What you've Been Waiting For

Feel like you've been missing something? Well, you have been. This week there are a bunch of late books coming in. Time to get out the comic boxes and dig out the old issue to refresh before Wednesday.

Astonishing X-Men #18, published by Marvel, is not quite 2 months late. It was supposed to switch from every-other month to monthly, but it seems that it can't quite get there. The issue previous came out 9/20. Thankfully it's a good book and people will forgive Joss and read it.

Civil War #5 is another Marvel publication that is about a month late. Issue #4 came out 9/20. This is a good book, and it's a real shame to see these delays, as I know I've said before. The larger problem is that, because this is a "universe crossover" other books have been held up because of the delays on this comic series. (but we can't blame Civil War for Astonishing X-Men, because that's not part of the regular Marvel U)

Moon Knight #6, published by Marvel (Hmmmm. Are you noticing a pattern?) is also about a month late. Issue #5 came out... yes, 9/20/06.

Oh wait, a change, DC has one on the list too... Aquaman: Sword of Atlantis #45 is a month behind. This is another book that has some good potential, but faced with lateness, continues its downward slide. Issue #44 came out 9/13.

Sidekick #4 is just over a month late. The series was clipping along quite nicely for the first 3 issues and then hit the wall. It's fun and clever, but people won't laugh at it's lateness. Published by Image, issue #3 came out 9/7.

Squadron Supreme #7, yes another Marvel title, is over 2 months late. I was reading it, but I can't promise I'll continue to now. Marvel must have made some changes with this one, possibly due to the Ultimate Power mini-series, but I have absolutly no confirmation on this. Originally the first trade was supposed to include issue #7, but now the trade will only include the first 6 isses, and I think they're keeping it close to the same price it would have been with 7 issues - doesn't seem fair. At any rate, this issue should start a new story arc, so at least they didn't leave us hanging on a cliff-hanger for months. Issue #6 came out 8/9/06.

Death Jr Vol 2 #2 (of 3) is quite a bit late. It would have been nice to see this series end around Halloween. I think they did much better on the first series at getting it out on-time, but I don't remember exactly. This is another Image book - and I ususally expect this publisher to be late. Now, don't mistake expecting for excusing! Issue #1 came out 7/6/06--now go dig out your issue #1 and re-read it.

Finally, by far the LONGEST wait of the week - and possibly the year - published by a company that really should do better - Marvel Comics - is.........
Daredevil Father #6 (of 6). Originally this series was supposed to end with issue #5, but Joe Quesada insisted he had a bit more story to tell, and added an issue. Unfortunately, I think most people assumed it ended with #5 since it has taken, I kid you not, 11 MONTHS to get out from the day we originally expected to see it. I'm not even sure how long it was between issuses, since my spreadsheet debacle back in early April. But, I do know it's order code starts out: OCT05, meaning we ordered it in October of 2005, expecting to see it in December 2005, NOT November 2006. In an interview Joe Quesada did on Newsarama, he admitted that he "forgot about it," because the colorist was working on another project and couldn't get to it anyway. Hmmm... does Marvel only have ONE colorist? They don't have anyone extra waiting for a project? Joe couldn't have gotten this done when it should have been, BEFORE his colorist of choice took on another project? No one can give me an excuse on this that's acceptable!! Marvel and Joe Quesada should be completely ashamed.