The last time, it was Way of the Rat from Crossgen. I managed to use some of the drawings inside for the CHF RPG back then, but the story itself was alas unfinished, and there was only volume #1 of the TPB available from NLB.
This time, it's Battle Chasers by Jose Madureira. It was originally published under Wildstorm's Cliffhanger, and then Image Comics.
Now, I can't fault artists for trying to have some creative control over their stories and characters, which was why they tried starting new comics company of their own before financial and management and operational demands force them to sell to bigger companies or go into bankruptcies. But having such release, hiatus, release, hiatus, really sucks.
Sometimes, financial viability isn't the main concern. Even Alan Moore's League of Extraordinary Gentlemen took years to complete, and years before volume 2 came out.
Unlike large comic houses, solo ventures (not exactly solo, the writers had support of artists too) put enormous demand on creativity and imagination on the independents who worked without fallback teams.
The downside of fallback teams of course mean storylines can go way off tangent, even if solo efforts occassionally mean some internal inconsistency.
I suppose the most successful "solo ventures" (creator-owned) to date must be credited to Sergio Aragonés' Groo the Wanderer, which lasted for decades (with large gaps in between), followed by his collaborationist Stan Sakai's Usagi Yojimbo.
No doubt, one must be thankful for little blessings whenever there is actually a new release of such gems.
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