iFanboy Mini Video Podcast
Show Notes
Where oh where have my comic series gone? Why would you not finish your story? We’ve all been there, and Josh Flanagan is holding some creators accountable for their missing series. We’re looking at you Kyle Baker, Warren Ellis, Grant Morrison, and the main offender, Damon Lindelof!
Like the subjects of the best country music, they were good, but then they were gone.
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Were you using a spotlight for this episode Josh? You look like you’re in dire need of a blood transfusion or something.
I was just thinking about wildcats the other day. I actually liked the first issue, to bad hell will freeze over before it ever comes back.
I’m a pale dude…
I’ll give you a hint, Ultimate Hulk vs Ultimate Wolverine is going to end in a tie.
I couldn’t agree more with this mini. This isn’t rocket science, it’s a comic.
The one book that has gone MIA to me is THE KILLER from ASP. Issues #5 & #6 shipped on the same day back in November 2007 and then we’ve gotten nothing since then. Wonder what happened there – wasn’t this just a translation of a French comic from 10 years ago?
Josh – I couldn’t agree with you more on about Special Forces. Every Kyle Baker project I am salivating for. I miss his Plastic Man.
Also, this was your best Jon Stewart impersonation ever.
The absence of Fell is clearly due to Templesmith cashing in on his new-found fame, as Ellis has a myriad of books that come out on time, or close to it. Templesmith did Red Snow to cash in when 30 Days of Night hit theatres, and now he’s doing some space/horror video game prelude comic called Dead Space. I can’t blame him, takes cash money to live, but I miss Fell, too.
what about the Halo series? I forgot i even had it on my pull list until just now.
aww, don’t hate on jim lee. he’s had valid excuses for being late on his books.. and how can you care when you look at such great art!
@mypistola – His excuse is he can’t say "no" when they ask him to draw things. Nice guy, sure, but not a good away to be a businessman and a comic book artist.
Also, great art is in the eye of the beholder.
I like how this whole video was just Josh going "Come on man, not cool."
Very realistic, because that’s the usual feeling you get.
Josh, didn’t Ron tell you? Ulitmate Hulk vs. Wolverine was just a dream Logan had. It was in Wolverine #50. And he woke up. So we’ll never know the end of it. Which is just fine by me. (Yeah, I’m bitter.)
I didn’t know that Damon did an Ultimate Hulk vs Wolverine book…that sounds kind of cool but it sucks that he hasn’t finished it. Fell…yes, definitely want more.
@conor – Isn’t good ol’ Jim Lee also the sole person in charge of creating/ working on and enforcing the continuity of the DCU MMORPG that’s coming out for the PS3 and PC? That’d seem like a full time job for me, fairly good reason to miss deadlines on the books….. well…. providing the game comes out that is.
Awesome ep, I used the Ultimate Hulk vs. Wolverine to get a mate hooked on the Ultimate Universe and in turn the Marvel U…. Kinda backfired when the next issues of UHvsW didn’t come out…. also, did the last issues of "Hatter M" come out? those were some amazing issues, but I only ever got the first few, certainly didn’t get to finish the story…. I think the artist was Templesmith on that too?
@torippu – I’m waiting on the rest of the Killer issues too, picked up the HC and those two issues on the same day, added it to my pull at my shop, and then nothing.
Also waiting on the last two issues of Brian Wood’s Local from Oni, haven’t seen one of those in a long time.
And what’s the hold up on The Lone Ranger? I’ve seen the adds for the next issue with art by Paul Pope in the last few month’s releases from Dynamite, but yet still no issue.
Totally agree about Fell. But in the back of the last issue Ellis wrote a section on his plans to get the books out quicker, even be written up to #16 by May. So the intent’s there, but then we are in April now and haven’t seen one yet.
I guess I’m the only one that is ok with late books. Sure, it stinks that we have to wait in between issues (especially when it looks like it’ll NEVER get done, ie Hulk vs Wolverine) but there are so many books out each week that I rarely miss them when they aren’t there in time.
Now, that having been said, I guess there are limits. I’ll never buy another Kevin Smith book after Spider-Man / Black Cat (wasn’t that big a fan anyway). But in the case of Fell or Stray Bullets or even books that occationally have problems like Walking Dead, I’m totally willing to wait if that’s what it takes to keep the quality so high.
