Like television shows, there’s a slew of new comic books every year.  Also like television, comic books get cancelled all the time. The reasons for cancellation, however, vary from book to book.  Sometimes comics are cancelled due to poor sells, other times they’re cancelled because of problems behind the scenes, and sometimes they’re just gone because it fits the storyline of a book it’s connected to.  Here’s a list of five cancelled comic books I wish were still around.

AVENGERS: THE INITIATIVE

Writer: Dan Slott

Pencils: Stefano Caselli

Inker: John Dell

Avengers: The Initiative started after Marvel’s Civil War.  If you were pro-registration, and not properly trained, you were sent to Camp Hammond to put your skills to the test.  After receiving the training you need, along with gaining teamwork and leadership skills, you would be sent to be on a state specific Avengers team.

This was a great idea.  Not only was this book be a great starting point for some (me), but the angle was different enough that, at the time, this was one of the freshest books on the market.  This wasn’t a team book.  This was a book about young up-and-comers who might have a chance to be somebody some day.  Plus this book hit the ground running from issue one.

It wasn’t until Marvel wanted to keep the book on for longer than it was meant to when it started declining in quality.  You see, The Initiative was only meant to be a 12 issue series.  This was meant to follow one class through their trials at Camp Hammond. After that, Camp Hammond would be another set piece Marvel could use if they wanted to.  Instead of stopping at 12, The Initiative changed creative teams and were sucked into every single crossover until it’s recent cancellation at number 35.

NEW X-MEN

Writers: Craig Kyle & Chris Yost

Pencils: Mark Brooks

Inker: Jay Leisten

If you were looking forward to me talking about Grant Morrison’s New X-Men, prepare to be disappointed.  I’ve never read that book.  This book is the New X-Men that began in 2004, with a young group of students.  The NEW X-Men.  But I really want to talk about issue 20 and on.  When Kyle and Yost took over writing duties on “M” Day, New X-Men became one of the most accessible and exciting X-books out there.

Having to deal with teenage drama, being hunted for being a mutant, and possibly having your mutant powers taken away for reasons you don’t know makes for a mighty premise.  Sometimes, the larger stories would take a break so we can see the young mutants figure out which one of them is the youngest.  Then the youngest one would freak out thinking she would be the next target.  Even though these were X-Men, Kyle and Yost didn’t forget that they were still kids.  

This series came to an end at issue 46 with the Messiah CompleX crossover.  Most of the characters have scattered and appeared in different books, but at least Laura (X-23) is getting a lot of the spotlight.

CHECKMATE

Writer: Greg Rucka

Pencils: Jesus Saiz

Checkmate is a spy organization, lead by the U.N., that was formed after the events of Infinite Crisis.  Checkmate is all about maintaining balance.  For every human in power, there’s a meta-human to keep them in check and vice versa.  There are two teams in Checkmate, White (politics) and Black (special ops).  Half the fun of this book was seeing each side try and topple the other.

At first, it was really hard to get into this book.  I didn’t know much about the DC Universe or it’s characters so I had to backtrack a lot to figure out who/what they were talking about.  After I got the basics out of the way, there would be a power shift and someone would be kicked out and replaced.  This interested me more than frustrated me.  I’d like to think that if the World was full of super heroes that an organization like Checkmate would exist to keep balance.

The series didn’t last too long.  The final issue (31) came when the series hit a low point.  The creative team that brought the book to where it was was replaced after issue 25.  The guys who did the last 6 issues treated Checkmate like it was a horror series and the fans just left.  Checkmate continues as an organization in the DCU.  It’s just not a bad-ass spy book anymore.

THE ULTIMATES 1 & 2

Writer: Mark Millar

Pencils: Bryan Hitch

On the other side of super hero teams lead by an organization, we have The Ultimates.  This was the Marvel’s Ultimate Universe’s Avengers lead by black Nick Fury.  If Checkmate was one possibility of how a super-team can work in a real world, The Ultimates is the other.

Millar did a great job at taking classic Avengers stories and making them work in a modern environment.  These people are together because they all do what they do the best (sorry Wolverine), not because they like each other.

Hitch’s art is something to Marvel (pun intended).  People complained to no end when the book was delayed, and rightfully so. Millar’s story arcs were just as breathtaking as Hitch’s art.  Sometimes Hitch’s characters would look so much like real celebrities that he would have to get their permission to draw them that way.  He is the reason why Sam Jackson is in all the Marvel movies now.

The Ultimates treated itself like a TV series in the way that it was broken into seasons.  Each season had two story arcs and lasted thirteen issues.  

It wasn’t until Jeph Loeb took over writing duties that the book became something you’d want to miss.  How could he treat the Ultimate Universe as if it had no continuity?  How can he just take these characters that meant something and make them into walking one-liners?  Why is Captain America’s eyebrows showing through his costume?  It’s like Jeph Loeb didn’t read The Ultimates at all and had the Ultimate Universe explained to him... poorly.  I can go on and on about how much I hate this guy.

The Ultimates still live on in the modern Ultimate Universe, but the team is split into two books.  There’s Ultimate Comics: New Ultimates and Ultimate Comics: Ultimate Avengers.  One of these books is a non-stop batshit crazy action book on it’s third story arc and the other one is written by Jeph Loeb. Neither book is on the level the first two Ultimates were on.

RUNAWAYS

writer: Brian K.Vaughan

Pencils: Adrian Alphona

At one point in their lives, every teenager says their parents are evil.  In the Runaways, our heroes find out that their parents are so evil, they’re an organization hellbent on bringing the apocalypse.  Once this group of kids find out, they... well.. run away.

The first series is about the kids finding out who they are and not in a self realization kind of way.  One of them is a mutant, one is magical, one has a pet raptor, and one is an alien and didn’t even know it.  

This was meant to be a limited series but, after ending at 18, everyone wanted more.  There’s even a letter from Joss Whedon to Vaughan asking him to bring these kids back.  So, in 2005, the Runaways came back with the same creative team to bring you even more imaginative and dramatic stories.  The kids stop running and are forced to live with what they’ve done.  

Series two hits hard up until Vaughan goes off to write a story arc of Buffy: The Vampire Slayer and let’s Joss Whedon write an arc for the Runaways.  The Dead-End Kids story line would be the last for this series.  They story itself was great, it was just a nightmare to read it on an issue to issue basis due to the delays.  Issue 25 was released in June of 2007 while issue 30 dropped in August of 2008.

The Runaways quickly returned in October of 2008 with volume three.  This time around, there would be a different creative team for each story arc.  Volume three didn’t last long and went on a hiatus with issue 14.  

It’s been almost a year now, and I would like to know what happened in that cliffhanger.  C’mon Marvel.