I worked with Don. And believe it or not, he was a paragon of timeliness compared to some I worked with later! Remember, the first issue of XHY, which had been sitting in the drawer finished for something like five months shipped late because of editorial incompetence! A year later, this was repeated with the 12th issue!

I was forwarded this by a friend, so I felt the need to join up and say something, partly to quash rumors.

First up, "Then you read that Adam Hughes is going to do a monthly".  Ouch.  Not sure if that puppy I ran over last week was Chuck's, but now I'm thinking it was...

Secondly, I am not doing a 'monthly'.  My commitment to ALL-STAR WONDER WOMAN is for 6 issues.  My schedule is to hand in 10 pages, pencilled and inked, a month.  The issues will be released monthly, on-time, because we're starting far enough in advance.  You will get your ALL-STAR WONDER WOMAN every four weeks.

I think that if the announcement had been worded that 'Adam Hughes is doing 132 pages of WONDER WOMAN', there'd be less confusion and consternation.

Next, may I be allowed to take umbrage at the suggestion that anyone who does not/can not create a monthly comic is either casual or (more offensively) unprofessional and irresponsible.  I realize that this is the wrong place to suggest this, but the notion that you are not a real comic artist if you can't do a monthly book is archaic.  Prolific masters like John Byrne and Jack Kirby are the exceptions, not the rule.  Would you call Neal Adams unprofessional or irresponsible, just because HE never did a monthly book?  All 12 issues of WATCHMAN didn't ship on time; is Dave Gibbons therefore merely a casual dabbler in our medium?  Anyone care to call Brian Bolland names for being slow?  Perhaps KILLING JOKE should have been given to a DC artist who was doing a monthly book, as a reward for productivity.

I'm sorry that I cannot do a comic a month; I wish I could.  So does my accountant.  But I cannot.  "A man's got to know his limitations" as a wise man with a loaded gun once said.  I know what I can and cannot do.  Faced with the choice of hacking out a mediocre Adam Hughes comic 12 times a year or working at my own natural pace and doing work that I can be proud of, I personally choose quality over quantity.  It's not for everyone, it's just how this cat is wired.  I don't think EVERYONE should slow down and work at this pace.  I think everyone should find their niche and excel at what they do best.

And before anyone decides to get all 'harrumphy' on me, I am not saying that everyone who does a book a month hacks it out.  My firm implication is that I and I alone would be a hack, if I were to produce work at that personally unnatural pace.

I understand the nature of the business, and of fandom.  I remember what it was like as a boy, wondering why Michael Golden didn't do a monthly book.  However, I never considered to imply his professionalism was suspect; I just assumed what he did took more time.  Expecting me to draw as fast as John Byrne is like me expecting YOU (whoever you may be) to jump 12 feet in the air.  You can't?  But Michael Jordan can.  And everybody is the same, right?

Please just sit back, enjoy all manner of comics as they come out.  It's a fabulous art form with room for all manner of creative endeavor.  If you care to, please try out my 6 issues of ALL-STAR WONDER WOMAN when I'm finished with them.  I'm really excited about this assignment, and I think I have some cool stuff in store.  If you cannot, however, approach the notion of me doing a book like this with something resembling basic human optimism and enthusiasm, then I'l thank you to kiss my man-sized ass.

AH!

Back in the early 80's when I was a lad of 10 or 12 years, I had an amazing mental calendar of comic book schedules.  I knew what week every one of the 20+ comics I bought should have been in the spinner rack, and I only remember a tiny handful of instances when a book I was expecting wasn't there.  More often than not, it was there the next week.  I can't remember a single time when a book was months late.

How it got to where it is today just saddens me.

Welcome to the Forum, Adam. Don't be a stranger.

Wouldn't it be nice to see JB take over ASWW with issue 7?

Ahhh...

I think there's a difference between someone like Adam Hughes saying "This is what I can do, and I'm not responsible for the company soliciting it incorrectly" and Random 'Hot' Talentbot 314525 saying "Fuck off, you'll get it when you get it, and you're lucky that you're even getting that! PS - Fuck off!".

My guess is that the difference is....class.

What JB said, Adam.  It's good to have you here.  I'll definitely check out All-Star Wonder Woman--I'm a big fan of your work.

Adam Hughes: I'm sorry that I cannot do a comic a month; I wish I could.  So does my accountant.  But I cannot.  "A man's got to know his limitations" as a wise man with a loaded gun once said.  I know what I can and cannot do.

But you're also taking the necessary steps to ensure that the book will come out monthly, and that means a lot.  The people that get me, personally, riled up are the ones who take on a monthly assignment and then don't bother to hold their end of the bargain.  For instance, Adi Granov should never have accepted the assignment to do the monthly IRON MAN comic book back in 2004.  It took a year and a half to get 6 issues.  That's a quarterly comic.  And a lost reader in me.

edit to add: Not entirely Granov's fault, though.  That Marvel editorial thought a painter could produce six monthly issues just tells me they have their heads in the wrong place.