DC's 'Fringe' Comic Delayed Until January

As retailers may have noticed on their Diamond invoices today that issues #2-#4 of Fringe, the DC/Wildstorm comic book tie in to the popular new Fox series by JJ Abrams had been canceled. Fox has recently ordered a full season’s worth of episodes of the series, and the comic book. DC had indicated that the issues would be re-solicited for a January release.

The six-issue series was to tie in closely to the television series. As Athena Wickham, co-story consultant for the Fringe comic and TV executive for Abrams' production company, Bad Robot explained to Newsarama in August:

"The issues will consist of two parts. Part A will tell the back-story story of two of our key characters: Walter Bishop and William Bell. Part B will consist of stand-alone stories. Readers will be introduced to a range of characters -- from those at the epicenter of the pilot to others who might not live to make a series appearance."

According to Hank Kanalz, VP – General Manager, WildStorm, the plan is not to make the series even more tightly tied to the television series, which required some retooling.

“The writers of the show want to make sure the comic book is integrated into the mythology of the Fringe world, so we have decided to refocus the direction of the comic book. Unfortunately, this means that we will have some delays, but will be back in January.”