The second issue of Neil Gaiman and J.H. Williams III's Vertigo series The Sandman: Overture hit comic shops and digital storefronts this week, despite reports that it would be out in February. The issue was originally slated for December.

Now, it appears as though the series' third issue won't be making its scheduled release next month, even though April 30 remains DC Comics' solicited release date. In an interview with CNN, Gaiman said issue three won't be coming out until sometime in July.

Here's Gaiman's full quote: "July will be issue three and then probably some more months then issue four, issue five and issue six."

The series' delays have put Vertigo in something of a predicament. From a business standpoint, Sandman: Overture was and is intended to be a gateway book for the rest of Vertigo's line. Almost all the ads in the series' first issue were house ads for other Vertigo series, and issue two includes a "sneak preview" of the Sandman spinoff series Dead Boy Detectives. The trouble is, Dead Boy Detectives launched back in December. The series' fourth issue came out the same day as Sandman: Overture #2.

(A note at the end of the preview in Sandman: Overture #2 promotes the first Dead Boy Detectives trade paperback collection, which comes out in June, rather than the premiere issue.)

Sandman: Overture #2 only includes one other house ad, and it's for collections of Williams' and Alan Moore's Promethea, which ended its run in 2005.

Gaiman, who accepted blame for the previous delay, described issue three as "the nearest Sandman has ever come to a spaghetti Western. It's not like anything I've ever done in any other way."

[Via THR]

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