Lateness...
It seems to be a problem that has plagued the comic community for years, but has been compounded in recent months.
My love for DC Comics is no secret, but they are the biggest culprits of this recently. As much as I'd love to sign on and complain about the lateness of Civil War (which I have other issues with and will get to) and all the titles that were effected, it really is a huge problem over at DC which is turning off lots of comic fans.
I mean as a Superman fan I was excited to hear that Action Comics would be written by Geoff Johns and Richard Donner illustrated by Adam Kubert. The first two issues shipped on time and the story was great. So good that MS read and enjoyed as well. It was a great read, then a long delay, turned into a longer delay, turned into fill-in issues, and now the story wont even be completed in Action Comics, but in an Annual. So ridiculous.
How does the comic industry expect readers to continue to follow stories when theyve made it impossible. They have no respect for the common fan. Action Comics to me is the top example, because its an extremely important book to me and a story I was loving, but it's not the only example of a late title. Marvel's Civil War and Avengers have been late as well as the relaunch of Iron Man (Adi Granov's work was beautiful but ridiculously late), DC's Wonder Woman has been a worse culprit, but worst of all is All Star Batman and Robin The Boy Wonder and Marvel Ultimates which are both months late. I'm all for trying to get A-list creators on books, but if they continue to be late you owe it to the fans to get the story out on time... just replace them and continue the story. The reason Batman Hush and Superman For All Seasons worked best was because they pre-worked on enough of those year long runs to get a leg up. Why isnt this more of a common practice.
DC claims they have a huge announcement about who will be taking over for Kubert on Action Comics. My money is on Mike McKone, whose work I love and who can keep up a monthly schedule. As much as I love the work of a Kubert, Jim Lee or Steve McNiven, I also like to read my books on a monthly basis. DC and Marvel should keep that in mind before they lose too many more fans.
Now, let me take a quick second to write about Civil War. I hated it. Another in the line of huge Marvel disappointments (Spider-Man: The Other, Daredevil Father, Deadly Genesis, House of M) for me. I think the best moment in the whole series was Hercules destroying the Thor clone in the final issue. As a reader who supported this title, I kept waiting for a big payoff... and got Captain America stop fighting and turning himself in. WHAT!!! Thats ridiculous. Then the next week Captain America getting shot in his own title and dying (which I don't believe he is dead, and am sure he'll be back in like 2 years when a Captain America movie will be released and Marvel will return him). Cap's "death" should have been handled in Civil War and not in the singular Captain title. In the same month Spider-Man goes back to his black costume (to put him more inline with how he looks in the movie). To have outside influences dictate what is happening in the comic is absurd. Its almost like in some boardroom a decision was made that Spider-Man had to be in the black costume because Tobey is in the black costume in the movie, as well as the Sandman being involved in Uncle Ben's death (oh... look at Peter David's Spider-Man were lo-and-behold the Sandmans dad is involved in the shooting of Ben Parker... hmmm I wonder how that happened). I hate what has happened in Marvel comics.
With the death of Captain America (besides Daredevil and the Hulk), there is no top-tier Marvel comic. It's sad really that so many characters I loved are now being mistreated. Marvel needs to take a closer look at a story like 52 and see what a company wide event looks like, and how death and major events should be treated. Create a full complete universe, similar to what DC has done. Kudos to DC yet again.
My love for DC Comics is no secret, but they are the biggest culprits of this recently. As much as I'd love to sign on and complain about the lateness of Civil War (which I have other issues with and will get to) and all the titles that were effected, it really is a huge problem over at DC which is turning off lots of comic fans.
I mean as a Superman fan I was excited to hear that Action Comics would be written by Geoff Johns and Richard Donner illustrated by Adam Kubert. The first two issues shipped on time and the story was great. So good that MS read and enjoyed as well. It was a great read, then a long delay, turned into a longer delay, turned into fill-in issues, and now the story wont even be completed in Action Comics, but in an Annual. So ridiculous.
How does the comic industry expect readers to continue to follow stories when theyve made it impossible. They have no respect for the common fan. Action Comics to me is the top example, because its an extremely important book to me and a story I was loving, but it's not the only example of a late title. Marvel's Civil War and Avengers have been late as well as the relaunch of Iron Man (Adi Granov's work was beautiful but ridiculously late), DC's Wonder Woman has been a worse culprit, but worst of all is All Star Batman and Robin The Boy Wonder and Marvel Ultimates which are both months late. I'm all for trying to get A-list creators on books, but if they continue to be late you owe it to the fans to get the story out on time... just replace them and continue the story. The reason Batman Hush and Superman For All Seasons worked best was because they pre-worked on enough of those year long runs to get a leg up. Why isnt this more of a common practice.
DC claims they have a huge announcement about who will be taking over for Kubert on Action Comics. My money is on Mike McKone, whose work I love and who can keep up a monthly schedule. As much as I love the work of a Kubert, Jim Lee or Steve McNiven, I also like to read my books on a monthly basis. DC and Marvel should keep that in mind before they lose too many more fans.
Now, let me take a quick second to write about Civil War. I hated it. Another in the line of huge Marvel disappointments (Spider-Man: The Other, Daredevil Father, Deadly Genesis, House of M) for me. I think the best moment in the whole series was Hercules destroying the Thor clone in the final issue. As a reader who supported this title, I kept waiting for a big payoff... and got Captain America stop fighting and turning himself in. WHAT!!! Thats ridiculous. Then the next week Captain America getting shot in his own title and dying (which I don't believe he is dead, and am sure he'll be back in like 2 years when a Captain America movie will be released and Marvel will return him). Cap's "death" should have been handled in Civil War and not in the singular Captain title. In the same month Spider-Man goes back to his black costume (to put him more inline with how he looks in the movie). To have outside influences dictate what is happening in the comic is absurd. Its almost like in some boardroom a decision was made that Spider-Man had to be in the black costume because Tobey is in the black costume in the movie, as well as the Sandman being involved in Uncle Ben's death (oh... look at Peter David's Spider-Man were lo-and-behold the Sandmans dad is involved in the shooting of Ben Parker... hmmm I wonder how that happened). I hate what has happened in Marvel comics.
With the death of Captain America (besides Daredevil and the Hulk), there is no top-tier Marvel comic. It's sad really that so many characters I loved are now being mistreated. Marvel needs to take a closer look at a story like 52 and see what a company wide event looks like, and how death and major events should be treated. Create a full complete universe, similar to what DC has done. Kudos to DC yet again.
Labels: Comics
posted by LEV at
12:43 PM
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