Endings

Comicbooks (and tv-series, I suppose) can end several ways. And you realise Im talking about series that arent mini- or maxiseries. First one is that, thanks to publishing or deal problems the next issue goes farther and farther to future, until its outright stupid to continue. To average reader this means that the story ends with "to be continued". Examble of this would be Stormwatch: Team Achilles, of which I was huge fan at one point (I own both TPBs).

The second way is that the writer has finished the story, and has enough creative control over the result that he can make definite ends. Such as Sandman, Starman, Transmetropolitan and Preacher.

The third way is that, thanks to bad sales the book will be canceled, and the writer has one to six issues (depending how good the writer is, and how much goodwill towards the company editors want the writer to have) to tie the threads and give some sort of conclusion, similary leaving the characters into situation where new writers can take them and twist them into something that might actually be profitable. Sometimes the new writer and the twist never comes. But lets examine several endings of comicbooks. Spoilers ahoy!

Impulse (read my post from before the last one) ends in issue 89. Max Mercury is meditating, when something attacks and possesses him. It is the evil anti-Flash from the 40s! Max runs away, possessed. Instead of consulting help from the superhero-community, Impulse is moving to Jay Garrick's place (first Flash) in Keystone. Impulse promises to visit his friends but never does. Of Max, nothing is heard, and he ran away nearly ten years ago.
When Bart is seen again, he is immediately shot into the leg, which causes him to lose his illusion of immortality. He becomes very serious and thoughtful character, even taking the name Kid Flash.

Generation X, was about mutant school, its a spin-off of X-Men. Its about the schooling of young mutants, most of which want to become superheroes, X-Men when they graduate. The (spelling?) school has been several times under attack during the last months. The teachers dont seem to have anything to teach anymore, and nobody knows when they would be graduating. All the remaining students decide to quit school. They promise to talk to each other, to call, to have class reunions. They never do. Most of the characters are "kills of the month" during next ten years.

Stars and S.T.R.I.P.E was about teenage superhero and her step-dad, who is sidekick from 40s but is still relatively young thanks to timewarps and whatnot. The comicbook ends after just few issues, into promise that someday Star Spangled-Kid (Girl?) would be great hero. Nowadays she appears in JSA, which is written by the creator of the hero.

X-Man ends when the maincharacter, a telepath of nearly unlimited power sacrifices himself by saving Earth of alternative dimension from being destroyed. The last page implies he is still alive, thru all the people he saved with his heroic action. After seven or eight years, he is no longer mentioned. Ever.

Soldier X was reimagination of Cable. He was very much like X-Man, even shared the same first name and powers. Only he is in his late fifties, and his powers were cribbled by disease that was changing his body into metal. The series was about Cable wandering in Russia, playing Messiah and doing miracles, now that he was healing from the disease. The book has infact two endings; when the writer quits with story how in 2000 years, Cable is remembered as messiah who saved the human race; it is followed by two mediocre stories that dont really connect into previous continity; Cable is again cribbled by his disease, and he is now back in America. The series ends in issue that could end nearly every story. The last two issues didnt really have place in the book.

Spider-Man 2099 was exellent book about future Spider-Man, who is banner in rebellion against corporate rule. He is more extreme than the normal Peter Parker, and his powerlevel and skill is several levels downwards. The first thirty issues are really good writing and art, and then the writer and artist both quit as statement because of the way Marvel was managed. The series then survived two dozen more issues, during which the status quo changes ever more (the alter ego becomes the CEO of the company he was rebelling against; the old CEO is his biological father and Spidey becomes the banner of the company). New villains are introducted, each worse than the previous one. In the end the whole world is flooded. The 2099-universe ends in miniseries which were so crappy I couldnt finish them even thought I got the issues for free.

Superboy was a book about character who thought he was clone of Superman, but wasnt really. After fifty issues on Hawaii and then twenty on Project Cadmus (which was trip down the memory lane back to old Kirby stories), Kid of Steel tries to make it on his own in the big city. New people are introducted during the span of few issues, until Superman appears and takes Superboy to Kent farm. Several of the villains also decide to move to Smallville, but of them nothing is ever heard again.

...

I think its time for me to go to bed; clock is 2:30. I shall continue on this subject later, on a new post.