Are delays killing the industry?

[Immortal1982]

Astonishing X-men
Civil War
All-Star Batman and Robin
Wildcats
Young Avengers

The List of titles can go on and on, but that is just a small sampling. Nowadays a good chunk of books(not including the recent Marvel Civil War fiasco), no longer ship on time. In a few cases, some ship 2-3 months after their originally solicited date. And in the Case of All-star batman, we only got 1 issue this year(May) with the next issue due tentatively at the end of January 2007.

So with the problems with artists, writers, and everything else, Is it gonna be a major problem with the industry?

[KingVoyeur]

Since I jumped back into comics with Civil War, I am a little miffed about the delays, but I understand that they want to do it right, and I'd rather have quality. Same thing with Astonishing X-Men. I'm not a big fan of the bi-monthly release, but I understand Whedon's a busy man, and again, I'd rather have quality.

None of the other comics I'm reading have delays, so I can't really talk about it, but I can understand how frustrating it could be. I heard the first issue of All-Star Batman and Robin wasn't that great, so I didn't pick it up, and even if I had, I would've said screw it with this delay (then again, with a delay this long, how could I retaliate, go to the store and not buy a non-existent comic? Yeah, that'll show em!).

I do think that in the short-term the delays are hurting the comic shop owners, but in the long run, people are still going to buy the next issue when and if it ever comes out. I'm not dumping CW or Astonishing because I like what I've seen and I want more, and there's always tons of other comic series I can read too. Anticipation does make the heart grow fonder you know.

[DaForce]

Honestly, the good stuff (Civil War, Astonishing, etc.) are good enough to wait for, and a one month delay isn't all that much of a wait.

The bad stuff on the other hand (All Star Batman, anything by Dynamite, etc.) just makes it that much easier to drop both as a reader and (as is the case with my friend who owns a shop) as a store owner. It frees up money that would be spent on crap, and funnels it into more quality products.

[southpaw]

All-Star "I'm The God Damn Batman" and Robin is pure doodo...they should just stop production and pretend it never happened, but all the other DC titles I pick up are on time. As far as Marvel I pick up Ultimate Spidey and it has never been late. It seems like Marvel is having the hardest time....DC is grindin out a WEEKLY book in 52 without a hitch and Marvel can't get CW out on time? I mean come on......

[DeathScythe]

It really depends on the time the teams have to prepare. To be fair, DC has been working on 52 for atleast 2 years already. That's alot of time for the all the artists involved while for Civil War, McNiven had only a month or two of time ahead to work. As someone who spent a lot of time researching the industry(Dream job is definately being a penciler), an extra month of time can mean the difference between a great book and a poor book.

(Course, I had decided to get the trade for Civil War before it started anyway, so the delays aren't a big deal for me. :wink: )

I do agree with All Star Batman. I love Jim Lee's art and I picked up the first couple issues just for that reason. But I dunno. Thankfully with the delays, it's allowed my the excuse to drop the title. Perhaps I'll get the trade at some point.

[spacekicker]

Undoubtably. The delays end up killing certain titles for me precisely because I can't remember what happened in the previous comic OR some other comic that is coming out on time ends up spoiling something that was supposed to be revealed in the main event title.

ugh

And the Frank Miller Batman/Robin. It's not Miller's fault, Jim Lee is to blame, and I throw all of the blame squarely and that dudes shoulders.

[KingVoyeur]

Ok, can someone tell me what the hell is going on with Wonder Woman and Action Comics? I know they're holding the two stories for a few months and filling in with all new stories. What the hell? The the third part of the Donner story come out yet? Why the delays?

[SinisterPryde]

My favorite part about Wonder Woman and Action Comics is that the final parts occur in the same series, but separated by other stories. When the last part of the Donner story comes out, there will have been two stories in-between. Wonder Woman's final chapter comes out in, like, whenever. Can you imagine the confusion if someone buys the last part and then decides to get th eback issue, only to findthat the stories don't lead into them?

[tomato]

Overall, Yes, delays are a bad thing for the industry.... Now lateness is accepted and almost expected, whereas a late book in the past would've been almost a sin. What happened to professionalism and completing the task that you are being paid for? :?

[KingVoyeur]

I don't know about killing the industry, but right now they're confusing the hell out of me. It's only DC that's doing this right now. I was reading Wonder Woman but then they threw in some new stuff right in the middle of an arc. Over in Action Comics and Superman they've also thrown in filler in the middle of Donner's arc, which really pissed me off. At least if Marvel has a delay they just don't release anything instead of confusing the hell out of the reader. :mad:

[braveheart79]

Delays have been present since I've been collecting comics! Now every once in a while a company will go overboard on it's delays, cough! cough!! Valiant! cough! Wow! That cough fit crept up on me!!! Anyways, when that happens the company goes under. Sometimes it bounces back sometimes it doesn't. Either way the rest of the bunch start getting their shi-... stuff together! So No , I do NOT think delays are killing the industry. In a way, sooner or later, they'll make it stronger.

Peace out! :chewiedance: