You know I love you, right?
You do such great stuff. An “Oni Press” label on a book means, at the very least, that it’s worth looking at. Both Queen & Country and Local are on my very short “Run to the Comic Shop on the day they come out” list. You brought the wonder that is Scott Pilgrim, to the world, and followed it up with Sharknife‘s mad-ass craziness. (I admit I didn’t try Side Scrollers – it looked like you were going back to the same well once too often)
I know you’re not in an easy position: You’re competing for shelf space in a superhero-dominated directed market and fighting for bookstore shelf space with heavyweights like Tokyopop and Random House. A lot of your creators have higher-paying work with bigger publishers, or maybe they just have “real” jobs that keep them busy.
But still: You’ve got to pull yourself together. I can’t think of any other publisher that has such a tendency towards books that are so late I wonder if they haven’t simply disappeared. Queen & Country has had enough problems without considering the two Declassified spinoffs: Even though Declassified III didn’t seem to have any problems on its own, it got held up by the massive delays to Declassified II. Despite enjoying the first issue of III, I never even bought the remainder, since I flat-out forgot about it. The first issue of II disappointed me, but I still would have bought the next issue if it hadn’t come out so late that I forgot all about it. Delays on the main series are bad enough: With complex plots, intrigue, and countless acronyms, the book becomes difficult to follow when it’s coming out every 4 or 5 months.
And that’s not even counting the books that simply seem to disappear. My Inner Bimbo and Strangetown both debuted back in the spring, and neither has seen a second issue yet.
It doesn’t help that you just don’t seem to communicate. According to your website, the fourth issue of My Inner Bimbo will be in stores… August 30, 2006. Queen & Country #32… September 27, 2006. Local #10 is still listed as November 15, even though #8 still hasn’t even come out.
Like I said, I understand: Creators have lives, and other projects that may take priority. But it really wouldn’t hurt you to tell us about it: Set up a corner of yoru website for updates. They don’t have to be exact – something like “Queen & Country #32 should be out early in January 2007″, or “My Inner Bimbo won’t be out any time soon; we hope to resume publishing it by summer, 2007.”
I don’t really know how you can fix some of the delays: Do more OGNs, perhaps, or make sure you’ve got multiple issues in the can when you’re doing a series with creators who have other significant commitments. But really, late books don’t bug me as much as simply having no idea when I’m going to see another issue. If you’re really unsure, just solicit books one issue at a time, as they’re done. I won’t mind. (Except for Queen & Country, where the story really benefits from being kept fairly close together.)
I want to love you. I want to buy your books and tell all my friends how awesome they are. Stop making it so difficult.