Too Many Pens On The Drawing Board: The Rise and Fall of The Comic Book Anthology

The Strand was the original
home for works by Kipling,
Christie, Doyle and Wells 

Many great works of fiction before the the 21st century were first published serialized in anthologies with short stories in magazines and journals. When literacy wasn't as ubiquitous as it is is now, the serial format was a way to appeal to as many members of the reading market. By containing a mix of genres, these publications could hold the attention and interest of a wide market before demographics became as defined and catered to as they are today.

For some reason, it's hard to find current comics anthologies that thrive with the support of an audience. Consumers may not want to take the killer with the filler. Even still, that doesn't explain how anthologies that more than held their own, that broke the mold to introduce talent that was new or unjustly ignored couldn't be maintained. The editors aren't to blame. With titles like Flinch and Solo, DC Comics editors managed to fill pages with great stories that just couldn't support the sales needed to maintain publication.

Not for capes alone!

Are people not interested in anthologies any more? Most Marvel and DC characters that have lock down on the shelves of comics stores today came from serial anthologies. These are the same characters that are projected on movie screens and dominate television ratings. Characters from the Golden and Silver Age of comics, like Batman, Spider-Man, Thor, and many other characters debuted in titles that were designed to function as a testing ground. DC comics took it's name from the anthology Detective Comics. Once known as National Comics, DC changed its name after Batman became so popular in the pages of Detective Comics and title was soon given to him alone. The story of Batman and National Comics is testimony to the one time power, influence and popularity of anthologies in comics, much like the story of Sherlock Holmes and Strand before him.

But something happened. Something happened to the public and the perception of the serial to make it step into the shadows to let the dawn shed light on individual titles that would succeed or be buried in the sands of time. 

I can't help but wonder what change happened that makes it nearly impossible for an anthology comic to maintain publication. While Heavy Metal and 2000 A.D. have bucked the trend to stay in publication for decades, it seems nearly impossible to maintain an anthology comic, especially when long running Dark Horse Presents called it quits after a 14 year run (though they did move to a digital format and return to paper in 2014). Is it something about the American audience? Heavy Metal and 2000 A.D. are both European books. Though they get brought into american comic shops, the states is hardly their target audience. In the case of Heavy Metal, they publish a brand of science fiction and fantasy that is often lush and stylized (and sexy!) in a way so rarely seen in american comics that readers looking for that type of story had no where else to go.

A view of 2000 A.D. and  Heavy Metal covers throughout the years.

Still, when U.S. publishers try to tackle the anthology, it's either a special event with a finite amount of issue planned, like Marvel's Strange Tales, or a title that doesn't last much longer than a year, like D.C.'s Flinch and Solo. D.C.'s Wednesday Comics is an amazing throw-back to newspaper comics, with over sized pages and a wealth of the best talent in comics (Azzarello, Rizzo, Gaiman, Busiek, Allred, Baker, Pope, Villarrubia). Giving a generation of readers the feel of reading comics in a way they weren't alive to experience (that of sunday edition newspaper comics), and offering a reminder of the way it was for older readers, Wednesday Comics took on the anthology to bring together magnificent stories to resurrect the classic shape and look they originally came from. Even though it was planned to only last for 12 issues, Wednesday Comics proved an anthology could sell well when, in 2009, 7 issues hit the top 100 and 3 other issues placed in the top 300 --in the month of August alone!

Wednesday Comics went on to be collected, as did Strange Tales, which took talent from alternative comics (Vazques, Pekar, Shaw, Jason) to give fresh takes on Marvel properties for two mini-series. Both titles had a previously set amount of issues planned, and were well marketed. Other anthologies, that were just as good as Wednesday Comics and Strange Tales, just couldn't be kept alive like Solo and Flinch. Both published by D.C., these titles did something that hadn't been done in a while by the big two.

While comic book horror anthologies had never gone away, being kept alive by  independent publishers, most horror came from books based on properties such as Nightmare on Elm Street, Jason, Evil Dead and other movies, while original horror stories seemed to only exist in character driven books like Hellblazer and Hellboy before The Walking Dead created a phenomenon that would span mediums. Still, D.C. took a chance with Flinch, when Vertigo decided to welcome the possibility of bringing its own brand of horror to mature audiences. For my money, Flinch was one of the best books being published at the time. Aside from Taboo, which was published by Spiderbaby Graphix, horror anthologies had never been so violent, literary and frightening. While it had some yarns I didn't care for, the majority were top notch stories coming from talents like Ted McKeever, Azzarello/Rizzo, Mike Carey, Bill Willingham and Greg Rucka, which earned the title an Eisner nomination and won a Bram Stokers Award for Joe R. Lansdale's "Red Romance" in issue #11. Even though there was no other comic out there at the time doing what Flinch did, it couldn't be kept alive for more than 16 issues. 

While Flinch was an unsuccessful attempt at bringing back the horror anthology, Solo did something virtually new. Similar to the Golden and Silver Age Showcase, which offered different creators one to three issue to introduced new characters to discover fan favorites that could support their own title, D.C. debuted Solo in 2004 to give 48 pages to popular talents like Mike Allred, Darwyn Cooke, Howard Chaykin and Teddy Kristiansen to publish original stories or play with stock characters in their own well-developed styles. Published bimonthly, Solo only lasted for 12 issues before being canceled. Perhaps one of the problems was the $4.99 price tag for a comic with no ads. Fans may have decided to use their funds in a more economical way. Maybe readers preferred an ongoing story. Whatever the reason, poor sales numbers halted production on the title even though it won all three Eisner awards it was nominated for (two for stories and one for editing).

The various styles of solo

Barring few exceptions, like 200 A.D. and Heavy Metal, it seems anthology comics just can't stick around, despite them being a wonderful way to get exciting new stories and offer exposure to talents that are up and coming. Still, there is hope! Soon, Image Comics will be publishing Island, a 72 page anthology curated by Brandon Graham and Emma Rios. I can't remember being as excited for a new comic as I am for Island. While I have never heard the names on the list of writers and artists attached to the line-up, it's my unfamiliarity with them that gives me this anticipation. It's the newness and hope of discovering writers and artists that can show readers worlds and ideas they never thought of that makes me so excited over this anthology. I am feeling the same level of excitement for Islands that I felt for titles like Wednesday Comics, Flinch and Solo. I can only hope the ad-free issue #1, with a $7.99 price tag, doesn't put the book on a path that will give it the same fate as Solo.

The cover for an upcoming issue of Island