Sundays are known for folks gathering around tables on television and pontificating about some of the hottest topics out there, offering their expertise. We bring that tradition to Graphic Policy as the team gathers to debate in our Sunday Roundtable.

On tap this week?

What are you looking forward to in comics and geekdom in 2016? What do you hope to see from comic publishers?

Alex: Less reboots and less relaunches.

Paul: Agreed!

Katherine: Marvel having an entire year without a Big Crossover Event. Sooner or later that will happen, right?

Brett: Too late…. already two events announced.

Alex: That’d be nice, wouldn’t it?

Katherine: IKR? I don’t think they’ve had a year without an Event since the 80s.

Alex: It’s not even that they have events an crossover – but don’ have them in the same books all the time! Cross Moon Knight and Howard the Duck over (it would be a train wreck, but it’s something different), but I’m tired of ignoring the same characters in yet another crossover.

Katherine: Better representation and diversity in comics. We already got a LOT of good stuff in 2015, which sold, so I’m hoping that publishers will pick up on that.

Brett: Anything specific you’d like to see?

Katherine: More trans characters, personally. I know that it’s been confirmed that there’s a trans character in Squirrel Girl, but it hasn’t been revealed who it is (but I have confidence that they’ll handle it well.) More Lumberjanes, natch, but the LJ movie has me worried, at best.

Daphne: I’m taking an “I’ll believe it when I see it” approach to representation in comics. Just about all of it tends to be a big fuss and then an anticlimactic letdown when it actually happens. I could see the Squirrel Girl team getting it right, but it’s so incredibly easy for somebody to mess up in service of a dumb joke.

Katherine: I’m trying to be optimistic here.

Daphne: I want to be but it’s pretty difficult these days.

Brett: I think I feel that way any time there’s some announced thing related to diversity. I’m hoping to see more behind the scenes with creators, not just with characters.

Katherine: Lets keep our fingers crossed then. I think that the comics industry is (slowly) going in the right direction and the popularity of titles like Lumberjanes, Jem, etc. hopefully means that the Big 2 will take notice.

Daphne: I’m excited for Godzilla Resurgence (if that ends up being the official title) and hopefully actual progress made toward un-canceling Pacific Rim 2, and I’m hoping for more kaiju in American media. Pacific Rim and Godzilla 2014 did what Cloverfield tried to do and brought kaiju film and the genre as a whole a lot more attention, and I really want to see that trend continue. Hopefully I won’t have as many conflicted emotions about whatever Godzilla comics come out this year as I did Godzilla in Hell.

Brett: Cloverfield sequel announced!? Guess that teaser on their Facebook page wasn’t a fluke. Be interesting to see how it does and if it impacts the Pacific Rim sequel.

Daphne: I honestly did not expect to call that one.

Brett: While this doesn’t get posted to Sunday, one of yours is already a go!

Katherine: It doesn’t look like it’s a sequel, but more of a side story set in the same universe. Which is cool. I’d love to see an anthology horror/monster movies like what they tried to do with Halloween.

Brett: Katherine: That’s my initial take too.

Daphne: Yeah. JJ Abrams has been describing it as “a blood relative” of Cloverfield so I think it’ll be loosely related but probably not directly addressing the original film much, if at all.

Brett: I’m really looking forward to seeing all of the indie comic releases. There’s been some amazing releases the last few years, and I’m expecting even more timely work. I’d expect at least something with the Presidential election. Please someone do something smart and intelligent with that! I’m also fascinated to see how all of the comic movies and television shows do. This is a year we’ll see if there’s a point of too many.

Katherine: Never too many. Never.

Brett: We’ll find out!

Alex: While I’d love there to be more comic book movies and shows, I’m at the point where there’s only so many I can see, or DVR, before I run out of time and start becoming choosy.

I already gave up on Gotham…

Brett: This coming week we get four days in a row. Soon we’ll have 5 days a week for part of the year. Plus all the movies.

Katherine: Honestly, for me? I’m like this

Katherine: Alex This is not a bad problem to have TBH.

