STOP THE LATENESS!

Latness is comics... It disappoints readers, upsets retailers, and paints the comic companies in a bad light. However, THERE IS A NO-BRAINER SOLUTION!! Seriously, can't DC and Marvel figure out ways to prevent delayed comics? Why is it that I can and they can't? Corporate bullshit? Okay people, here goes- First off, DO NOT HIRE AN ARTIST TO DO A MONTHY BOOK, OR A CROSSOVER EVENT IF THAT ARTIST CANNOT DRAW 22 PAGES A MONTH! Do we need another "CIVIL WAR," or the embarrasment of J.G. Jones from "FINAL CRISIS" and the subsequent company-wide delays that result from their inability to produce on time? I'm not saying that these great artists should not work in the industry if they can't produce for a monthly medium, but INSTEAD RELEGATE SLOW ARTISTS TO MINI-SERIES OR PROJECTS that don't affect an entire line of books. Moreover, DON"T SOLICIT BOOKS OR SCHEDULE THESE HUGE EVENT CROSSOVERS UNTIL THEY ARE FULLY DRAWN and "in the can." There's even more; comic companies should take a look at websites like deviantart.com for instance to mine the talents on sites like that for new hot talent that may be able to produce great work, fast. Again, it's a no-brainer.

Now, Lateness also has to do with distribution, and unfortunately Diamond Distributors is a monopoly that has a strangelhold in the industry. Why has no one investigated this monopoly? Or have they, and come to the conclusion that comics aren't that important? What I'm referring to here is the holiday scheduling. Comics have a long tradition now for Wednesday delivery dates, and sometimes holiday scehedules make the books arrive on Thursdays, which gives retailers one less day a week to sell new releases and affects readers who may only have that Wednesday to get their books. Again, ready for another no-brainer? SHIP THE BOOKS A DAY EARLY ON HOLDIDAY WEEKS SO THAT THEY GET OUT ON THE STANDS ON WEDNESDAYS! I mean, if they can ship a day late, they can ship a day early. DUH! WOW, it took one second to think of that! Can the industry get its act together? Who knows, but above are some solutions. Next up- the ususal Wednesday Comic Report and next Sunday's column on death in comics!