Risen! Lazarus Appreciation 2019

[Ramsay Snow]

Comic fans are a fickle bunch who want gratification on a monthly basis.

I personally don't mind delays. It would be great if all creative teams could magically churn out books on a monthly (Or even bi-weekly) routine, but it's unrealistic and I prefer the original creative team doing their best work on a project rather than see fill-in artists doing rush-jobs to make that monthly schedule.....If the next Lazarus comic is delayed by a year, cool. I'll do a re-read to refresh myself on the series the month of the eventual delayed release.

Hell, I followed Berlin (by Jason Lutes), which had books 2 & 3 delayed by 8 and 10 years, respectively. I didn't mind. My life doesn't desperately revolve around the release dates of comics I enjoy reading.

I'm patiently hoping DC allows Grant Morrison to finish Seaguy. There was a 5-year gap between the first and second mini-series, and it's now been 9 years and counting with no word of volume 3. I'm hoping Morrison starts on volume 3 sometime within the next 5 years and we get a nice, oversize hardcover of the entire series afterward.

[matt levin]

Seaguy? Seaguy? *sob!* I always knew that, somewhere, somewhere was there another fan of Seaguy. Yes. Volume 3 in, oh 2021 or so!

[Paulie Blade]

Comic fans are a fickle bunch who want gratification on a monthly basis.

I personally don't mind delays. It would be great if all creative teams could magically churn out books on a monthly (Or even bi-weekly) routine, but it's unrealistic and I prefer the original creative team doing their best work on a project rather than see fill-in artists doing rush-jobs to make that monthly schedule.....If the next Lazarus comic is delayed by a year, cool. I'll do a re-read to refresh myself on the series the month of the eventual delayed release.

Hell, I followed Berlin (by Jason Lutes), which had books 2 & 3 delayed by 8 and 10 years, respectively. I didn't mind. My life doesn't desperately revolve around the release dates of comics I enjoy reading.

I'm patiently hoping DC allows Grant Morrison to finish Seaguy. There was a 5-year gap between the first and second mini-series, and it's now been 9 years and counting with no word of volume 3. I'm hoping Morrison starts on volume 3 sometime within the next 5 years and we get a nice, oversize hardcover of the entire series afterward.

I agree wholeheartedly with your entire post. And not just because you torture people.

[Ramsay Snow]

Seaguy? Seaguy? *sob!* I always knew that, somewhere, somewhere was there another fan of Seaguy. Yes. Volume 3 in, oh 2021 or so!

I'm of the firm belief there are plenty more gentlemen of refined taste and moral virtues who appreciate the greatness of Seaguy.

The second Seaguy mini-series was so good, it leaves me wondering what's next with volume 3!

I agree wholeheartedly with your entire post. And not just because you torture people.

Would you care for some kielbasa, good sir?

[Ilan Preskovsky]

Just a heads up, guys: Rucka is back on the Wordballoon podcast. It's really worth a listen, as always (he is easily one of my favourite comics-pro interviewees), and he talks quite a bit about Lazarus during the second hour but here is a brief summary:

He says that Michael Lark is already in the middle of drawing Risen issue 3; he has at least 4 more arcs coming up; Fracture part 2 will start with Risen issue #5 after a standalone for #4 and will significantly change things for the characters in the story.

And if you're wondering why so much of his work has been so late, it's because he seems to be doing about a dozen things at once. Black Magick will be back soon. Nicola Scott has been going through some stuff but she is back on board and they will solicit it when the entire arc is done. It will be short enough a series overall that he thinks it will end by 2022. The Old Guard movie is currently shooting and work will resume on the second arc soon. Lazarus, the TV series, has gone through some "changes" but it's moving slowly, though it's no sure thing. Stumptown, the show, starts later this year and he has been very hands-on with the writing but not production side of the series. The release of the show means that he wants to get back to a new arc on the comic but he hasn't even talked to the artist about it yet so it's still a while away. And then, of course, there's Lois Lane, which he and Mike Perkins are well into already so that should be on time.

[n10810341]

I can't wait for the TV series to come out, any links on where I can here about upcoming news on that?

[Shaggy]

Updated sales numbers

Lazarus #1 48,030 (June 2013)
Lazarus #2 27,143 (July 2013)
Lazarus #3 24,961 (August 2013)
Lazarus #4 23,701 (October 2013)
Lazarus #5 22,695 (December 2013)

Lazarus #6 21,198 (February 2014)
Lazarus #7 20,150 (March 2014)
Lazarus #8 19,826 (April 2014)
Lazarus #9 19,066 (July 2014)
Lazarus #10 18,051 (August 2014)
Lazarus #11 16,531 (September 2014)
Lazarus #12 16,838 (October 2014)
Lazarus #13 16,094 (November 2014)

Lazarus #14 15,896 (January 2015)
Lazarus #15 15,237 (February 2015)
Lazarus #16 15,138 (April 2015)
Lazarus #17 14,980 (June 2015)
Lazarus #18 14,563 (July 2015)
Lazarus #19 14,506 (September 2015)
Lazarus #20 14,218 (November 2015)
Lazarus #21 13,390 (December 2015)

Lazarus #22 14,117 (June 2016)
Lazarus #23 12,300 (July 2016)
Lazarus #24 12,098 (August 2016)
Lazarus #25 11,922 (October 2016)

Lazarus #26 12,348 (March 2017)

Lazarus #27 9,523 (April 2018)
Lazarus #28 9,093 (May 2018)

Lazarus Risen #1 11.362 (March 2019)
Lazarus Risen #2 9.036 (July 2019)
Lazarus Risen #3 7.974 (November 2019)

I just don't see how they can justify continuing the series if it keeps dropping. A real shame.

[Ilan Preskovsky]

Yeah, which is a real pity because #3 was just brilliant and it's been consistently a great book. This format doesn't help, I'm sure, but I really don't know how else they can do it. OGNs? I mean, it must sell enough that it supports multiple HCs so maybe original graphic novels are the way to go.