Comic Book Resources

More creators need to be criticized for producing late work (and if it truly isn’t the creators’ fault, then the publishers need to be big enough to admit their own mistakes in this). There are few cases where the extra time results in a great product- “All-Star Superman” is the only recent example that I can think of (I would add Joss Whedon’s run on “Astonishing X-Men” or Mark Millar’s “Ultimates,” but I know that not everyone agrees with me on the quality of those two books).
To add to the frustration of waiting several months for an issue, the creators are usually rewarded with adulation, no matter the actual quality of the work. Plain and simple: it’s unprofessional, and in most other industries, companies would not want to hire anyone that is late.

As someone whose main books come out very sparingly (RASL, Mouse Guard, ACME Novelty Library) I have never understood the complaints about late work. Most of the stuff that’s really good is not going to be able to come out on a monthly basis. The few books on a monthly schedule that I find are usually limited series. I’m fine with that. I have to spend less money from month to month which leaves me more to spend on anthologies and longer works… and food and stuff.

I’m still really psyched for Wednesday Comics though.

The worst part is not knowing what’s going on. If something is going to be late, it’s a lot easier to take if you know roughly WHY? and roughly HOW LONG? it’s going to be before the finished product comes out.

Okay, look at a guy like Jamie McKelvie (Phonogram, Suburban Glamour). The guy knows that the next issue is going to take a while so he sits down at his blog for a couple of minutes to say that he needs to do some corporate projects to pay his rent, but lets everyone know he’ll get back to his creator-owned (Image) title as soon as he can. And he takes the time to fill people in on how things are coming along. Constant updates people! I don’t care how long it’s going to be, but when you feel like you’re being strung along, that’s when you just want to stop buying comics altogether because nobody likes to feel like a sucker.

Take, for example, Tim Sale. I love Tim Sale and have bought everything he’s ever put a pencil to. But this new fiasco with Captain America: White is just irritating to the point where I don’t even want it once it comes out. Instead they put out a re-issue of Amazon? Like that’s supposed to tide us over? And it’s not the delay that’s pissing me off so much. It’s the fact that he straight out refuses to fill his fans in on what’s happening, despite the fact that he spends more time on his own message board than anyone I’ve ever heard of. Tim Sale, Jeph Loeb, and Heroes can suck it.

If you produce a body of work and your livelihood depends on the public getting excited about and purchasing that work, then you are BY DEFAULT accountable to that public. You want to be an artist and take your sweet-ass time doing only the projects you want to do? You want to be James Jean? Well then do what he did and duck out of comics altogether. It is completely unacceptable to make people wait months and years (Frank Miller) for the next issue when it’s supposed to be a monthly comic. People will understand if you’re busy with other stuff, but you need to let them know. All you hear is rumors. Miller is working on another crap movie. Lee is working on some stupid video game. It’s just not good enough.

Anyway, I’m done ranting now.

Why does anyone not mention the culpability of the companies. Obviously they know the relative speed of these big-name artists. It’s been said that the quality of the art and stories that fans expect now isn’t the same as it was twenty years, and it follows that it would take longer to produce. But the companies still hire these creators because the products sell and they sell better in collections.

So it would only follow that the companies should step up and commission the projects well before they’re solicited. They should wait until they’re almost or completely done before they start releasing them. Smaller retailers end up carrying the financial burden when people stop buying a late title and creators are (often) unfairly blamed.

Oh, I didn’t start reading comics until a couple years after Watchmen, but I was suprised to discover that it shipped late several times during its original release. Think of both the quality of that book and how many copies it’s sold over the last 20+ years. How many collections of on-time monthlies are that successful by either standard?

Oh, poor Michael George can’t make bail. Guess he should’ve thought of that before killing his wife.

Hey, that picture of Alfred E. Neuman ALMOST looks like the infamous picture of George that is now verboten on this blog. Just add a mustache and see!

CharlesLobsterman said : “Tim Sale, Jeph Loeb, and Heroes can suck it.”

QFT.

It should also be mentioned that James Jean contributed 100+ of the most ingenious, original and absolutely beautiful pieces of cover art (Fables, Jack of Fables, Umbrella Academy, etc.) in the history of comics WHILE DOING FREELANCE CORPORATE WORK and never once caused the delay of a book for any reason.

Tell me about it, I just found out that “The Twelve” is on indefinite hiatus. I remember when guys could do a quality, monthly book on time and if they didn’t they wouldn’t work.

I’ve never understood why a limited series is solicited when the book has only two or three issues in the can. Why not get the whole project done then release it on a monthly schedule without delays. Provide penalties and/ or incentives for the creative team getting the book in early or late.