Once again, as I was trawling through DC's new solicitations, I found myself unsurprised, although no less frustrated, to see that Batman Incorporated has once again been delayed. What I was slightly more surprised to see, was that Batman: Gates of Gotham #5 has also been delayed by a week from the 17th of August to the 24th, the same as issue #8 (despite being the ninth issue released… it's all very confusing, I'll just continue to call #8 '#8', despite being released after #9) of 'Batman Incorporated'.
Now, I'm not sure why these books wouldn't have already been completed, especially with their release dates so close but both Kyle Higgins and Grant Morrison are working on books come DCnU so it is possible that their attention is held more firmly in the direction of their new titles. This is backed up by the fact that Kyle Higgins was helped out in the last issue of 'Batman: Gates of Gotham' by an unsolicited co-writer, Ryan Parrott, who joined the title. There is no evidence to show that Parrott will continue to pitch in with the storytelling but it wouldn't surprise me if he ended up writing the entire last issue and that transition be the reason for the delay.
What worries me is that we now have solicited, two issue of 'Batman Incorporated' set for release on the same day, issue 8 and issue 10. Whilst this seems unlikely, I'm not sure if there is an alternative as the week after is the last week of August, the week where only two DC books are being released. It would definitely be a greasy smear on the otherwise slick scheduling for 'Batman Incorporated' to come out the same day as the two books which have been planned to come out together and only with each other for months.
With Batman: Gates of Gotham, I'm convinced it's a writing delay that has caused the title to be delayed and that is the reason for the co-writer. With Batman Incorporated, I believe it is more likely to be an art delay, not because we have any evidence to prove this but Grant Morrison attended San Diego Comic Con and I don't see him as the sort of person who would fly to another country to answer questions from awe-struck fanboys when there are deadlines that have to be met… but maybe I'm just naive. As well as this, it takes much longer than a week for a comic book to get finished so if #8 isn't finished from a writing standpoint, there is no way that #10 could ever be released on time and I'm certain that DC wouldn't release it anytime after the DC relaunch. In any case, Batman Incorporated #8 will either be resolicited after it gets back on schedule, be released the same week as #10 or just be dropped as it seems to be a stand alone story which may not add too much to the continuity.
I'll be keeping my eyes peeled and my ears alert for any news of Batman Incorporated and hopefully by the next Bat-Book Delays (which incidentally may be some time as I'm going on vacation soon) everything will be sorted with the scheduling of the title.
As for comics that have managed to make it out on time (sort of), this is what you can pick up from your local comic stores tomorrow. 'Batman: The Dark Knight' (still apparently written and drawn by David Finch), 'Detective Comics' #880, and 'Gotham City Sirens' #25. Happy reading.
Posted by Joe Jinks
