Ultimates 2 #12 delayed to 9/27/06 (UPDATED)

Mark Millar said:
Hey,

Just out of bed (unusually early at 7.55am) and just found out about this in an email from Tom B mere minutes before seeing the following on Newsarama...

http://forum.newsarama.com/showthread.php?t=80636

All I can say is that this is really good of Marvel. Why? Let me explain. Civil War is seven issues long and both the first and last issues were extra-sized. Steve is a pretty fast artist, maybe a nine or ten books a year guy, but he only had a six or seven week head start on this series. Absolutely nothing at all. And it was always going to catch up with him, especially given that 100 characters appear in every issue and it's the most labour-intensive thing he's ever drawn. It also happens to be the BEST work of his career and Marvel could easily-- EASILY-- just done what DC did and stick fill-in guys on the series. In fact, we EXPECTED it for issue five because we knew a lot of titles like FF and so on were tying in.

But you know what? They didn't. MCW has rocketed Marvel profits lately. The new figures aren't available yet, but we're doubling and sometimes trebling the sales on the tie-in books, the anthology title-- an ANTHOLOGY TITLE-- is doing over 100K and we're heading towards 400K with the book itself. Marvel believe in the project and they feel me and Steve have formed a good team. Something they don't want to **** with for the sake of squeezing a few more bucks into the next financial quarter and so, after doing their sums, decided they'll take a hit. Now this is a pain in the arse for being reading the book because it means waiting a few more weeks for Steve to finish. It's also a pain for people enjoying the tie-ins. But Steve is hammering away here and these books will all be done and dusted by the New Year and the series, and tie-ins, will all be published completely soon afterwards by the original teams and without some grotty fill-ins. It also means the collections remain looking great.

It's a hiccup, sure, but I appreciate what they're doing. Seriously, it would have been easy for them and made them MUCH more money to get someone else in to draw issue five, but they believe in our thing, it's worked out bigger and better than any of us dreamed and they want it to look as cool as it was originally conceived.

In short, apologies for the art delays, but it's worth it.

Lotsa love,
MM
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Straight from Millar world on Civil War

As for Ultimates

Mark Millar said:
Hitchy is wrapping the monstrous issue 12 this week
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Posted August 14th.

EDIT
I just found this from McNiven

"Hey folks, just thought I should get a post up here. First up apologies to the fans and retailers of civil war. The responsibility for the art delays lies with me, period. I've been working harder than I ever have, (and this is my third profession), but this is the hardest project I've ever done and as Mark said, I had little lead time. It was as big a surprise to me as anyone else that Marvel changed its publishing schedule to allow Mark and I to finish the series together.
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well, at least with all the time Loeb has, maybe ult. 3 will be weekly. :wink:
 
DIrishB said:
One would think, but I have no doubt that by the third or fourth issue, Ultimates 3 will also start suffering from regular delays...don't forget, its Loeb and Madureira (Battle Chasers, anyone?).
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Wasnt Loeb's fault Superman & Batman delay?
 
Victor Von Doom said:
Considering what he was dealing with in his personal life---I think the delays were ok.
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oh yeah his son... i totally forgot that. Well then, I hope Joe starts drawing this year :lol:
 
"and Madureira (Battle Chasers, anyone?)."

:shock: oh my good :shock: And i thought waiting for Ultimates 2 was hard, this is going to be a nightmare:cry:

Seriously though, MM and Hitch are extreemly unprofessional concerning Ultimates 2, and how Hitch can survive(monney wise) as an artist amazes me.
 
Asharak said:
"and Madureira (Battle Chasers, anyone?)."

:shock: oh my good :shock: And i thought waiting for Ultimates 2 was hard, this is going to be a nightmare:cry:

Seriously though, MM and Hitch are extreemly unprofessional concerning Ultimates 2, and how Hitch can survive(monney wise) as an artist amazes me.
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I guarantee you he makes an amazing page rate, and marvel royalties kick in after 50,000 copies sold. How many copies do The Ultimates sell each time its released?
 
Hey, an artist I met last week who is doing some work for Dark Horse and Image was telling me that Hitch makes something to the tune of 40k per issue.... not sure if thats before or after royalties, but I got the vibe before...
 
Hitch deserves every penny and more.

After watching the interview on the Ultimate Avengers 2 DVD, I suddenly feel like I'm losing an important part of my life as the Millar/Hitch run ends.

Can anyone else remember their reaction to the first few issues? The most cynical bastard I know just went "wow" and read the first TPB cover to cover 5 times over.

It really was a seminal moment.
 
For those keeping track at home....

ULTIMATES Vol. 1

Jan 02 Ultimates V1 #1 - 149,289
Feb 02 Ultimates V1 #2 - 107,342
Mar 02 Ultimates V1 #3 - 102,956
Apr 02 Ultimates V1 #4 - 103,153
May 02 Ultimates V1 #5 - 102,524
Jun 02 Ultimates V1 #6 - 99,473
Jul 02 Ultimates V1 #7 - 102,396
Aug 02
Sep 02 Ultimates V1 #8 - 103,998
Oct 02
Nov 02
Dec 02
Jan 03
Feb 03 Ultimates V1 #9 - 101,490
Mar n/a
Apr n/a
May 03 Ultimates V1 #10 - 105,546
Jun n/a
Jul 03 Ultimates V1 #11 - 103,192
Aug n/a
Sep n/a
Oct n/a
Nov n/a
Dec 03 Ultimates V1 #12 - 104,572
Jan n/a
Feb n/a
Mar 04 Ultimates V1 #13 - 101,329

ULTIMATES Vol. 2

Dec 05 Ultimates 2 #1 - 146,271
Jan 05 Ultimates 2 #2 - 114,963
Feb 05 Ultimates 2 #3 - 108,378
Mar 05 Ultimates 2 #4 - 105,255
Apr 05 Ultimates 2 #5 - 104,971
May 05 Ultimates 2 #6 - 102,026
Jun 05 n/a
Jul 05 Ultimates 2 #7 - 99,134
Aug 05 —
Sep 05 Ultimates 2 #8 - 95,980
Oct 05 —
Nov 05 —
Dec 05 Ultimates 2 #9 - 94,493
Jan 06 —
Feb 06 —
Mar 06 Ultimates 2 #10 - 94,900
Apr 06 —
May 06 —
Jun 06 Ultimates 2 #11 - 96,751
Jul 06 —
Aug 06 —
Sept 06 — ? Ultimates 2 #12
Oct 06 —
Nov 06 —
Dec 06 — ? Ultimates 2 #13
 
Interesting. I don't know enough to know whether or not that is normal decline - I do know that books rarely hold their numbers but I don't know what is expected.
 
Most series and miniseries don't hold their numbers (not without gimmicks like creator changes, crossovers, guest stars or variant covers), but steadily slip. There are rare exceptions, like Captain America, which has been climbing (presumably as the book's reputation spreads).

I just thought the scheduling issues were interesting. I hadn't gotten back into comics when V1 came out, and had no idea of the delays. Makes what happened on V2 look rather inevitable.

I'd rather have my Hitch than anyone else on this book, but I do think the delay has hurt some of my enjoyment of the book.
 
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