Friday Night Fights: Long live Manhunter!

As most of you probably know, Manhunter has been canceled — again. Since this is the third time this excellent superhero comic has gotten the ax, it's unlikely it will be given another chance at finding a bigger readership once it wraps up with issue #38, and that's a shame.

Manhunter has consistently been one of the best comics out there, blending spandex-clad heroics with characterizations that gave its fans people who were noble, flawed, often strong, sometimes weak, but always, always, always real. The fact that this title won't be on the stands anymore is a loss for the comics community as a whole — not just its fan-base, much less for its publisher, DC.

It'd be easy to say Manhunter obviously just couldn't cut it. If it was good enough, it would have found its readers, right? Normally I'd agree, but it's also pretty common for critically acclaimed comics to have next to no readership; smart companies give those titles a chance to build one. And DC did Manhunter no favors by canceling the book over and over. Without a consistent presence on the stands, and a possible stigma as "that book nobody liked" (why else would it be canceled, right?), the creators were fighting an uphill battle.

I only hope writer Marc Andreyko — as well as the artists who have worked on the title, from first penciller Jesus Saiz to current artist Michael Gaydos — realize it wasn't their fault Manhunter didn't make it. They just made a better book than DC deserved.

Oh, and did I mention that Kate Spencer — in addition to being a smart, strong superhero, single mom and top-level attorney — is kind of a bad-ass?


Bahlactus knows what I'm talkin' about.

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Panels from Manhunter #34
Marc Andreyko, writer; Michael Gaydos, artist