Discussion about the Forthcoming Issues list

[Daphne]

Thanks for the list! Always cool to know whats in the pipeline!

Out of curiosity what are the average lead times for a comic (not trying to ask when these will be released! Just curious reading the production!)
As i see some comics have a artist only and others have  someone else doing the lettering. No need to be specific just ballpark: writing/story + art + lettering + proof reading? = ?I

The average is… probably not that meaningful, because the range is huge. We have artists that can do a 12-page issue in three weeks, and some that take a year.

The stages in a comic are:

* Me havijng time to write the script.
* Writing the script.
* Pencils/layouts.
* Inks
* Colors
* Lettering

While nearly all of the artists we have do both pencils and layouts, some do coloring and some don't. It generally takes a bit longer if there is a separate colorist, but there are exceptions to that, too: Octavia Moon just bangs them out. :-)

Of these, the one that is usually the longest is the first one. Once I actually sit down and write the script, it's usually less than a day. The part of the art creation that takes the longest is getting to the inks, the colors, and Mr Zipp gets the letttering done in record time.

Our target is 90 days from when the artist (or first artist if there are multiple ones) gets the script until the colors are done. However, the range is huge. Some of it is just how fast they work, some of it is whether they have a full- or part-time job besides art (most do), and some of it is just things coming up in their lives.

[Vidor]

Sad to see that "The In-Law Unit" is not on the list.  Happy to see that "Belief System" and "The Ring Cycle" are.

[wannabe]

The stages in a comic are:

* Me havijng time to write the script.
* Writing the script.
* Pencils/layouts.
* Inks
* Colors
* Lettering

While nearly all of the artists we have do both pencils and layouts, some do coloring and some don't. It generally takes a bit longer if there is a separate colorist, but there are exceptions to that, too: Octavia Moon just bangs them out. :-)

Of these, the one that is usually the longest is the first one. Once I actually sit down and write the script, it's usually less than a day. The part of the art creation that takes the longest is getting to the inks, the colors, and Mr Zipp gets the letttering done in record time.

Our target is 90 days from when the artist (or first artist if there are multiple ones) gets the script until the colors are done. However, the range is huge. Some of it is just how fast they work, some of it is whether they have a full- or part-time job besides art (most do), and some of it is just things coming up in their lives.

So this is something I've been meaning to ask.

There are clearly books where you know the entire story arc before you started: Alchemist, ConFused, Checkered Past, Enchanted Summer. But there are others -- Bigger, Inheritance, Ring Cycle, An Education, Friend Zone, the impenetrable SJI -- where the plot can be more or less infinitely extended within that world?

Before you start a book/series, do you always have the entire story plotted out, even if it takes years and years to tell the whole story? Is the writing down the detail of dialog and blocking, or do things sometimes get out of control and the charagers take over as the story's getting told?

[Daphne]

Before you start a book/series, do you always have the entire story plotted out, even if it takes years and years to tell the whole story?

Sometimes yes, sometimes no. I generally have the overall architecture of the story mapped out, but I don't go down to the level of dialogue and panel descriptions at that point. And sometimes a title goes an entirely different direction from the way I thought it would when I started…

[Espadachin]

And sometimes a title goes an entirely different direction from the way I thought it would when I started…

I think this totally happened with Enchanted Summer, from hypnosis to SPOILERS.

[Sharque]

Any chance of the list being updated soon? Several of the titles on it now have been delivered

[Secretsecretsecret]

Honestly making the list a regular thing even after it's caught up would be nice.

[Daphne]

Soon!

[laguna85]

when Saint James Infirmary coming back?

[doctorx]

"Canadian Girlfriend," "Vector," "In-Law Unit," and "Inheritance" are all stories I'd like to see more of.

And more Free WIFI is always welcome.  Loved the last one.

[Sharque]

It has been nearly a month to the day since we got a proper issue release.

Is there any possibility that we can receive some sort of state of the site update, at least to tell us what’s going on?

[wannabe]

It's worth noting, I think, that since December, only April had as many as four main-book updates. All other months have had three at most -- and now, the even weeklies and biweeklies are only trickling in. IOW, the deficit is growing, not receding.

I get that people retire, that artists sometimes act like artists, that there's a limited number of people with the particular skill and taste for this stuff, that you can only squeeze so much out of people, and that time is not infinitely extendable. I used to be in the publishing business, and I know that things sometimes go south -- sometimes for no reason, but sometimes for real reasons. But this is a lot of south, and we're now six months into it. It's not unreasonable to wonder WTH is going on.

[Haight]

It's worth noting, I think, that since December, only April had as many as four main-book updates. All other months have had three at most -- and now, the even weeklies and biweeklies are only trickling in. IOW, the deficit is growing, not receding.

I get that people retire, that artists sometimes act like artists, that there's a limited number of people with the particular skill and taste for this stuff, that you can only squeeze so much out of people, and that time is not infinitely extendable. I used to be in the publishing business, and I know that things sometimes go south -- sometimes for no reason, but sometimes for real reasons. But this is a lot of south, and we're now six months into it. It's not unreasonable to wonder WTH is going on.

Yeah seems like the site's winding down.

[jwik01]

The slowing of Expanded Universe, which might be expected to remain insulated from the various issues, does seem concerning. I'm still getting promotional emails for new Mind Control Theater content, so that side of things seems to still be functioning.