On the Gelatometti blog, Jim Lee provides an update on the status of the infamously late All-Star Batman and Robin, and the not-as-late Wildcats:
Here’s what I know…issues 5 and 6 are DONE. I’m knee deep in issue 7. Rather than come out with 5 when it was done, the decision was made to hold up issues and stockpile them so when they do start coming out, that there won’t be any holdup between issues.
As far as WildCats – I can’t draw what I don’t have script for. Once I get that back on track, I will let you know. My enthusiasm for both titles remains sky high; last year was the toughest year for me personally but fortunately, things have lightened up this year allowing me to return to the drawing table.
Lee also provides a blurred-out glimpse of a few ASBAR pages, “so you know I’m not pulling your leg.”
“I’ve blurred out parts of my pages so no one official gets bent out of shape showing work before it gets printed!” he writes. “I don’t have official release dates for the books but once I do, I will put em up as well. Just relax and know many issues will be coming out this year.”
April 12th, 2007 at 9:14 am
I honestly have nothing but respect for him. I really believe he purposefully took a lot of the flack for this without pointing the finger at anyone else. That’s the mark of a true professional and an adult.
April 12th, 2007 at 9:25 am
Rob, you might just be right.
April 12th, 2007 at 9:51 am
I’ve always had a ton of respect and admiration for Lee, if for nothing else than simply because his art got me into comics twice (once with X-Men when I was younger and again with Hush while I was in college after a decade long absence from reading comics). It’s clear that he did bite off more than he could chew in the last year, but he has been up front and honest about it. Let’s hope that he can get back on track and then will make better decisions about signing on to projects in the future. Regardless, I’m glad to see him updating his fans.
April 12th, 2007 at 10:03 am
Not to bag on Lee, who generally strikes me as a class act… but he kinda DOES point the finger at someone else in the passage quoted. “I can’t draw what I don’t have script for.”
April 12th, 2007 at 10:13 am
He does do a little finger pointing when he mentions Wildcats, but I think it’s passable since the majority of his post is about the status of All-Star Bats.
April 12th, 2007 at 10:54 am
Jim is a class act and his work is worth waiting for
April 12th, 2007 at 10:57 am
I don’t blame him for any finger pointing that may be going on.
In this case, and many other artists’ cases, they’re not always at fault. Many fans usually just assume “well it takes them a long time to draw” when in fact the script isn’t in their hands or other parts in the creation/publishing process are the cause of the hang-ups.
April 12th, 2007 at 10:58 am
Matches -
When Grant Morrison was on Fanboy Radio, he took responsibility for the lateness of Wildcats (and Authority), calling them victims of 52, which took more time than he’s expected. I don’t think that Lee’s finger-pointing when someone else has already said that it’s their fault…
April 12th, 2007 at 11:05 am
I’ll buy anything Jim Lee puts out. He’s going to go down (if he’s already not) as one of the best EVER (along the lines of Kirby, Lee, Miller)
April 12th, 2007 at 11:06 am
I was more excited for Wildcats than I was All-Star Batman. Crap.
DAS IST GRIFTER!
April 12th, 2007 at 11:40 am
Yeah, that Grifter bit at the end of Wildcats #1 sold me on the series again.
Well, sold me even more than a Grant Morrison/Jim Lee pop comics hookup had already done. Which is pretty tough.
April 12th, 2007 at 12:21 pm
He’s not my favorite artist, and I usually cannot tolerate late comics, but the fact is, a lot of people had too much on their plate last year. I’m not buying All STar Batman anymore, but I anxiously await Wildcats.
April 12th, 2007 at 12:39 pm
hey did wildcats #2 come out yet? i thought it was supposed to be out a while back
April 12th, 2007 at 1:27 pm
I told my LCS to take All Star Batman off my pull list last fall, when Lee promised #5 would come out in March. Now he’s making promises that issues will come out on a regular basis…whenever they start to come out again. Sorry, but I am off the bandwagon, and staying off. The writing is terrible, and the artwork is missing in action. Contrast that with All Star Superman which is the best book being published today, which started after All Star Batman, and yesterday delivered issue #7!
April 12th, 2007 at 2:07 pm
I hate late comics, I hate comic artists who claim it’s impossible to do a monthly book on time, and I particularly hate the damage it does to the industry to have products that aren’t delivered on time.
