2000 AD - The Ultimate Collection

[leethomson]

We apologize with the delay issue 40 was out of stock .

How can they be out of stock of an issue before it's even sent to subscribers? Where are these books going? How many are they printing?

[IndigoPrime]

God knows, and I've no idea why books are "out of stock" for subscribers. My guess is they aren't getting them in early, and so have to delay subscriptions until the point the second book in a batch would be heading to wholesalers, but that might be off. The whole thing's a bit nutty. It's also notable that many of their books instantly go into out of stock when released, but then mostly (but not always) go back to standard sale a few days after the off-sale date in newsagents; on that basis, they must be on 'sale or return', with Hachette, trying to get the balance right regarding an optimum number of copies. (This obviously isn't an issue for subscribers, but could be in future for cherry-pickers.)

[abelardsnazz]

Their site is showing issues 37-39 out of stock and only a few left of 40. From a Thrill-merchant order point of view, I think every issue has arrived on time, following a few misses with the Dredd collection. You subscribers have my sympathies, and in the hope of you receiving issue 40 soon, it contains:

The High King
The Jealousy of Niamh
Demon Killer
Queen of Witches
The Return of the High King
The Name of the Sword
Lord of Misrule

[IndigoPrime]

It wouldn't surprise me if 37–40 show up as in-stock soon, once the returns make their way back. That happened with Transformers recently. (I panicked, and ended up having to go to bloody Reading for City of Fear. Then of course it showed up on the Hachette website the next day.)

[djbawbag]

Any word on issue 42 yet?

[Dark Jimbo]

Any word on issue 42 yet?

If you mean 'What's it going to be?' - [spoiler]Nemesis IV[/spoiler].

[Rara Avis]

My Halo arrived yesterday. Almost had a heart attack when I saw the box, it was pretty beat up and I was expecting the worst but it was actually fine. Really wish they'd send them in more appropriate packaging. Figurine is absolutely beautiful. I'm so happy I went with the premium sub.

[abelardsnazz]

The next unknown issue is 49. With no more Slaine for the next 8 issues, and with 8 more volumes of him to come, it looks like there'll be on average one Slaine volume out of every 4 for the last 30 issues. Hmmm....although I am looking forward to all the art.

[Jade Falcon]

I haven't even burst the seal on my Slaine Volume IV yet, I just can't muster up the excitement for it as I've mentioned many times that Slaine ain't my cup of tea.  Plus there's the fact that I'm reading two crime novels and a naval fiction novel and just finished watching two seasons of Dark Matter on DVD all on much the same timeline.  I guess I want to finish some stuff before starting something new.

[moldovangerbil]

Have any subscribers had the issues that were supposedly sent out on or about 22nd Feb yet?

[IndigoPrime]

Nope. But then their terms give them until 14 March to show up (7–14 business days, because apparently they're sent by snail).

[moldovangerbil]

Just got my copies of 39 & 40 (confusingly they also sent 38, which they'd sent in Feb), but my account still shows no entries since December. 

[DrRocka]

Just finished Slaine volume 4, and here we are already at the point where it becomes a beautifully drawn, exposition heavy turgid chore. Are there REALLY 13 volumes of this?

[Tomwe]

Just finished Slaine volume 4, and here we are already at the point where it becomes a beautifully drawn, exposition heavy turgid chore. Are there REALLY 13 volumes of this?

At least it is actually volume 5 so there are eight left to go not nine...

[Dark Jimbo]

Just finished Slaine volume 4, and here we are already at the point where it becomes a beautifully drawn, exposition heavy turgid chore. Are there REALLY 13 volumes of this?

Yup, it seems a colossal amount, but the numbers do work out (this is based on trying to roughly fit the existing Rebellion volumes into the Hachette pagecounts) -

Vol 1 - Warriors Dawn
Vol 2 - Time Killer
Vol 3 - Slaine the King
Vol 4 - Horned God
Vol 5 - Demon Killer, Lord Of Misrule

Vol 6 -  Treasures Of Britain (136)
Vol 7 - The Grail War (176)
Vol 8 - Lord Of The Beasts (256)
Vol 9 - Book Of Invasions 1 (112), Book Of Invasions 2 (112) = 224
Vol 10 - Book Of Invasions 3 (128), The Wanderer (128) = 256
Vol 11 - Book Of Scars (192)
Vol 12 - Brutania 1 (112), Brutania 2 (112) = 224
Vol 13 - Brutania 3 (101), Brutania 4 (96) = 197