We briefly mentioned blogger Dave Carter’s “Late Shipping Hall of Shame” after its debut a couple of weeks ago, and now a second installment gives me an excuse to revisit the feature.
As the name hints, the virtual hall is a not-entirely-serious effort to enshrine some of those comic books whose tardiness has become almost legendary. Carter opened the nominations with titles like Camelot 3000, All-Star Batman & Robin, and The Ultimates.
Yesterday, he compiled suggestions from his readers, including Ultimate Wolverine vs. Hulk and Spider-Man/Black Cat: The Evil That Men Do. However, perhaps the best recommendation came from artist, and good sport, Chris Weston, who nominated writer Warren Ellis and himself for their miniseries Ministry in Space, which saw 18 months pass between the first issue and the third, and final, one.
I enjoy features like this and Lisa Lopacinski’s occasional “What You’ve Been Waiting For,” despite my general lack of concern for late-shipping books (I usually end up forgetting about them). Maybe it’s because they don’t assume the outraged, somebody-must-pay! tone of so many message-board posts on the topic. Or maybe it’s because that, after a certain point, lateness becomes, well, comical.
I’d briefly toyed with launching a feature called “Bring Out Your Dead,” which would chronicle series cancellations. But I quickly realized my every waking hour would be consumed with trying to discover the fates of those titles that weren’t “canceled,” but simply disappeared.