BUT…
I think there has to be some kind of distinction between creators who are chronically late and creators who legitimately had a rough patch in their life and bit off more than they could chew. Lee, despite his superstar status, has been pretty consistent over the years in his delivery of monthly comics and I’m inclined to give him a pass because of it.
That said, the writing on ASB&R is pretty aweful…
April 12th, 2007 at 2:26 pm
Anybody who lates late comic books should stop acting like they have PMS, grow some scrotum and deal it. And if you don’t Frank Miller’s story, don’t buy it, you bitching fools!
April 12th, 2007 at 2:49 pm
sure Roy, but when will the lating stop?
April 12th, 2007 at 2:58 pm
Late comics send the message that if you are a big name, you will not be held accountable. Jim Lee can claim all he wants about DC wanting more issues in the can before it comes out. The fact remains that Frank (and sorry but the book still is written like a pile of garbage) had the damn scripts done up top at least 7-8 a year+ ago. There is no excuse about All Star being late on his end.
So what if Grant is the reason behind Wildcats being late as well as The Authority? Would it have made a difference? Jim Lee would have made some nonsense excuse about wanting more issues in for Wildcats before #2 comes out and that would make the book come out once every 2 years then. I am not cutting these people any slack anymore. I am not cutting this industry any slack anymore when it comes nothing being done punishment wise. Jim, you only have 2 damn books and a friggin video game. How the hell are you that busy? But you sure as hell make time to go to conventions apparently now that you got some issues in the bag. Whatever.
April 12th, 2007 at 4:50 pm
If I like a comic I am going to get the comic no matter how late it is.
April 12th, 2007 at 8:26 pm
The problem is if a comic is really late, then even if it’s good you lose interest. I used to like Squadron Supreme and I own all Supreme Power/SS, but it’s been so long that I honestly don’t really care anymore. I’m getting frustrated with Astonishing X-Men and Ex Machina, too. So if a book is terrible like All-Star Batman, then a delay makes it even worse. I’ve taken it off my pull list.
Simple fact of it is that you shouldn’t take so many assignments if you can’t complete them. While I give Lee credit for taking responsibility, it’s still annoying from a fan’s point of view (because the fans are pretty much only interested in the end product and anything in-between is more or less irrelevant) and it was still preventable.
April 12th, 2007 at 10:15 pm
Jim Lee, J. Scott Campbell, Joe Maduera, and all the other “rock stars” who are to busy to be bothered with drawing a comic book a month (okay, so Lee has 2) should be fired. Simple as that. If I was 17 months late for work, I highly doubt that I’d have that job just laying around waiting for me. Grow up Jim, it’s a job. Do it or get off the pot.
April 12th, 2007 at 10:16 pm
Oh, and while we’re at it, Dan DiDio, grow a set and tell these people to produce or go home. It’s only killing the industry.
April 12th, 2007 at 10:22 pm
Jim Lee is a class act. His work is awesome, plus we all know hes been hard at work on a game for SOE according to Gamespot. Those bluurry sequentials he posted are stunning.
April 12th, 2007 at 10:48 pm
I’ve often wondered why people seem much more eager to tear Bryan Hitch or, in more recent times, Steve McNiven a new ******** for being late but are quick to call Jim Lee a “class act” for being even more late, all because of a couple of mea culpas.
Well, I’ve figured it out and it’s down to goodwill. Jim has, in his DC tenure alone, come up with two solid years of consistent and timely artwork, which makes this current state he’s in seem more like a funk he needs to break out of than a real trend.
Jim’s current rash of lateness is actually of no direct concern to me as I haven’t regularly collected anything of his since “Hush” (with which I am now cleaning up on e-Bay
thank you Jim) but the fact that one of the industry’s most important artists no longer seems able to meet a deadline is worrying because it gives people like Marvel editorial more ammunition every time something of theirs is late, which worries me as I buy their books.
Anyway, even now I think Jim still deserves to live off the goodwill he’s spent years building as a creator and as a generally (from what I’ve heard and read, anyway) nice guy, but I would like to issue a gentle reminder: Jim, you sold Wildstorm to DC years ago because you wanted to focus on the creative side of comics, specifically drawing. You did a bang-up, and REGULAR job of it not too long ago. By your own admission, these delays you’re now facing are the result of over-extending yourself and going beyond simply drawing comics, which you wanted to do all those years ago.
Please, Jim, just keep it simple. All the best to you.
April 13th, 2007 at 12:35 am
From Tiso Spencer:
“How the hell are you that busy?”
