EVERYTHING BUT IMAGINARY #193: SHIPPING LIST SHUFFLE

[Blake Petit]

Things have been difficult around here at Everything But Imaginary Global Headquarters lately, guys. It started with a sore back a week and a half ago and it rolled forward to the point where I’m seeing a bone specialist on Friday about the (very literal) pain in the rump I’ve been suffering from. But worse than the pain, worse than the missed time at work, worse than the fact that I spent almost an entire week not getting off the couch, was the fact that last Wednesday I couldn’t make my regular trip to the comic shop.

I know. The medication I was on wasn’t enough to defeat the withdrawl pains.

Today, after my doctor’s appointment was over, it was too late to make it back to school (by the time I made it there my last class of the day would almost be over), so I decided to take advantage of the time to dart over to the comic shop and pick up my comics. I shuddered, on my way there, to imagine how many books I’d have waiting after two weeks. Even my weekly finds get big some times. I had to make it, though, because there was no way I was waiting for Justice Society of America #1. When I got the pile of comics, though, it wasn’t quite as much as I had expected – in fact, I’ve had single weeks lately that were bigger than the two-week lot I walked away with. And because I wanted to think about virtually anything besides the fact that I’m almost out of medication, I got to thinking about comic book shipping.

I’ve ranted before about the way comics are distributed (most recently in EBI #177: How Diamond Makes Things Rough), and that’s part of the shipping issue. How many of us have checked the Diamond list on Monday to see what’s coming out this week, then rushed to the comic shop on Wednesday only to find the book didn’t make it out after all? Or even worse – to find out that the book was released, but the shops in your area were shorted, and you can’t get your hands on a copy? Happens all the time.

But that’s a Diamond thing. My real question is about how the companies themselves choose to release books. A lot of books are allegedly “assigned” to certain weeks – the first Wednesday of the month, the second, or so on. Back in the 90s, this was how the four Superman titles worked, essentially making the four titles a weekly serial. Then when we had the occasional “fifth week” (in other words, when the layout of the calendar gave us five Wednesdays in a month), they created the semi-regular Superman: The Man of Tomorrow to fill the gap. This concept was made obsolete when DC began doing “fifth week events,” a story or imprint that ran across several one-shot books released at once, like the Tangent comics or the Girlfrenzy specials.

This week, though, I’m picking up books like Aquaman: Sword of Atlantis #46 only a few weeks after issue #45, or Superman/Batman #30, which is the first issue in months. For a lot of titles, monthly comics don’t exist anymore. It used to be that comic editors kept “inventory” stories at the ready – finished one-shot issues that they would pull out and print instead of the intended issue in case the deadlines couldn’t be met. These stories, by necessity, didn’t impact any ongoing storylines and were often of lower quality (let’s face it, if it’s a great story you don’t want it sitting in a drawer somewhere “just in case”), but if nothing else it helped maintain a sense of continuity when you picked up your comics.

Sometimes the writer is slow. Sometimes the artist is slow. Sometimes the artist of a major event title is very slow, despite being given a massive head start, and that causes a publisher to have to withhold half of their comics in the most profitable fourth quarter of the year, sending comic shop owners across America out to sell their blood to pay the bills. But whatever the case, it’s getting harder and harder to predict when your favorite comic is going to be putting out another issue. This is a really bad trend. People like to have steady patterns in their lives. You get up at the same time every day, go to work or school, come home at the same time. On different nights of the week you know what TV shows you want to watch. (In fact, a great many TV shows have been cancelled after being shuffled around the schedule from night to night, so that the audience doesn’t know where to find them.)

