Comic Book Resources

Hysterical!

Two other things:

1) Too much reliance on too few creators

2) Too many non-comic people, who are already busy in their preferred field, whose main interests are elsewhere, and whose careers won’t suffer in the slightest if if they miss their comic deadlines.

Just out of curiosity does anybody know the record for the longest delayed comic is? I’m guessing Ultimate Wolverine vs Hulk must be a contender.

I think the suits have a lot more responsiblity than we know. Look at how late Rush City was, even though, according to Chuck Dixon, everything was turned in on time.

Wasn’t Ruch City solicited as bi-monthly? Was the bi-monthly thing a last minute change to accomodate lateness, or was it always bi-monthly and still didn’t come out on time?

Just out of curiosity does anybody know the record for the longest delayed comic is? I’m guessing Ultimate Wolverine vs Hulk must be a contender.

I dunno about you, but I’m still waiting for the next issue of Big Numbers… Heh.

I think Miracle Man has Big Numbers beat.

Battlechasers #10 also comes to mind.

Didn’t Battlechaser #9 had a long essay about Joe Mad talking about how he’s going to get his shit together and put out this book more frequently?

Has Alan Moore stated any intention of finishing Big Numbers? I thought he gave up on it.

I recall Wetworks #2 being shipped out like 2 years after its 1st issue. But yeah looks like Ultimate Wolverine vs. Hulk will beat that lol

I might be remembering this wrong, but didn’t the last issue of Watchmen come out like a year after Issue 11 had been released?

Daredevil: Target has been a few years at least.

I might be remembering this wrong, but didn’t the last issue of Watchmen come out like a year after Issue 11 had been released?

I’m not sure it was quite that long, but there was a definite wait for the last.

Still beaten by Camelot 3000, though. I think there was an 18 month wait for the final issue.

Heh. I always forget to sign my first post in a thread.

Did a Google and found….14 months wait for the last issue of Camelot 3000. And only 6 for Watchmen…Interestingly, Dark Knight Returns also had the final issue come out 6 months after the last.

Also found this:

“Ms. Mystic! in between issues 2 and 3

feb 1984 to jan 1989

Neal Adams”

Pff, that’s all amateurville. European comics authors spend years to decades on series with less than 10 albums.

Then again, they’re treated as authors and often don’t even have a release schedule (unless they make one themselves) to follow.

Both systems have their pros and cons, I just find it a bit extreme how American comic book fans get their panties in a twist when the latest issue of whatever it is they’re gonna blast to shreds on the web is a couple of months late. I understand how it can be annoying but 9 out of 10 cases I rather have quality than timeliness (Naturally quality on time would be best but you catch my drift).

“Interestingly, Dark Knight Returns also had the final issue come out 6 months after the last.”

Although I was only 10 when it was published, I was buying it, and would be very surprised if it were more than three months between the third and fourth issues. At that age, six months would’ve been an unthinkable wait to pick up the final issue.

I don’t know if Daredevil Target counts, since I’m not sure if Marvel has given up on it or not. But I think SPider-Man: Black Cat wins, if you are only counting delayed books that actually ended up coming out eventually.

‘Ghost Rider’ #94 has either Kevin Smith title beat. Not just beat, but, like, red-headed stepchild beat. That was something like 9 years.

I think a big culprit is the shift (which actually started back in the 1990s, as you’re all well aware) from following characters to following creators. If you follow ‘Iron Man’, then your primary concern is getting the new Iron Man story, and evaluating its worth as an addition to the ongoing tale comes later. But if you follow Warren Ellis, then you’re only interested in Iron Man insofar as Warren Ellis’ run on the title.

Where this contributes to lateness is the shift in power that it gives creators. If a writer was late on an issue of ‘Iron Man’ under the old model, there was a strong incentive to remove him/her from the title (either temporarily, with a fill-in issue, or permanently, by changing to someone who could meet a deadline.) But under the new model, there’s a strong incentive to wait until Warren Ellis’ schedule permits him to finish the book.

Which is to say, the situation will probably continue until lateness becomes a sufficient economic problem that the companies can regain some of their leverage over creators in the area of “making them hit a deadline.”

“I might be remembering this wrong, but didn’t the last issue of Watchmen come out like a year after Issue 11 had been released?”

No. The 12 issues of Watchmen got published during 13 months, very little lateness.

John Seavey – I agree with your point, except that, even before I understood that titles had different writers month-to-month sometimes, I *always* hated it when they would stick a fill-in issue in the middle of a story arc. (And, yes, they did sometimes have story arcs back then.)

But, I confess, I wish that Grant Morrison’s “New X-Men” had been delayed long enough to let Quitely draw it all. Although I suppose it would still be running, in that instance.

There was more than a year between Fray #6 and #7 too.

Rob Schrab is finishing up Scud the Disposable Assassin #21, and it’ll be out at some point this year. #20 came out in 1998, if memory serves. In fairness, that issue wasn’t continually promised.

“I think a big culprit is the shift (which actually started back in the 1990s, as you’re all well aware) from following characters to following creators. If you follow ‘Iron Man’, then your primary concern is getting the new Iron Man story, and evaluating its worth as an addition to the ongoing tale comes later. But if you follow Warren Ellis, then you’re only interested in Iron Man insofar as Warren Ellis’ run on the title.”

I would also say that a lot of it is driven by the rise of the TPB. Publishers are more concerned with making sure the comics look pretty when they are collected together and as such they are more willing to let artists take their time rather than getting a fill-in to do it.

“I recall Wetworks #2 being shipped out like 2 years after its 1st issue.”

Not true. The book ran for 43 issues between 94 and 98.

What happened was issue #1 was solicited in 1992 but Potacio had family issues and had to put the book on hold. Issue #1 didn’t come out until 94.

