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Topic: What is a "Long Run"? Post ReplyPost New Topic
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Eric Ladd
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Posted: 25 July 2017 at 1:27pm | IP Logged | 1 post reply

It would be interesting to see how many pages various artists worked on as opposed to comic books. We tend to remember only the books we collected or read instead of an artist's entire body of work. Jim Steranko comes to mind as someone that did more. A long run would be 500, 750 or 1000 pages? JB's X-Men run was ~850 pages of art; covers and interiors. Lifetime page count? Now that is where the jaw hits the pavement.


Edited by Eric Ladd on 26 July 2017 at 6:41am
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Andrew W. Farago
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Posted: 25 July 2017 at 1:34pm | IP Logged | 2 post reply

Three years is the benchmark for a long run post-2000, thanks to the combination of reboots, relaunches, crossovers, editorially-mandated changes, and talent opting to try their hand at creator-owned books once they've made a name for themselves on a Marvel or DC book.

Dan Slott's been writing Amazing Spider-Man for nearly 200 issues now, Brian Michael Bendis has written Ultimate Spider-Man for 200-something issues (with 100+ drawn by Mark Bagley), Scott Snyder wrote all but a handful of the New 52 issues of Batman with most of them drawn by Greg Capullo, and when you take creator-owned books into account (Usagi Yojimbo, Walking Dead, Savage Dragon), you've still got a lot of workhorses out there.
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Joe Smith
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Posted: 25 July 2017 at 2:29pm | IP Logged | 3 post reply

Your lengthy run on X-MEN, if done today, would contain MAYBE three
storylines and 2 reboots.
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Eric Lund
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Posted: 25 July 2017 at 2:34pm | IP Logged | 4 post reply

A long run today for any creator is 5 issues without a file in artist
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Eric Jansen
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Posted: 25 July 2017 at 3:00pm | IP Logged | 5 post reply

2 years is a good, solid run.

Anything over that, in varying degrees, is a long run.  5 years is a good long run.  I remember I enjoyed Cary Bates & Irv Novick on THE FLASH for 5 years (though they were on longer) and that really stuck with me as a kid--I could really RELY on that series.  Likewise, Curt Swan on SUPERMAN, but the the writers were always switched around.  At Marvel, Doug Moench and Mike Zeck on MASTER OF KUNG FU for so long really let the series grow and tell extended stories at a good pace.  (I would get the Paul Gulacy issues later--another good run.)

Though it's more common for a writer to stay on for 5 or more years, it would be nice for more artists to stay with those writers for at least 2 years.
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Dave Phelps
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Posted: 25 July 2017 at 5:44pm | IP Logged | 6 post reply

In a recent Black Widow series, in the final issue whoever wrote the letters page was really proud of having the same writer and artist for all 20 issues...

To be a little facetious about it, it depends on how good it is. There have been runs lasting several years where I get to the end and think "it's over already?" Then there are others a few months in where I think "are they ever going to leave?" Or maybe even the shadow it casts. I remember talking to someone about the Steranko Captain America run awhile ago and he was really shocked when I said it was only three issues.

But to bring math into it, I'd say over five years would be a "long run." Less than that, I wouldn't use those words.
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Shane Matlock
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Posted: 25 July 2017 at 6:18pm | IP Logged | 7 post reply

2 to 3 years seems like a pretty long run by one writer/artist or the same writer/artist team. I don't think having the same artist on a series for years ever really gets all that stale or boring, but I do think sometimes people write something for too long and the later issues don't really measure up to their earlier issues. I'm a big fan of Mark Gruenwald and love most of his run on Captain America, especially the first several years, but he's a prime example of someone staying on a title for too long and running out of good story ideas. Claremont on the X-Men and Peter David on the Hulk are a couple of other examples of staying on a title for too long.
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Rick Senger
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Posted: 25 July 2017 at 10:53pm | IP Logged | 8 post reply

I remember I enjoyed Cary Bates & Irv Novick on THE FLASH for 5 years (though they were on longer) and that really stuck with me as a kid--I could really RELY on that series.

*****

I recall having the same thoughts.  Bates / Novick (and a good 3/4ths McLaughlin) were like clockwork from the early-mid 70s thru the early-mid 80s, my peak comic buying years.  Bates hung on too long afterwards but that tandem was reliable.  Dick Dillin on Justice League of America and Aparo on B+B had similar early 70s thru early 80s trajectories.  Long runs!

Seems like anything over a couple years is pretty long these days. 

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Eric Jansen
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Posted: 25 July 2017 at 11:21pm | IP Logged | 9 post reply

I just got back from Comic-Con and I happened to talk to Mark Texeira.  I told him how much I liked his work and how I wished he was still working on MOON KNIGHT instead of the present team (and their weird approach).  He said to tell Marvel!

I guess I normally assumed that when artists reach a certain status, it's THEIR choice when to leave a book or not.  But apparently not.  We've gotten used to prima donna artists who leave after three issues, but we've forgotten that there are good professionals who would love to have a regular gig, working on the same series for two or more years.

It boggles the mind that we could be reading a Mark Texeira-drawn MOON KNIGHT right now but nobody's asking him.
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Brian O'Neill
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Posted: 26 July 2017 at 1:08am | IP Logged | 10 post reply

Dick Dillin drew 175 consecutive issues of BLACKHWAK, beginning during the Quality Comics run in 1951, and continuing until  just before DC cancelled the book in 1968(missing only the last two issues of that title. 
Then came his legendary run on JUSTICE LEAGUE lasting from 1968 to 1980, and accounting for 115 of the 120 issues published from # 64 to #183. Four of those issues were all-reprint, one per year from '68 to '71. Beginning with issue # 94, the only original issue he missed was # 153, which was done be George Tuska, apparently for no reason other than DC gave Dillin a month off, ending a stretch of 59 straight issues, and preeding a 30-issue string. So, that was 264 out of 265 issues in about 3 decades.

Jim Aparo had a lot on his plate at DC, so it was commonplace for him to miss issues of BRAVE AND BOLD here and there. Stil, he did just over 70% of the last hundred issues(out of 200 total).The longest run of missed issues came during and after UNTOLD LEGEND OF THE BATMAN in 1980, as he got an extra issue or two off from B & B after completing the mini-series.


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Kevin Brown
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Posted: 26 July 2017 at 5:50am | IP Logged | 11 post reply

To add about Jim Aparo:  He pencilled, inked, AND lettered the majority of his work.
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Robbie Parry
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Posted: 26 July 2017 at 6:02am | IP Logged | 12 post reply

There's also, and this is me being pedantic, another question to ask.

Stan Lee/Jack Kirby had a long run on the FF. Our host had a long run on some titles.

What of ALL-STAR BATMAN? It began in 2005. One issue shipped in 2006 (Jim Lee was too busy with a video game project, I believe Miller had written the scripts). I'm told it started again in 2011 - plagued by delays, of course - and will eventually be finished.

When they do finish it, I guess it'll be 2020 or so (a conservative estimate). So the book will have 'run' from 2005 to 2020. But that isn't a long run, is it?

My point is, the delays in some modern titles - and ABS is an extreme example - could create a perception among some misguided people. "Wow, Jim Lee worked on ASB from 2005 to 2020." Only it'd be a flawed premise. Because a 'run' should not include constant delays due to the artist being busy with other projects.
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