I may be wrong but aren’t we still waiting on one more Planetary issue.
Ooooh, Planetary! I think I missed that one because when I decided to stop reading it, I almost completely shut it out of my mind. Good one.
I second the Local – love that book and can’t wait for the end. Also Special Forces was great – but I must admit I had kind of forgotten about it.
Didn’t Cooke’s Spirit fall behind, with an X-mas issue coming out in like mid-February? Just saying… I love the guy’s stuff and would wait forever for it, which is why his comment kind of got under my skin.
Ellis seems to have a habit launching series, then just letting them fall by the wayside or end up running late – most of his Avatar stuff has never shipped monthly for long (maybe the publisher’s fault from what I hear), Thunderbolts is about a month or so behind, and Planetary (although Casady’s other commitments probably hold that up, but I recall talk of late scripts). Like Cooke, I love the guy’s stuff and just want it ASAP. I’m not holding Ellis entirely responsible, but it seems like he works with the slower guys almost more than any other writer.
And why is it we readers seem more forgiving for late indy books than we do for late books from the big two? You’ve got Stray Bullets, Local, Mouse Guard (not sure of the shipping parameter on that one, so it could be on time), the books mentioned above. Do we see the big two as more of a machine, cranking out book after book in a factory-like way, while indy books are the little guy, sitting at his dimly-lit dining room table drawing on tablet paper, so we cut him a little slack? Raised expectations from the big two because of money and resources while if the copier at Kinkos breaks, I’m not getting my indy book this week?
With Local, I think it has been delayed because Brian Wood and Ryan Kelly were working on an OGN for Minx. I love that series too.
Did XXXombies #4 come out? It has been awhile since I read #3.
People always talk about how comics are better nowadays. That’s true, overall, issue by issue. But what is forgotten is that quantity affects things just as quality does. If a very good series these days takes two or three months to give us ONE issue, I’m not sure I would take that over two or three issues of one monthly series that’s just "good", on average. The extra time taken does not inevitably ensure a vastly superior product.
Delays are a horrible part of comic collecting today, especially considering how decompressed storytelling sometimes makes it so that 4 or 6 issues are necessary to tell one story. I love Astonishing X-Men, but, on one level, all that Whedon and Cassaday are taking four years to tell us could have been told by Claremont and [whoever] in only six months’ worth of issues, tops.
People always talk about how comics are better nowadays. That’s true, but I’m not sure if being a comic fan is better. I want to give these publishers my money in exchange for their stories, but they make this very difficult sometimes. And sometimes delayed gratification is not fun. I dont remember comic reading/collecting being such a frustrating experience when I first started 18 years ago.
P.S. Maybe I’m just bitter because, though it’s a week later, I’m still very upset about the final Giant-Size Astonishing X-Men being pushed back, again, for another month and a half.
action comics — johns and kubert’s conclusion to Zod arc. That’s been.. AWHILE…
Indeed it’s been a while since the story in Action has ended. No idea as to why that’s late either, is it the art? I know it’s suppose to come out sometime soon.
Late books and incomplete series’ are just part of comics. Let’s face it. Let’s all stop the bellyaching and move on…
@Dan – Cooke discussed his late issue and why it was late in the interview we did with him. Hint: It was not him it was notes/changes from the lawyers & editors that made that issue of THE SPIRIT late.
As for why we are more forgiving of late indie books, it’s simple – money. Creators don’t get paid upfront for doing their indie works, but they do for Marvel and DC work.
Late books are comic book blue ball.
@flapjaxx – Because if it was Claremont, it wouldn’t have been as good IMO.
@Conor – Thanks. Haven’t watched the Cooke episode yet – I apologize if the remark came off as snarky.
On the indy thing – Makes sense, but does the money issue hold true to non-exclusive creators, too? If so, that’s one hell of a racket – I’d love to get paid for work I haven’t done yet, but the boss won’t go for it. Plus, being in publishing, I’ve never heard of a freelancer getting paid prior to a gig – it’s always been after the work was turned in. Freelancing is a lot of hustle, much like indy comics.
@Dan – I think upfront was a rushed, poor choice of words. What I really should have said as Marvel & DC work is guarenteed money for a creator.
I believe at this point Marvel should have bit the bullet and got another writer on it.