Dark Horse Gold Key Release Dates

vikingspawn · Post by **vikingspawn** » Sun Jan 16, 2011 2:03 pm

TheVisitor wrote:I stumbled across this last night - Comic List

Solar 5
Magnus 3
Turok 2

all out Feb 2

Then again, they have Solar 6, Magnus 4 and Turok 3 coming out one week later - Feb 9

Phil

Cool shipping link. Maybe their new marketing strategy is releasing all three titles on the same day?

ahhh....*who the hell knows*

TheVisitor · Post by **TheVisitor** » Sun Jan 16, 2011 2:11 pm

Granted, I don't work in the comic book industry, but it seems to me that I would have had at least 2 or 3 issues "in the can" before the 1st issue of any title appeared. I'm sure that some readers were lost as a result of the countless delays. For a company like Dark Horse, this is inexcusable.

If someone wants to chime in who knows more about these things than I do, please feel free.

Phil

orbitalshift · Post by **orbitalshift** » Mon Jan 17, 2011 5:00 am

Not sure what the bottleneck is here and it is frustrating. If they are late due to Shooter writing four books, I would rather wait on the books than have someone else writing them.

Also, if that is the case I wish Dark Horse would just solicit books as quarterlies and be done with it.

I'm not sure what Dark Horse has to gain by adding more books to the solicitation schedule that will clearly not ship until much later.

At any rate, I'm a fan so I'll wait and buy em when they are released, and I'll be all excited to get em.

Knightt · Post by **Knightt** » Mon Jan 17, 2011 5:26 am

orbitalshift wrote:At any rate, I'm a fan so I'll wait and buy em when they are released, and I'll be all excited to get em.

Same here but if we must wait for books, then solicit them bi-monthly or longer out so that things will seem normal and if they end up coming out early, so be it and if not, then the books will be 'on time'.

At $3.50 a book, I could wait for a bi-monthly title. I think what is not being hedged here is that the books are advertised on certain dates and end up being late. This frustrates and could very well alienate even long time fans. I believe that this is a dangerous game to play at this point in the game. I don't remember lets say Valiant books being late (NOT comparing these books to Valiant books but rather the time in between titles shipping) on the stands. With the recent release of this line, I would think that Dark Horse would be OTB (On the Ball) in treating these books with respect. If it is Shooter's fault then I would expect him to deliver products on time or trim back books that he can work on. Maybe share the writing duties even more so with JC Vaughn who is MORE than capable of fleshing these stories out.

It is just a bit of a bummer to wait on these titles when I thought I would just about have a half or more short box full of books. Unless, there is a storm brewing.

One thing for me that is for sure... I would rather wait on books written by Jim Shooter than not to have ANY books written by Shooter. I've enjoyed them so far, I just wish we had more books to read with regularity. I am being lazy here but has anyone written 'management' trying to find out what is going on ? I am going to draft something up to try and get to the bottom of this or at least get a reasonable schedule so that a month doesn't go past with me being @ssed out.

xodacia81 · Post by **xodacia81** » Mon Jan 17, 2011 10:10 am

Frequent artist changes and massive, even more frequent delays? Sounds like Dark Horse trying to publish superhero comics. Again. They learned nothing from CGW/DHH.

Todd Luck · Post by **Todd Luck** » Mon Jan 17, 2011 8:21 pm

Not sure what the delay is but the new format Diamond lists new releases in and the new format on Dark Horses website made it very easy to compare the two side by side. I notice Conan and Fear Agent (which have nothing to do with Gold Key obviously) are not shipping. Not counting variant covers, only two out of the seven comics DH has listed for Jan 19th are on Diamonds list to ship. Honestly I've never actually bothered checking if Dark Horse ships there other titles on time but just looking at this one week, it makes me think the problem isn't just with Gold Key titles.

dave · Post by **dave** » Tue Jan 18, 2011 7:14 pm

Are three books coming out tomorrow then?

BruceReville · Post by **BruceReville** » Tue Jan 18, 2011 7:21 pm

Well at least there isn't a Dark Key Red (Swipe at Deathmate Red) coming out - if the delays are already happening within the first couple of issues imagine how long it would take for that to come out.

400yrs · Post by **400yrs** » Tue Jan 18, 2011 7:25 pm

According to the lists on the CGC forums, which are usually pretty accurate, none this week and none next week.

dave · Post by **dave** » Tue Jan 18, 2011 7:39 pm

No way! I was hoping for all three! Dang.

MoonChild · Post by **MoonChild** » Tue Jan 18, 2011 10:09 pm

ohh snap, I thought they were all coming out today too, wtf?

400yrs · Post by **400yrs** » Wed Jan 19, 2011 4:37 am

They may be? I'd call up shops to find out instead of wasting a trip though.

jbtheo · Post by **jbtheo** » Wed Jan 19, 2011 11:42 am

Nope. Turok #2 got delayed until the first week of March, and Solar #5 and Magnus #3 got delayed until the middle of February. Very frustrating. I was expecting all 3 books to be released today, as well.

