So I’ve been enjoying Green Arrow: Year One by “Team Explodo”, Andy Diggle and Jock. It’s a fun book; I was going to write a review, but figured I’d wait until the it was finished. It’s only six issues after all, and on a bi-weekly schedule.
Except… it kind of isn’t. It started that way: #1 came out June 11th; #2 followed on July 25th, #3 on August 8th, and #4 on August 22nd. Which means that #5 should be out this week, but it’s not. It’s scheduled for September 26th, and #6 is due October 17th.
I don’t get it. Why would you put out 4 issues bi-weekly, then switch to monthly? I could see some merit if it were an ongoing series – get a bit of momentum out of the gate. But when you’ve only got six issues, what’s the point?
Checking the original solicitation information, we see this is a fairly recent development: #5 was originally due September 5th and #6 on September 19th. So it looks like DC got a bit ahead of themselves and had to adjust the schedule later on. Which certainly seems foolish: Judging by the number of fill-in artists needed on The Losers, I don’t get the impression Jock is one of the fastest artists around. So if you don’t have a particularly fast artist and you’re putting him on a six-issue series (and he’s also doing a second book, Faker), wouldn’t it make sense to have everything done up front?
Granted, this comes with the standard caveat that we don’t know what goes on at DC. Maybe there were unexpected personal issues or something. But even the solicits seem to suggest a lack of foresight: September 5th is a release date, even though Labour Day means (most? all?) North Americans get their books on the 6th.
It’s not really a big deal; I’m still going to be buying the last two issues. But it’s one of those “Huh?” things that works against audience expectations, something that may not be a good idea when dealing with a book that’s unlikely enough to be a big hit in the first place.