“Has Alan Moore stated any intention of finishing Big Numbers? I thought he gave up on it.”

He has said it will never be finished as a comic book series.

Moore’s got a few unfinished projects. Lost Girls was only recently completed. Halo Jones was supposed to be nine books long (only three are completed) and Moore said he won’t finish that one either.

Forgot to mention 1963 and several of Moore’s Awesome titles.

How long have we been waiting for the last issue of Millar’s Ultimates?

“How long have we been waiting for the last issue of Millar’s Ultimates?”

I believe it was originally meant to be out in October and its now due out in May. Still not as bad as Ultimate Wolverine vs Hulk, that was meant to be out this time last year.

Sandman got pretty irregular toward the end and I remember there was a pretty big gap before the last three issues of Akira come out…

But, I confess, I wish that Grant Morrison’s “New X-Men” had been delayed long enough to let Quitely draw it all. Although I suppose it would still be running, in that instance.

Here’s an idea…how about we start wishing artists like Quitely either
a) bust their humps to fulfill their obligations in a timely fashion, or
b) if you can’t handle the monthly, take on a miniseries or one-shot or something you CAN handle.

I don’t think we should start putting the pressure on the publishers to delay books and lose money because of artists.

“What happened was issue #1 was solicited in 1992 but Potacio had family issues and had to put the book on hold. Issue #1 didn’t come out until 94.”

Ah my bad Grant! So that’s where I got the two year gap from at least lol Now that I come to think of it, it’d be pretty fascinating to read a column with nothing comicbook facts like these.. It’d be different from Comic Book Urban Legends, since it would basically be gathering up funny stats of comicbooks.. Most delayed book, most artists on one single issue etc..

I think a big culprit is the shift (which actually started back in the 1990s, as you’re all well aware) from following characters to following creators.

The 1990s?

So I just imagined those huge “Kirby is coming” ads in DC books of the seventies, those EC fanzines from the sixties I have in my garage, all dem issues of Rocket Blast Comic Collector and pretty much every letter collum in every comic I’ve ever read?

I must have one helluva vivid imagination.

And Holy Shit! Google has the same vivid imagination too. A quick search for “Good Duck Artist” gives me more than 1,000 results.

Yeah, sorry. I kinda have a been in my bonnet about that particular piece o’ fiction. (Although I’ve heard the “fans started following creators in the 80s” variant the most, but I’ve also heard seventies and 00s. I think you COULD make an argument for the fifties, but I dunno if I’d buy even that.)

The record for most delayed comic would have to be a toss up between Miracleman #25 and Heckler #6!
Heckler probably doesn’t count, as it was eventually cancelled, and will never see the light of day, but if Miracleman’s legal status ever gets finalized, we may yet see MM#25!

I’d have thought you could only count comics that have actually come out in that list. If you count ones that haven’t yet been published there’s probably something from the 30s that would qualify.

Dan

I knew someone was gonna bust my balls over that “started in the 90s” comment; I revised it again and again, trying to find an accurate way to express my feelings, but eventually just went with simplicity. But, if you want the accurate version:

Clearly, comics companies were selling and promoting creators prior to the 1990s; Kirby’s “defection” to Marvel is an obvious example, as is Steve Gerber’s run on Howard the Duck, and you can probably find others if you want. But the 1990s was where the decline in sales on the newsstand and the rise of comics publications (in particular Wizard) made the creator-educated comics fan the norm, rather than the exception; it was where the balance shifted to “following the creators”, even though some did it before.

In other words, sure, you had people in the 70s who would pick up or drop Spider-Man based on who was writing/drawing it, but they were outnumbered by the kids who’d see it in the drugstore and say, “Ooh, Spider-Man!” The 90s was where that balance shifted.

Fair enough?

I still don’t see it.

I’m not sure what Wizard was doing that Amazing Heroes the pre-we-hate-superheroes Comics Journal or Comics Buyers Guide wasn’t.

I THINK you’re making a round-a-bout “The audience is getting older” argument. Which would make ‘em more likely to shop for comics in the same way they shop for books than to just grab, say, Bugs Bunny or Gabby Hayes Western or Iron Man off the shelf because they’re familiar with the property. OR Ghosts ’cause they like scary stories or House of Mystery ’cause it has a monkey on the cover.

Most times I’ve heard variations of this argument it’s paired up the oldening of the audience with the rise of the direct market combined with the rise of creator owned books an’ superhero stories aimed at older readers.

I STILL don’t buy that variat of it, though. Simply ’cause I’ve never heard it from a reliable comics history source, and I’ve got probably damn near a thousand counter-examples in the letter pages of my comics collection.

And, well, I’m not seeing a damn bit of evidence for this when I look at the CONTEMPERARY top 100 charts. Sure, Wood’s Witzend and Gil Kane’s BlackMark didn’t sell very well when compared to their more mainstream work, but neither did Morrison’s Vinamarama or Ellis’ Fell when compared to their superhero stuff.

All feels same-as-it-ever-was t’me.

I suppose the new trend they are doing with Wonder Woman and Action Comics, where they just interrupt the ongoing story with fill-ins until the original creators can finish their arc, is a decent compromise. The book comes out every month, but the eventual TPB can look good.

Granted, I’d rather the fill-ins were a bit meatier…

I agree with T that, given the choice, I would have preferred to suffer whatever delays would have been necessary for Quitely to draw all of Morrison’s New X-Men. Even if it would mean that issues were still dribbling out, that’s better than them *never* coming out. Because really, a Kordey- or Van Scivier-drawn issue of that series is not a substitute for a Quitely-drawn issue.

Ethan Van Scivier’s artwork is passable for me, but when he’s given enough time, Igor Kordey can do some beautiful work. The problem was that his issues were drawn in an afternoon