Some of the best series ever made got cancelled way too soon.
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00:00You know how amazing television series like Firefly get cancelled way ahead of their time?
00:05Well, unfortunately, the same can happen to comics, taken from us far too soon.
00:10With that in mind, I'm Will for WhatCulture and here are the 10 Best Comics Cancelled
00:14Before Their Time
00:1510.
00:16Chase
00:17Chase was a series launched in 1998 and revolved around Cameron Chase, an agent of the Department
00:23of Extranormal Operations, which was tasked with monitoring superhuman threats to national
00:28security in the United States.
00:30Basically, it was a cross between the X-Files, the Department of Paranormal Activity and
00:35S.H.I.E.L.D. all rolled up in one.
00:37Chase was an agent who had a considerable distrust of superhumans, seeing as her father
00:42was one, but was killed while she was still a young girl.
00:45The series was well-written and beautifully illustrated, but one of the key features was
00:49that it centred around a female lead, with the character of Cameron Chase being well-structured
00:54and fascinating.
00:56Sadly, the series failed to find an audience, with only 9 issues of the main run being published
01:01and the 10th issue tying into the DC One Million storyline.
01:05That issue won the Comic Buyers Guide Fan Award for Favourite Story back in 1999, which
01:10goes to show just how well-written Chase actually was.
01:159.
01:16Semper Fi
01:17These days, it seems odd to think of comic books featuring stories about warfare, but
01:20when you look back, that's one of the ways comics gained popularity in the early days
01:25of World War II.
01:26Since that conflict ended, comics left the genre behind, but returned to it in later
01:30years due to the Vietnam War.
01:32Enter Semper Fi, which focuses primarily on the United States Marine Corps' involvement
01:38in Vietnam.
01:39The book was written by a veteran of the conflict, Michael Palladino, who was a devil dog himself.
01:44Each issue was broken down into two stories, a main one illustrated by John Severin or
01:49Andy Kubert, and a backup story illustrated by Sam Glansman, a veteran of World War II.
01:55Even with great writing and illustration, the series only managed to last 9 issues before
02:00Marvel pulled Semper Fi from its line-up and the team went on to work on other projects.
02:05The title is Latin for Always Faithful, and is the Marine Corps' motto still in use
02:10today.
02:118.
02:12The Crew
02:13Caspar Cole was a New York City police officer who took over the role of Black Panther to
02:16help his career get a boost.
02:18His activities got him involved with a dangerous gang, but he also managed to pick up some
02:22of the same superpowers the Black Panther enjoyed.
02:25This pushed him to create a new identity for himself, White Tiger.
02:29This story unfolded in the new title The Crew, which was first published in 2003.
02:34Cole was joined by three other men, who were also at war with the gang he was trying to
02:38take down as the Black Panther.
02:40Honestly, the book had a lot going for it when it launched.
02:42The amazing artwork perfectly highlighted the storyline written by Christopher Priest,
02:47which followed the first few issues on each team member and what brought them into the
02:51group called The Crew.
02:52Unfortunately, the book didn't make much of a splash, despite the talent behind it.
02:56It was cancelled by Marvel after only 7 issues were published.
03:00The series was relaunched in 2017 as Black Panther and The Crew, but that also got cancelled
03:06after only 5 issues.
03:087.
03:09Justice Society of America
03:11The Justice Society of America was a prominent superhero team for DC Comics in the pre-crisis
03:17but following the Crisis on Infinite Earths, the group went missing.
03:20In 1991, they were brought back in a mini-series and that success helped launch an entirely
03:25new series in 1992.
03:27In the new Justice Society of America, the heroes of old are forced to adjust to their
03:32new lives in the modern DC universe, which proved rather difficult.
03:37Ultimately, they worked together to get through their transition to become the heroes they
03:41once were.
03:42While the art by Mike Parabek and Mike Mucklin looked incredible, and Len Straszewski's
03:47writing was top-notch, the series just couldn't achieve the same level of success as the Justice
03:51League and other superhero teams the publisher had out at the time.
03:55It was cancelled after only 3 books, but ultimately saw the publication of 12 complete issues.
04:016.
04:02SWORD
04:03SWORD, otherwise known as Sentient World Observation and Response Department, made its first appearance
04:09in Astonishing X-Men 5 in 2004.
04:12The concept worked well enough, so Marvel greenlit an ongoing series in 2009, but it
04:17didn't run for as long as the creators might have liked.
04:20In the opening story arc, Norman Osborn was in charge of the organisation, as well as
04:24S.H.I.E.L.D., and he was none too happy with their performance in not stopping the secret
04:28invasion event.
04:30With this enticing hook, with the Green Goblin in charge of S.H.I.E.L.D. and SWORD, it's
04:34a shame the series didn't make it past 5 issues.
04:37The first issue managed to sell just under 22,000 copies, but the second issue saw a
04:41drop of nearly 7,000.
04:44That spelled death for SWORD.
04:45It was later collected into a trade paperback titled SWORD No Time to Breathe in 2012.
04:515.
04:52THOR MIGHTY AVENGER
04:53It's difficult to imagine given his popularity in comics and the MCU, but a THOR comic failed
04:59to find much of an audience when it was released back in 2010.