Daniel Jackson · Post by **Daniel Jackson** » Wed Jan 19, 2011 12:15 pm

Wow, more delays? Dark Horse is starting to become the new Image....

iggy101us · Post by **iggy101us** » Wed Jan 19, 2011 12:35 pm

Here are the latest dates from TFAW:

Magnus #3 2/16/2011
Solar #5 2/23/2011
Turok #2 3/2/2011

StarBrand · Post by **StarBrand** » Wed Jan 19, 2011 12:38 pm

Posting release dates at the top of this thread is on the verge of becoming moot, unfortunately. Dr Solar 5 is now scheduled for February 23rd, and 6 is scheduled for release before 5.

comicsyte95 · Post by **comicsyte95** » Wed Jan 19, 2011 1:12 pm

StarBrand wrote:This thread is on the verge of becoming moot, unfortunately. Dr Solar 5 is now scheduled for February 23rd, and 6 is scheduled for release before 5.

I hope that things wont hurt the line,but for me it doesnt matter as the storylines mean more then a timeframe.

StarBrand · Post by **StarBrand** » Wed Jan 19, 2011 1:17 pm

comicsyte95 wrote:
StarBrand wrote:This thread is on the verge of becoming moot, unfortunately. Dr Solar 5 is now scheduled for February 23rd, and 6 is scheduled for release before 5.
I hope that things wont hurt the line,but for me it doesnt matter as the storylines mean more then a timeframe.

Donovan · Post by **Donovan** » Wed Jan 19, 2011 1:59 pm

StarBrand wrote:
comicsyte95 wrote:
StarBrand wrote:This thread is on the verge of becoming moot, unfortunately. Dr Solar 5 is now scheduled for February 23rd, and 6 is scheduled for release before 5.
I hope that things wont hurt the line,but for me it doesnt matter as the storylines mean more then a timeframe.

Triple

!!!

400yrs · Post by **400yrs** » Wed Jan 19, 2011 6:03 pm

With these delays, you may as well stick a fork in the line. It's inevitable.

This isn't the 90s where enough copies will still sell despite the delays. Delays kill books today. Unless they are Ultimate Wolvie vs. Hulk or something.

Ryan · Post by **Ryan** » Wed Jan 19, 2011 7:08 pm

It's so weird, there must be something going on beyond artist delays. There's no way all those guys are that far behind. I mean 5 months for Turok #2

Wish someone in the know would inform the fans what the problem is

tanord · Post by **tanord** » Wed Jan 19, 2011 8:05 pm

400yrs wrote:With these delays, you may as well stick a fork in the line. It's inevitable.

This isn't the 90s where enough copies will still sell despite the delays. Delays kill books today. Unless they are Ultimate Wolvie vs. Hulk or something.

I don't think that the dark key line will die--at least not until after the Solar Origin story is released. If these titles are suffering in sales, then the Solar Origin story is Jim Shooter's last chance to knock one out of the park to boost sales and he'll want that story to be published because as some had said--it's his best script. So, I think we can safely say that Solar will be published at least through issue 8. I think the delays are more due to Jim biting off more than he can chew as he writes most, if not all of the comics being published in the line thus far.

400yrs · Post by **400yrs** » Wed Jan 19, 2011 9:17 pm

tanord wrote:
400yrs wrote:With these delays, you may as well stick a fork in the line. It's inevitable.

This isn't the 90s where enough copies will still sell despite the delays. Delays kill books today. Unless they are Ultimate Wolvie vs. Hulk or something.

I don't think that the dark key line will die--at least not until after the Solar Origin story is released. If these titles are suffering in sales, then the Solar Origin story is Jim Shooter's last chance to knock one out of the park to boost sales and he'll want that story to be published because as some had said--it's his best script. So, I think we can safely say that Solar will be published at least through issue 8. I think the delays are more due to Jim biting off more than he can chew as he writes most, if not all of the comics being published in the line thus far.

I hope you are right because I know alot of people here are wanting to read it. However, I feel some here are putting too much stock in Jim Shooter and his present day following.

dave · Post by **dave** » Wed Jan 19, 2011 10:05 pm

I don't understand it. Many people have mentioned how great the script is. What could be the delay on something that has a complete script?

It's so bad because I really could care less about new comics for the most part. I was so planning on being at my LCS today.

They couldn't release even one?

Seems odd.

Ryan · Post by **Ryan** » Wed Jan 19, 2011 10:14 pm

400yrs wrote:
tanord wrote:
400yrs wrote:With these delays, you may as well stick a fork in the line. It's inevitable.

This isn't the 90s where enough copies will still sell despite the delays. Delays kill books today. Unless they are Ultimate Wolvie vs. Hulk or something.

I don't think that the dark key line will die--at least not until after the Solar Origin story is released. If these titles are suffering in sales, then the Solar Origin story is Jim Shooter's last chance to knock one out of the park to boost sales and he'll want that story to be published because as some had said--it's his best script. So, I think we can safely say that Solar will be published at least through issue 8. I think the delays are more due to Jim biting off more than he can chew as he writes most, if not all of the comics being published in the line thus far.
I hope you are right because I know alot of people here are wanting to read it. However, I feel some here are putting too much stock in Jim Shooter and his present day following.

yeah and I highly highly doubt it's Shooter's scripts that are holding these up. Like dave said people read the Solar 0 script months ago and the other scripts were done way ahead of schedule.

I thought it was the artists at first since none of them had done monthly ongoings before (I think). But that doesn't really hold water anymore. There's something else going on here.