Byrne Robotics: Question for jb : lead time on comics

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gary haylock
Byrne Robotics Member
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Joined: 27 October 2012
Location: United Kingdom
Posts: 53

Posted: 07 October 2015 at 9:32am \| IP Logged \| 1

Hi mr byrne, just wondering with the delays in comics every month how
far ahead did you have issues completed before publication ?
you did ff and alpha flight at the same time for 21/2 years and
superman and action comics,plus more.
now it seems artists can produce 1 issue a month.
Thanks for your time

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John Byrne
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Joined: 11 May 2005
Posts: 132232

Posted: 07 October 2015 at 9:45am \| IP Logged \| 2

When I started on FANTASTIC FOUR I was turning in finished issues about five months before they went on sale. This has long been my preferred lead time, what Frank Miller used to call a "No F**k Ups" lead, meaning there was plenty of time for correcting every flaw that could be found.

Not a perfect plan, of course. The first issue of HIDDEN YEARS was finished three months before it went on sale, but it still shipped late due to incompetence in the office. (I realize that's water under a long ago bridge, but it robbed me of ever again being able to say no book of mine had ever shipped late. And then, of course, the same thing happened with the twelfth issue!)

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gary haylock
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Joined: 27 October 2012
Location: United Kingdom
Posts: 53

Posted: 07 October 2015 at 10:16am \| IP Logged \| 3

Thanks for the quick reply.
Both the hidden years delays were due to out side issues and nothing to
do with you or production.
I just always assumed comic publishers had completed issues to
avoid delays.not month to month as has happened now.

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John Byrne
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Posted: 07 October 2015 at 11:09am \| IP Logged \| 4

Both the hidden years delays were due to out side issues and nothing to do with you or production.

•••

Not quite. Both issues were double-sized, as was Marvel's policy for the first and 12th issues of new series. Despite this standing policy, and despite both books being in the drawer for months, both were processed as regular sized issues, and sent to the color separators with only half as much time as was needed.

Result, two late books.

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J W Campbell
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Joined: 28 June 2012
Location: United Kingdom
Posts: 353

Posted: 07 October 2015 at 5:04pm \| IP Logged \| 5

Just as a bit of context for how things are done now — I'll often be put on a book to letter it at the start of the week when the B&W art is complete, at the same time as the colourist starts work. I'll usually have the proof in by Tue/Wed and the colours will be complete by Friday. Final print files will be with the publisher late Friday or, occasionally, first thing Monday.

There's usually a press deadline hard on the heels of that, so the leeway for f*ck-ups is more or less zero. More accurately, there are still f*ck-ups but they end up in the book. This situation is entirely the result of the accounting guys wanting to cut 'inventory days' (the length of time between the cost of production going on the books and the sale of the product being banked). A completely false economy, IMO, if it means that you can never ship a product on time.

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