Alex: No, it’s not, really. I do worry we’ll reach a saturation point where the market is more selective as to what they watch, causing some great shows to get cancelled after a season (or less, like Constantine)

Elana: should i post my list of most anticipated comics of 2016 here?

Most anticipated new comics of 2016:
Tie: Ron Wimberly’s Sunset Park and Slave Punk: White Coal for Image Comics
Tie: Ta-nahis Coates Black Panther
Runners up:
Faith from Valiant Comics will be the first plus-sized super hero gets a solo title and it looks fantastic. Jody Houser and artist Francis Portela with special art from the great Marguerite Sauvage. We interviewed the creative team on January 11th!
Gail Simone’s revamped Dynamite comics pulp hero properties like Dejah Thoris and especially Vampirella with Kate Leth at the helm.
Power Man and Iron Fist from David F Walker and Sanford Greene
Patsy Walker AKA Hellcat from Kate Leth and Brittney Williams
Over the Garden Wall (based on the cartoon and I believe from the creators) ongoing series at Boom comics

Ryan: I’m very much looking forward to Si Spurrier’s “Cry Havoc,” Dan Clowes’ “Patience,” Chester Brown’s new collection of Bible adaptations, Fantagraphics’ hardcover slipcase collection of the complete “Wimmen’s Comix,” and six more terrific issues of “Providence.” Beyond that, I’m struggling to think of anything the Big Two have announced that even interests, much less excites, me in the least.

Elana: Cry Havoc could be great. I’m usually not into war comics but Ryan Kelly is great as are lesbian werewolves

Alex: I’m curious about Old Man Logan, and I am hoping for more Moon Knight (the loss of that series because of Secret Wars still rankles). Other than that, there’s only Howard the Duck that has my Marvel interest these days.

Ryan: Elana, war comics are not usually my cup of tea, either, apart from the seminal works in the genre from Kutzman, Kubert, Glanzman, and Kirby, but 2015 actually saw two great war comics come our way in the form of Garth Ennis’ “War Stories” from Avatar and Paul Tucker and Paul Allor’s “Tet” from Comics Experience/IDW. I would rank both as among the very best war comics probably since Jack Kirby’s epic run on “The Losers” in the early ’70s. To Alex’s point, I gave the new “Howard” one issue, and that was enough to convince me once again that no one but Steve Gerber should ever touch the character. I like Zdarsky just fine, but Howard was always a stand-in for the obsessions, opinions, and commentary of his creator, and no one else has ever gotten his “voice” quite right simply because, well, they can’t.

Elana: I just noticed my comment is missing the word “not” yet you still caught my drift haha. Thanks for the tips!

Ryan: I’ve been on social media long enough to speak fluent typo.

Brett: I highly recommend Ennis’ Johnny Red. Really good war comic, and I’m not usually a fan of those.

Alex: I second Johnny Red, but it does fall victim to the double page spread issue you mentioned in GP Radio, Elana. That said, I’ve been rating the series highly in me reviews despite the PDF art issues (I did buy the actual comics, too, however, and the double page spreads are glorious).

Ryan, I never read any of the Gerber Howard the Duck, so I don’t have that basis for comparison, which is probably why I love it so much.

Ryan: You may want to keep it that way, then, since once you’ve read Gerber’s “Howard,” nothing else will do.

Alex: I may do that… I own the first issue of Gerber’s run (I love the cover, but still haven’t read it…), but I may just leave it at that, then.

Ryan: I would suggest, if you do go down that road, to grab the omnibus collection and read the whole Gerber run, because if you read just one issue, your reaction will probably be to immediately think “why can’t we have more Howard like this?,” and to immediately fall out of love with the current run. So, yeah, I think you’d be better off — and happier — just not even opening that particular can of worms.

Alex: Ryan I’m going to take your advice and leave it where it is until the current run gets cancelled. Then I’ll get the omnibus.

Ryan: How long did the last run last? Five or six issues?

Alex: Five, I think, before Secret Wars rebooted it. The current run is on the third issue (with Zdarksy more than willing to point out the two 1st issues in a year)

Madison: I’m excited for the Poe Dameron comic, mostly because I’ve missed Phil Noto’s art every month. Also looking forward to seeing where Bitch Planet goes, since there were only six issues last year. I want to hope that Marvel will take some risks with their content and characters, but I’m not banking on it.

