I prefer quality over quantity, so I'd rather wait than get rushed comics. I don't care if books come out monthly, quarterly or whatever, as even with books I buy in single issues, I don't read things as they come out except for first issues. I read the first issue when it comes out, then read the rest when I have a stack to read (whether the arc is complete or not). It's just they way it is with me. I think monthly is an arbitrary and unnatural frequency for comics anyways, and no one remembers the delays once a collected edition comes out (you don't hear people saying how they gave up on Watchmen because the delays in the final 3-4 issues ruined the series for them even though there were massive delays in the completion of it's "monthly" run).

Monthly is an expectation fans have, not an inherent part of comics publication. It only continues to exist in modern American comics because creators get paid page rates and need to have issues come out regularly to get paid and make ends meet instead of the rights to publish a book from them being bought from them by publishers with advances and royalties the way "real" book publishers do (something that is changing as more major book publishers are getting in the OGN game and offering contracts with advances and royalties to creators instead of page rates allowing them to make ends meet while the book is being created and released once it is all in the can, usually as an OGN). If comic publishers would modernize their payment structures to creators, creators could wait to publish a project when it is completed without delays, instead they are forced to play the publishers archaic monthly release schedule game.

Keeping a schedule wouldn't be an issue if creators could earn money while doing the work instead of getting paid afterwards "on the back end" but comic publishers want to shoulder zero risk on their products (retailers and creators bear all the risk burdens, publishers are guaranteed their payments through Diamond/Lunar, Diamond/Lunar guaranteed their money from retailers). Writers can do multiple projects at once to get around this, most artists cannot (not and still produce art that meets the audience/market expectations in terms of detail-those panels featuring just figure work with zero background details that were quite common in Gold/Silver/Bronze books by artists churning out multiple books a month which sped up production process would not fly with modern customers-whether this is a good or bad thing is debatable, but it is what it is).

So now I don't feel any disappointment because I don't have expectations of the creative process being able to fit into a one-size-fits-all production/publication schedule that dominates modern comic publishers. If you take out fill-in issues, guest-artists, reprints, and all the other cheats publishers used in the Gold/Silver/Bronze/Copper Ages of comics, comics have never really been able to maintain a monthly release schedule with a consistent creative team over an extended period of time unless the artist was Kirby. Add in the fact that on many creator-owned books the art is done by a single hand rather than assembly line style separation of pencils and inks it takes longer that way, and that guest inkers, pencillers, fill-in issues, inventory stories, unexpected reprint issues, etc. all are not on the table as options to keep that schedule, it is hardly surprising creator-owned books do not maintain monthly schedules for extended periods of time. It is more surprising when the can do so.

-M

I pretty much completely agree with MRP. I'm fine with Brubaker & Phillips moving into (largely) graphic novels. Apparently that works for them and that's great. I'd certainly love more Southern Bastards, but I'll live if I don't get it.

My question is, does it bug you to have to wait for a couple years for the next installment of your favorite detective novel series or SF series or what-not? The expectation for comics is monthly because that's what U.S. consumers have become accustomed to having. But it's not set in stone.

I haven't really done the Patreon thing, but I've supported a number of Kickstarters for creators that I love, including John Ostrander, Tom Mandrake, Karl Kesel, Sam Glanzman, etc.  It's not ideal, but it's better than those ideas dying unrealized. 

Generally delays with creator-owned books are rarely an issue of the creator losing interest in the work.

Usually causes are one of the following:
- Creator-owned work generally sell less than Big Two work (though longterm it may be more profitable). To make ends meet, artist and/or writer needs to pick up contract work to meet ends made and has other obligations which hits the publication schedule.
- the work doesn't break even and requires too much investment on the creators' part to keep going.
- To use a beloved Iain Banks term "Outside Context Problems": health issues, family matters, a Corona crisis, fallout between the creative team over various reasons.

I kinda think the Dark Horse method might be the most viable when you want to avoid these issues and still have creator owned work (Hellboy, Beasts of Burden, Grendel etc.) Release miniseries when you have material and moment where creators are available, otherwise don't expect anything but be happy when it arrives.

I hope more creators try different release models, or other methods that allow them to release more reliably or without having to take work-for-hire gigs to make ends meet. The thing is -- there's never been a better time for creator-owned material. Image Comics has really raised the profile of creator-owned books, and with movie and TV studios looking to find the next big media franchise, creator-owned books are the potential goldmine that everyone is looking at.

I get the frustration, I've felt it often from George R. R. Martin on his Song of Ice and Fire( I've been a long suffering fan since 1998) to my lamentations on the hiatus of Frank Barbiere's Five Ghosts but when I find myself obsessing about it too much and getting a little annoyed I just think on Neil Gaiman's words, "George R.R. Martin is not your bitch," and I come back to Earth and realize I'll get my fix when I get my fix and nothing that I can say or do will make that come faster.

He's never going to finish. He has no idea what to do with the story... I think that's clear. If it was a matter of the book being worked on and just taking a long time, it'd be fine. That's not what's happening with Martin.. he's written other stuff in the same universe, just not the next book. Not to mention the TV show. People probably wouldn't harass him so much if he gave a reasonable answer when people ask about it... the various books have had SO many scrapped release dates.

With Rothfuss, its the fact that he claimed the entire trilogy was written when the first book came out.. clearly that was a lie, and he seems to not even be trying.

Getting back on topic, I wonder if the popular book store comics (Like Dogman and the Raina Telgainer stuff) get paid like prose book authors, with an advance and a %... perhaps at some point that model will kick in for comics as well... I'd much rather see a trade twice a year (or even once) than wondering if the next book is going to come out.