That question and answer in full.
Q: “spike” - Joe, it's fairly obvious that Astonishing X-Men has endured a lot of delays in its run with Whedon and Cassaday. However, Whedon has said that he's only delivered two late scripts early on in the piece and he was confused by Marvel's choice to go bi-monthly. Cassaday is working away steadily. So, what's the real reason behind the Astonishing X-Men delays?
JQ: Hey, Spike, Nick Lowe from the X office wanted to field this question.
Nick Lowe: Joss hates fans…
Okay, the real answer is that a lot of little things (an editorial shake-up, among them) led to the current delay and that current delay is causing us to re-plan our overly-optimistic scheduling of the “Unstoppable” arc. I promise that we are getting Astonishing to you as fast as humanly possible.
Q: “aries_insaneus” - When Joss Whedon is done writing Astonishing X-Men who is going to pick his successor - you or him? Also is John Cassaday going to still be drawing Astonishing X-Men when Joss leaves?
JQ: Aries insaneus, that’s most likely a decision that we’ll make when the time comes. And, as far as I know, John will be off the book with Joss.
JQ: Hey, Spike, Nick Lowe from the X office wanted to field this question.
Nick Lowe: Joss hates fans…
Okay, the real answer is that a lot of little things (an editorial shake-up, among them) led to the current delay and that current delay is causing us to re-plan our overly-optimistic scheduling of the “Unstoppable” arc. I promise that we are getting Astonishing to you as fast as humanly possible.
Q: “aries_insaneus” - When Joss Whedon is done writing Astonishing X-Men who is going to pick his successor - you or him? Also is John Cassaday going to still be drawing Astonishing X-Men when Joss leaves?
JQ: Aries insaneus, that’s most likely a decision that we’ll make when the time comes. And, as far as I know, John will be off the book with Joss.
... Wait...
<3
Hoban Washburne | October 20, 23:42 CET
havok | October 21, 00:28 CET
I'm also hoping that Joss and John are just pulling our chains and announce a 3rd run.
theyarescientists | October 21, 06:55 CET
Fans of what? X-Men? Runaways? Fans in general?
Gouki | October 21, 12:26 CET
OneTeV | October 21, 13:21 CET
X-Men fan(boys) are the worst fans at the worst of times. They have the biggest hang up with continuity...urgh...
They whinge a LOT. About EVERYTHING. It's understandable that Joss doesn't like them, if he does indeed dislike them. Or even dislike them. Whatever. Compared to the lovable and cuddly Whedonverse fans, of course!!!
havok | October 21, 13:48 CET
Whedonverse fans would be just as bad if you had 3 different groups of people working on Buffy, none of whom was Joss. Especially if one of the groups decided to bring back Buffy's mom, another group decided that Angel could have sex without turning in Angelus, and the third group decided that vamps had a secondary mutation that allowed them to fly.
theyarescientists | October 21, 14:46 CET
Q: "X-Fanboy" "How is it possible that Wolverine was having breakfast in New Avengers at the same time that he was supposed to be stuck up a tree in Astonishing X-Men?"
JQ: Hi there, X-Fanboy. How is it possible that you have enough spare time in your life to care?
Kaine | October 21, 17:21 CET
Continuity is an essential part of storytelling--if actions lose their consequences, the characters lose consistent development, which leads to a disconnect for the reader. You stop caring, you stop enjoying and following the stories. Not with the first little error, sure, but it all adds up. Especially in serial storytelling like monthly comics, where familiarity with characters and concepts is almost as important to reading pleasure as the actual quality of individual stories.
And sure some people take it a bit far, but find anything people do, and you'll find someone somewhere taking it too far.
(And Joss--who, by the way, handles continuity perfectly well-- and John are both supposedly on schedule, but now the schedule is being changed because it was 'overly optimistic'? Something somewhere is off here.)
Niels(Telltale) | October 21, 22:33 CET
And don't even get me started on the Newsarama Quesada bashing parade. That guy has done more for Marvel since he took over than almost anyone before him and some people still won't give him the slightest bit of gratitude. Hell, he brought Marvel back from bankruptcy. Surely a "thank you, Joe" would be in order!
Sorry, off topic anti-fanboy rant over! ;)
Kaine | October 22, 01:15 CET