At the start of each New Year, as everyone else writes about the best comics and graphic novels that were published over the previous twelve months, I prefer to look at the list of comics I’d preordered that never actually saw the light of day.
To the best of my knowledge, none of these are comics that were cancelled by the publishers or by Diamond, and therefore could still be arriving at any point at the comics shop. If I’ve made a mistake, please let us know.
February
Orc Stain #7 – I was loving James Stokoe’s crazy comic about Orcs. It had an insane amount of detail on every page, and was a lot of fun to read. There hasn’t been an issue published since April 2011; I’m hoping we will more of this comic soon.
March
Orc Stain #8
April
Orc Stain #9
Infinite Vacation #4 – There is hope for this comic, as we did just see an new issue in November. Nick Spencer became one of the busiest people in comics, so I can understand that one of his Image mini-series fell by the wayside. Now that Iron Man 2.0 is cancelled, THUNDER Agents Vol. 2 is only a mini, and Victor Von Doom was stillborn, perhaps this will finish sooner. I hope, because it’s great.
Powers #9 – Seeing as we’re still waiting for the August 2010 issue, I’m not holding my breath for this. I used to love Bendis and Oeming’s series about cops who deal with powered people, but the delays have become ridiculous. I kind of hope that my comics store has forgotten that I’ve ordered these, because I don’t want them anymore.
May
Infinite Vacation #5
June
Powers #10
July
Age of Bronze #32 – I was always under the impression that this book didn’t get solicited until an issue was finished. It’s been a year since the last issue came out, and I’m really ready for more of Eric Shanower’s amazing retelling of the Trojan War. Prior to that the comic was coming out every six or seven months; here’s hoping everything is okay.
September
Godland #36 – Since issue 35 came out just the other week, I assume things are getting back on track. There are only two issues left in this cosmic Jack Kirby tribute series, so I guess the creators could drag things out indefinitely…
October
Butcher Baker the Righteous Maker #8 – Mike Huddleston is drawing The Strain at Dark Horse now, so is that going to wreck our chances of seeing more of this comic? Nothing has been solicited past this issue, which is a little worrying, unless this is meant to be the conclusion.
Chew #23 – Chew fell off this year in terms of scheduling, but it’s still brilliant, so I’m not going to complain.
Elephantmen #37 – This comic is perennially late, but things never get too out of control.
Invincible #87 – This is actually coming out this week, but I’m feeling like a completist right now (shocking, I know, in a comics fan).
Stuff of Legend: The Jester’s Tale #4 – The third issue came out the other week; I’m sure it’s getting back on track.
November
Chew #24
Invincible #88
Morning Glories #15 – It’s only two months late, and like I said, Nick Spencer has been very busy of late.
Scarlet #6 – This doesn’t look like it’s too late, but it was resolicited from its original release date of June, so that’s really pretty bad. Remember when Bendis said that he and Alex Maleev would be able to handle doing Moon Knight each month, and this bi-monthly with no problem? I didn’t believe them either…
Casanova Avaritia #3 – This is one of the comics I’ve been anticipating the most, so I wish it would show up.
Secret History Book 18 – That this is the first Archaia book on this list is a little misleading. There was supposed to be a five-issue spin-off mini-series from this series called Games of Chance that was supposed to be published this year. Archaia has decided to instead only publish it in hardcover, which makes it look like they’ve more or less caught up on this title. Don’t believe it…
December
I have nine books on my list from December, but two of them are coming out this week, and the rest aren’t really late enough to be listed here.
I have to hand it to Marvel and DC for getting much better about getting their books out on time. The New 52 have met their deadlines consistently, and I feel like Marvel has become more aware of their weaknesses (and, for example, didn’t solicit all of Avengers Children’s Crusade on schedule, knowing it would be late).
It’s worth mentioning here that Marvel did cancel one title that I was looking forward to a great deal before it was even published. Victor Von Doom was going to be by Nick Spencer and Becky Cloonan, and it probably would have been awesome.
2010
Here are the comics that I’ve been waiting for since ’10, and which were never removed from Diamond’s lists (to my knowledge):
The Great Unknown #4 & 5 – Duncan Rouleau’s comedic mini-series about intellectual property was terrific. I want it to finish.
Powers #8 (see above)
2009 or older
Now, looking at last year’s column, here’s a list of other series that I wonder about, but have no knowledge of.
Firebreather was resolicited as Firebreather Vol. 3: Holmgang, but it never finished. Where is it?
I thought Lucha Libre was going to be published through Humanoids, but that didn’t happen.
Guerillas has moved to Oni Press, and is being published as a series of graphic novels. The first one reprinted comics I already have; I have no idea when I’ll get to read the rest of the story. (That sentence is copy/pasted from a year ago. Nothing has changed).
Doktor Sleepless has disappeared completely, which is too bad, because it was my favourite Warren Ellis comic, and it kept getting better. I hope he finishes it up one day.
’76 was a pretty cool comic. The fifth issue came out, but since then, nothing. There are still three issues to go.
War Heroes was by Mark Millar and Tony Harris. It was a little silly (and penile), but I can’t believe that there isn’t a market for this.
Pirates of Coney Island has one issue remaining. Only one! And it’s incredible.
Gutsville was the coolest comic Frazer Irving has ever done. Now that Xombi is finished, maybe he’ll go back to it? I hope?
Well, that’s my list for this year. If anyone knows when we can expect any of these books, please write in. So what’s on your list of books that never were?
