Blackcross

[Guest]

Gee, nobody seems too enthusiastic about Ellis' PSP story. Worse yet, nobody really seems to understand it, from what I'm gleaning from the comments. Guess that makes this a 'pass' on the trade paperback for me.

It's a sort of interesting idea . . . but it doesn't seem to have any real connection to what has come before with Project Superpowers (except for names of the characters) and it's hard / impossible to say what (if anything) this may mean for the franchise in the future.

It's more frustrating than anything else. But, if you read it as a stand-alone story, it's different than if you're trying to see any long term future potential (at least at this point).

[Guest]

It's a sort of interesting idea . . . but it doesn't seem to have any real connection to what has come before with Project Superpowers (except for names of the characters) and it's hard / impossible to say what (if anything) this may mean for the franchise in the future.

It's more frustrating than anything else. But, if you read it as a stand-alone story, it's different than if you're trying to see any long term future potential (at least at this point).

Totally agreed with those comments. Honestly, it feels like a more mystical companion piece to the science-fiction-based newuniversal to me.

I have not yet read #5 but read # 4 last night, and basically the story has gone nowhere fast - it has taken 4 issues to have the primary threat interact with one of the protagonists, and two thirds of the series still has not explained what is going on or if there is any connection to the other PSP work.

Add in very dark colours in #4 and I am really struggling to engage with this story. A missed opportunity so far IMHO.

[Ghornet2]

I agree with MajorHoy and Leonmallett

I dropped it after the second issue. No reall connection to what has come before and to dark for my taste. Viewed as a totally separate piece it might read better as a TBP, which I MIGHT pick up.

[Guest]

I read #5 today, and it was a packed issue for me: action, plot movement, characters converging, much, much exposition. The latter point leads me to think the pacing has been off throughout (which was something I posted previously) - having to commit a substantial amount of exposition means Ellis has not sufficiently joined the dots IMHO. Basically the content of #5 should have been taking place an issue or two sooner IMHO.

Basically 1-5 has read: slow, slow, slow, slow, quick.

I am expecting a hasty and anticlimactic denouement as a consequence unfortunately.

[Guest]

Basically 1-5 has read: slow, slow, slow, slow, quick.

I am expecting a hasty and anticlimactic denouement as a consequence unfortunately.

And the final issue (originally scheduled to ship 08/19/15) is due out next Wednesday (10/28/15).

[Guest]

And the final issue (originally scheduled to ship 08/19/15) is due out next Wednesday (10/28/15).

Now they're planning for 11/25/15? (According to latest info from comiclist.com under "Dynamite Entertainment Extended Forecast for 10/28/2015".)

[Ghornet2]

Now they're planning for 11/25/15? (According to latest info from comiclist.com under "Dynamite Entertainment Extended Forecast for 10/28/2015".)

Not showing on Diamonds list for this week and I don't remember seeing it in my LCBS so it looks like the November date is right.

[Guest]

What now, Dynamite???

Does it seem that Project Superpowers is doomed.... at last.??

If so, I'm pretty disappointed. I love those Golden Age heroes... and wanted them to return in the worst way.

[Guest]

Does it seem that Project Superpowers is doomed.... at last.??

If so, I'm pretty disappointed. I love those Golden Age heroes... and wanted them to return in the worst way.

Quite possibly and quite probably. I think the story was too slow, and lack of clarity of link to what went before probably hindered it both for those wanting something fresh, and those wanting a continuation.

Ultimately though, I think DE has only haphazardly supported the line. I thought The Owl was genuinely a step in the right direction, placing a character in context of the modern world outside of the the over-arching conspiracies of the the first two chapters of the main book. And yet again a book from DE gets hit with delays, which i am sure DO have an impact on how these things are received, and more particularly how books from DE are received.

[Guest]

Quite possibly and quite probably. I think the story was too slow, and lack of clarity of link to what went before probably hindered it both for those wanting something fresh, and those wanting a continuation.

Ultimately though, I think DE has only haphazardly supported the line. I thought The Owl was genuinely a step in the right direction, placing a character in context of the modern world outside of the the over-arching conspiracies of the the first two chapters of the main book. And yet again a book from DE gets hit with delays, which i am sure DO have an impact on how these things are received, and more particularly how books from DE are received.

Well, it seems very disappointing. We've hoped for such a long time... and PSP had such great covers--
and great Golden Age characters.

I picked up Blackcross... in hopes that DE would finally pull it off... and now I'm sorry I bought ANY ISSUES of PSP and Blackcross.
Such high hopes... such a disappointing outcome.

[Guest]

Well, it seems very disappointing. We've hoped for such a long time... and PSP had such great covers--
and great Golden Age characters.

I picked up Blackcross... in hopes that DE would finally pull it off... and now I'm sorry I bought ANY ISSUES of PSP and Blackcross.
Such high hopes... such a disappointing outcome.

While i don't regret buying them, I regret that DE seem doomed to repeat their consistent failures over and over.

[Guest]

Final issue of the Blackcross mini-series is suppose to be available this Wednesday (November 25th).



(Only three months behind schedule.)

[pulphero]

Warren Ellis was probably just not the right guy for PSP. He's certainly capable of some good work, but at heart, he's just really not a superhero guy (nor are other Brit writers like Garth Ennis or Pat Mills). That's just not their roots, where they came from. To write a PSP series requires a writer who's an unabashed superhero fanboy at heart, because that's basically the only real audience for these characters.

They should go back to first principles on this thing, and get Alex Ross and Kurt Busiek to co-plot a new series (with Busiek dialoguing), picking a solid somewhat-retro traditional superhero artist like Tom Grummet or Paul Pelletier or Carlos Pacheco, someone like that. What's needed here is counterprogramming to all the heavy downbeat sturm und drang superhero comics out there, something essentially more upbeat and hopeful. That's your basic audience for PSP, older superhero fans that Marvel and DC has pretty much left out in the cold, the only ones left who care much about Golden Age superheroes. It may be too late at this point, with BLACKCROSS they might have staked it to death.

If that's not a viable model sales-wise, then just let it die, rather than try to turn it into something it's not.

[pulphero]

Apologies if this was covered earlier in the thread... I didn't see it.
Sales data for BLACKCROSS (per comichron.com):

PS Blackcross #1 11,891
PS Blackcross #2 8,058
PS Blackcross #3 6,364
PS Blackcross #4 5,517
Ps Blackcross #5 4,999

[Guest]

Wow, that was a crappy ending to a series that promised to be a reboot of the franchise. It was if they decided to tell the fans "FU" for not supporting the series.

So here's what we wound up with:

* No real explanation of the why the characters were exiled from one world to the other

* The suggestion that the "heroes" aren't really heroes, but villains who apparently did something bad enough to deserve their banishment (while American Spirit is certainly an unreliable narrator, Black Terror seemed to confirm it by his own words)

* Several of the characters being killed (which really seems to defeat the point of the reboot, doesn't it?)

* A bleak ending suggesting despair and weariness, and that suicide is the appropriate response to such things (but hey, it makes for a nice moment that parallels the open scene in the first issue, right? Life and death and all that, right? Ugh. Heavy handed and more suggestive of Ellis' lack of interest in this project than anything else).

The ONLY thing about this that was even remotely worth praising was the art -- Colton Worley really did turn in some amazing and moody pages.

But overall, this was horrible. So much so that I'm pretty much uninterested in whatever Dynamite might have in mind for these characters in the future. I love the golden age -- and I've always been interested in the public domain heroes -- but this was rubbish, to the point that it seems Dynamite poisoned the well on their own iterations of these characters. No way would I be interested in a sequel to such a pessimistic and cynical take on these characters.