"Phonogram" Returns, "Morning Glories" Hits #50 in Image Comics' August 2015 Solicitations

[Evan Meadow]

Hey is The Surface ending with #4 already? Or did they just forget to name this trade "volume 1"?

If you look at the numbering of The Surface on the cover you can see it was always meant to be a 4 issue mini. That's Image's biggest problem with numbering. They try not to let you know certain books are minis nowadays because apparently more people will pre-order/buy them if they think its an ongoing. Dynamite has the same problems with some of their books. They don't label something as a mini, then when the final issue notice gets hit with issue 4 or 6 they go "It was always meant to be that long."

[capuga]

Well, still no Monstress. That's kinda depressing... hopefully a September solicit then.

From twitter just now:

Marjorie Liu ‏@marjoriemliu 4m4 minutes ago
For weeks now I've been gazing lovingly at Sana Takeda's character designs for MONSTRESS: all women of color, dressed to kill. Literally.

[Iam Fear]

Black Science Volume 3 for me, and at 300 pages for $25 I might get the Oemnibus.

[BogSurfer]

Image:
- Cancel: Wolf ($3.50 for 24p?)

My gut is telling me this means 24 pages of art, which is comparable to most Image books. Kot's books at Image tend to be ad free too. Still beats 3.99 for 20 pages from Marvel.

Anyways, looking like the following for me:

The Humans
We Stand on Guard
Descender
Wolf
Deadly Class
Material
Outcast
Southern Bastards

Maybe:

8House
Island

[Mjolnir]

If you look at the numbering of The Surface on the cover you can see it was always meant to be a 4 issue mini. That's Image's biggest problem with numbering. They try not to let you know certain books are minis nowadays because apparently more people will pre-order/buy them if they think its an ongoing. Dynamite has the same problems with some of their books. They don't label something as a mini, then when the final issue notice gets hit with issue 4 or 6 they go "It was always meant to be that long."

God yes, THIS! ^ I've been suckered in by this practice on more than one occasion and then felt I needed to see the mini through rather than trade wait. I hate when publishers don't acknowledge that a book is a mini from the start. I know they want to sell the singles, but if it's a mini, at least with me I trade wait. However, with recent books RunLoveKill and Savior, at least they were honest from the start, and I decided that even though they were 8 issue minis, I would get the singles. With Dying and the Dead, I've been wondering if it really was supposed to end with 7 issues or go beyond that, but if it was a planned mini, that's one I would have trade waited. With Trees, I rolled the dice because early on Warren Ellis said it would be an 8 issue mini with the possibility that it could continue on if sales were good. I'm glad I bought the singles because we're getting more issues now.

Intersect I noticed had it's issues 7 and 8 cancelled? Is the book done now? Were sales not that great that Image cancelled the book after 6 issues?

[BogSurfer]

Intersect I noticed had it's issues 7 and 8 cancelled? Is the book done now? Were sales not that great that Image cancelled the book after 6 issues?

I don't believe Image really cancels books. I think it's more up to the creators to decide if a book is worth their time and energy if they're not getting much of a return on it, sales-wise.

[Detox]

Pull:

Birthright #10
Deadly Class #16
Descender #6
Drifter #7
Lazarus #19
Low #9
Postal #6
Pisces #6(maybe)
Rat Queens #14
Reyn #7
Southern Bastards #11
Southern Cross #6(maybe)
Trees #12

[Mjolnir]

I don't believe Image really cancels books. I think it's more up to the creators to decide if a book is worth their time and energy if they're not getting much of a return on it, sales-wise.

Which is what happened with Umbral of sorts I think. Issue #12 was it's last and Antony Johnson released a statement that said that sales weren't good enough to continue, but hope in the future to finish the story somehow. Joe Harris though when I asked him at last September's Rose City Comic Con here in Portland about his book The Great Pacific whether or not the book would continue after issue #18, he said, and I'm paraphrasing, that the book wasn't cancelled, that him and artist Martin Morazzo were taking a break from the book for a while, that the final arc took a lot out of both of them, but that the two of them were planning on releasing a new comic sometime in 2015. When issue #18 came out, Harris had a letter in the back of the book that said a long the lines that he was sad to see the book stop here. That him and Morazzo had at least two more arcs they wanted to tell that were supposed to take place before the final one that we got (which again, signals to me that sales weren't good and that Harris wanted sometime kind of ending that he could be happy with that readers might be happy with too. The ending was left sort of open ended). That they hope to return to the story again in the future and reiterated what he told me last September that a new book between him and Morazzo would be out sometime in 2015 and that Image would announce it soon (which they haven't yet).

It's a funny thing with these creator owned books. You buy into them hoping that these tales will have a natural life with a beginning, middle, and end (like novels or book series), but if they don't do well enough, they get cancelled or finish a lot sooner than intended and it feels like an incomplete story.

I've been lucky with all of the books I get from Image, that I haven't had this problem really (with the exception of Proof, Umbral, and Great Pacific). Only a small handful of the ones I do get are plagued with big delays. All the others I read are books where sales are good, they come out in a timely manner, and I keep my fingers crossed that they will have a natural ending with supported sales.

[gantz_alien_killer]

I thought Clone was finished for the time being? I'm sure there would be a big announcement if they were to continue on with the story.

They are on hiatus while they figure out the next arc of the story. im not opposed to that but i think its been six months now or more. I need me some clones.

[scout]

They are on hiatus while they figure out the next arc of the story. im not opposed to that but i think its been six months now or more. I need me some clones.

I loved Clones and it's crazy twist last pages!

[Evan Meadow]

I don't believe Image really cancels books. I think it's more up to the creators to decide if a book is worth their time and energy if they're not getting much of a return on it, sales-wise.

Or in the case of C.O.W.L., they say they found they had written their ending by the 11th issue. But RunLoveKill is only 8 issues? Didn't know that. Knew that about Savior. And yeah, Intersect being apparently over at 6 was a very big surprise.

[Evan Meadow]

They are on hiatus while they figure out the next arc of the story. im not opposed to that but i think its been six months now or more. I need me some clones.

I'm waiting to see if Ghosted is about to pull the same thing with how #20 is described.

[El Sombrero]

Southern Bastards
Injection
Deadly Class
Descender

Very excited about all those. No-brainers to continue.

Will try:

The Beauty - not that excited by the solicit text, I like the art though
Dark Corridor - kind of the same as above
We Stand On Guard
Wolf

[Dorktron]

Or in the case of C.O.W.L., they say they found they had written their ending by the 11th issue. But RunLoveKill is only 8 issues? Didn't know that. Knew that about Savior. And yeah, Intersect being apparently over at 6 was a very big surprise.

This is pretty much the main reason I trade wait now. I used to pick up singles that cost a lot more, only to find out that the series was a mini (which I rarely like as much as ongoings) or that sales flopped and they had to rush a half-assed finale. Yes, I understand the irony in this and the argument against trade waiting (although I think it is way, WAY overstated) but, honestly, why take the risk? For me, it isn't worth it anymore.

Also, has anyone heard anything on Prophet Earth War? It's been missing for 3 or 4 straight solicits.

[wwise03]

I always assume that every book is a mini-series unless the initial solicit specifically says in no uncertain terms that the book is an ongoing book. If it is an ongoing book, Image and the creators will brag about that in the solicit.

I don't even trust interviews in which creators say that the book is intended to be an ongoing book. For instance, Chris Pires did an interview for two new books (one with Dark Horse and one with Boom). In the interview, he describes the books as ongoing books. However, the solicits clearly state that they are both miniseries.