05:02THOR The Mighty Avenger was released in advance of the first THOR movie with the intention
05:07of following that continuity in comics.
05:10The idea was that people who enjoyed the movies but didn't know much about the comics could
05:14pick up issues of THOR The Mighty Avenger and bridge the gap.
05:17Instead of requiring a new reader to know about decades of comic book history, they
05:21could pick up one or two issues and be hooked.
05:23However, the series only managed to kick out a total of 8 issues before being cancelled.
05:28It featured numerous characters from THOR's gallery of friends and foes, but despite the
05:32excellent storytelling and gorgeous artwork, Marvel killed the title.
05:364.
05:37THE THING
05:38The ever-loving blue-eyed Thing is one of the most beloved superheroes in Marvel Comics'
05:42publishing library.
05:43The character first debuted alongside his famous teammates in Fantastic Four 1, and
05:48since that time has appeared in thousands of comic book issues across the Marvel Universe.
05:53While he works exceptionally well as a member of a team, it seems he doesn't do as well
05:57on his own title.
05:58Director Dan Slott and illustrator Andrea DeVito got together to bring him into his
06:02own title back in 2005.
06:04The book was based off a plotline from J. Michael Straczynski's run on Fantastic Four
06:08that set up Ben Grimm as an independently wealthy man.
06:12The idea was that Grimm had earned a considerable amount of money thanks to his time in the
06:16Fantastic Four, and the series took a look at the crazy ways he would spend that cash.
06:20The series was fun and entertaining, going as far as to end with the Thing throwing a
06:24massive superhero poker tournament based on his long-time hobby of hosting smaller
06:29superhero games.
06:30However, like the other titles on this list, it failed to find its audience when it was
06:34published, which resulted the book's cancellation due to low sales figures.
06:393.
06:40New Gods
06:41The New Gods was a comic series introduced by the legendary Jack Kirby in 1971.
06:46The series introduced various elements of the DC Universe that are still in play today.
06:51Series like Apocalypse, Highfather and Darkside were a part of the New Gods mythology.
06:55The series was one of those books that was so well-written, it didn't land with the
06:59wide audience when it was first published.
07:02It touched on issues dealing with religion and mythology by delving deep into the concepts
07:06of an old pantheon of gods, as well as the New Gods who replaced them.
07:10The original series sadly only lasted for a total of 11 issues before DC Comics gave
07:15it the axe in 1972, but the concepts didn't lay dormant for long.
07:19Many of the characters and concepts of Kirby's original books were brought back as a reprint
07:23in the mid-80s, but by 1989, a 28-issue series hit the shelves.
07:29Since then, the New Gods have been featured in various books and published in additional
07:33volumes, proving that Kirby's work endures.
07:362.
07:37Contest of Champions
07:39Contest of Champions was originally a video game that pitted heroes against villains,
07:43which itself was based loosely off the 1982 comic of the same name.
07:47Translating that to a comic book series required a story, which is why Marvel hired Al Ewing
07:53to do just that.
07:54One of the ways Ewing managed to make the book work was by digging deep into Marvel's
07:58archives.
07:59He pulled out characters few remembered, including Punisher 2099, Night Thrasher, and Outlaw.
08:04He didn't stop there, though.
08:05He utilised the entire Marvel catalogue to pull in characters from different realities
08:10of the multiverse.
08:11The stories and concepts afforded to Ewing for this book made it an astounding read.
08:16It was full of interesting trips through the more obscure elements of the Marvel universe,
08:20and thanks to the killer artwork, it looked fantastic to boot.
08:24However, because of poor sales, the series ended up getting cancelled early, but given
08:28the amount of room Ewing had to work with, this could have developed into a truly remarkable
08:32comic.
08:331.
08:34Incredible Hulk
08:35Believe it or not, the very first Incredible Hulk comic book series got cancelled before
08:40its time.
08:41In 1963, Stan Lee joined forces with Jack Kirby to create the giant green rage machine
08:47in his launch series, but it only managed to make it to six books before it was cancelled.
08:52The early Hulk series was a lot different from the books that followed, which may have
08:56had something to do with its cancellation.
08:57For one thing, he could only turn into the Hulk at night, until that went away and Bruce
09:02Banner was always the Hulk.
09:03Then the story made it that he could only Hulk out with a gamma radiation machine.
09:07By the sixth issue of the original series, Bruce Banner had managed to find a cure for
09:11his condition, but as we now know, it didn't take.
09:14The series ended with that sixth issue, and it took his joining and then leaving the Avengers
09:19for the character to truly cement his status in the Marvel universe.
09:23Two years after the cancellation of this series, Marvel returned the Incredible Hulk to print,
09:28albeit in the pages of Tales to Astonish.
09:30He eventually went on to become one of Marvel's greatest characters, but his first series
09:35only managed six issues, which is pretty crazy when you look back at the Hulk's lauded
09:40history.
09:41And there you have it folks, ten comics cancelled before their time.
09:44Feel free to drop this video a like if you enjoyed it, and drop me a follow on Twitter
09:48at YouSlyDawgU.
09:49I'm Will for What Culture, thanks for hanging out, and I'll see you next time.