Whoops! This went up by accident last night when it was not fully edited, so I hope you ignored that.

But, uh, here’s the more edited version!

It was a pretty quiet week in the world of comics, and with little out there as far as headliners are concerned, the lead off spot goes to an excellent tribute to a great. Let’s talk about that and more in Comics Disassembled, a look at ten things I liked or didn’t like from the week of comics.

1. DC (and Kevin Maguire), Saying Goodbye

It’s an unfortunate thing to have to do, but I wanted to tout something DC is typically good at: tributes to creators who recently passed away. It always feels like they celebrate the passing of DC creators in a tasteful, thoughtful way, and I’m impressed whenever they’re put in the unfortunate position to have to do this.

The tribute to Keith Giffen in recent DC comics was no different. From the incredible choice of getting notable Giffen collaborator Kevin Maguire to homage his own Justice League cover – with Giffen at the front of a pack that includes a bunch of characters he at least co-created within the DC universe – to the laundry list of notable folks talking up who Giffen was as a person and storyteller (with that list even extending further online, which they share the URL for in the fine print), this was celebrating a creator’s life and efforts in the very best of ways. I loved to see it. It was also very funny reading Dan DiDio’s note about how “Keith would be annoyed by this whole thing,” which he’s almost certainly right about. Regardless, though, it’s a fitting tribute, and a nice sendoff for one of the best to ever do it.

2. Avengers Inc., Also Saying Goodbye

In a less cheerful goodbye, Tom Brevoort – high level Marvel editor and perpetual newsbreaker via his Man with a Hat email newsletter – revealed in his latest delivery that Al Ewing and Leonard Kirk’s Avengers Inc. will be wrapping with the fifth issue of the series. The reason? Low sales. This is a bummer, both because I like the comic and because it’s terribly unsurprising. I’ve been working on a piece for the last while that’s largely about this subject, but it just feels like very little lasts in single issue comics anymore. While Avengers Inc. was clearly niche, it doesn’t bode well for anyone that an important name at Marvel in Al Ewing doesn’t even have enough weight behind him to make a book like this last.

Avengers Inc. was likely always destined to be a minor book from a major publisher, but it’s a charming read, one that provides a nice change of pace to the meat and potatoes vibe of the current main Avengers title. I wish that we would be getting more of it, but as is often the case, these titles are over before they ever really get started. Alas. Better to have shzakked and lost than never to have shzakked at all.