Because Art Takes Time

I am starting to believe that all publishers should really require there to be a certain number of issues "in the can" as they say, before they start soliciting a series. And somehow they need to find a way to keep artists on schedule. Maybe spread the wealth - there are MANY good artists that can't find work. We had one visit the store a month or so ago and he said that publishers can find plenty of good artists, it's good writers they have a harder time finding. (I think it's more like good ideas, not writers, that they need, but that's a different rant.)

Lately, more often than not, when a comic book runs late the artist is the one who is either blamed or claims responsibility. For example, Jim Lee has admitted that he's the hold-up on All-Star Batman and Robin. Steve McNiven took responsibility for the delays on Civil War. I know there were delays on Infinite Crisis last year, and DC ended up having to use a few different fill-in artists to get the issues done in a somewhat timely manner.

Every week we get emails from both DC and Marvel that list different retailer info bits, like new variants, clearance sales, updated release dates, and changes made to comics that are different from what was originally in Previews. Today our DC email had several changes to comics in regard to the artists that would be working on some of the upcoming issues. This seems to demonstrate that DC's artists on these comics are also falling behind, and rather than having the comics be very late, they are using fill-ins. This is all well and good, but maybe it also means that DC should evaluate the performance of the regular artists vs. the fill-ins and consider maybe giving the fill-in artists, who are often given extremely tight deadlines, a shot at regular work and reducing the work loads of those that can't keep up. Yes, I want good art in my comics. Yes, I want comics to come out on-time. Now, if we could find a way to get BOTH it would really be ideal.

Here are the DC books with artist changes:

JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA #8 (FEB070281) and JUSTICE SOCIETY OF AMERICA #5 (FEB070283), the first two chapters of the 5-part crossover story "The Lightning Saga," both have art updates. JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA #8 will feature art by the MYSTERY IN SPACE team of Shane Davis and Matt "Bat" Banning, and JUSTICE SOCIETY OF AMERICA #5 will be illustrated by Fernando Pasarin (ION).

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ART UPDATE FOR GREEN LANTERN #18 AND 19

Please note that GREEN LANTERN #18 (JAN070293) and 19 (FEB070275) will be illustrated by Daniel Acuña (UNCLE SAM AND THE FREEDOM FIGHTERS), with covers by regular series artists Ivan Reis and Oclair Albert.

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ART UPDATE FOR TALES OF THE UNEXPECTED #6

The lead story for TALES OF THE UNEXPECTED #6 (JAN070322), starring the Spectre, now will be illustrated by classic SPECTRE artist Tom Mandrake. This story was solicited with art by Eric Battle and Prentis Rollins.