As a fan and a consumer, does it bother you if solicited/announced/promised books do not ship on time? Do you think it impacts the professionalism and/or credibility of a company or book's creative team? What if they are conistently late? If you bought the previous issues, will you buy the final portion of Spider-Man & Black Cat mini that's what, a year or two late?

Since I tend to only buy TPB - makes little odds to me.

Doesn't bug me. Might have bugged me when I was little and buying books more for the characters than the creative teams, but as a grownup I'd rather wait for the next proper issue done by someone whose work I like than have some crap fill-in or reprint. Since most of us pre-order, we'd be stuck paying for an issue we didn't necessarily want. And that's not good business. That's a bait-and-switch, albeit unintentional.

Professionalism only enters into it from the company's perspective, I think. If a creator who's contracted to do a monthly can't produce the work on a timely, consistent basis, that person simply shouldn't be hired for the next opening. Give that person nothing but miniseries in future, and have all the issues in the drawer before they're even solicited.

That said, all artists and writers should be allowed a little fudge room ~ within reason ~ because creativity can't be switched on and off like a water faucet, and not all artists require the same amount of time to produce X amount of work. I'd rather read 10 really good issues in a year than 12 books that come out on time like clockwork but have a couple of clunker stories that were cranked out just to meet artificial deadlines. Example from my own reading history ~ about 13 years ago Walt Simonson was getting a little behind on The Fantastic Four, so they did one fill-in with a different creative team (that issue was a waste of money, IMO) and a 3-issue arc unrelated to the then-current FF storyline which Walt wrote but didn't draw. Personally I'd much rather have had a bi-monthly FF with Simonson doing all the work than a bunch of detours just to keep the series shipping on time.

Bugs the hell out of me. If there's extenuating circumstances then that's fine but to solicit something when you only have the first issue in the bag and there's no sign of the 2nd script when your placing the ad in Previews, well that's just taking the piss and exploiting the collector's 'first issue' mentality for profit.

Mike Daniels

I can understand a week or two late every once in a great while, but when it becomes a regular thing I usually drop the title. When I hit the point that I'm spending more time wondering when the next issue comes out than I spend enjoying the book, it is time for me to walk away.

That being said, if I really really really like a book I'll buy it no matter how late it is. Or...Anybody heard when Ben Edlund will finish Tick #14.

Does the year of waiting for that particular issue of Battle Chasers (and then having it only half-drawn by Joe Mad, half-drawn by someone else) fall under fudge room

It did make Battle Chasers an affordable book to collect, anyway (actually, I've only got the first 2-issue collection - had no interest in it after that)

Being more of a tpb buyer, it doesn't bother me too much (I still managed to collect the Ultimates, and that had crazy late problems), but the book really really has to be worth it.

Of course, some books should just be bimonthly or quarterly - as long as I know, I'd still buy them (if they were that good, again)

Of course the problem there is that some of those people who can't make their monthly deadlines because they're too busy playing with their "X-Box" won't be able to make their bimonthly or quarterly deadlines either. Not wanting to start another debate, but it seems to me that an artist who can't meet a monthly deadline, shouldn't be given a monthly book.

F**k yes!!! I buy my comics every week at my LCS. A day's shipping delay (eg because of all your public holidays) is annoying. Missing a book that's due is very frustrating. Waiting over a year for an issue is fatal.


F**k yes!!! See question one.

Bye-bye.


No. There's some ch-ching you won't be getting. If I want someone who grows roses I'll visit a nursery. These are (monthly or whatever) comics, dammit. Write the damn stories, draw the damn pictures, and do it on time. It's not like you're working some real job like the rest of us. You've been given an extraordinary gift.

I rarely know when something supposed to come out. (And can hardly remember what I've read from month to month.)

So, it's no big deal to me.

Short-term memory is bliss.

I agree with everything Melissa said...EXCEPT for this one:



Creating comic-books is a "real job." And a very worthwhile one.
I've said before that, as far as I'm concerned, comic-books are
just as legitamate form of literature as anything else. It's true that
there are several high-profile comics professionals that don't see
to be very professional when it comes to producing their work,
but that's not not unique to the comic-book industry. I'm sure we've
had to deal with our share of lazy coworkers at our jobs over
the years. Heck, just last month at my job they had to fire a guy
in my warehouse when they found out that, when he supposed to
be pulling orders, he was actually walking around with a
notebook writing rap songs!

I'm gonna go out on a limb here and say that I'll bet she didn't mean that as seriously as you took it!

I thought she meant, you know, put on a suit (or uniform), punch a clock, get your weekly (bi-weekly? weakly?) paycheck day-in-day-out, kinda jay-oh-bee. Creating comics isn't a "real job" it's a dream-come-true job!

And Frank is 100% right on the money.

It's like being a rockstar (ok, maybe not quite as dream-come-true but you know what I mean)

What I said was not to disparage comics in any way as a living, but more to say, "Buddy, appreciate what you have and make the most of it, because there are millions of us who'll happily jump into your place given the chance"

(like, while you're dozing with PS2 controller in hand)

Got it. I figured that. I only felt the need to address it due to
comments I've heard from "civilians" before that have always
bugged me. I told a coworker once that I wanted to write
comic-books & she casually replied "Oh that's easy." I wanted
to go off on her & ask "Really? So how many comic-books have
YOU written?" Or another woman who once asked "So you just
write the words that go with the pictures?" I'm thinking "Yeah,
that's ALL it is."

Still, even if you love your job, whether it involves putting on a
suite, going to an office, & punching a clock, or sitting at home
writing and/or drawing comic-books, or playing a professional
sport, they're all still work. I know Linda loves being a librarian
but I'm sure there have been plenty of days when she didn't feel like
getting up & going to work.

But I know what you mean, Melissa, about some of these guys needing
to appreciate what they're allowed to do more. I can think of a certain "hot"
artist from the early 90's who's pissed me off many times because I
think of what I would've if I had had the opportunities he had. I'd love to
draw, but have no talent for that whatsoever. So, as imperfect as this guy*
is, he's still better than me. And if I had been at Marvel when he was,
right at the time that the marketplace was booming & it was possible
to break away & form my own company & own my own characters, man,
there's no telling where I'd be right now. I'd have done whatever it took to
make sure all of my books got out on time. If that meant I might have to
skip a few conventions where I could act like a big shot to instead sit at
my desking drawing, then so be it. The work comes first, the hype comes
second.


*Okay, I'm talking about Rob Liefeld.

Since there are far more late comics now, than there was in 2004, what are everyone's thoughts?

Its one of the reasons I've dropped down to 2 titles a month, and will probably give them ALL up pretty soon.

If anything, I've grown to care less.

If only because I only go down to the shop that I have my pull list at every four to six weeks or so.

So, really, I'm kinda flexible on the deadline thing.

...when it comes to other people, that is. I frakking HATE blowing a deadline!

It really bugged me when Neal Adams did it to Ms. Mystic 8 million years ago. Now, I'm not bothered as much, I think because I'm not as focused on the monthly stories told by the likes of Mark Millar and company, who seem to find the slowest possible way to tell their stories anyway.

Depends. If I can't remember what happened last issue, it;s been too long