It’s hard to figure out where the fix for this problem is. Gone are the days of the Jack Kirbys, who could illustrate a half-dozen titles a month, meet every deadline and still have them look like gold. Art styles have become much more complex since then, between mediocre artists who think the way to make a page look good is to copy the excessive detail of Todd McFarlane and Rob Liefeld to those very good artists who simply care about their craft and take their time to do the project justice. These days, you can count the artists who can consistently turn out more than one issue a month on one hand (I can only think of two – Mark Bagley and John Romita, Jr.). There are a great many solid artists capable of an issue – sometimes a bit more – a month, but many artists (including a lot of big names) can’t do 22 pages in 30 days. Sometimes this means shifting artists for every story arc on a title. Sometimes this means shifting artists during a story arc. Sometimes this means shifting artists during the same issue. And sometimes it means you wait for months for the next comic to come out.

So what do you do? Stop hiring artists who can’t make deadlines? That won’t happen – too many superstars fall in that category. Give them a bigger head start to help prevent the delays as much as possible? As Civil War has proven, sometimes even a huge head start isn’t enough. In terms of fixing this problem, the best solution I think is (when necessary) to run a book like Exiles runs – select not one, but two regular artists with complimentary styles. On Exiles, Paul Pelletier and Jim Calafiore, both fine artists, generally take turns between arcs. As a result, Exiles actually comes out (wait for it…) on time!

Not all shipping issues are caused by the creative team, of course. Image comics announced two problems this week that don’t seem to be the fault of any individual. The giant hardcover Invincible omnibus edition has been delayed because of printing problems – on a great many of the copies, the binding was coming apart, and whoever it is at Image makes these decisions decided it would be better to delay the book and put out a product people will be satisfied with then go ahead with a print run that’s going to fall apart. To me, that’s an acceptable excuse. Freshmen II has also been delayed, according to Top Cow because of a computer crash. Once again, no one’s fault.

Then there’s the problem I often have with Gemstone comics. I love the fact that quality Disney comics are being published, but I’ve often been perplexed by their schedule. Until recently, Gemstone put out four monthly titles – the 32 page Donald Duck and Friends and Mickey Mouse and Friends and the prestige format volumes Uncle Scrooge and Walt Disney’s Comics and Stories. Gemstone has released the two regular format comics on the second Wednesday and the two more expensive books on the fourth, and I’ve never understood why. Why not space them out a bit more, instead of making people who want both of the prestige books take a bigger hit all at once? Is it cheaper to ship the prestige books together than to space them out? At any rate, it’s a moot point now, Gemstone is pulling the plug on the two regular monthlies in lieu of a higher push on specials and trade paperbacks, plus a new giant black-and-white anthology (in the style of the Manga title Shonen Jump). Without the two regular monthlies, will they space out the larger books more? I hope so.

Consistent shipping schedules are getting rarer and rarer, but they’re more and more important these days. People need to know how to allocate their funds, and when the books they want don’t come in when they expect them, or when dozens come in at once, that screws up their finances and ticks them off. And the last thing we need right now are unhappy customers.

Obviously there was no “Favorite of the Week” for last week, because I didn’t get my comics until today. Sorry ‘bout that. But don’t forget to send me your nominations for the 2006 Everything But Imaginary Awards! Click on the link for a complete list of rules and categories.

Blake M. Petit is the author of the superhero comedy novel, Other People's Heroes, the suspense novel The Beginner and the weekly “Think About It” humor column at Think About It Central. His new comic, Evertime, is coming soon from Tightlip Entertainment. E-mail him at Blake@comixtreme.com and visit him on the web at Evertime Realms.

[Jason Kanno]

Add Salvador Larroca to that list of artists who just pump out work.

[Walt Kneeland]

I honestly do miss the days of The Adventures of SUPERMAN the Man of Steel in Action Comics...

The irregularity of schedules on a lot of books has made it much easier for me to drop stuff, particularly when buying out of habit. And with stuff often reading better in collected volumes, I'm waiting more and more for that format, cuz when those are 6-7 months apart, at least I'm getting a full story (arc).

Hadn't heard about the Gemstone anthology--this is gonna be Disney stuff, right?

