So there I was, on the ol' internets, searching for some Iron Man info, when I came across something I had completely forgotten about: the limited series written by Jon Favreau, the director of the Iron man movies, namely, Iron Man: Viva Las Vegas. Little wonder that I had forgotten about it; according to Marvel's own website, the first issue came out in June 2008 and the second issue came out in August 2008 ... and that's it. Although it's billed as a four issue series, there's no mention on the Marvel site of issue 3 and 4.
So has IM:VLV dropped off the face of the earth? Unlikely, imo. Call me cynical, but I'll bet we will see issues 3 and 4, and either a hardcover or trade collection of the series by May 2010. That's the release date of the Iron Man 2 movie, and having the collection of the one comic story written by the movie's director timed to coincide with the movie itself would give Marvel the most bang for their buck, I would think. I could be wrong (it happens all the time), has anyone heard different?
I would be surprised if this series remains uncompleted. After all, we saw Ultimate Wolverine vs Hulk and Spider-Man/Black Cat: The Evil That Men Do get completed, even if it took a few years. Then again, I think it's safe to say we won't see another issue of Sonic Disruptors (an 80's DC limited series billed to run for 12 issues but got canceled at issue #7) or Daredevil: The Target (issue #1 cover-dated January 2003, a second issue never materialized). I don't know if Ambush Bug: Year None will be like the former or the latter, or if this is some sort of bizarre joke on the part of Keith Giffen and company (as in, "we billed it as a six issue series, except - bwah ha ha - there's no issue six").
Can you name other series that as of now remain unfinished, or at least took an extraordinary amount of time to come out? I don't mean from small companies that went out of business - I'm sure there are lots of those - but from the major companies (and why the delay if you know). Here's my guesses:
Sonic Disruptors: Really low sales on the first few issues
Daredevil: The Target: Kevin Smith's attention diverted elsewhere
Spider-Man/Black Cat: TETMD: ditto
Ultimate Wolverine vs Hulk ditto, except it was Damon Lindelof not Kevin Smith
Ambush Bug: Year None: Giffen is playing a joke on the universe
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Alan Moore's 1963 is the first and most lamented unfinished limited series that jumps to my mind.
It's all on wiki, but I guess its one of those mishaps that happens when multiple creators work on team-ups of their creator-owned characters. In this case various developments in the business (and personal) arrangements between the creators worked against the completion of the work.
Normally I'm all in favour of creator's rights and blah blah blah, but there you have it. At least when, for instance, Time-Warner owns everyone and everything going into the endeavor, you don't get derailments like this.
Big Numbers is another Moore work that springs to mind. Seinkewicz just dozed off on that one. Maybe he was overwhelmed by self-confidence issues in illustrating possibly Moore's most ambitious and complex work ever.
While I'm on Moore, we're incredibly lucky that his Marvelman trilogy ever got finished (and how!), but then Gaiman's 3 part sequel got derailed almost halfway into the middle one of 3 planned 6-issue miniseries. Perhaps Marvel's latest efforts to untangle the mess will result in my reading the end of the whole shooting match within 3 decades of reading the first episode in a newsagents back on the mountain. There's a wait for you....
"Otherworld": This was a Phil Jimenez written and drawn fantasy/sci-fi limited series for Vertigo. Jimenez was pulled from the project after 7 issues in order to work on Infinite Crisis. Ostensibly, he was supposed to return to Otherworld when he was finished with the big project but he moved on to Marvel instead. The sales numbers were never that great in the first place and I doubt the project will ever be completed.
"The Twelve": This is a pretty recent one. J. Michael Straczynski and Chris Weston re-introduce lost Golden Age heroes to the modern world. It was a truly excellent story. Unfortunately, it was pushed to the sideline by JMS and Weston's various Hollywood commitments. There are only four issues to go and I have faint hopes that it will be finished at some point in the distant future.
"NYX": This one is finished now, but there was a full-year gap between issue 5 and 6, with an artist change being the main reason why the series was able to be completed.
"Otherworld": This was a Phil Jimenez written and drawn fantasy/sci-fi limited series for Vertigo. Jimenez was pulled from the project after 7 issues in order to work on Infinite Crisis. Ostensibly, he was supposed to return to Otherworld when he was finished with the big project but he moved on to Marvel instead. The sales numbers were never that great in the first place and I doubt the project will ever be completed.
Yeah, that's a good one. I think it's the only one that's been mentioned that I've actually read. I agree that it's unlikely that Jimenez will ever get back to it. Someone should ask him if they meet him at a show.
I read somewhere that Ambush Bug will finish up. I just don't remember where I read it at.
Then there was the series Felon that was supposed to have been 25 issues, and sold so bad that it was only four issues, and the last issue wasn't even in color.
The second one that came to mind (after Spider-Man/Black Cat) was the second Rocketeer three-part story; the first part came out in 1988, the second in 1989, and the third ... in 1995, under a different publisher.
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It's all on wiki, but I guess its one of those mishaps that happens when multiple creators work on team-ups of their creator-owned characters. In this case various developments in the business (and personal) arrangements between the creators worked against the completion of the work.
Normally I'm all in favour of creator's rights and blah blah blah, but there you have it. At least when, for instance, Time-Warner owns everyone and everything going into the endeavor, you don't get derailments like this.
Big Numbers is another Moore work that springs to mind. Seinkewicz just dozed off on that one. Maybe he was overwhelmed by self-confidence issues in illustrating possibly Moore's most ambitious and complex work ever.
While I'm on Moore, we're incredibly lucky that his Marvelman trilogy ever got finished (and how!), but then Gaiman's 3 part sequel got derailed almost halfway into the middle one of 3 planned 6-issue miniseries. Perhaps Marvel's latest efforts to untangle the mess will result in my reading the end of the whole shooting match within 3 decades of reading the first episode in a newsagents back on the mountain. There's a wait for you....
Wow!
(And I cross-posted with B_dogg there... I watched half and episode of DOctor WHo between starting my post and finishing it.)
"The Twelve": This is a pretty recent one. J. Michael Straczynski and Chris Weston re-introduce lost Golden Age heroes to the modern world. It was a truly excellent story. Unfortunately, it was pushed to the sideline by JMS and Weston's various Hollywood commitments. There are only four issues to go and I have faint hopes that it will be finished at some point in the distant future.
Yeah, that's a good one. I think it's the only one that's been mentioned that I've actually read. I agree that it's unlikely that Jimenez will ever get back to it. Someone should ask him if they meet him at a show.
Then there was the series Felon that was supposed to have been 25 issues, and sold so bad that it was only four issues, and the last issue wasn't even in color.
Every single mini-series whose most recent number is lower than the "of" number is a potential unfinished mini. Let's do some predictions!
Batman: Widening Gyre #1 ships this week, and is by Kevin Smith. There's some good potential for lateness right there!
(BTW, I don't remember if it was solicited as a mini or an ongoing, but has anyone heard anything about Marvel continuing NewUniversal?)
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