Brett: Yes, more Bitch Planet! And agreed on the Dameron comic, Shattered Empire was clearly leading/hinting at something with his family.

Mr. H: I am excited for the return of Bruce and Clark to their proper roles. The story lines have run their current course. Also I can’t wait for Grant Morrisons take on Wonder Woman.

Alex: I’ve kept away from the solicitations, but I did hear that was coming – and holy crap am I glad. Robot Bunny Batman really doesn’t do it for me.

Mr. H: Alex: it’s a shame because Gordon in the suit is great but I’m sick of all this Mr. Bloom bs.

Alex: While I love the idea of Gordon in the suit, it’s that the suit is an ugly Iron Man wannabe and the whole back up team, military like operation that I’m not a fan of. I mean, I know Bruce is pretty damn capable, but the sheer number of people required to do what just he (and Alfred) for the most part did make him seem almost god like.

Mr. H: I hate the robo suit I like the inner suit underneath I meant, the black and yellow. Plus Gordon is representative of us as Batman which is great just the villains haven’t been compelling.

Alex: I agree with you there, actually; the undersuit is a cool design.

Ryan: I’d have to politely disagree with the idea that Superman is not in his “proper” role right now. In truth, while the current storyline in the main “Superman” book certainly does suck, the version of the character we’re seeing in “Action Comics” right now is much closer to the Siegel/Shuster original than anything we’ve seen in years. Their Superman was strong but not ridiculously so; leapt from building to building rather than flying; and, more importantly, was a champion of blue-collar, working class causes. Right now Superman has been fighting abusive cops and privacy-busting hackers to save his neighborhood, while Siegel and Shuster’s Superman took on slum landlords, Pinkertons, strike-breaking scabs, domestic abusers — shit, he even saved a death row convict, something later, decidedly more right-wing, iterations of the character would never do. We’ve all grown so accustomed to the idea of Superman as super-patriotic defender of the establishment that we assume that’s the way he always was — in truth, he was very much a populist, “man of the people” hero for his first several years, and only became a nationalist propaganda mascot when the former gangsters who owned DC swindled him away from his creators for the princely sum of $130 days just days before they were shipping out to serve in WWII and were desperate to leave some money behind for their wives and young children to survive on.

Mr. H: Oh absolutely but the writing is dreck. I love the original Superman who was champion of the downtrodden. In fact Grant Morrison did a great job at the beginning of the new 52. The outing of Clark Kent should have gave us fantastic story opportunities …See More

Alex: Oh man I loved the Morrison issues of Action at the start of the New 52.

Mr. H: Yes Alex and it declined quick, didn’t it?

Alex: As soon as he left. I dropped the book shortly after that.

Mr. H: Same here. I had to. Interested to see what he does with Wonder Woman. The Finches are ruining her right now.

Ryan: I think the current “Action” run is passable, but far from great. Kuder’s art is terrific and the neighborhood-vs.-the-cops storyline was fun for a few issues, but as soon as that cop Superman decked out turned out to be an alien shape-shifter, I knew …See More

Mr. H: Dude I agree so much. Kuder is great. Yes Wonder Woman/Superman’s relationship is garbage. Loving the revamp of Vandal Savage from the Annual #3 though.

Ryan: Yeah, I was totally taken aback by how much I enjoyed the annual — I damn near didn’t even pick it up simply because of the five dollar price tag — and I hate “comics-by committee” like a lot of these annuals are becoming with five writers and five pencillers and eight inkers and all that shit, but I’m glad I grabbed it, because it was certainly the most satisfying Superman story in quite some time.

Brett: I think Ryan is on point. I like the exploration of myth and the basics of Superman that they’re trying to do, and the “throwback” Superman, but the execution of both has been very off. I’m already looking for next.

Alright, I think that wraps up this week’s discussion. What about you readers? What are you looking forward to and hope to see in 2016? Sound off in the comments!