You'll remember a couple of weeks ago that Newsarama had an interview with the notorious Mr. Finch and they asked him (in relation to his title, 'Batman: The Dark Knight') "So just to clarify, issue #3 is solicited for June 22nd. It's definitely finished?". And what was Finch's response? Ah yes, Finch replied "Issue #3 is finished, so that should be a firm date".
'Should'? I hear you ask. I know I did! Is this Finch just being hesitant and insecure or is he simply trying to cover his own back? Well, it turns out to be the latter as 'Batman: The Dark Knight' #3 has once again been delayed, this time for three weeks from its supposedly 'firm' date of the 22nd of June to the 13th of July. If the issue was truly finished I'd love to hear the excuse as to why the issue was delayed.
I really don't see the need for this book, especially with the re-launch. If the stories tie together then that's fine but as far as I can tell they don't, possibly even worse, the story being told may not even finish (and that's not taking into account more inevitable delays) as Finch originally stated that he would be telling 6 issue story arcs, on the other hand, he also said that 'Batman: The Dark Knight' would be a monthly title so from now on I'll be taking Finch's words with a pinch of salt. If, as Finch hinted, Bane appears in the current arc then I can see why DC would like him to finish his story but I think both DC and Finch would do a lot better to drop the story, even with only two issues out, and put all of their effort into making sure that the re-launched title is as good as possible with lots of future issues already completed to help sort out the problem with delays.
As well as all this, Bat-Book Delays should hopefully become less of a regular post; with day and date digital releasing soon to be in effect, it would be nice to think that the creative teams will be working harder to get there books finished in time for a potentially larger audience. As well as that, we won't have a Morrison book for at least a year so we won't have to worry about 'Batman Incorporated', J.H.Williams III has had a long time to make sure that 'Batwoman' can achieve a regular release (at least for a good few months) and, with help from Jay Fabok and the time to write for ahead of time, it seems that 'Batman: The Dark Knight' may also get a regular release, of course it's Finch's book that we should be worried about.
Oh, and there's still no solicitation for 'Batman: The Dark Knight' #4, probably so that DC can avoid embarrassment by delaying that issue every week as well.
Posted by Joe Jinks
