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Amph Why must it take a year to make a graphic novel??

Discussion in 'Archive: SF&F: Books and Comics' started by TheGDBatman, Aug 4, 2010.

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  1. TheGDBatman

    TheGDBatman Jedi Youngling star 1

    Registered:
    Jun 20, 2010
    Gah, I found out the other day that The Flash #6 would be out soon, got excited. The GN are usually 5-7 issues long, so I hoped it would be out in trade form in a few monthes. But it won't be out until Feb 2011!

    I loved comics, but would much rather not wait a month between issues, and the trades look much better on the shelf.
    Any others frustrated over this?

    I became a Green Lantern fan before the BN series started, and was able to completely catch up on 5 years worth of the series. Not to meantion GLC as well. And they still made me wait forever. A year or so of a wait, and then the series is out of order between books.

    The internet makes it worse. Just heard about GL secret origin 2, and Flash secret origin, and I'm sure I'll be dead of old age by then. :_| =P~
    I feel like grabbing a pitchfork! ;)

    [image=http://robot6.comicbookresources.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/flash1_cover_cmyk2.jpg]
     
  2. Mister_Master

    Mister_Master Jedi Master star 6

    Registered:
    Oct 17, 2007
    Ok you have to take a few things into account. It takes awhile to draw the entire page, and do all the stuff to it so that it looks good. And then after it is finished it has to go to the publisher and be put into production. So by the time all of this happens it has been about a year, or whatever.
     
  3. DarthBoba

    DarthBoba Manager Emeritus star 9 VIP - Former Mod/RSA

    Registered:
    Jun 29, 2000
    Well, first the guy who makes the graphic novels has to go around and collect everybody's single issues when the series is over, then he has to carefully cut the pages apart with an exacto knife and then glue them together and bind it...so you can see why this takes awhile.


    :p
     
  4. Spider-Fan

    Spider-Fan Jedi Master star 4

    Registered:
    Jul 15, 2008
    Given the time it takes to produce a comic, let alone an arc that would make up a trade, its not really that surprising comics are produced monthly (if that) or that it takes a while to produce a trade. Not to mention most comic companies would like to take full advantage of single issue sales before releasing a trade, and that it takes typically six months to complete most arcs, I am not the least bit surprised a trade wouldn't be out until the following year.

    There is a lot of work involved in putting together a single issue let alone an arc.
     
  5. Jedi Gunny

    Jedi Gunny Chosen One star 9

    Registered:
    May 20, 2008
    All of the preliminary work might be done (comic art), but things like dialogue can be revised many, many times, just like in film. So, while most parts may be done in less time than a year, not all of the elements that go into making a full novel can be there to go into a finished product.
     
  6. Jedi Ben

    Jedi Ben Chosen One star 9

    Registered:
    Jul 19, 1999
    Nah, this is a far more mundane matter.

    Simply put: DC put the wait into trade-waiting!

    They take far longer than Marvel in every respect when it comes to TPB format, though they're not as bad on the pricier HB format. YET that said, DC TPBs are, of late, far better value than their Marvel counterparts in terms of overall cost and per-issue quotient.

    Part of the problem is DC seem to see the monthly issue and TPB markets as being in mutual competition when that isn't so, but while Didio is in charge of DC this misapprehension is likely to continue.

    By the by, what the original poster is talking about are reprint TPBs which are quite different from graphic novels which can take far longer than a year, the difference? In the case of the Flash: Rebirth the sales of the monthly issues help lower the cost of the reprint TPB collection. Graphic novels don't have that cushion being published straight away in complete form e.g. Darwyn Cooke's Parker The Hunter. (Haven't read it? DO SO!)
     
  7. TheGDBatman

    TheGDBatman Jedi Youngling star 1

    Registered:
    Jun 20, 2010
    Aye, I was speaking more about reprinting TPB. I'm sure I might just be a greedy jerk wanting everything now, but I've made peace with that. ;)
    As DC goes, I recal many others complaining about the length of time from the final issue until the hardcover release.


    Omg, DarthBoba! *waves*
     
  8. Jedi Ben

    Jedi Ben Chosen One star 9

    Registered:
    Jul 19, 1999
    Oh definitely, you're in good company, lots of us despair at DC's failure to get a story out to people by not putting it out as TPB quick enough!
     
  9. TheGDBatman

    TheGDBatman Jedi Youngling star 1

    Registered:
    Jun 20, 2010
    Flash Rebirth is looking lonely on my shelf is all... [face_worried]
     
  10. Jello

    Jello Jedi Youngling star 1

    Registered:
    Jun 12, 2010
    I don't know about you but when I draw a really really good picture it takes me three days of work (not non-stop of course, I've gotta go to the bathroom and eat sometimes :p) so 365/3 is something like 121.3 pages in a year if I were to get a page finished EVERY three days. Now that I think about it, I don't think I would want to write ever again [face_laugh]

    Plus, didn't your mom ever tell you that patience is a virtue? :p
     
  11. moosemousse

    moosemousse CR Emeritus: FF-UK South star 6

    Registered:
    Oct 3, 2004
    Aside from points mentioned, it takes a long time for books in general to hit the shelves. On Friday the 9th of July, Dan Abnett anounced that he had finished a novel he was working on, and the publishers have given it a release date of 'January 2011'. So taking any book out takes a long time.

    Specifically talking about graphic novels, Freakangles is a free webcomic by Warren Ellis and it's a weekly release of six pages. I would have said that that was a very gruelling schedule to maintain. I'm guessing it's partly why the artist was forced to take medical leave and the comic wasn't updated for a few weeks.

    Plus, there will be mistakes that are spotted that need to be corrected. In one issue of Legacy someone was given the wrong colour hair. All these mistakes need to be corrected before it can go into print. Even Freakangels takes a while for each TPB to come out. As well as everything else, they need to do new covers, get ISBNs sorted, and other publisher related stuff too.
     
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