Going Live! Sideways Appreciation Thread!

[Vordan]

That one with the Seven Soldiers is particularly great. I’d love to see another team-up in the future.

[chachi]

Cancelled at issue 13. Shame. I enjoy this title but last few issues have just been o.k.

[Vordan]

Damn I was really enjoying the title but oh well. I hope he joins Young Justice or something, and isn’t left to wither away in Limbo or die as event fodder.

[Ascended]

I'm surprised by this. Genuinely. From what I recall, Sideways has been selling better than some of the New Age books that are continuing, like Silencer. Between that and this book being a Didio baby I thought it'd be safe. I mean, if sales had been bad that'd be one thing, but it's performing better than others and not doing all that bad, really. And then there was that little joke/hint about a t-shirt Superman return next year, which made he hope that maybe there were actually plans and DC wasn't just being cute.

Dammit.

I hope Derek finds his way onto a team book.

[Korath]

The text of the solicit left a return possible. My theory is that he'll play a big part in DC's main event next year (it'll deal with the Multiverse, with possibly two Crisis-level foes depending on how The Unexpected deal with Mandrakk) and one way of another, Derek is deeply tied to it now : his powers seems to have come from some powerful entity in the Dark Multiverse, he's palling up to a Fuginaut, the Monitors' successors and a whole bunch of alternate universe characters.

I may see DC using the momentum of a Crisis where he would have played a larger role to relaunch his series, now that the foundations would be completed and that he could be a more "traditionnally heroic" character from the get go.

[El_Gato]

Cancelled at issue 13. Shame. I enjoy this title but last few issues have just been o.k.

Blue Beetle's chances of getting another book just went up lol. I hope Sideways sticks around and doesn't end up rotting away in limbo like Vibe has...

[numberthirty]

Man, this entire "Line" deserved better.

[Ascended]

The text of the solicit left a return possible. My theory is that he'll play a big part in DC's main event next year (it'll deal with the Multiverse, with possibly two Crisis-level foes depending on how The Unexpected deal with Mandrakk) and one way of another, Derek is deeply tied to it now : his powers seems to have come from some powerful entity in the Dark Multiverse, he's palling up to a Fuginaut, the Monitors' successors and a whole bunch of alternate universe characters.

I may see DC using the momentum of a Crisis where he would have played a larger role to relaunch his series, now that the foundations would be completed and that he could be a more "traditionnally heroic" character from the get go.

I hope so. Sideways is fun and deserves a chance to find his place.

But the same thing happened to Vibe a few years ago; DC was building him up to be tied into the "Darkseid's daughter" subplot, but when Darkseid War arrived Vibe was nowhere to be found.

I'm hoping that Sideways survives the end of his book. Put him on a team, or as a supporting cast member somewhere, if a re-launch isn't a viable option. Giving him another shot after the Crisis (or whatever it is) next year would be cool.

I bet you good money if they did "t-shirt Superman and his sidekick, Sideways" having adventures around the multiverse, it'd have a good chance of finding an audience.

And maybe it's mean, but with Sideways' book ending, I can't help but hope that maybe Vibe will get a shot now. I like Derek but Cisco got disrespected just as badly, and also deserved better.

[Ascended]

Man, this entire "Line" deserved better.

Hear hear!!

I dont think any of us expected great sales, but some of these titles were among the most interesting and best things DC was putting out. Shame the fans couldn't get down.

[Flash Gordon]

The concept of Sideways is rather neat, but the actual execution of the book and how wrapped up it was in stuff from Batman: Metal, did it no favors.

As a Rocafort vehicle it woulda rocked, but unfortunately that also didn't work out.

[skyvolt2000]

Hear hear!!

I dont think any of us expected great sales, but some of these titles were among the most interesting and best things DC was putting out. Shame the fans couldn't get down.

And why would fans get down?

They saw books needing new artists way too early in their runs.

Alienating fans-who were NOT going to be fooled again into supporting new folks only to see them suffer fates like Wally and others.
I supported Vibe, Jaime Reyes, Jason Rusch and Hospot. You don't see them running around.