[Blake Petit]

Originally Posted by Walt Kneeland

Hadn't heard about the Gemstone anthology--this is gonna be Disney stuff, right?

Yep. They announced it in the last issues of Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck. They said they're going to pull back on those two comics and the two "take-along" (digest sized) series, at least for the forseeable future, and add the anthology. They're also adding two more giant annuals (like the Vacation Parade and Christmas Parade) and more specials and trades, including more Walt Disney Treasures volumes.

[Walt Kneeland]

hmm. That's cool. Have they suggested a possible price-range that you know of?

[Blake Petit]

No price -- not even a title yet. I imagine it'll be comparable to the cost of a big, hefty manga anthology like the aforementioned Shonen Jump. I tell ya, those things are popular -- I see kids at school with them all the time.

[Liam Creswick]

One of the reasons Green Arrow, Incredible Hulk, and Punisher MAX are three of my favorite series. Almost always on time since I started collecting them. (yes I am aware thier are many more, but they stand out as the "old reliables") I have always told myself, even if I give up the habbit, those are some of the titles I'm sticking with for a long time. Puctuality is one of those reasons.

[Blake Petit]

I just wish the publishers would realize how many fans actually value that quality. It seems like they've got no clue sometimes.

[cv_otaku]

Originally Posted by Blake Petit

I just wish the publishers would realize how many fans actually value that quality. It seems like they've got no clue sometimes.

Wait a second. Publishers have no idea about what the fans want? What? I don't believe it.

If only they would understand that many of the things they do tend to turn us off of their comics, rather than the other way around. Varient covers, industry-wide story arcs that will "shake the foundation of the universe at its core (until its retconned)", high-quality paper that drives up cost and decompressed story-telling immediately come to mind.

I understand that I don't speak for all comic book customers, but I've been hearing complaints about these things for a while. I think that the majority of consumers will find, at least, one thing on that list they don't like.

[Walt Kneeland]

There've been series that I've flat-out refused to even try due to variants, and others that I've been entirely turned off to due to variants (particularly Transformers comics in general. Twice.)

Quality-wise, especially for the single issues, I'd gladly take newsprint again, or just a lesser-quality paper--if the art's great, that's an extra, but the fine details that I guess are brought out by higher-quality paper are lost on me. Perhaps high-quality paper could be saved for the collected volumes, make those a little more "special" or "premium" in a sense; differentiate them more from the singles.

Then again...I'm realizing the last couple years that in many cases, I'm probably not the target demographic.

[Adam Chapman]

The only time that I ever saw a variant approach which was intriguing and made sense to buy them all was Slingers #1, although that was very unconventional yet fascinating an approach for a company to take, not to mention risky.

Honestly, I'd be happy with the paper they used to use, instead of the current stock. Sure, the quality of the paper, and even the coloring technology, is much better nowadays, but the prices just get higher, and the higher the price, the more unlikely a kid is going to spend his allowance on it. The mythical young new reader doesn't care about paper quality, they care about the story and art. Focus on that to get new readers, and reduce the price as well. By making comics more and more expensive, they're cutting out that market they so desperately want.

And a shipping schedule is one thing which probably won't bother the average reader who just reads the comics and doesn't frequent msg boards, etc. This is because when there IS a letters page, it just says next issue, not necessarily next month, and doesn't give any clear indication of when it'll be, just to keep your eyes peeled for it, in essence. So a younger new reader, or an avg reader who doesn't frequent msg boards or keep attuned to the shipping dates, wouldn't likely notice or care all that much.

And then there's us, and we expect the product to be delivered when promised, and not to have to get delay after delay. One of my favourite comics to read right now is Green Lantern. Its finally starting to get more regular, but that's after months of sporadic shipping. Why even bother with release dates if the company is so non-chalant about rescheduling? I appreciate artistic integrity and all that, but seriously, are these "superstars" actually dealt with? Do they get a decrease in pay? Are there any repricussions from the company to motivate them to make sure they are on time?

