Writer Chelsea Cain has penned some of Marvel’s best comics in recent years, which is one of the things that made the targeted harassment campaign against her in the wake of her excellent Mockingbird series so difficult to witness. But now, a new series she was in the middle of has been cancelled before the pre-order period was even over.
News that Cain was set to return to Marvel to write a new series focusing on Vision and his daughter (and Champions member) Viv was cause for excitement a few weeks ago. But yesterday Cain took to her Twitter to announce that the publisher has suddenly axed her series out of the blue.
In fact, even though four completed issues were turned into the publisher already, Newsarama reports, “This decision comes one full month before retailers’ orders for The Vision #1 were due to Diamond Comic Distributors.”
I’m incredibly proud of the 4 issues we’ve turned in so far. It’s been 2 years of work. And reflects tremendous effort by an incredibly talented team. It kills me that we won’t get to share them…Forgive me, Viv. https://t.co/wGj65AFDZv
— Chelsea Cain (@ChelseaCain) September 13, 2018
.@Marvel asked me to keep this “clean and quiet” because apparently they’ve never met me. HI, GUYS, I’M THE ONE WHO’S THE PAIN IN THE ASS. REMEMBER ME NOW?
— Chelsea Cain (@ChelseaCain) September 13, 2018
I want you to know that I am being truthful and transparent because most comic book freelancers can’t be. I am loud, for all of them.
— Chelsea Cain (@ChelseaCain) September 14, 2018
According to The Hollywood Reporter, Marvel’s decision to cancel the series boiled down to the publisher wanting to take Vision and Viv in a different direction in the long term. We reached out to Marvel and Cain’s representatives for comment but had not heard back at time of writing. (It should be noted that Marvel already declined to comment to THR.)
Given that Cain’s The Vision was only ever meant to be a six-issue limited series and she was brought on to write the series before Tom King’s run on the book was even over, one has to wonder what it was about Cain’s plot that Marvel took issue with — specifically, what could have possibly been at odds with the characters’ overall trajectory.
Cain has spoken openly about her intention to focus the series on the dynamic between a single father and his rebellious teenage daughter, a natural and logical story to delve into considering what Vision and Viv have been up to in Marvel’s comics as of late.
Cain also pointed out on Twitter that cancelling The Vision also means that readers won’t get the chance to see Marvel newcomer Aud Koch’s illustrations:
Yeah. I feel really horrible. Just having so many issues banked. @audkoch – the artist – is amazing. So gifted. HIRE @audkoch WORLD. She is a FEMALE COMIC BOOK ARTIST. This was her big break.
— Chelsea Cain (@ChelseaCain) September 13, 2018
Whatever the reasoning is behind the cancellation, it’s a loss for everyone. Hopefully, more light will be shed on why this series — which honestly sounded as though it would have been amazing — might never see the light of day.
Comments
7 responses to “For Some Reason, Marvel Just Cancelled Chelsea Cain’s Upcoming The Vision Series”
I’m going to take a stab in the dark and say if wasn’t selling well.
I could see that being the case if even one issue had been released to a resounding thud. But getting the whole thing yanked before even one issue sees the shelf? Thats a bit odd, and sad.
It could have to do with the new head of editorial at Marvel’s recent comments that comics should be entertaining rather than just political, and something happening in issue 4 (since thats how many she submitted), but I guess we’ll never know since I doubt Ms Cain and Ms Koch will just post what they’d done openly. (And I’d rather they don’t if it leaves them in bad legal water)
Could have failed to test well with the audience? Thus translating into a projection of poor sales?
To get that far into the process and cancel it for that reason seems like bad business for a creative industry to me. Especially for a more niche, more artistic series like the Vision. But Marvel as publishers seem pretty risk-averse, so could be
Did the 6 issue series she’d already done sell well? Maybe that was their sales benchmark.
I’d also say, that while emotional and intimate stories can be interesting it’s not really something I want from a superhero character. At least not as the primary focus of the story. I feel like you don’t need to use a superhero to tell that story so in a way you’re wasting the characters.
I must say I had a bit of a look at the recent Vision stuff and while it was kinda interesting I wouldn’t buy it. Maybe a lot of the potential audience feels the same.
On a different tack, it’s also possible that they’re looking to realign Vision in the comics with Vision from the movies. So they need to completely rejig the series.
And those tweets, if Marvel (the guys paying for your work) ask you to keep it quiet, maybe it’d be sensible to actually do that. At least if you hope to work for them more in the future. Maybe give them credit that they actually have something planned that’s worthwhile.
Sounds more like “creative differences” more than anything else..
Kinda reminds me of when the original creator of Thanos left a while back. Although this time its marvel pulling the plug.
Oh damn. That last Vision series was one of the best written, most fucked up things to come out of Marvel in years