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As a comic book reader for over 30 years I've experienced delays of issues a number of times. When I was younger it was very frustrating to experience. As a reader now I've come to accept that it may happen at times. If the reason for the delay is to make sure a certain level of quality is sustained in the title or story, then I'll gladly accept it. I'm talking about rare occasions, of course. If a title keeps experiencing delays, then that points to a larger problem with the title that needs to be fixed.
What got me thinking about these kinds of situations again was when I picked up Worlds' Finest #21. That issue was the fourth part of the "First Contact" storyline that ran between Worlds' Finest and Batman/Superman. Needless to say I immediately wondered if I had somehow missed Batman/Superman #9. As I was only picking up those issues of Batman/Superman that were part of the "First Contact" storyline it was possible that somehow it had missed my box when it came out. A quick bit of research showed that wasn't the case.
Apparently Batman/Superman #9 was delayed a month. As I said before, a rare occasion is something that I can accept. Unfortunately this doesn't seem to be one of those times, and the problem is doubled-up depending on what you read (as far as titles go). The first part of the problem with the delayed issue is that DC actually released the fourth part of the "First Contact" storyline before third part. The second part of the problem is with those that read Batman/Superman as they're now in a position of having to wait an extended period for the next issue of the series. If DC knew about this delay with the last part of the "First Contact" storyline I think they would have been better off delaying both issues of each series. Releasing issues of a story/title out of order just seems lazy and unprofessional. A friend of mine experienced this recently when issues #16 of Hawkeye came out before issue #15. Two small hiccups in a short time? Nope, it's worse than that.
As I was reading up on the mistake with the "First Contact" storyline I also found out that the final issue of Forever Evil was going to be delayed about a month. Now, since there are a issues of other titles that will be dealing with the fallout of the Forever Evil event, this means they will have their related issues pushed back also. Overall this is creating a very "uncoordinated" view in my eyes. I thought that my friend getting his Hawkeye issues out of order was bad enough, but what is happening over at DC with a variety of titles and stories is simply astonishing to me.
I don't follow a lot of websites and I'm picky on my comic-related social media. There are too many sites and people out there that I think get off on spoilers and create problems for readers. So, while keeping up with some sites could give me and others more of a "heads up" on delays and problems, we have to risk a certain level of having things spoiled if we follow them. Personally, I'm not willing to risk it. Then again, I'm also someone that is careful about what they read in regards to spoilers. I just wish that the comic companies would work to keep readers and comic shops informed. I'm fine with some delayed gratification in waiting for an issue. I'm not fine with readers having to initiate the research to find out what's going on. It just creates another appearance that the comic companies have larger issues happening.
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