e.s.

Well, judging from Twitter, Tumblr and email, we actually have a pretty fair share of female readers. And we moved as many t-shirts in women's sizes as men's, for what that's worth. -e.s. Eric Stephenson Publisher Image Comics, Inc. www.imagecomics.com

Yeah, I realize that the main way the Internet works is for people to take a statement and make sure it's repeated in as many places as possible, as inaccurately as possible, but no, I never said anything of the sort. I said there were 350 comps. There were four people working on the book, so even if I got a full 1/4 of that number, I would only have received 87. But comps don't just go to the creative team, they also go the publishing staff (of which there are 14 at Image, not counting myself), plus there are people outside our office who regularly receive comps. (The owners of the company, representatives of other publishers we trade comps with, etc.) I got 50. 25 of those went to Flying Colors in Concord, CA; the rest were given to friends and family. Oh, and I have one at home, which is kind of tea/coffee/wine stained and dog-eared at this point. Are there negative numbers in the CGC grading system? Because this would be that. -e.s. Eric Stephenson Publisher Image Comics, Inc. www.imagecomics.com

I recommend dumping it. The more of them in the marketplace, the fewer people asking me if I have any to give/sell/trade them. -e.s. Eric Stephenson Publisher Image Comics, Inc. www.imagecomics.com

This is the image Dreamland Comics shows. Don't know if it's real or not. Yeah, that's not an actual cover. Apart from the upcoming trade solicit, virtually nothing we've used in Previews for 106 will appear on a cover. That may change with issue 7 in August... -e.s. Eric Stephenson Publisher Image Comics, Inc. www.imagecomics.com

It's not a miniseries and was never marketed as one. In other news, if I haven't mentioned it before, I was gently coerced by my friends at Beach Ball Comics to come down to WonderCon tomorrow and sign at their booth. That happens at noon, so if any of you are going to the show, stop by and say hi. -e.s. Eric Stephenson Publisher Image Comics, Inc. www.imagecomics.com

That was cool stuff, but I've got them already, so no need to hunt! I think I've got a pretty solid run of Avengers from 148 or so up through 200. -e.s. Eric Stephenson Publisher Image Comics, Inc. www.imagecomics.com

Fantastic Four #48 that autographed by Jack Kirby, maybe? I got a bunch of books autographed by Kirby when I met him back in the '90s, so those are all cool. -e.s. Eric Stephenson Publisher Image Comics, Inc. www.imagecomics.com

For the most part, I would agree. There are bright spots here and there. I liked Grant Morrison's run on New X-Men, same with Joss Whedon's Astonishing X-Men. Currently, I've been (mostly) enjoying All-New X-Men. With the FF, it's basically the Lee & Kirby run, then the stuff Roy Thomas, Len Wein and Marv Wolfman did with George Perez, Keith Pollard and others around FF 160-200, then Byrne's run. Oh, and I guess there's Simonson's all-too-brief run around 350, too... Silver age FF and Bronze age X-Men is the bulk of what I actually collect. Down to fewer than 50 issues of FF, only two left on X-Men! -e.s. Eric Stephenson Publisher Image Comics, Inc. www.imagecomics.com

"X-franchise," maybe, but Giant-Size X-Men 1 and Uncanny X-Men 94-200 are mostly excellent comics. -e.s. Eric Stephenson Publisher Image Comics, Inc. www.imagecomics.com

Yup. Following the pattern we established with Saga, we won't be soliciting for June, then we'll have the trade out in July, then be back with issue seven at the end of August. Looks like there will be a second t-shirt in August as well. -e.s. Eric Stephenson Publisher Image Comics, Inc. www.imagecomics.com

I manage to get my rest! -e.s. Eric Stephenson Publisher Image Comics, Inc. www.imagecomics.com

Not from here, someone from the iFanboy community, actually. -e.s. Eric Stephenson Publisher Image Comics, Inc. www.imagecomics.com

http://ifanboy.com/articles/issue-analysis-nowhere-men-4-with-eric-stephenson/ -e.s. Eric Stephenson Publisher Image Comics, Inc. www.imagecomics.com

End of April. -e.s. Eric Stephenson Publisher Image Comics, Inc. www.imagecomics.com

Yeah, but what fun would that be? Seriously, though, I'm pretty sure that's the last time I'll be indulging Andy70's relentless negativity. -e.s. Eric Stephenson Publisher Image Comics, Inc. www.imagecomics.com

