A book that suffers delays and doesn’t ship monthly (Wonder Woman, Superman/Batman, Green Lantern to name a few) or books that break the momentum with frequent fill-in issues (like Batman, for example)?
If the QUALITY of the book doesn’t go down, I don’t mind either, but usually, the long shipping delays are a frustation, but when the book finally does arrive, it’s the story you were looking forward to. Fill-in issues/arcs can be hit or miss, especially if it’s a book for which I’m not month-to-month loyal. I totally don’t blame new readers for dropping WW after the hideous #5 fill-in, but do think they should have calmed down about the long ship delays.
What I wish would happen is if DC or Marvel want to launch a book with a high profile team, they make sure 6 or so issues are in the can before they solicit the first issue. In other cases, when a known “slow” artist is on a book, I wish there would be two art teams assigned to a book for alternating arcs. Green Lantern might be a monthly book if that were the case. (Oh, wait, it *is* a monthly book in theory). At least with the Batman books, it seems like the fill-in issues are planned in advance.
I loved the Detective Comics solution, where they did a fill in for 2 issues, but sped up the releases so that they were coming every 2 weeks during the fill in period. So, really, the main writer (Paul Dini) only slipped by 2 weeks, and everybody got something.
But, to answer the question: I prefer to break the momentum (as it were) with fill-ins, as long as the stories are decent.
What I wish would happen is if DC or Marvel want to launch a book with a high profile team, they make sure 6 or so issues are in the can before they solicit the first issue. In other cases, when a known “slow” artist is on a book, I wish there would be two art teams assigned to a book for alternating arcs. Green Lantern might be a monthly book if that were the case. (Oh, wait, it *is* a monthly book in theory). At least with the Batman books, it seems like the fill-in issues are planned in advance.
Long ago, Stevie addressed this in one of the casts. I’m with Walt and Stevie. Have it in the can ahead enough to solicit on schedule. The editors job at the major companies is to maintain the direction of the books along with the summits you hear of. In a pinch fill ins are ok if they don’t detract. But the WW # 5 fill in is an example of a fill in that missed the mark a bit or maybe it was me.
I think that on CORE monthly titles (meaning the big names - Superman, Batman, WW, JLA, Avengers, Cap, Flash, etc.) the companies should make sure to hire writers that can keep a monthly schedule and then rotate art teams as needed. That way, at least the story always feels like it “counts” even if the art isn’t totally consistent. Marvel is doing a better job of this lately - Captain America is a good example with Epting and Perkins alternating art. New Avengers has done it well, too.
they should not have to do the one-off fill-ins by different writers (like the recent ones in WW, Action, Batman and Superman) that consquently read like inventory stories and make you feel like you’ve been ripped off $3.
Clearly some writers and artists take too long to do a monthly, and they should be put on special books that aren’t as tied to continuity and can be saved up until enough issues are in the can.
I’m also starting to think that comcs could learn some lessons from TV by doing more “seasons” of certain series that need more time for preparation - like Ultimates or Young Avengers, though of course those are both bad examples since they shipped horribly late even when they were in season.
I feel like I could comment on this if I understood better WHY books are late. Was Wonder Woman late because Heinberg just didn’t submit scripts to the artist? That’s what it seems like.
As an aside, I heard that Marvel used a ghost writer on some issues of Astonishing because Joss Whedon was running so late. If that’s true, I couldn’t tell a difference…
I felt there was a little difference in Season 2, but that could have just been the initial excitement dying down.
As for the sudden and abrupt shift from the Hellfire Club to the Breakworld storyline:
I think Joss was trying to emulate the Dark Phoenix Saga. Just as the X-Men subdued Phoenix and Jean became dominant, everything was good and we were getting a happy ending—then they were suddenly beamed up by the the Shi’ar Empire and all hell broke loose.
If it’s a limited or a Launch of a new title and one or more of the team has a history of taking a long time, then it behooves the company NOT to put out the product until it’s finished or mostly finished. Now if it does depend on the situation though. I go back to the nightmare of the Civil War scheduling. I still maintain the idea that if that particular had been held back six months before it was launched, i think that the Real World connection wouldn’t have been as intense. The reason is that attitudes in our real world political views had begun shifting. By the time it ended we had a referendum on the war. We didn’t have that before and probably wouldn’t have in June or May. Would it have recieved press if it were launched in August? yeah but not in the same way or the questions would lean towards ” Do you think that you missed the boat on the initial question of “Whose side are you on?” or something like that. Civil War is project that was intended to be more than the pages that it was printed on and it was. Now Wonder Woman is a totally different story. Allen has had issues with latness before and for DC to launch that series before they had the majority in the can is a poor judgment. Marvel launching the Black Cat / Spider-Man limited with out the whole thing in the can was silly. Then you have a project like Spider-Man Reign that was completely there every month. they either had someone that worked quick or they actually hit their deadlines. Iron Man by Ellis and Adi Granov was a mess scheduling-wise. I mean Civil War wasn’t even considered when it started and by the time the 6th issue came out Marvel was scrambling to get a slight build-up in that series so it might just fit into the Civil War landscape. If JMS wasn’t using Tony in Amazing and Bendis in New Angers (which also was running late) then we would have no Iron Man stories really pror to Civil War.
From a consumer’s point of view…. it screws us over. It makes the necessity of the monthly almost worthless. I shouldn’t have to be made to wait for several months to pick up a monthly book. I might as well pick up the trade. It’s not like buying a monthly book saves me money. no it’s more expensive. I have buy more bags and boards as well to support the books as well. The only benefit is having the story as it developes MONTHLY. My best friend will drop a book if it’s late continuously. His feeling is, I have dealines, they do too. I don’t make my deadline I get in trouble, they should too.
In essence, it depends on the circumstance to some degree but the various companies need to address it better because us kids are gettin’ more and more intolerant on this sort of thing.
I feel like I could comment on this if I understood better WHY books are late. Was Wonder Woman late because Heinberg just didn’t submit scripts to the artist? That’s what it seems like.
Yep. that’s pretty much been confirmed in several interviews.
I think my problem with DC and Marvel is that they seem to think that their own business isn’t as important as these movie or television creators at times. Joe Quesada and Dan Didio have been kissing Heinberg’s asses at times because saying that his executive television writing is more important, and while I could see their point, they need to look at the business model that DC did long ago when Kevin Smith did his Green Arrow run.
Really, don’t announce something until you have a set number of issues in the can. That’s what they did with Smith, and when DC did that, they actually got Green Arrow comics that came out on time. Yet, later Marvel and DC seem to really think that they can get more profit with the anticipation they deliver. I believe that’s just plain wrong and dumb. I mean, Kevin Smith took 3 years to finish Black Cat/Spider Man, and never finished Dardevil:Target.
I don’t know, sometimes I wonder just how much guts for their own company the big Two of DC and Marvel have to get a product out on time as promised. I see someone like Marc Guggenheim, who works on the ABC show Brothers and Sisters, work on Blade, Flash, and Wolverine recently, and then I see Heinberg who seems to be in a mess for deadlines. As for Joss Whedon, I really cannot complain about him, as Marvel seems to have the right idea in how to schedule Astonishing and Runaways.
I think that more than anything, I feel sorry for longtime Wonder Woman fans as well, because I’m sure their confidence is lacking from the highly well constructed beginning of the George Perez Wonder Woman run compared to the mess that it is now.
But those are my thoughts. :)
