This sounds like a TERRIBLE idea. However…
It was announced over the weekend that Ape Entertainment, successful publisher of licensed comics like “Pocket God,” “Temple Runner,” and “Kung Fu Panda,” formed a “mature readers” imprint to publish new “Poison Elves” comics. My initial thought was, “Are you fucking kidding me?” The original series from the late Drew Hayes was a personal favorite of mine and the thought of someone other than him taking it over sounds like a huge mistake to me.
The main reason for that is because the series really felt like Hayes’ own personal vision. Yes, it meandered, had some rough art, used large columns of text in issues to convey the plot, but it always felt like we were getting his unfiltered version of what the comic should be like. The man was also a great conversationalist in text as his introductions to each volume, catching us up on his personal life and the publication of the comic, really made you feel like you knew the guy. These worked so well for me that when a collection of his “Starting Note” and “Deathreats” columns from the issues themselves was published, I picked it up immediately.
Now you’re telling me that someone else is going to tell the further adventures of Lusiphur Malache and company? I’m not convinced that it will result in anything good. It’s not quite on the level of this “Before Watchmen” nonsense as we’re not dealing with one of the handful of works in this medium regarded as a literary classic, but it’s close. This was a series that had a singular vision and any attempt to try and replicate or even elaborate on it is probably going to end in failure.
Yet… I’m still going to buy the first volume. Why? Because I have to be sure. It could be that the writer of the new series, Robb Horan, publisher of Sirius Comics and the title’s home after Hayes stopped self-publishing, is aware of all this and knows what he’s doing. Maybe we’ll get something that captures the spirit of the original while demonstrating its own unique style. (See also: “Battlestar Galactica,” or even Grant Morrison’s “New X-Men.”) It could be every bit the disaster I’m expecting, but I need to be sure. Yeah, it’s this kind of thinking that keeps Marvel and DC in business, but we’re not dealing with them here. There’s always the chance that something not mired in their corporate environment could turn out to be really special… or so dire that it should be killed with fire and have its ashes scattered to the four corners. As I read in the panels of “Foxtrot,” “Freak chance is better than no chance at all.”
On the bright side of all is that Ape Entertainment will be bringing the entirety of Hayes’ series back into print in four omnibi. Even if the new series is a waste of time, some good will have come from this whole endeavor.