We'll allow the talent to have lives outside their work. We will not demand that they devote any more than a normal, 40 hour work week -- eight hours a day, five days a week -- to these projects, but if the books are late, the Byrne Challenge is WE WANT TO KNOW WHY.

Even without pointing to Jack Kirby, Steve Ditko, Curt Swan, John Buscema, Will Eisner, and a host of other true professionals who never missed a deadline and yet consistently produced work of the highest quality, I would point to my own early work -- all that "stuff" that is "better" -- none of which ever came in so much as a day late. (And much of it was being mailed in from western Canada, which meant it had to be finished at least a week before it was due!)

Frankly the EIC at marvel being someone that have been fired from valiant by Bob Layton for being late on Ninjak (cause he preffered go to conventions all over the country than work on the book.), I can't see how the situation would improve.

About "growing roses": that's understandable for a graphic novel, but a regular series should be... regular.

One of the things about living in western Canada, and having to mail the pages into the office, and therefore having to have the books finished about a week before the actual due date (at least) was that it trained me to create my own schedules. I know when the books I am working on are due, but I always aim to finish as much in advance of that date as possible. And, for those too dim to do the math, no, this does not mean I give less time to the books, it means I start sooner. Frankly, anyone who calculates his schedule with the actual due date as the day he plans to finish is just asking for trouble.

To borrow an analogy from another field, Laurence Olivier is supposed to have once confronted Richard Burton with the question "Do you want to be a great actor, or do you want to be a star?" As the legend has it, Burton's reply was "Both."

It is the freelancer who must sit down and make a realistic assesment of his ability to produce, and the amount of time such production takes. (None of this "I once did 12 pages in one day, so I will create my schedule on the assumption that 12 pages per day is my normal speed. . "). The freelancer must look at the due date, calculate a reasonable time ahead of the due date (say, a week), and then work out how much time he needs to hit that date. And, most importantly, if he cannot do that 12 times per year, he simply cannot do a monthly book.

Sadly Burton could have been both and was none. He did some great movies like "Who's afraid of Virginia Woolf" but he never accomplished the promises that his early theater carrer presented. He was mostly the husband of Elisabeth Taylor. Indirectly that's what finally killed him.

I remember a time when "roses" where monthly: Claremont with you or others on Uncanny X-Men, Kirby on Machine Man (I love the Ten-For saga), You on FF, Bill Mantlo and Sal buscema on Rom, Mark Gruenwald on Spiderwoman and Marve Two in One, David Michelinie and Bob Layton with JRjr or Jerry Bingham on Iron Man, Roger Stern and JRjr on Spectacular and after on Amazing Spiderman, frank Miller on Daredevil, Marv Wolfman and George Perez on various series, etc...

From time to time some artists, like Mike Zeck are better when they have more time to work on a particular project. a limited series or a graphic novel. Thats probably true for Barry Windsor Smith or David Mazuchelli too.