CrossGen: Sojourn's End?

[Local Hero]

Posted 10/05/2004
Source ComicBookResources

By Rich Johnston (Lying in the Gutters)

LITG had previously printed that the CrossGen fantasy series "Sojourn" would be ending early. But not this early! Before Ian Edginton jumped off, he was asked--with Greg Land moving on to launch a new title--to build up to a big finale at the end of the year with final issue 41. Edginton subsequently, for a variety of reasons that he discussed in Waiting For Tommy, quit the company and a new creative team was secured to wrap up the series. But despite Previews listing new issues and the latest catalogue announcing the start of a new creative team, I understand that there was a last minute decision made to end the series with issue 34 (which ended with a confusing "To Be Continued?" sign-off), that subsequent issues have been cancelled, and that readers will be left with an unresolved cliffhanger ending.

[The Mighty Thor]

Somehow I knew the incompetents over at CGE would screw up the best book they had. With the mass exodus of talent that was going on over there, they were bound to take all the titles down with them. This is such a disappointment, because Sojourn was a consistently enjoyable read each and every month. And to cancel the book in the middle of what was an incredible story line, with no forseeabele closure on the horizon is a slap in the face to all of the book's fans. I think I will be boycotting CGE from now on, and cancelling the only book I still read from their lineup, Lady Death.

A more disappointing cancellation I have never witnessed.

[Enchantress]

CrossGen is killing themselves slowly anyway. No amount of boycotting is going to make them die any faster.
Yeah, I'm mad. An epic story got screwed in the process of politics and red tape. But am I cancelling Lady Death (as Thor suggested) HELL NO! I'm at least going to let that series run it's course before they cancel it as well. Because you know they will. Apparently, they haven't figured out what a "good" thing is (Ruse, Sojourn...)

Screw em!

[Local Hero]

At least those franchises that have been used as collateral we might have a chance of seeing at another publisher - what's a bank going to do with a comic franchise after all! I really really hope Alessi has the good sense to sell off the books that he hasn't already hocked to the banks.

I managed to catch up on the early issues of Sojourn that I had missed (my local comic store was selling off it's catalogue of Crossgen Forge Compendiums cheap so I bought them) and I have to say it is indeed one of the consistently best written and drawncomics i've seen. That was (and still is to a degree) always something you could rely on at least from Crossgen - high quality product. Unfortunately they didn't have the necessary knowhow to market their books effectively. They sold their mostly fantasy books on the direct market which is dominated by superhero books and totally ignored the RPG/fantasy game shops where they could have made an absolute killing. It's criminal incompetence really. ah well, hopefully other new publishers will learn from these sorts of mistakes.