Times like these, I openly express my love for the business and work ethic of Mark Bagley and John Romita Jr. The former can do two books at once and make it work. He did Ultimate Spider-Man and Thunderbolts at the same freakin' time for a while. If you read the issues side by side, I dare you to point out a spot where the quality sufferred. The latter, Romita Jr, he's always on time. His work sometimes shifts and changes as according to his pace, and deadlines, but at least it's there, ready to ship and on the shelf.

So what I'd really like to see is accountability. If I have a job, and I fail to produce on time, there would be disciplinary action, I would get a warning, and they'd be watching me to make sure that I improve. Comic book artists should be subject to some scrutiny if they can't get it together on time. Jim Lee had a scarlet letter, practically, before he took on Batman, and there were many concerns he couldn't do it ontime, even with advance work on the project. He did it, and proved he could do monthlies again... and then came All-Star Batman and Robin, and that all went to hell. But at least in his case, he has more business responsibilities than the average artist.

That's my rant for now.

[JX141]

Originally Posted by cv_otaku

...

Originally Posted by Walt Kneeland

...

Definitely agree with you guys I still shudder at all of the variants I bought back in the 90's, mostly at how I afforded them all. Still though I cant remember too many deadlines broken back when all that crap started.


Oh and Walt, while we might not be the "target" demographic we are probably increasingly the only demographic

[JX141]

Oh yeah Blake good column, per usual, but what with the topic and all, did anything not come out?!?

[cv_otaku]

Originally Posted by Adam Chapman

And a shipping schedule is one thing which probably won't bother the average reader who just reads the comics and doesn't frequent msg boards, etc. This is because when there IS a letters page, it just says next issue, not necessarily next month, and doesn't give any clear indication of when it'll be, just to keep your eyes peeled for it, in essence. So a younger new reader, or an avg reader who doesn't frequent msg boards or keep attuned to the shipping dates, wouldn't likely notice or care all that much.

This is true. That's because the average "joe" reader doesn't step foot in a comic shop. Most of them grab their comics on the comic rack at the grocery store, while their parents are shopping. They often just grab one that stars their favorite character and go.

As far as the topic of the column goes (I understand I went off on a bit of a tangent with my last post) I'm hit really hard by these delays. Some of you already know, but I live a few miles west of the middle of nowhere and there is no comic shop in my town. I have to use a Subscription service to get my comics from Denver, Colo. I get them once a month. Which means, if one of my books is delayed, I don't get it until next month.

Recently, this hit Blue Beetle. I absolutely love this comic. But, I didn't get one last month and so, when I got two this month, I had to go back and re-read the previous issue to find out where they were, because I was incredibly lost.

And yes, good point, Adam. If I consistently miss my newscasts, I get fired. Where is the accountability and professionalism of these people?

[Blake Petit]

Originally Posted by JX141

Oh yeah Blake good column, per usual, but what with the topic and all, did anything not come out?!?

Nothing specific I can think of this week (although my shop got shorted a few books that DID come out), I just got the whole bug in my ear and had to crank this out.

[Eleanor Cromwell]

Comic book rack in the grocery store? CV, I haven't seen one of those since I was a 12 year old. I have to go to a store, sometimes two or three to get everything I want that's on the shipping list.

[Blake Petit]

Closest I've seen in a grocery store lately are a few Archie digests at the Wal-Mart checkout.

[cv_otaku]

Originally Posted by Eleanor Epona

Comic book rack in the grocery store? CV, I haven't seen one of those since I was a 12 year old. I have to go to a store, sometimes two or three to get everything I want that's on the shipping list.

Actually, our last grocery store rack just disappeared. Now, the only place to get comics in town is the bookstore, which gets things about three weeks later.

[Blake Petit]

I was actually quite surprised last year when our local Border's ADDED a spinner rack. It's a thing of beauty.

[Eleanor Cromwell]

CV there are at least two other nationwide subscription services, would one of them give better (faster) service?