Comic Book Resources

He he, surely this should have been posted by ironic dog.

I love you, 3.

Wasn’t April Fools a few weeks ago.

Oh well.

This blog rules.

Do we get a fill-in by Kurt Busiek, Fabian Nicieza, or Dwayne McDuffie?

This obsession over delays is getting a bit too nerdy.

This “obsession” over delays is part of an important discussion over a presposterous practice that sullies an industry that produces periodicals. If folks get sarcastic or snarky in discussing the topic, that’s completely understandable in my book. When high-profile books like Civil War, Action and Wonder Woman can’t get their acts together, that’s bad for the industry, both in terms of image and actual sales.

An obsession that is indeed too nerdy would be the carping over the Spectre’s goatee; the griping is sillier than the whiskers. (Maybe Bill Reed devoting a whole month to primate profiles could qualify as an obsession too, but that’s a thoroughly fun one and a blast to read.)

Oh, ha ha, I finally get it

So, Rebis, it is essentially…”The thing you think is too nerdy but I think is okay isn’t too nerdy - just the thing that I think is too nerdy is too nerdy.”

Certainly sounds like a subjective thing, no?

If J to the AAP thinks making fun of late books is too nerdy, then that’s cool. Same with the goatee stuff. Everyone has different ideas of what is funny or what is dorky or whichever.

Actually, this gets at the one sort of delay I actually hate - the “better-dealt” delay. When Kevin Smith and Alan Heinberg can’t finish a comic because they’re taking on new film and TV gigs that pay better, when Grant Morrison and J.H. Williams III back-burner Seven Soldiers #1 to work on One Year Later relaunches of the Bat-books, and when Bryan Hitch buggers off to do Dr. Who design work for the Beeb rather than finish his Ultimates pencils, you are being better-dealt.

You are not receiving extra quality for that sort of delay. The penciller or writer is not taking longer because of his or her craft. They’re simply putting off one thing for something with a bit more pay or prestige. They have, in short, effectively declared exactly where they rank their comics work or their work on the cult series as opposed to more mainstream and more lucrative opportunities. And at that point, they’re asking that ou indulge them on the grounds that they’re so damned gifted and wanted that you should be grateful, grateful, you little bastards, for the opportunity to pay them to do comics.

That is roughly where my tolerance for delays turns into a giant “fuck you” to the creators.

“So, Rebis, it is essentially…’The thing you think is too nerdy but I think is okay isn’t too nerdy - just the thing that I think is too nerdy is too nerdy.”
Certainly sounds like a subjective thing, no?”

No, I don’t see it that way.

To be honest, most of the discussions on CSBG could be qualified by many (non-comics readers) as nerdy. I mean, it’s a blog dedicated to comics, right? More than that, it’s dedicated to the notion that comics should be good. Whether or not people like Darwyn Cooke’s take on The Spirit, or Dan Slott’s strange tangent in the latest She-Hulk, or George Perez’s fashions in The Brave and the Bold … those are all very subjective things, and discussions about such things might be nerdy.

But some topics are bigger than whether or not Wolverine has a son. I’m talking about things that are happening outside of the pages of the comics: How the creators manage their professional responsibilities; how the companies treat the creators; how the companies treat the fans … I don’t see these topics as nerdy at all. They have real-world impact beyond their artistic worth. They affect the industry itself.

@Brian: That’s exactly right, I meant ‘too nerdy’ for me in the case that my general tolerance for ’snarky nerdy’ might be a lot lower than for Bill Reed’s ‘wild funny nerdy’ which I find highly enjoyable.

@Rebis: I think you’re severely overrating ‘the damage to the industry’. That industry has changed over the years. TPB’s outsell single issues now so in regard to overall sales it’s probably not a bad decision for companies to cater more towards that audience by granting the same artist/writer more time to finish a story-arc then to get someone to fill in or take over. Whether that is a good or a bad development is an entirely different discussion.

Trades outsell single issues?

Not of the superhero books they don’t.

But, yeah, delays-of-non-Beanworld-books aren’t something I care about at all.

Trades outsell single issues?

Not of the superhero books they don’t.

Are you sure? Last I knew the only sales we saw were Diamond ones and the bookshop sales were kept secret