This is as bad as having to wait an extra half year for the end of Seven Soldiers because Morrison, Williams, and DC needed to get OYL Batman and 52 out on schedule. It’s not like there’s a particularly good artistic-integrity-related case to be made for either set of delays, because in neither case do I get the sense that the delayed books (other than Civil War itself) will be of better quality for it. This is just publishers and, worse, writers and artists, blowing of prior commitments for cashflow purposes.

I have to think the companies have lost a lot of the “high ground” on delayed publication for this one, much as Kevin Smith did when he blew off his Marvel commitments because the money is in movies.

And wow…what a point by Hibbs.

Yeah, I saw that on the Newsarama update. I think the principle still holds, though. In an older market individual writers and artists were considered more disposable, so you could have the situation Brian Hibbs cites, where George Perez is replaced with Ron Lim to keep Infinity Gauntlet on schedule. But individual, big-name artists carry a higher premium now, so you get stuff like this, where the entire crossover get delayed for weeks just to keep the same artist on the book. I don’t think anyone really wins in this scenario (other than the wait-for-the-traders), but I can see where that pressure’s coming from.

I think the really glaring and stupid mistake on Marvel’s part was that they apparently gave McNiven no head start. They planned Civil War for months in advance, right? They couldn’t start the artist off a little bit ahead?

A shame it had to be that double-page spread, but maybe they will put it up on the web when the hardcover comes out so we can at least tell who the characters are in the background. I’m certainly not buying the collection just for that spread.

Also, I don’t mind Marvel’s announcement so much. It got me off the fence and finalized my decision to drop FANTASTIC FOUR, since it won’t be coming out anyway. I just hope this doesn’t affect THUNDERBOLTS too much, as it’s the only series I’m reading that is really taking advantage of the CIVIL WAR setup in a way that fits the characters and the setup.

Greg

Yeah, it sucks that Marvel can’t keep to a schedule, and it’s pretty embarrasing. And Marvel could clearly lean on its writers, artists, and editors more than it actually does. But they aren’t getting an incentive to for a couple reasons. First, artists and writers have become almost as much of a draw as the characters; how many people would still buy Civil War if they swapped out Mark Millar with Chuck Austen to get the book in on time? Second, despite all complaints, too many people buy the late books anyway to provide Marvel with a strong enough disincentive to lateness. Until you put your money where your mouth is, Marvel will keep ignoring you and screwing retailers.

There are various tensions at work here (preference for certain big-name writers and artists versus the corporate desire for disposability of same, for instance) that add to the factors that make the current American comics industry untenable. The desire to maintain a greater emphasis on quality storytelling will always conflict with a monthly shipping schedule, and the direction readers have been trending towards for the last twenty years (emphasis on particular creative teams over completist obsession with owning every appearance of Spider-man) is pulling against the old model of the industry (monthly serial pamphlets sold in a handful of out-of-the-way specialty shops).

Of course, it’s not like Infinite Crisis came out on time, even with the red-wash background.