Set It, And Forget It

It was the 1980's and women had hit the workforce full steam ahead! Once and future Batman Michael Keaton swapped places with his stay-at-home wife in Mr. Mom and Dustin Hoffman dragged through the streets of NYC as Tootsie just to get a job! But with mom and dad both at work, WHO WAS GOING TO COOK DINNER?

Through the power of the early 80's infomercial, a hero would rise!

Inventor Ron Popeil came up with the often imitated, never duplicated Showtime Rotisserie. It would revolutionize meal time, as well as the modern TV infomercial. The slogan "Set it, and forget it" became a household phrase and the overwhelming acclaim for the Showtime Rotisserie became a part of the fabric if American pop culture.

"But isn't this blog about comic books?" You may be asking yourselves right about now. Fret not loyal reader! It's all about to some full circle...

As great as "set it, and forget" was in the 80's, when applied to comics it's quite the opposite. Every week I am going to bring you a column titled, you guessed it, 'Set It And Forget It'. I'll focus on books that were promised, and promoted but never delivered, while also taking a look at incomplete mini-series and story arcs.

First up we'll take a look at the infamous Daredevil/Bullseye: Target.

In the fairness of full disclosure, this entry pains me a little bit because the writer, Kevin Smith holds a spot on my very own Mt. Rushmore of coolness. But as an unbiased blogger I cannot fall into the trap of protecting Sacred Cows (no that is not a fat joke).

 Issue number 1 was released in November of 2002 to coincide with the Ben Affleck Daredevil flick (which I enjoyed even if no one else did). Solid marketing plan, Smith had a small role in the movie, and had also previously written and revived Matt Murdoch to a top tier hero in DD: Reborn. So far, so good.

And that's where the good stops...completely.

Smith started filming Jersey Girl and writing Spider-Man: The Evil That Men Do (which had a multi-year delay of it's own) and left DD in the dust. In 2005 Smith revealed panels for 'Target' number 2 and claimed that it would hit the shelves in mid-2006. Was this the ray of hope 'Target' fans had been waiting for since the fall of '02? I'll save you the suspense, the answer is NO!

Things had gotten so bad that earlier this year the Jersey boy himself revealed that the 'Target' that had been alluded to in issue number 1 was Captain America, putting the proverbial nail in Daredevil/Bullseye: Target's coffin.

Next week we look at Batman: The Widening...I KID, I KID. This one hurt to much!

If you have any ideas for my next "Set It, And Forget It" let me know.