With Amazon announcing that there will be a Fantastic Four hardcover collecting the first four issues of the Millar/Hitch run in August (despite no solicitation from Marvel to that effect in the August solicits, so take it with a grain of salt), Millarworld’s fans wonder what happened to Mark Millar’s comment that the run won’t be collected until it’s finished:

“I think he said there wasn’t going to be a TPB until every issue was out. Didn’t say anything about hardcovers.”

“Or possibly it’s not his decision to make..?”

Mark himself appears, to clarify (or not):

“No, we were told no collections. Hitchy knows for sure, I can’t remember, but the idea was that this wouldn’t be collected until the end of the run. This is obviously Marvel’s call, but I have such a thing about trade-waiting. It’s my little pet peeve. Like people calling comics graphic novels.”

Not that that seems to settle things down:

“I think putting off a collection until the end punishes the wrong people though. I’m a big FF fan and fan of MM/BH’s work, but I live over an hour from the nearest comic-book store. Gas prices alone make going there a losing proposition. I guess I could order online but what’s the fun in that? In the 1980s, my hometown of 12,000 people had a thriving comics shop. One of the towns next over, of about the same population, also had one. But those days are long past. Now, stores in cities of 70,000 people struggle to keep their doors open. So “trade waiting” is not often a choice any more — it’s the only option. And that’s not even considering the readers around the world who struggle to find American monthly titles.”

“I’VE SAID IT BEFORE & I’LL SAY IT AGAIN: IF CREATORS & PUBLISHERS DON’T LIKE READERS WAITING FOR TRADES, THEN THEY SHOULD STOP WRITING ALL STORIES IN MULTI-PART “ARCS” THAT READ BETTER IN ONE SITTING. GO BACK TO THE DAYS WHEN MOST COMICS WERE SINGLE-ISSUES STORIES (OR EVEN PART OF A LONGER ARC THAT STILL HAD A CLEAR BEGINNING, MIDDLE, & END IN EACH ISSUE, ALA ALL STAR SUPERMAN) & MORE MAYBE MORE PEOPLE WOULD FEEL COMPELLED TO BUY THE SINGLE ISSUES AS THEY COME OUT.”

“I can’t imagine Marvel would be too excited about having no new FF product to put on the bookshelves for 18 months/ 2 years. That wouldn’t be very good business, particularly if it’s some sort of awkward scheme to ‘punish’ a segment of its readership.”

“Yeah, I suspect Millar’s contempt for those of his fans who prefer to follow his work in a certain format isn’t shared by Marvel…”

Contempt seems like such a strong word for a “pet peeve,” surely…?

This entry was posted on Tuesday, May 20th, 2008 at 10:27 am and is filed under Comic Books, Creators, Marvel, News & Views. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.