The Twelve news

[Texas_Ranger]

Just found out from my comic book vendor, TWELVE #9 has been delayed and will be getting re solicited in the next month or so...

Thank you,

Tony Miller
Webster, Texas

[Belbo]

Still no date for #9 (as of the September solicits), and given that Chris Weston appears to be painfully unwell at present it may be some time yet .....

An interesting side note, though, is that the Phantom Reporter is going to be spun out as a standalone period story, written by a surprisingly high-profile author

Novelist David Liss & Marvel's Phantom Reporter

NRAMA: When it's all said and done, what do you hope that the audience takes away from the tale?

DL: Mostly I hope they will walk away with a desire to read more comics written by me. Other than that, I hope that readers will find this an exciting, compelling self-contained story. My goal was to write something that worked as a noir mystery, but also had the excitement and wonder of a golden age comic book, and to do it all with a modern sensibility. Besides the basic nuts and bolts of character and plot, this is also a story about the limitations and demands of power and knowledge. Those are, of course, heavy topics, and if there is one thing I’ve learned about story telling, it is that if you want to write about deep topics, it’s always a good idea to punctuate the serious stuff with a hero who beats the crap out of his enemies.

Can't say I care for the artwork, but the narrative should be interesting ...

[sonor80]

Bummer, this is second delay, hopefully the last.

[Belbo]

Ah, it looks like Chris is up and about at least - he's commented on that Newsarama article

Originally Posted by Chris Weston

If I had Twelve scripts I would be drawing them.

So no surprise where the delay is coming from.

As I recall, Marvel were going to wait until they had the #9-#12 scripts in hand before restarting the solicits, so it's anyone's guess when JMS will actually submit them (he still has someway to go to beat Damon Lindelof's 3.5 year pause on Ultimate Wolverine vs. Hulk).

I just hope this doesn't get caught up in any fallout from JMS leaving Thor (if he is) and doing lots of DC work - I was actually enjoying it a lot more than the big guy, not least for the superb quality of the artwork (I trust Chris enjoyed drawing #8 as much as I did reading it).

[Belbo]

For anyone who's not been keeping up with Chris's blog, some pretty big hints are now being dropped on a weekly basis ....

21/11 : Mystery Man
07/12 : Evil Woman
14/12 : Caped Correspondent

So presumably the scripts are indeed in as promised by Joe.

BTW, The Book of Eli, which was causing some of the delays, is due out in January - 15th, in both the UK and US. Looks pretty good.

[Jan]

Yet another update JMS posted via Facebook:

Hmm...what's this, then? Why, it's a page from an upcoming issue of something. Oh, right...it's a page from The Twelve. No, not from issue 9, it's a page from issue TEN.

Just to let folks know that the book will be coming out. Chris and I have circled different deadlines and schedules...sometimes I was on and he w...as off doing Book of Eli, then he was on and I was off...but sonuvagun, it's going to get done. And here's the proof for those who've scoffed.

Jan

[Jan]

A couple of recent posts about The Twelve:

Last night:

Originally Posted by JMS

It's a matter of timing. What's happened is that Chris Weston or I would get diverted into film...I'd be off the grid and he'd be on, then I'd be on the grid and he'd be off...right now I'm well ahead of Chris on pages, so basically at the moment it's a matter of the art catching up.

And just now:

Originally Posted by JMS

Actually, just got an email from Chris about ten minutes ago saying that he was finally finished with his most recent Hollywood gig and is back on the case. With luck, we can finally get this thing done and out the door.

Jan

[Belbo]

A couple of updates from Chris Weston's twitter feed;

Rejoice! I have finished Issue 10 of "The Twelve". I'm now awaiting the next script from JMS. Just so you know.

and a more spoiler-ish one here.

I guess they'll be done sometime in 2012 at this rate .....

[Jan]

Thanks, Belbo! I wonder what they'll do when it's time to publish the finished issues. It's been a long time. I do look forward to seeing the story finished, though.

ETA: JMS posted a page from issue 10 back in August.

Jan

[Jan]

JMS just posted to his Facebook fan page that he's sent

Originally Posted by JMS

another big batch of pages have gone in on the Twelve, so Chris is working on those now.

Jan

[Jan]

Chris Weston interview here where he says pretty much what JMS has said about how each keeps falling off the radar. He's currently working on issue 11.

Can you tell us about the status of The Twelve?
"I am currently working on issue #11 of The Twelve. I've got eleven pages from JMS and they are currently on my drawing board, so we keep pushing forward, basically. We are determined that it will get finished."

Jan

[SmileOfTheShadow]

Originally Posted by Jan

Chris Weston interview here where he says pretty much what JMS has said about how each keeps falling off the radar. He's currently working on issue 11.



Jan

So he's got about an issue and a half left to write? i thought JMS said he was finished writing it awhile back.

[Jan]

Originally Posted by SmileOfTheShadow

So he's got about an issue and a half left to write? i thought JMS said he was finished writing it awhile back.

I think JMS has mentioned that he doesn't get too far ahead of the artist with the Superman: Earth One book, too. This is his latest post on FB about it:

Originally Posted by JMS

I turned in those eleven pages last September or October. Pencils started arriving finally after the ka-pow convention, so about six months after turning them in. Because I draw a lot of inspiration from the quality of Chris' work, I can'...t get too far ahead; each new section gives me an idea for the next one. I'll have probably the balance of the whole thing to him or thereabouts around the time he finishes these pages.

Jan

[Jan]

Just found on Facebook:

The final script pages have gone in on The Twelve. Now it's in Chris's court.

I'll be interested to see how they re-start it. I know I need a refresher read of the series.

Jan

[JoeD80]

I had heard the plan was just to publish the rest in a graphic novel, so we'd have issues #7 - #12 (since #1 - #6 were published as the first collection already).