This book had a writer who is public enemy number ONE to a lot of fans.

What is good supporting these books and your reward is little to nothing being done with them. Trade wise these books did better than a lot of bigger names at BOTH companies.

I mean can we NOT do backups in books again? Since so many book are written for trades-we can't get page space in say Teen Titans for a 4-5 Sideways backup?

[kilderkin]

And why would fans get down?

They saw books needing new artists way too early in their runs.

Alienating fans-who were NOT going to be fooled again into supporting new folks only to see them suffer fates like Wally and others.
I supported Vibe, Jaime Reyes, Jason Rusch and Hospot. You don't see them running around.

This book had a writer who is public enemy number ONE to a lot of fans.

What is good supporting these books and your reward is little to nothing being done with them. Trade wise these books did better than a lot of bigger names at BOTH companies.

I mean can we NOT do backups in books again? Since so many book are written for trades-we can't get page space in say Teen Titans for a 4-5 Sideways backup?

I always thought detective and action comics should be twin story books with a major star like batman and then a backup story with a smaller story to help build new characters

I sort of think they did that but I might be imagining it

[Korath]

Hey, one of Gunn's crony from The Silencer popping in Sideways' awesome issue out today. Seems that it's more than just Bendis who got to play with Leviathan.

[Mar-Vell]

Man, this entire "Line" deserved better.

I heartily concur with this statement!

I enjoyed every book in this line, but now see them dropping away one by one.

[Ascended]

I heartily concur with this statement!

I enjoyed every book in this line, but now see them dropping away one by one.

Yeah, it makes me really sad. I expected this, because this is what happens every time DC launches a new line, but I was hoping that, for once, the consumers would recognize a good thing when they saw it.

Alas.

And why would fans get down?

Because these books were better than a lot of the other titles being published at either company?

They saw books needing new artists way too early in their runs.

That was definitely a problem.

Alienating fans-who were NOT going to be fooled again into supporting new folks only to see them suffer fates like Wally and others.

Hey, DC has dropped the ball with lesser known characters for a long, long time (so has Marvel). But if fans don't buy the good books when they come out? That's on us. DC marketed the hell out of this line. They spun it off a huge Bat Event. They put big name talent on the titles and you can tell they spent time crafting the characters and narratives. They did everything they could to get us interested in these books. And the books were good. Some of them were really gods damn good. The failure of this line isn't on DC. It's on all the fans who talk about wanting fresh faces and representation and something other than the Bat, the "S" Shield, and the League, but don't put their money where their mouth is.

DC has given us a lot of mediocre and bad books featuring lesser known characters. But they've also given us bad books featuring the biggest names in fiction. If fans are going to instantly pass on a quality book like Sideways or Silencer because, several years ago, Vibe was only an "average" title that couldn't find an audience.....then the problem isn't DC. The problem is fans. DC has screwed up in the past, but they'll never make up for those failures if the fans won't let them, and support the quality stuff.

This book had a writer who is public enemy number ONE to a lot of fans.

Which can explain some of why Sideways didn't sell like crazy, but not the rest of the line.

I mean can we NOT do backups in books again? Since so many book are written for trades-we can't get page space in say Teen Titans for a 4-5 Sideways backup?

That's a great question. From what I understand, the last time DC ran backups, it didn't turn out very well. The cover price had to go up to pay for production, but sales didn't increase to balance that out and I don't recall hearing anything good about trade sales either, except for the Shazam backups Johns wrote for Justice League. That collection sold pretty well I guess, but it's the only one. But I'm just going off of hazy recollection here, maybe the trades sold better than I remember? Hell, what *were* the last backups DC did? Shazam? Manhunter? (I bought Detective just for that backup!)

Perhaps instead of backups, they should consider OGN's? The Earth-1 line sold really, really well until DC squandered the potential of the line. Perhaps they need to give that model another look? Wait, scratch that, they already are looking into that model (well, something like it) with the Ink and Zoom lines. And if the New Age trades sold better than the floppies, then why bother with the middle man of the direct market at all? Go straight to collected editions that'll reach a wider audience!