John Jakala writes an open letter to Dark Horse:
I’m tired of having to actively follow your release schedule, and I’m guessing that I’m not the only one. As the customer, I shouldn’t have to work this hard to get your product. There are too many other entertainment options — including manga from other publishers — that come out reliably for me to expend this much time and energy keeping up with the constant changes in your publication dates. It’s unfortunate, because Dark Horse holds a special spot in my memories when it comes to manga: Oh My Goddess was the first manga series I ever followed, and Super Manga Blast was a wonderful anthology that expanded my exposure to the growing category of Japanese comics. But nowadays Dark Horse isn’t the only manga publisher on the block, and I’ve seen that other companies can do a better job when it comes to maintaining a schedule.
Much more in the link, including his reasoning for writing an open letter like this in the first place.
September 20th, 2006 at 12:30 pm
Well, he’s not unreasonable. I’d probably do the same thing, not out of deliberate action, but because I’d just forget about those books.
Maybe the monthly/bimonthly schedule of several other manga is spoiling us. Back in the day we’d be lucky to get a series two or three times a year.
September 20th, 2006 at 2:11 pm
Surprisingly, I got a very quick response from DH manga editor Carl Horn. I’ve asked for permission to post his reply on my blog, but the gist of it was: We’re aware of the delays and we’re taking steps to correct them (although no details were given).
I asked a number of follow-up questions that I’m hoping he’ll respond to, and I’ll post those, too, if he replies and gives permission to share them.
And Dark Horse was the one who announced that Oh My Goddess! would move to a bimonthly schedule once they switched to the unflopped format, but I don’t think they’ve ever been able to meet that schedule.
September 20th, 2006 at 5:38 pm
Unsurprisingly, the answer was “No.”
September 20th, 2006 at 9:18 pm
John- Sorry to hear it.
September 20th, 2006 at 9:49 pm
Chris - you’ve had experience dealing with Dark Horse over their problems in the past, haven’t you? Are they always so uncommunicative? Is there any chance that they’d respond more substantively to a retailer if you were to pose the questions to them? Right now I’d be happy just to get an answer on when Oh My Goddess: Colors and Kurosagi Corpse Delivery Service are coming out.
September 21st, 2006 at 2:46 am
Set up a subscription or “pull” list with your local comic shop and quit worrying about what is published when. It will be there waiting for you. This is what most people do. It seems to work but maybe it feels better to just complain.
September 21st, 2006 at 8:19 am
Well, subscriptions or “pull lists” don’t really solve the problem. I set up a subscription, but still watch the release dates because my retailer is still human and makes mistakes. Hell, even the subscription that I got through Marvel has had problems. Took me almost two months to get an issue replaced that had been lost in the mail.
September 21st, 2006 at 5:37 pm
Well, I do like to complain, but I was also writing this to Dark Horse in an effort to give them some feedback on why fans might be frustrated with them, to the point where it could even impact sales. I did correspond with Carl Horn, and he acknowledged the problems with delays and assured me they were taking steps to deal with them. I’m still skeptical, however, because (as many retailers and fans have noted) this isn’t anything new with Dark Horse. Chris Butcher, Brian Hibbs, and Mike Sterling, for example, have all documented DH’s long-standing problems with getting books out on time and keeping them in print.