Comic Book Issues – Powers #3

My issue with this comic was its nonexistence. This issue was meant to come out in January. It’s didn’t come out until the tail end of March.

I understand all too well that delays are common in the comic industry. Something has to be changed at the last minute, the artist can’t draw fast enough or is injured, a personal matter arises that causes the schedule to be thrown out the window in favor of more important things, there is a mess up at the printers, computers crash, or any number of other things that can cause a book to be late.

Since I get my comics monthly I normally don’t even notice if a comic is a week or two late, unless its released at the tail end of the month and thus won’t be shipped until the next month. It’s frustrating when comics I was excited to read aren’t in the box when it arrives, but I usually have enough to keep me distracted from being too upset about it. And sometimes when that happens I get two issues of the series the next month and that makes me very happy.

The reason Powers upsets me more than most delayed comics is that they advertised to the fans that this wouldn’t happen. I believe the words “And yes it will ship monthly” were in the solicit for the first issue. I’m new to Powers and so I’m not up to speed on what happened with the last volume of the series, but from what I read it seemed to lose steam because of massive delays. Which would explain why this time they advertised that there would not be those kind of delays.

Now if I was going to make such a promise I would have 6 issues ready to go by the time the first issue was solicited. That way, even if something came up, you could go half a year without missing a shipping date. Which would keep the fans happy and would help you to keep the promise you made to them. Because I think that missing the shipping date on your THIRD issue by what is likely to be over two month is rather embarrassing.

Now Powers #3 is not the only January title that is still AWOL on my list, but it is the only one that seemed to suggest that this would not happen. All of these delays are made more frustrating by the fact that things like Rucka and William’s Detective comics with Batwoman came out on time every month. And while event comics are normally plagued by delays Blackest Night shipped on time for its entire run. I know they skipped a month, but it was a planned skip so that everything would ship on time in later months. I appreciate the forward thinking.

Powers isn’t new. They should know what the hold ups will be, who the slow people are. And if they say they’re going to get it right the second time around, it would be nice if they tried a little harder. Powers is getting close to becoming a series I drop to eventually pick up in trade (if I even remember or still care about it by the time that eventually happens). Issue 4 is on its way with my April comics, but if there is another massive two month delay I will put my money where my mouth is and stop supporting the title. What about you? What comics series do you read that are plagued by delays and are delays a factor in seeing a series through monthly?