Big delay, big blow

If you were hoping to pick up issue No. 4 of Marvel’s hot, hot, hot “Civil War” today at your comic-book store, consider your hopes dashed.

The fourth-issue of the seven-issue miniseries, set to be released today, has been moved back to Sept. 20. That sets off a ripple effect delaying a host of other “Civil War”-related titles.

Marvel had a tough choice: Either delay the series and give artist Steve McNiven time to catch up, or go with a fill-in artist. I guess, overall, I’d rather wait and see the pairing of McNiven and writer Mark Millar continue. But it’s too bad Marvel didn’t wait until more was in the can before they started the series. The delay has got to be really bad news for retailers who have been seeing lots of new customers attracted by the much-publicized series. Now they’ve got to tell those customers, uh, sorry, come back in a month.