You know, I was fairly certain "Andy70" wasn't your real name, but I had no idea you were actually Captain Obvious. Of course you have snow and ice in Australia. We have snow and ice in California, too, despite the fact people also joke about the fact we have no weather. MEANWHILE, in Massachusetts: Blizzards and ice storms frequently mar the picturesque beauty of the typical New England Winter. Road closures, power outages, school closures, flight cancellations, and work stoppages are not at all uncommon. Fact: People routinely die due to the severe weather conditions in the Northeast. Weather has been miserable in Massachusetts this Winter, especially over the last month, and so after traveling to a convention and then hunkering down to deal with the mountain of actual work he has to do, Nate fcuked up and was unable to deliver a package to the post office exactly when someone wanted it. Man, I can totally see why you're obsessed with this. In other news: This is beyond boring at this point. Can we just fast forward to the next thing you're going to complain about? -e.s. Eric Stephenson Publisher Image Comics, Inc. www.imagecomics.com

What, like a Nowhere Men one-shot like the Think Tank sourcebook or whatever it was called? Doubtful we'd do anything like that. Any information like that will pop up in the actual book. -e.s. Eric Stephenson Publisher Image Comics, Inc. www.imagecomics.com

How are the Ghost Variants low quality? And apart from the variations on the artwork we do for new printings, there will be no other Nowhere Men variants on the single issues. -e.s. Eric Stephenson Publisher Image Comics, Inc. www.imagecomics.com

Yes. There will be fifth and final printing at the regular price (which will be green, since the work was done on that already), and then sometime in the not-too-distant future, we'll do the $1 version with the original front cover and the Image Firsts trade dress. -e.s. Eric Stephenson Publisher Image Comics, Inc. www.imagecomics.com

Yes, well, we all realize you don't actually have weather in Australia, but in the north eastern United States, there is this stuff called "snow" and "ice" which actually prevents people from getting on the roads. Sorry that's lost on you, but by all means, carry on with your constant barrage of negative posts in this thread. -e.s Eric Stephenson Publisher Image Comics, Inc. www.imagecomics.com

So I guess you're just going to ignore my comments about the weather? -e.s. Eric Stephenson Publisher Image Comics,Inc. www.imagecomics.com

Everyone realizes there's something called "weather," right? Nate lives in Massachusetts and I know from talking to him since Seattle that there's been pretty severe weather up there off and on since he got home from the convention. And ComicsPro was only just a month ago this past weekend, so no, you did not bid on one of the variants "way over a month ago." Just to put things in clearer perspective: ComicsPro was 2/21-23; ECCC was 3/1-3. -e.s. Eric Stephenson Publisher Image Comics, Inc. www.imagecomics.com

Honestly, I have no idea. Books licensed to publishers in European, Asian or South American countries generally aren't sold into the U.S., though, because there's no real market for American comics in other languages. For example, you can find French comics in French here in the States, but since The Walking Dead is available here in English, why would a store that carries French comics stock that? -e.s. Eric Stephenson Publisher Image Comics, Inc. www.imagecomics.com

I don't "poke" anyone's "cage." Nate and I are equal partners in Nowhere Men; I'm neither his boss nor his keeper. And in terms of the O/A thing, I love reading speculation about what artists should or shouldn't do. Nate's first priority is getting this book drawn. Selling artwork or comics or whatever on the side is strictly a bonus, and even with someone else helping out, that stuff can be a genuine hassle, especially after a convention. The week after any con is always a lost week, for a variety of reasons, and it's exactly because of problems like this that Nate has decided to cut down on when, where and how he sells his artwork. By limiting availability to a couple times a year, it will (hopefully) prevent him from getting bogged down with shipping and handling, and the buyer from waiting to get what he/she paid for. Beyond that, fcuk the Internet. It's all well and good that you can post about every little thing that aggravates you, but honestly, forums aren't the place to handle disputes. Believe it or not, things like manners and decorum do exist, and just because you feel like you've been slighted in some way, doesn't mean the first course of action is to respond in kind. There's always a middle ground, and better still, there's a high road. Generally speaking, both lead to better places. -e.s. Eric Stephenson Publisher Image Comics, Inc. www.imagecomics.com

In both cases, it depends on a number of factors. Certain things are appealing in other markets, regardless of how they do in the U.S. Print runs are all over the place, but generally speaking, much lower than in the U.S. Keep in mind that most European countries are smaller than some U.S. states. -e.s. Eric Stephenson Publisher Image Comics, Inc. www.imagecomics.com