Pull List Maintenance - 6 comics I’m in danger of dropping

In no special order:

Doom Patrol

There’s nothing really wrong with Doom Patrol. It’s enjoyable enough, but it just doesn’t really grab me. I don’t feel this rush or anticipation to read the next issue. I actually enjoyed the Metal Men back up far more than the Doom Patrol comic itself, but with that canceled my tie to the book has weakened. I probably would have dropped it when Metal Men went away, but my fiancé wanted to stick it out a while longer and see what the book could do. It really needs to wow us soon though or it’s gonna get cut.


Sweet Tooth

Again, there is nothing wrong with this book. I was really enjoying the first few issues, but I feel like we’ve hit a lull. I don’t know, maybe this one will read better in collected form. It’s just not wowing me like some of the others, and I’m getting so many comics that it’s hard to justify an ongoing that isn’t wowing me. I really like the characters though, so I’ll probably end up sticking it out to see where it goes.


Powers

I’m still mad about the delays. This book seems to come out when it feels like it. I still like the story, but figure that switching to trade might be more enjoyable. I’m not really enjoying (or usually even reading) the letters column in the back, which I assume won’t be printed in the trade, so really it’s not a great loss. Also, I never read the first series of Powers, and I’d like to get caught up on what came before. The series hasn’t really been confusing, but I do feel like I’m missing out on some things. It’s a good series but with the delays I feel like I don’t even remember what happened in the last issue sometimes, so it would probably flow better in trade. And at the moment the story isn’t grabbing me to the point that I can’t walk away from it. Still on the fence with this one.


Greek Street

I was really enjoying this story when it came out, but I feel like the focus is going to shift soon (based on solicits). This could be an okay thing, or it could be unfortunate. I won’t judge till we get there, but I am nervous about this one. Again it’s a pretty good read every month, but it doesn’t compel me to put it at the top of my stack. When I get to it I get to it. Also, I’m worried about the sales. I don’t know how Vertigo goes by those things, but it doesn’t seem to be doing too well. And if it’s going to be canceled soon I’d like to see it out for its full run. I don’t want it to be canceled (although my checkbook wishes something I read would be so I had the excuse to drop it).


Batman Confidential

This book has just gotten weird. It was originally advertised as some of Batman’s earliest untold adventures. Which was cool and fun and different writers were doing interesting things with it. It seemed to still be in cannon, just in a detached back-story kind of way. But now it seems to have morphed into the weird Batman miniseries book. I probably won’t actually drop this book because, let’s face it, if these stories were advertised as miniseries I would probably buy them anyway. It just seems like a weird shift happened when I wasn’t looking. And now I don’t really know what to expect from it anymore. Is this cannon still, or have we wandered away from that?


Teen Titans

I’ve been cutting this book a lot of slack. I’ve been ignoring the fact that we can’t seem to have any consistency on the team either in the book or creating the book. I’ve been overlooking it because I like a lot of the characters. I’ve been overlooking it because it’s the only place I can find most of these characters. But man, the last issue I read (not the most recent issue, but I can’t remember the number) was just terrible. The dialogue was dreadful. It didn’t flow worth a damn and was disjoined and distracting. And, as is often the case with badly written dialogue, NO ONE TALKS LIKE THAT! I was glad when the issue was over. The story wasn’t very good, but I’d seen worse, and I appreciated seeing Static’s old supporting cast. But overall it just left me shaking my head. And why is Cassie mad at Connor? They reunited in Adventure Comics and everything seemed fine. What the heck did I miss that now she isn’t talking to him or whatever? And what’s with the fantasy animal kick from Beast Boy? And what exactly did he do to protect the team in the explosion? Did he turn into a phoenix and absorb the blast or something? Does that even work? I have so many questions and most of them are along the lines of “…Huh?”  This fall the book is expecting yet ANOTHER new writer, so I'll probably stick around to at least see how that goes.


Now that that is out of my system I’d love to let others vent as well. Are there any monthly comics you are reading that you are in danger of dropping? Or any comics you’ve dropped recently?

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?