DC Relaunch: Creators need to have three issues finished by August 31st

With the news of the DC Relaunch comes the news that DC has offered some of their creators writing and art duties on some of the books.

From past experience, readers know some of the creators’ (who shall go unnamed) work has been delayed – sometimes for months!

So when the creative teams on some of the titles was announced – alarm bells were ringing!

Seems DC Editorial is nipping that problem in the bud.

Well, maybe it’s been a problem for a bit longer, but you get it.

The Beat reports that a memo was sent to creators stating they must have three issues done before August 31st, or Editorial will begin to work on material that will be able to make the deadline.

“No exceptions.”

Here’s the memo from Co-Publishers Dan DiDio and Jim Lee (Jim Lee? uhh…) sent out to freelancers:

“It is our goal to have three completed issues of each series in the can by August 31st, no exceptions. If that criterion cannot be met, we’ve instructed Editorial to begin work at that time on material that will be able to meet the deadlines for the series.”

Apparently, some artists aren’t too thrilled, as they just received the scripts for the first issues.

I hope they can pull it off.

However, this begs the question: If the issues will get the “rush job” – will the quality be dropping? I’ve been thinking about this, as it happens a lot at a majority of publishers: Your favorite artist does one or two issues, and then there is a fill-in with the art not meeting up to your standards. Would you rather have two terrific issues followed by two that are not so terrific? Or, maybe, a few “good” issues from the A-list artist?

I suppose it is easier for me, standing on the outside looking in, to try and come up with a solution or explanation. My answer has ususally been, if you are going to have fill-ins, why not schedule them? Not saying the fill-in artists are bad, but seems a majority of the time they get a last minute notice and are rushed to get the job done – as they just found out – and the art is not as good as it could be.

Guess, we’ll find out soon enough.

Head on over to the Cosmic Book News DC Relaunch: News Hub for the official list of titles and creators, plus more news.