http://www.dccomics.com/dcu/comics/?cm=11516

Yaaah. Issue 5 has been moved up to June
3rd. Well done!!!!!!

As you know I have supported your Captain
Marvel series right from the beginning. What makes things frustrating to me is that a release date is set and then is moved back and sometimes more than once.
Just recently issue 5 was moved from May 20th to June 10. I’m hoping this date is secure but I wouldn’t be surprised if it isn’t. That being said I’m delighted to see that you are getting some help with the book. This is a great series and it deserves to come out monthly.

:)
mike . . .
http://www.theastonishfactory.blogspot.com

just wanted to say hi.
a friend sent me a link to your thoughts.

first off, to those that have enjoyed the book…thank you so much. i always hope that i’m able to help you find something that brings a bit of joy in this crazy world.
:)
and two, yes…oh, yessss i do work fulltime in animation. and they are long days. currently i do at Disney, before it was at Cartoon Network. crazy huh?
well, one of the main reasons is that unfortunately you can’t live on comic pay. especially, since this book pays the lowest rates because it’s a kid’s line book. and when i work on my own stuff(Herobear), i have to pay for it all myself and still pay for my family. so even I “remember how bad” i can be putting things out, not because i don’t care, but sometimes its costs a lot of money and time and life takes over sometimes. i wish it didn’t too. also, i work full-time in animation because i need to keep a certain amount of work hours every year for my animation union to keep health benefits for my family.
i wish animation didn’t consume so much, ah, but it’s a necessity in my life.
anyway, it was always known that i worked in animation, but DC has wanted an all ages Shazam for a while and they asked me to take that and run with it. thankfully, they liked what i came up with. :) we decided last year to do it bi-monthly on top of my regular day-job work. the original solicitations had to be adjusted. aaaaand of course, it still takes a while for one person to do writing, penciling, inking, coloring and covers. especially me. ;) 50 hours a week at a studio, then up til 3 in the morning on a book that you love but still hoping i don’t “blow an opportunity” is my constant state of mind. ;) i will always give everything i have to give you awesome fans something of value and enjoyment. i absolutely don’t want it to take forever nor do i not care about deadlines. believe me i want it out sooner too, because i want to share it with you.

now, they are really liking the series and they want it to come out monthly. well, i can’t possibly do that. i so wish i could, but nope. so, putting teams on it is the only way to do it. put 4 people on an issue and then it can come out monthly. i am good friends with terry moore, who is simply amazing and is my hero, but even he doing a black and white book can only put it out every 6 weeks. and he’s the best of all the indie guys. so to put stuff out monthly, requires teams. and i think DC has some good teams they are putting together, so it should be some fun issues coming soon. and like i said… more Shazam is never a bad thing. ;)

now, aside from allllllll that…one thing on this site that hurt the most is the statement that someone said about me being “angry at the Phoenix convention.” that really hurts so much because i love talking with fans about anything.
i have never ever been angry at any Con i’ve ever been to. people who know me know how much i LOVE LOVE LOVE conventions and signings because i love getting to meet fans and talk and share face to face personally with everyone. my wife has alway had to peel me away to take a 5 minute water break because i don’t want to leave the table/booth and miss meeting people. it is one of my most favorite things at signings.
all last year i spent every convention /personal appearance that i went to bringing a handmade Shazam Decoder(you can see it on the Shazam blog) to give away to fans as my gift to them, and i started it all at Phoenix. the Phoenix Con has been one of my favorite conventions. simply awesome people, fans and experiences. i went last year with my son and had an amazing time. total great ime together while my wife and daughter enjoyed their fun girl weekend together. and this year i went with just my daughter and had a father/daughter weekend that was the very best and happiest of times. she did original drawings and i loved encouraging her to share her artwork with all these great fans. and everyone was so great to talk with so… to tarnish that time by saying that i was angry about someone’s questions is very hurtful. that saddens me more than anything that can be said personally about me and my lateness or supposed lack of care for a deadline. meeting people at conventions and talking to them is one of my most enjoyable experiences. sharing that with my kids and other creators has always been a joy and i hope to do it many, many more times.

well, thank you for letting me babble on here. . . :)
i wish you all the very best in everything always. i know the internet forums are an easy place to “shout from the mountain” our thoughts and criticisms more than our compliments and encouragments, but i do hope you all know that i have always approached what i create with the hope to give fans the best possible creation/story that has the very best of myself in it. and hope i can brings happiness to you in some form or another with those stories.
this has always been a dream to be able to share stories with people, and i always love creating books for kids and grownups together. i like calling it the “family event.” i hear from so many awesome people how they sit and read the books i make “together” with their daughter, son, nephew, niece, class…etc.
oh my gosh, i love that! i love it because it brings people together to share the joy of stories!
too wonderful. :)

thank you and again, all the very best,
mike . . .
http://www.theastonishfactory.blogspot.com

And in case anyone’s forgotten just *how* bad he could be on getting Herobear out, he never released the second issue of a 2-issue mini-series from 2002, and he never released ANY issues of a 3-issue Herobear mini-series that was solicited to start in early 2004. I believe the latter project was later declared to be a graphic novel, but it’s never shown up in that format either.

My friend was saying he was getting pretty angry as he was stating as I’m sure he spent the majority of the convention having to answer that question.

But what did he expect? The industry has always been well aware of his latness issues. I’m surprised DC gave him the book without having many issues already done in advance.

Unfortunately his career in the comic industry is filled with errors and mistakes all over the place. And a bad form of responsiblity.

Don’t take on jobs you knew going in you couldn’t handle. Specially based on past reputation.

Joel: I know. But, you know, girls don’t read superhero comics. :)

[...] artist, will only be providing fill-in issues to help keep the series on a monthly schedule. [Comics Worth Reading, Newsarama] Batman and Robin [...]

Think about it for a moment here. You get to write and draw one of the handful of comic characters that even people who don’t read comics probably know. Its your own baby, as there is no continuity, crossovers or the like to deal with.

DC and Marvel, for whatever reason rarely give a creator a book to do whole cloth like that. (they tend to like creative teams) Not being able to keep a schedule, no matter what the reason is sort of a blown opportunity.

Yes, I understand that things happen, that life happens, and schedules get screwed up; but that’s when you speak up ahead of time to your editor, plan ahead and deal with it like a professional artist. Kunkel’s art is just fine, but if he’s not able to keep a schedule, let him do a collection, not a monthly. Maybe something did come up that made him have to be late; no problem, it’s a fact of life. How you deal with this fact is where someone can really shine or blow it.

It does suck how he found out, but to be fair, business is business, and if you can’t meet a deadline and deal with figuring out a solution, then you’re not a professional artist.
This kind of thing makes it look like all artists are prima donnas who can’t make a date.
Rant over.

Regardless, reading his post, I didn’t come away with the impression that he was just finding out he was being replaced. You seem to have made that leap, and I don’t think it was necessarily warranted.