Wednesday at the store, those of us assembled somehow got on the topic of 52. Whatever it was that was being said about it prompted Ken to ask the following question, the same question I'm going to ask you now: What is the last issue of 52 that will ship on time? As of 1:30 p.m. Friday, March 10, the results are as follows (14 responses):
Issues 1-9: 1 predictions;
10-19: 1 predictions;
20-29: 2 predictions;
30-39: 4 predictions;
40-49: 2 predictions;
50, 51, or completed without incident: 4 predictions
Highest prediction - #52, by two people
Lowest prediction - #1
Average prediction - #35 (actually 34.64)
Sorry, I'm a bit of a stat freak. Still, that's fairly optimistic. Only 4 out of 14 (28.6%) predicted they'd get less than halfway through, which is equal to the amount that believe they'll at least make it to issue #50. On average, the customers expect it to be 67% completed before DC falters.
Ken predicted #52, which figures, since he's the owner of the store, and would have a vested interest in having it stay on schedule. Namely, so he doesn't have to hear us bitch about how DC fell behind. Larry picked #51 on the premise that DC always manages to stay on time with it's events, until the very last issue, citing "Hush" as an example. Len picked #40, as I understood it, based on inside information that Rucka came up with an idea that forced them to completely restart the whole thing, when they were already about two-thirds through.
As for your correspondent? I picked #11, the second lowest prediction. Yes, that's probably my old anti-DC feelings shining through, as well as my general distaste both for "Event" books and what DC's done to books I like the last year or so, plus I'm a pessimistic and cynical person, but there's one other reason. Infinite Crisis is only seven issues, meant to be released once per month. Still, at least two issues have already been late, with two more to go, and that's with seemingly 17 people working on each issue. Even with the corresponding increase in the number of people involved, I don't see how they're going to manage to release the book on time, every week, for an entire year.
So, now that I've depressed you, I'll ask you again: What is the last issue of 52 that will ship on time?
3 comments:
I'll take #19, just because I like that number.
Correct me if I'm wrong, but aren't several artists working on this in a rotation (each drawing every fourth or fifth issue)? What's going to happen if just one artist falls behind? For example, if one artist was Mark Bagley (capable of meeting deadlines and churning out 18-25 issues a year) and another was Joe Madureira, what's going to happen if issues 24 and 28 are done before 22?
I'm going to be optimistic and vote with Ken: #52.
jake: There is supposed to be some sort of rotation between creative teams. I'm unclear on the details. I think that may have been what they were dicussing, because Ken forsaw problems for a writer or artist going at the pace of a book a week. Len had some sort of solution, I just can't remember it. There really is so much potential for disaster.
jim: Yeah, for the people at the store who are going to read it, I'd like for it to happen, even if I don't think it will. I gotta give DC credit for chutzpah even trying something like this.
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