Chris' Thoughts on Civil War Delay
We begin with the always-quotable Mark Millar, from Newsarama:
Millar Choice Quote #1: "I absolutely never expected them to work their entire publishing schedule around an art delay"
Like they did, say, with Ultimates v1 (at least, that was the story at the time).
Millar Choice Quote #2: "Sure, it's horrible when a book we want is a little late..."
Seven friggin' weeks? That's not "a little", that's "way behind".
Millar Choice Quote #3: "...I can live with a few weeks if it means getting Steve McNiven every issue."
Once more: this is not a 'few' weeks; additionally, let's all calm down. It's Steve McNiven, it's not like we're waiting on Michelangelo here. He's good --- but not "delay 3/4 of our entire line waiting for him" good.
Millar Choice Quote #4: "This has been the biggest book of the millennium so far"
Um, what?
Right then, we move on to Steve McNiven's words at the 'Rama, in which he cowboys up, takes responsibility, and generally says the right things. I can't find much fault with his position here --- it's not like he asked Marvel to push back everything.
I guess my own feelings can be summed up thusly:
1) The conspiracy angle (that Marvel's doing this because they're changing the story because nobody's on the Pro-registration side) doesn't hold too much water, because A) people are generally liking the series anyway, and B) I get the feeling that Millar would be the first one to trumpet the fact that he's out-brilliant-ed himself and is making an even better story.
2) The sheer gall of Marvel to try and make up for this by --- wait for it --- wait for it --- soliciting MORE Civil War books is unbelievable.
Right after this:
CIVIL WAR FRONT LINE 10 (AUG062037; $2.99) moves to 1/4/07
AMAZING SPIDER-MAN 537 (AUG062018; $2.99) moves to 1/4/07
FANTASTIC FOUR 542 (AUG062045; $2.99) moves to 1/4/07
CIVIL WAR 7 moves to 1/17, Not yet solicited
AMAZING SPIDER-MAN 538 Not yet solicited
FANTASTIC FOUR 543 moves to 1/24/07, Not yet solicited
(That's January, folks.)
We get this:
NEW ADDITIONS TO THE CIVIL WAR CHECKLIST!
BLACK PANTHER 23 CW December 2006
CIVIL WAR: WAR CRIMES December 2006 ONE SHOT
BLACK PANTHER 24 CW January 2007
BLACK PANTHER 25 CW February 2007
CIVIL WAR FRONT LINE 11 February 2007
Wow! Three new CW-related Black Panther issues AND a one-shot? Thanks, Marvel, that'll be JUST what I'm in the mood for this winter!
3) The only reason I'm even talking about this is because darn it, I was actually LIKING Civil War. But as I mentioned in the comments on Randy's post, I sort of assumed going into it that it would be delayed at some point. Seven weeks, though? Good God!
4) Finally, it's dirty pool to the retailers, I think, by announcing this the day before it was supposed to ship. I'm not a retailer myself, but I can't see how this can be any good for any of them.
Why hasn't Quesada come out with a statement on this yet? Interesting.
5 Comments:
It just strikes me as silly that Marvel feels it's THAT important to keep the same creative team. I mean I've liked McNiven's art alright, but would it kill the series if, say, Mark Bagley (who doesn't appear to have problems meeting deadlines) helped finish some of the issues to get things back on track?
And more Civil War related books? Jeez.
McNiven was the only person to sound at all professional when explaining the delay.
Millar and Hitch (who asked him, anyway) made it sound like we should all thank our lucky stars we are forced to wait longer for such an obvious masterwork.
No big whoop to me, since I only flip through Civil War at best, but I'd be pissed if I was a retailer.
Hey calvinpitt, Mark Bagley was the very first name that sprung to my mind when I heard about this. That guy's art is always amazing, and he can crank it out like no other. He does 12+ issues on Ultimate Spider-Man and at least one short run on another book each year. That's what all comic artists should aspire to.
I spent the entire day telling people that the comics they really want are going to be another month.
~Sighs~
"Hey guys, we can't get the books we've alrready promised out on time, so we're going to add more!"
Stupid, stupid Marvel creatures.
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