I LOVE Double-Shipping!

[USERNAME TAKEN]

I really don't have a problem with double shipping for the titles I love. If I don't like a title enough to keep up, I simply drop it. Comics aren't a necessity for me at this stage of my life (I'm 33 years old).

Inconsistent art is a problem that seems to have gone beyond double shipping as even titles that ship monthly suffer from inconsistent art teams (Action Comics 12 had what? 3 different artists?). Apart from Larroca, i don't know any other artist that can consistently put out good work for extended periods of time.

However, I do understand why people complain about the expense factor. That being said, my advice is for people to buy what they want when they can and postpone less urgent purchases until another time.

[Thennary Nak]

I don't mind double shipping, but I also have a small pull list as I tend to trade wait for most of the titles I follow. So the only titles I pick up are the ones I feel like are worth buying as the come out which makes it easy to keep it to a small number there.

I can see how for those who follow a lot of titles, or even just most of the ones that do double ship, it can be a heavy strain on the budget. If anything I would just like to see some kind pattern for when a series double ships, like once every quarter or every other month. I think that could help a bit with relaxing the wallet a bit if people know when to expect double shipments from certain books.

[randomengine]

Same questions I ask anybody who says they LOVE double-shipping:

1. How many ongoing Marvel series are on your pull-list?

2. Do you not give a toss about having consistent artwork or a single artistic vision in your comic?

3. Do you like co-writers?

4. Do you not care about how much money you spend on comics per month and do you not have a budget?


The loss of guys like Brubaker, the addition of co-writers, and, worst of all, having a different artist every bloody issue is awful to me. We even get situations of false advertising, like where Mike McKone was heavily advertised as being THE GUY for the Final Execution arc in Uncanny X-Force. He draws the first two issues, the title is double-shipped a bunch of times, and that's it, McKone is gone. Wonderful. I LOVE double-shipping almost as much as i LOVE false promises.

Also, it hurts hardcore fans like myself with larger pull-lists. I suppose if you read 4 Marvel books a month, you'll love it. If you have 18 series like I do (there are a number of writers and artists I love and will always follow), it's punishing. Worst of all, whether a title double-ships or not is seemingly random. At least if I had a ballpark for h ow much each series ships per year, I could plan and budget around that.

1. Right now only a handful: Avengers, AvX, Fantastic Four, Uncanny X-Men, X-Treme X-Men, Hawkeye. I have been an idiot and missed Wolverine and the X-Men, Daredevil, etc. So I began a new policy where I will try all new ongoings and drop them when I don't like them. I order mine several months in advance, and I like the idea that if I drop it, I still have a buffer period that it has to keep me. So if I change my mind I can get them from midtown until I order them again long term.

2. Almost all double-ship comics have 1 writer and rotating art teams. I used to read Fables for the longest time (I might get back into it), and the art team changes are OK to me if it keeps the book on schedule. I hate fill-ins, but most of the double-ships have kept that to a minimum. Most artists in comics these days cannot keep up with a monthly, period. Still being able to see their art on the big ongoings is appealing and I believe this setup allows that to happen more often.

3. I have never seen an instance of co-writing being employed on double-ship books because of workload. I have seen it on books for DC on MONTHLY books - like the Finch Batman book. All instance of it I have seen at Marvel are transition writers, the most current case being Cullen Bunn taking over a couple of books.

4. I do, but but I do have a large adult allowance. As I continue my new project (buying all new ongoings, dropping those I don't like), I will determine at some point what number of ongoings I can afford (feast or famine). I think for many who complain about double shipping, it is just something new that makes them change their habits. Yes, you probably get to try less books overall, but the ones you do keep you get to read more often. Maybe that will make you change your habits so that you get a few big names and more indies. Nothing wrong with that, you just move your interest around. Keep this in mind though, if Marvel did not double ship their comics, they would be releasing a lot of crappy mini-series that no one would buy. I would much rather those efforts be put into the main books and have them come out more often, than have to keep track of many disparate mini-series.

[aNamored]

The loss of guys like Brubaker, the addition of co-writers, and, worst of all, having a different artist every bloody issue is awful to me. We even get situations of false advertising, like where Mike McKone was heavily advertised as being THE GUY for the Final Execution arc in Uncanny X-Force. He draws the first two issues, the title is double-shipped a bunch of times, and that's it, McKone is gone. Wonderful. I LOVE double-shipping almost as much as i LOVE false promises.

