That's right citizens!! Kurt Busiek author of the dubious of late Superman books (pun intended) is finally forced by the supermanhomepage to answer fan questions. Here was my question that Kurt Busiek was so kind as to kind of answer:
http://www.supermanhomepage.com/inter-action/inter-action.php?topic=QfK/QfK go to this link for the whole forum!
Bob: How is it possible all the problems with the Superman book not being on time could fall squarely on the shoulders of the artist? Bagley over at Ultimate Spider-man has pumped out 14 issues a year without a problem, are you guys not giving him [the artist] the script on time? Is it a management issue? What is going on? I find it VERY hard to believe it is the artist's fault.
Kurt: I don't think anyone's made any public statements about why SUPERMAN was running a little late last year, Bob, and I'm not going to start -- I'd rather put the energy into fixing the problems and doing our best to make sure they don't happen again, which is what we've been doing. And while I can't speak for the other books, I can tell you that my work has been far enough ahead of schedule that not only have I written all the SUPERMAN fill-in issues (with the co-plot aid of the lovely and talented Fabian Nicieza and Richard Howell), but I also worked on seven issues of ACTION COMICS last year, one issue of SUPERMAN that was completely done but not published, and I'm currently pitching in on another four ACTIONs.As for management issues, this is "Questions for Kurt," and I'm definitely not management, so I'll point you at the "Ask Matt" column, where Matt can answer or deftly sidestep as he chooses.I will note, though, that Mark Bagley, who's a pal of mine and an old creative partner on THUNDERBOLTS, is a very fast artist. The fact that he can do 14 issues a year doesn't mean that all other artists can. Some guys are faster than others -- and some books go faster than others, too, as witness the fact that on THUNDERBOLTS, we managed to cram so much stuff in there that Mark had to draw that he occasionally needed a guest artist to help out with the schedule. I don't say that to address anything on the Super-books, just to point out that not all artists have the same speed. John Byrne can draw two books a month, and probably more. George Pérez, on a regular book, needs a guest artist now and then. And there are guys faster than John and slower than George, to boot.
Now I understand the whole issue of different artists work at different paces, however, to be a professional comic book artist one of the first rules is make your deadline! If a comic book company hires artists who can't make their deadline then they haven't hired a true pro. I understand some artists are slow, but if an artist can't handle a monthly book then get him some help from the get go! Don't allow the books to be late! Although it is a management issue and Kurt Busiek pretty much said so, refering me to the askmatt forum. I am going to pursue this, I must know why all the Superman books are screwed up. I would in closing like to congratulate this site's moderator JasonMajor32 for getting TWO questions answered by Busiek. I would also like to thank Kurt for answering my question, I don't think it was an easy one to answer. And of course all the folks at supermanhomepage.com, particularly Steve Younis, they're good people I tells ya! Till next time citizens!!!
Traveling through time to fix tears in the space time continuum (read fixing continuity errors made by a bad EIC) Booster Gold and Rip Hunter have adventures in key events throughout the DCU's history. And if that wasn't awesome enough the book feels like those great 90's titles that fixed continuity (such as Zero Hour). Booster Gold is quality DC, something we aren't getting a lot of these days, and really this should have been a huge part of the Countdown title because this book seamlessly picks up loose threads from 52. If you haven't picked up Booster Gold yet give it a shot, as fans we need to start voting with our wallet to let both DC and Marvel know what books we like. I wish I could tell you more about Booster Gold but that would involve revealing too many spoilers, so run out and pick up Booster Gold #1 - 6 and enjoy!
