Nick Spencer-migration

The next issue of BEDLAM is not late. It hasn't been solicited. That's a quite a difference some of you are ignoring. No one made a commitment to you on it. I've been very clear that the book is on hiatus. It will be back at some point, hopefully in the not too distant future. In the meantime, however, I'm sorry, but there no issues we've promised you.

Much sooner, thanks.

The book had 11 issues out in about 14 and a half months. I have never seen fairly modest delays more overstated than on this book. Same thing with the variants. Not sure why we were targeted for such selective outrage, but hey, it is what it is. We'll be back very soon, with our best story yet, I think. We're taking time to get some issues done before we solicit. Very excited about the artist on the next arc as well.

The book is not going anywhere. The book is not dying. Sales are fine. Ryan just handed in the last pages of 10 (we should be going to print next week), and work has begun on 11. V2 trade in January. We're having a comixology sale this weekend, 01 is free, 02-08 are just 99 cents each. Big stuff planned for next year. I've said my peace on the schedule. 10 is on its way to you, the book isn't even a year old yet. This has been massively overstated in this thread. I'm sorry for the wait, hopefully you think the story is worth sticking around for.

Listen, I understand your frustration on that, but the reasons are pretty simple-- a whole fan/analysis community has sprung up around Morning Glories. So they do stuff like columns and chats and tumblrs that I of course promote in turn, and proudly. Bedlam is a work of the heart and something I care about deeply, too, but it's a very different kind of book and a little more conventional in structure, so it doesn't have a lot of that stuff. So there's just not the stuff to tweet about there-- not that any of it really makes a difference in terms of sales.

Once again, 10 issues in a year is pretty much industry standard for a creator-owned book. That's because fill-in creative teams aren't used. There is nothing new or unusual here. We're not soliciting new issues until we're caught up, so no one is promising you anything.

Boy, I sure do love when people make comments about my work ethic, especially while I write 5 books and haven't taken a day off in months. BEDLAM will have shipped 10 issues in a year. That's the same number as most Image books. It's the standard number for creator-owned books. We don't do fill-in creative teams, so the books take longer to make. I have to prioritize my time based on the income I make from something as well, just like you. Really offensive stuff. I appreciate people want the book more often, and that's very nice. But we're not soliciting more issues here til December, so we're being responsible. No one is making you any promises, and there is absolutely no rule handed down by God that comic books have to come out monthly.

This book debuted on Oct. 31st (so basically, November). By end of this month, we'll have shipped 8 issues. That's 8 issues in 9 months we've managed to get out, even with an art team transition and very full schedules elsewhere all around. We have not been smart in terms of our solicit dates, but in terms of actual shipped product, this book has been pretty much where most creator-owned books are. As for 'you'd think I'd have several issues written'-- I co-write a twice monthly shipping Avengers book, just did a double ship on Secret Avengers, just did 4 double-sized issues of Morning Glories, launched Superior Foes, and did this. I've been working on basically the equivalent of 7 books in terms of scripts due. Everyone does their best, and it's not an exact science-- if I'd gotten 1 more -script done per month the last two months, there's be no delay here. But I didn't, because, well, see above. I haven't taken a day off the entire summer. I haven't seen any summer movie you have, because I've been locked away working (I know, cry me a river). Nobody working on this is sitting around playing video games. The other comments are just... sorry, but absurd is the only word I can think of. I just wanted to put this out there quickly, because I've never seen a book get such weirdly disproportionate schedule complaints in comparison to how much has actually shipped. Ryan is cranking out pages at an awesome rate, and 9 will be with you in August. We'll have the V2 trade out before the end of the year.

Posted on of Ryan's pages-- issue is looking fantastic so far. http://tmblr.co/ZMdThtk00yTH

This, pretty much. Are you able to confirm or deny Nick? The next arc is not about that, no.

This, pretty much.

To each their own, but I really don't get how anyone can be reading the book at this point and possibly think I'm just making it up as I go along. This always just sounds like people who dropped the book really early because it demanded too much attention-- which in and of itself is kinda depressing. And I think Casey, Hunter, Jade, etc. are pretty sweet kids, but then, I write them for a living

Bedlam 1, Regular cover was 24,967.

thanks. some cool stuff coming up there that should get people's attention.

You guys worry too much We got hit with a perfect storm-- actually literally, due to the hurricane-- then the holidays. But what people forget is we launched on Oct. 31. We probably shouldn't have even done a November issue. You're still getting 6 issues in 6 months, it's hardly an MIA book. Right now the book is shipping every 3 weeks for 3 issues straight. So I feel like we're in good shape. As for the variants, I don't really see how they hurt the book, though I can see how they might impact the secondary market. Remember that we determine a book's success by order numbers, not re-sale value. Don't get me wrong-- I'm happy to see anyone make money off investing in the book, but I'm not going to turn away a convention or retailer that wants to make a substantial order on the book. The bottom line is, the print run on the book was always going to be fairly high, whether it was variants or regular prints. It just wasn't one retailers were going to sleep on. So I don't know, if you were in for the quick turnaround, if we were ever the title for you. The variants are more a symptom there than anything. If they didn't exist, there would just be more copies of the first print cover, and I don't see how you'd like that any more. Does that make sense?