Also, it hurts hardcore fans like myself with larger pull-lists. I suppose if you read 4 Marvel books a month, you'll love it. If you have 18 series like I do (there are a number of writers and artists I love and will always follow), it's punishing. Worst of all, whether a title double-ships or not is seemingly random. At least if I had a ballpark for h ow much each series ships per year, I could plan and budget around that.

The Loss of Brubaker is huge and I completely agree about different artists that drove me bonkers on Punisher.

Imo, even Winter Soldier was not unharmed by double-shipping. The final issue of the first arc had some VERY spotty artwork - presumably because Butch Guice was struggling to finish it on time. They also had to toss on another inker, whose style did not mesh at all with Guice and Gaudiano's.

The only book that I feel has benefited from double-shipping is Invincible Iron Man - it's made Fraction's long story-arcs and decompression more pallatable and the art hasn't suffered due to Salvador Larroca not being human.

I started the double ship with Lark's current arc on Winter Soldier, but I completely agree about Guice's art being spotty. In fact, that was the reason why I dropped the book during that arc and I like Guice's artwork. The inking was often a mess during that arc. I haven't seen those problems in this current arc.

and LOL about IIM. I like Larroca's art, but I can see where people have problems with it.

[whiteshark]

I am a fan of comic books double shipping as well.
Being able to to wait two weeks to read a new issue of my favorite comics is way better that having to wait one month.
And i do have a budget for comics,and i just use that same budget to comics which are double shiping and the ones that are not.
The art of the titles that double ships with a bit of organization can keep up being great as well.(Two good artists rotating in one title that double ship is enough,and is a way to keep that very same title being illustrated in more art styles)

[antsomarching]

I agree with the quality dropping in WATX when the double shipping started so I dropped it. The only Marvel book I'm left with is Daredevil. The more months with double shipped Daredevil's, the better! At least it's $2.99.

[Just Endless]

3. I have never seen an instance of co-writing being employed on double-ship books because of workload. I have seen it on books for DC on MONTHLY books - like the Finch Batman book. All instance of it I have seen at Marvel are transition writers, the most current case being Cullen Bunn taking over a couple of books.

Couple thoughts:

A) Someone mentioned Action Comics up there... that book is a mess, art-wise. Morrison kind of has a rep for being late, or re-writing, or such, so maybe he's partway to blame, but I don't know.

B) As to that quote, pretty much the only DC books that are having this problem are the ones you SHOULD NOT be reading anyways---DC is changing writers due to problems, not workload (look at, say, Firestorm, the aforementioned Finch Batman, whatever the hell they're putting Liefeld on---they are awwwwwful books that have had their share of problems, DC is coping. Marvel's co-writing policies are a little more problematic, and we wouldn't even know that if not for the Brubaker interview. The guy is unable to wrap up the story he's been working on for like, 7 years because of this, and instead, we get, um, Cullen Bunn? What is that?

C) I think the idea is okay on 2.99 books. More problematically are the 3.99 books: a few years ago, a 3.99 book was give or take 30 pages. You bought that once a month.

$4 --> 30 pages (then)
$8 --> 40 pages (now)

So they've increased the price by 100% while upping the content by 33%. It's more of an extension of the 2.99/3.99 argument.

[Paladin King]

1. Right now only a handful: Avengers, AvX, Fantastic Four, Uncanny X-Men, X-Treme X-Men, Hawkeye. I have been an idiot and missed Wolverine and the X-Men, Daredevil, etc. So I began a new policy where I will try all new ongoings and drop them when I don't like them. I order mine several months in advance, and I like the idea that if I drop it, I still have a buffer period that it has to keep me. So if I change my mind I can get them from midtown until I order them again long term.

2. Almost all double-ship comics have 1 writer and rotating art teams. I used to read Fables for the longest time (I might get back into it), and the art team changes are OK to me if it keeps the book on schedule. I hate fill-ins, but most of the double-ships have kept that to a minimum. Most artists in comics these days cannot keep up with a monthly, period. Still being able to see their art on the big ongoings is appealing and I believe this setup allows that to happen more often.

