What you've Been Waiting For

Welcome one and all to my weekly invoice examination post. Here I look at what's shipping this week and point out what items I'm hoping to read, what the mini-series status is for Marvel & DC, and of course, what you've been waiting for -- comics coming in that have gone two months or longer between issues. Let me note that not every comic book listed in the What You've Been Waiting For section is late -- some have longer delays between issues deliberately. But, some of them are, most definitely, late. Ready? I am, so let's take a look...

30 Days of Night Beyond Barrow #2 (IDW) is arriving this week. The previous issue came out back on September 19th - just shy of 2.5 months ago. The previous series, Red Snow, seemed to come out at a pretty good clip, but this one is taking a bit between issues. It was ordered in September, so I'd figure it's at least just a bit late.

Chucky #4 (Devil's Due Publishing) is also arriving tomorrow. Issue #3 hit shelves back on August 1, making the gap between issues 4 months long. This was ordered in May - I am surprised Diamond didn't cancel and resolicit on this one. According to Rich's Lying in the Gutters rumor column this week, Devil's Due is going through some "changes." I wonder if that is part of the delay problem? Hopefully they're working to fix it, as this is not the first DDP title to run into big issue gaps.

Orson Scott Card's Wyrms #6 is the last issue in this mini-series Marvel and Dabble Brothers shared. This is another comic that's late after the DB Marvel split. Hopefully once Marvel fixes the problems they can do good things with the DB properties they now own without these lateness problems. The prior issue of Wyrms came out waaaaaayyyy back on June 20th.

And the comic you've been waiting the longest for this week is...... Dominion #3 (Boom! Studios). If you go to the company's post on this issue you will see that the original cover says, "May 2007." That would make this one pretty late! Especially since the comics usually hit the shelves a month before the month printed on them, like magazines often do. Issue #2 came out back on June 13th. If this publisher continues to have lateness issues we will, unfortunately, have to stop ordering from them. Chronic lateness is a deal breaker - it is one of only a few things that really kill sales of a comic book and make ordering the right quantity nearly impossible.

Look at that, DC seems to be keeping things somewhat on-time. At least this week! And Marvel only had one on the list, and I am going to give them the benefit of the doubt on this and assume that this was because of Dabble and the split, and not Marvel alone.

Speaking of Marvel & DC, now let's take a look at the status of their mini-series this week.

Big Two's one-shots & new mini-series for this week

• AVENGERS INITIATIVE ANNUAL #1 - Marvel
• COUNTDOWN ARENA #1 (OF 4) - DC (pictured)
  
• ULTIMATES 3 #1 (OF 5) - Marvel (heroes cover pictured at top)
  
• WHAT IF X-MEN RISE & FALL OF THE SHI'AR EMPIRE - Marvel
• WORLD WAR HULK AFTERSMASH - Marvel

Big Two's ending mini-series for this week

• ORSON SCOTT CARD'S WYRMS #6 (OF 6) - Marvel

And now - what I'm hoping to read this week

ANNIHILATION CONQUEST #2 (OF 6)
ASTRONAUT DAD VOL 1 PAPERBACK (pictured) - it's a good price and I thought the review looked good. Plus one of the creators gave us a call and asked us to order it, so I've gotta give 'em kudos.
ATOMIC ROBO #3 (OF 6)
AVENGERS INITIATIVE ANNUAL #1 SII
BLACK SUMMER #4 (OF 7)
COUNTDOWN ARENA #1 (OF 4) - with the $3.99 cover price, this one better deliver!
DYNAMO 5 #9
HOUSE OF M AVENGERS #2 (OF 5)
JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA #15
JUSTICE SOCIETY OF AMERICA #11
NEW BATTLESTAR GALACTICA SEASON ZERO #4
NORTHLANDERS #1-(pictured) this is my pick of the week. Brian Wood is very good and Laura said she liked it.
SUPERGIRL #24 - hopefully they remember panties this time, and I figure out what the heck is going on in the story.
SWORD #3
TWELVE #0 - we'll see if it's remotely interesting.
And I'm taking home a full set of the Wonder Woman action figures because I think they're pretty dang cool.