You do know he’s in charge of the entire Wildstorm line, right? He does quite a bit more than just draw.
“Jim Lee would have made some nonsense excuse about wanting more issues in for Wildcats before #2 comes out and that would make the book come out once every 2 years then.”
How do you know? Look at his history on things. He doesn’t have a history of horribly late titles. I think it’s refreshing for a creator to come clean and explain why a book is late. That’s exactly what he’s doing here. I’m not sure exactly what you’re complaining about here.
Are the titles late? Sure. Is it something to flip over? No. There’s a TON of great books that come out monthly that people can jump on. Jim Lee is to the point, quite honestly, where he doesn’t HAVE to draw anything. He could pull a McFarland and just remove himself from the creative side entirely, but he doesn’t, and moreso, when he’s late and it’s his own fault, he points the finger directly at himself.
Moving past the whole “I’m pissed because the book is late”, I’m not entirely sure what you expect. He’s admitted fault in lateness of a book; he’s told us exactly what is causing the lateness of others, and he honestly doesn’t have to do either — other creators on other books aren’t.
I guess I’m not not understanding the hate here.
April 13th, 2007 at 10:08 am
I’m a huge Jim Lee fan and would wait whatever length of time for his artwork. He is the reason that that i got into comics years ago with Punisher War Journal and have bought everything he’s done since.
The Lateness of ASB&R annoys the hell out of me but I know it’ll be worth the wait.
What I don’t get is all the people that go on and on about lateness. If it bothers you don’t wait go buy something else. There are plenty of comics out there. As for it killing the industry that complete rubbish it just means that DC aint making as much money of the project as they thought they would. They will however clean up on TPB sales as all the people who canned it for being late will go buy the trade.
The comics industry seems to be becoming a place where all fans do is moan. Man. . . Get a grip.
Sorry for the rant.
Hurry up Jim!!!!
April 13th, 2007 at 10:34 am
“I’ve often wondered why people seem much more eager to tear Bryan Hitch or, in more recent times, Steve McNiven a new ******** for being late but are quick to call Jim Lee a “class act” for being even more late, all because of a couple of mea culpas.”
Perhaps it’s not the same people?
April 13th, 2007 at 4:20 pm
Been there, heard that.
Jim Lee has said lots of stuff like this before and what it boils down to, is that its really all talk. Does that mean he’s not really working on the art? Sure he is, probably ran out of all the original art money he made on issue 4 a year ago so that means, it’s time for a new issue or two!
People can say that’s a tough comment to make but you know what, as a reader, who was just left hanging for over a year, that’s what we’re left to believe.
If the 27 people here want to buy new Jim Lee stuff once a year or every year and a half, that’s great but for this reader, I’m all done with anything by Jim Lee and the last year without work by him shows that I can live without it.
Life goes on!
April 14th, 2007 at 4:27 am
Okay, granted, they may not all be the same people (though some names seem familiar enough), but my point was that Jim Lee’s fans are quicker to spring to his defense than Hitch’s and McNiven’s fans are to theirs. I attribute it to the goodwill Jim has picked up over the years in comparison to two relatively new artists.
I find it funny how there’s all this righteous indignation over Jim Lee’s lateness, when the simplest solution, really, would be to drop the book. Good for you guys who dropped this book from your pull lists; if you want to sock it to him, THAT’S the way to do it, not by spouting out venom over message boards. Instead of Jim looking like a jerk for his lateness, you’re the ones who walk away without anyone’s sympathy, so at the day you don’t have the book you’re waiting for and you get shot down in your rage.
It’s all this online hostility that gives the fan community a bad name and why to most people we will forever be fanBOYS.
For me, the BEST story of enraged fandom getting back at a late creator was that of Kevin Smith’s Spider-Man/Black Cat, which started out with over 100,000 units in 2002 but each of whose final three issues in 2006 only managing to sell about half that. There were people who turned away and didn’t look back, so yes, it can be done and has been done. THAT’S how to get back at late creators. Period.
April 14th, 2007 at 11:47 am
Can’t wait for new ASB&RTBW.
April 16th, 2007 at 3:26 pm
I remember when he was back on WildCats for good in the 90s and it lasted one issue.
May 6th, 2007 at 1:02 am
None of it matters. I bought, what, four ASB&R, as well as Wildcats #1, Gen13 #1, and Wetworks #1, and I’ve dropped them all. You just lose interest, not to mention faith in the creators as well as simple delivery of the product.