Precise release dates?

[Batman Prevails]

You know what really ticks me off about DC Comics? They never give out any exact release dates. For instance, they'll write "On sale next month" or "coming out this February". Why is that? Wouldn't it be more convenient for all of us if they write On same 2/9/2005?

Oh and while I'm at it, when EXACTLY will that one shot with the first meeting between Batman and Joker come out? I do know it's due this month.

By the way, why do I have the April 2005 issue of Detective Comics in my hands even though it's not even March yet? I'd appreciate it if someone would fill me in.

[Batman Prevails]

BUMP. Does anyone have answers to my questions?

[JotaEse]

Actually, yes, I do have answers to your questions. The second question first:

Pretty much any comics company publishes their April magazines 2 months ahead of time...Look at almost any comic company, and the date is early like that. Some magazines are the same. It's just a publishing thing. It started that way, because originally that was the date the issue was to be displayed until, when the retailer could tear off the cover and send it back to the publisher for credit. The credit thing is almost never allowed now, but they still have the April date on this months sort of as a "Display until" still, although most non comic shops just display until the next issue.

The first question. DC is better that Marvel at this. DC's far advances (like announcements at Wizard, etc) will say "This series is expected in August." However, by the time the issue of previews comes out 2 months before the solicitation month, they DO have exact dates. Check previews or DC's sit for the advances...they are by date. They want to make sure they can attempt to meet release dates (which DC does better than any other company) and they want to have it spread to where they have good titles and a good number of titles people want every week. If they didn't or if a title is delayed (which 75% of the time is the artist's fault) they have a week like this week where some of their mega-titles hit together (Teen Titans, GL: Rebirth, Promethea, etc.) and a lot of people don't have as much to look forward to on upcoming weeks.

Hope that helps.

[reideen1313]

outrageous said:

They never give out any exact release dates. For instance, they'll write "On sale next month" or "coming out this February". Why is that? Wouldn't it be more convenient for all of us if they write On same 2/9/2005?

Actually, they do give exact dates. They post them on their site, they send out a weekly newsletter with upcoming releases, I post them here on LOG every week and Matt posts them on the main site every week - all with the date they are expected to hit stands.

They solicit the books 3 months in advance in Previews magazine. Retailers base their orders on a couple of things - current performance being the biggest factor - ie Batman sells 20 copies per month - the retailer will probably continue to order 20 copies of Batman for the next month, unless there's something major advertised (which is the 2nd thing they base orders on), like War Games. Like Jota indicated, if there is a delay, then there's nothing that can be done. They just won't list it on the "What's shipping this week" list. Take GL Rebirth as a current example. The 3rd issue shipped in December, IIRC. We should be on issue 5 of 6 by now. Due to delays (the artist that's working on the project lives in FL and was involved in the hurricanes last year - so it's an acceptable delay IMO.) we are still waiting. Now, Amazon has a listing for the GL Rebirth HC collection available in June, which usually means we'd get it in May sometime. By the time issue #6 is shipped, that would put us in April. Honestly, I don't think that the HC collection will be ready to go in May/June, but I could be wrong.

My point is, delays happen. Sometimes things are out of the creative team and the publisher's control. There are bigger things in life to worry about than if a comic is going to be on the stands tomorrow. It's a fun hobby - enjoy it.