3. I have never seen an instance of co-writing being employed on double-ship books because of workload. I have seen it on books for DC on MONTHLY books - like the Finch Batman book. All instance of it I have seen at Marvel are transition writers, the most current case being Cullen Bunn taking over a couple of books.

4. I do, but but I do have a large adult allowance. As I continue my new project (buying all new ongoings, dropping those I don't like), I will determine at some point what number of ongoings I can afford (feast or famine). I think for many who complain about double shipping, it is just something new that makes them change their habits. Yes, you probably get to try less books overall, but the ones you do keep you get to read more often. Maybe that will make you change your habits so that you get a few big names and more indies. Nothing wrong with that, you just move your interest around. Keep this in mind though, if Marvel did not double ship their comics, they would be releasing a lot of crappy mini-series that no one would buy. I would much rather those efforts be put into the main books and have them come out more often, than have to keep track of many disparate mini-series.

except a lot of us don't LIKE that change, especially when you consider that what you're reading more often has inconsistent artwork.

And as far as "most of the double-ships having kept that to a minimum," I'm not so sure about that. Some of my favourite books, like Punisher, Daredevil, and Uncanny X-Force, have been all over the place due to double-shipping

That said, I think point 1 only proves my point though: the people who love double-shipping are generally those who don't follow a lot of books/creators.

[USERNAME TAKEN]

except a lot of us don't LIKE that change, especially when you consider that what you're reading more often has inconsistent artwork.

And as far as "most of the double-ships having kept that to a minimum," I'm not so sure about that. Some of my favourite books, like Punisher, Daredevil, and Uncanny X-Force, have been all over the place due to double-shipping

That said, I think point 1 only proves my point though: the people who love double-shipping are generally those who don't follow a lot of books/creators.

I think that's part of it.

I don't really follow creators that much anyway. I just read what I enjoy.

[HollisterCo83]

....said no one ever on a budget.

[Wellman]

Same questions I ask anybody who says they LOVE double-shipping:

1. How many ongoing Marvel series are on your pull-list?

2. Do you not give a toss about having consistent artwork or a single artistic vision in your comic?

3. Do you like co-writers?

4. Do you not care about how much money you spend on comics per month and do you not have a budget?

1. About 10 not including ones I randomly pull like some minis or taking chances on a new series or one I've dropped before.

2. Most of the books I've read that double ship have had adequate artists to fill in for a issue. I've not had a story suddenly switch up art that was drastically different except when FF switch back to Fantastic Four and FF had Bobillo for a few months when his style was drastically different from the previous one and seemed unfinished.

3. Depends on the quality of co-writers.

4. It isn't like all the books are double shipping every month, some months I spend $4 more on comics and don't spend the money on a late night burger meal.

One or two months where I get more story especially in books I like are fine with me.

[CyberHubbs]

Nah. I'm on a budget of 20-30 bucks a week. Sometimes more if I feel like trying out a new book. I just happen to be able to make my budget work for me. And I probably have one of the worst jobs in the world.

[Mechano]

I spend around $100 per month on new titles.... double shipping doesn't bother me at all. I like getting more issues.

[CyberHubbs]

1. About 10 not including ones I randomly pull like some minis or taking chances on a new series or one I've dropped before.

2. Most of the books I've read that double ship have had adequate artists to fill in for a issue. I've not had a story suddenly switch up art that was drastically different except when FF switch back to Fantastic Four and FF had Bobillo for a few months when his style was drastically different from the previous one and seemed unfinished.

3. Depends on the quality of co-writers.

4. It isn't like all the books are double shipping every month, some months I spend $4 more on comics and don't spend the money on a late night burger meal.

One or two months where I get more story especially in books I like are fine with me.

Haha hah. Yeah. Double-shipping has been great for me health-wise. Less eating out.

[ronedog22]

My thoughts on double-shipping are this. A) Marvel does it why? Make more money and take more market share from DC.
B)This seems like a way to burnout creators faster, ie they were double shipping Venom and Remender needed Cullen Bunn to help him there.
C) Its making me leery to get more then 3-4 titles per month. Right now I get UXF and Hawkeye, so i must be judicious on picking up new titles.
D) If Marvel is so confident about what its currently producing why the rush to get it out? was this double shipping a sale trick or to get creators runs over Aug to October in time for Marvel now?
E) I hope Marvel is explicit about which titles will be double shipped other then Avengers cause i think most ppl are on a budget.