Over at Comics Beat, I’ve got an article talking about shipping delays, and the long tail of perception - and how those can hinder a series before it even begins.

As much as I liked (and like) Stephenson as a writer, my internal notes were telling me that this was a series that probably wouldn’t ship on time. I was basing this purely on the track record of his most recent series, Nowhere Men, which started off with a strong opening (both critically and sales-wise) before petering off into obscurity as the book slid further and further off schedule. By the time the sixth issue shipped, my sales were but a fraction of what I had started with for all of the usual reasons. Some took the waiting period as a sign that they should give up on the singles and wait for the collections. Others forgot about the book’s existence and plot and decided to leave it on the shelf when it finally arrived. Still more pulled it out of their budgeting calculations as other books moved in to fill the gap. The result had clearly left a bad taste in my mouth, one that led to my ordering dilemma.

You can read the whole thing over there now.

Little known fact: I chopped up a column about Archie Comics that got pulled for reasons (more on that another day) and this is what came out. Basically, while talking about the company’s scheduling issues (among other things) I voiced concern about what the Afterlife with Archie schedule would do to the book. At the time it was shipping on a schedule that resembled bi-monthly shipping, despite being solicited as a monthly ongoing. At this point, the series’ seventh issue - originally solicited for May/June release before being resolicted for September - is scheduled to come out in late November. Maybe. This… is a big problem. But again, more on that another day…