
08:16 It was full of interesting trips through the more obscure elements of the Marvel universe,
08:20 and thanks to the killer artwork, it looked fantastic to boot.
08:24 However, because of poor sales, the series ended up getting cancelled early.
08:27 But given the amount of room Ewing had to work with, this could have developed into
08:31 a truly remarkable comic.
08:33 1.
08:34 Incredible Hulk
08:35 Believe it or not, the very first Incredible Hulk comic book series got cancelled before
08:40 its time.
08:41 In 1963, Stan Lee joined forces with Jack Kirby to create the giant green rage machine
08:47 in his launch series, but it only managed to make it to six books before it was cancelled.
08:52 The early Hulk series was a lot different from the books that followed, which may have
08:55 had something to do with its cancellation.
08:57 For one thing, he could only turn into the Hulk at night.
09:00 Until that went away and Bruce Banner was always the Hulk.
09:03 Then the story made it that he could only Hulk out with a gamma radiation machine.
09:07 By the sixth issue of the original series, Bruce Banner had managed to find a cure for
09:11 his condition, but as we now know, it didn't take.
09:14 The series ended with that sixth issue, and it took his joining and then leaving the Avengers
09:19 for the character to truly cement his status in the Marvel universe.
09:23 Two years after the cancellation of this series, Marvel returned the Incredible Hulk to print,
09:28 albeit in the pages of Tales to Astonish.
09:30 He eventually went on to become one of Marvel's greatest characters, but his first series
09:34 only managed six issues, which is pretty crazy when you look back at the Hulk's lauded history.
09:41 And there you have it folks, ten comics cancelled before their time.
09:44 Feel free to drop this video a like if you enjoyed it, and drop me a follow on Twitter
09:47 at @yousliedowagyu.
09:48 I'm Will for What Culture, thanks for hanging out, and I'll see you next time.