Random Rhetorical Questions

I was casually perusing my collection this weekend and happened along a few different books, which prompted these random rhetorical questions inside my mind;

1) Will we ever see another issue of Desolation Jones? Warren Ellis and Danijel Zezelj completed 8 issues, the last of which was issue 2 of a 6 issue arc. It’s been years since that last issue, yet both creators have put out other work in the time since.

2) Will we ever see another issue of Fell? Warren Ellis and Ben Templesmith’s book was coming out fairly regularly, along with Fraction’s Casanova, proving that Image’s $1.99 “slimline” format was grand. Issues 1-8 are collected, issue 9 was the last out (with the cover for #10 advertised inside), then it just... stopped.

3) Why is it taking so long for Marvel to publish the second hardcover collection of Joss Whedon and John Cassaday’s Astonishing X-Men? It seems like the holiday season would be the perfect time to release the last of this team’s run, collecting issues 13-24 and the Giant Size Special.

4) I wonder if I should try to collect 100 straight issues of Uncanny X-Men? I’ve been buying Fraction’s run and this idea is something I’ve always wanted to do; collect 100 straight issues of the current series. I’ve owned 100-200 (actually extended it to 94-266), and my friend Michael owns 200-300, but those were collections we retroactively put together, not runs we collected as they came out.

5) Why is it that the Kick-Ass movie is already shooting, but the mini series hasn’t even wrapped yet? That seems silly to me.

6) Will Jonathan Hickman ever put out an entire series on time? Right now, I have 3 mini-series sitting in my stacks all stalled out – Pax Romana, Transhuman, and Red Mass for Mars. Wouldn’t it be better to release 3 or 4 mini-series (on time) back to back and have output for an entire 12 month (annual) cycle rather than put out 3 or 4 simultaneously, have material for 3 or 4 months and then have 3 or 4 months of nothing but dead air? Better to do one thing at a time, well, than a whole bunch at the same time, but half assed.

7) How bad did the LOEG: Black Dossier “Absolute” Edition suck? The book itself is largely an exercise in architecture over substance, the salt in the wound is that this edition had no extra material whatsoever, no scripts, and was totally unlike the first two. I’m so glad I didn’t buy it.

8) When does Kabuki: The Alchemy HC come out? I’m very excited to purchase this 7th volume of David Mack’s masterpiece to add to my collection!

9) Is the acquisition of Archaia Studios Press (ASP) going to affect their publishing of The Killer? 8 of the 10 issues are out; I just want the last of the issues and ultimate hardcover collection before this publishing effort degenerates into an elusive fizzle out.

10) What’s up with Dynamite Entertainment’s advertisements? They’ve teased the second Lone Ranger Hardcover (collecting issues 7-11) and the first Deluxe Edition collecting issues 1-11 for months now. Not only have they not come out, but I don’t even have a release date to go by.

11) Did you know that I’ve officially put Ex Machina on Wait For Trade (WFT) status? I’ve got issue 38 sitting there, long gaps in between issues, and realized that they’ve actually only got about 12 issues of the series left. Vaughan and Harris have said in more than one interview that the series will run until about issue 50 with a surprising ending that’s planned. Doesn’t really make sense for me buy single issues, then trades, then Deluxe Editions. The first Deluxe Edition is out, collecting issues 1-12; I’m just going to buy those (assumably) 4 Deluxe Editions. I’m assuming the last one will collect the couple special issues they’ve done and that DC/Wildstorm will surely see this project through to the end since it’s Brian K. Vaughan.

12) I’m just not a fan of Greg Pak’s writing. Err, that’s not really a question...

13) Did you know that I’d pay $100 to have Automatic Kafka collected? Too bad it’ll never happen.

14) Did you know that I’d pay $100 to have Flex Mentallo coll– err, how about published in an Absolute Edition?! Even though it’s the All Star Superman creative team of Grant Morrison and Frank Quitely, it’ll never happen.

15) I’m assuming Geoff Darrow’s Shaolin Cowboy is done? Sure would like a collected edition of this.

16) Wouldn’t it be cool if Brian Wood’s DMZ got the same treatment as Ex Machina with Deluxe Editions?

17) Will you listen to these three words? Scalped. Absolute Edition.

18) Will Oni Press print a HC collection of Wasteland someday? Like Local.

19) Is DC going to publish a HC collection of Batman: Year 100? They’ve advertised the Heavy Liquid HC (which is due out this week, though the house ad initially said September), I believe I even saw an add for 100% on Amazon.com, so shouldn’t they do a slick oversized HC of the book that won the Eisner Award and complete their Paul Pope library?

20) What happened to Arthur Dela Cruz? Kissing Chaos? Oni Press? Remember?