They left off WHERE?! The Cliffhanger-iest Series We Need To See Return
There’s been a blank space in my heart—and my TV schedule—ever since the majority of shows went on hiatus before Christmas. I’ve already welcomed back Supernatural, Community, Parks and Recreation, and Sherlock with open arms.
TV downtime offers a perfect opportunity to crack open that book series you’ve been meaning to start, right? But wait! Books, unfortunately, have hiatuses, too, and we often have to wait much longer for their next installment. That being said, in the season of returning TV shows, here are four series that have us eagerly awaiting what will happen next.
1. Game of Thrones (Written by George R.R. Martin): If you looked up “hiatus” in the dictionary, Martin’s name might be a synonym. It takes the dude a while to bring his fans the next chapter in the A Song of Ice and Fire series, and there’s been enough of a gap that readers have become concerned that the showrunners of the crazy successful HBO adaptation of Martin’s epic series will have covered everything the author has written before his next book, The Winds of Winter, is released.
Looking at the page counts Martin has racked up over twenty years of writing the series, it’s understandable to think that the task would be daunting to the series’ creator himself, but no matter how long it takes, we can’t wait to see what Martin comes up with next, and it's sure to be worth the wait.
2. Chew (Written by John Layman, illustrated by Rob Guillory): Because of their monthly publication schedule, reading a comic feels like you’re constantly in the middle of a hiatus after devouring those quick 30 or so pages. That’s why I’m including one of my favorite titles that I’m always psyched to pick up on Wednesdays: Chew. At almost 40 issues, Chew is set in a future society where chicken is illegal after millions of people were killed by a bird flu outbreak. The comic follows Tony Chu, a cibopath who works for the FDA.
What’s a cibopath, you ask? Basically, whatever Tony eats—animal, human, or otherwise—he sees exactly what happened to it (because of this, all he can manage to eat are beets. Fun times, right?). It's impossible to do its plot anywhere near justice here, guys, but definitely check it out; it’s so totally worth the mini-hiatus stresses.
3. The Mortal Instruments (Written by Cassandra Clare): Fortunately for The Mortal Instruments fans, City of Heavenly Fire, the sixth book in the series, is due out in May, so there's not too much longer of a wait. Unfortunately, it's also the last book in the series.
City of Lost Souls, the fifth book in Clare's popular YA series, continued the perilous story of Clary, Jace, and Simon, and in the effort of trying to keep this spoiler-free, suffice it to say that Clary and company were forced into even more dangerous, edge-of-your-seat situations as Shadowhunters, and Clare was quick to leave her readers with yet another cliffhanger. So here we are, dangling off that "oh no she didn't" last chapter, knowing that City of Heavenly Fire will have fans anxiously awaiting its release all the way up until 12:00 a.m. on May 27.
4. Sex Criminals (Written by Matt Fraction, illustrated by Chip Zdarsky): Oh man, guys. Oh man, oh man, oh man. This comic is right up there with Chew for me as something I'm constantly looking forward to each month—especially after the perfection that was Fraction and Zdarsky's awkward family photo cover for the fourth printing of Sex Criminals #1—and hearing that they'd be on hiatus until March made me shed a single tear.
Sex Criminals follows the story of librarian Suzie and banker Jon, who both go to great lengths to try and save the library where Suzie works. I don't think there's been an issue that hasn't sold out its first run, Time declared it the best comic of 2013, and Wil Wheaton says it's the best thing he's ever read, period. Because it's so early in its run (issue #5 is set to be released in March), it's easy to jump on board and catch up with the escapades of Suzie and Jon.
Plus, it's really fun to read while on public transportation.
