In these days of romance between the comics industry and the bookstore market, DC's long-lived line of critically respected, crossover-friendly nonfiction trade paperbacks, the so-called Big Books series, seems to have somehow come to an ignominious end with the company's cancellation of The Big Book of Wild Women. Or has it?

Fans have been waiting for the book since advance buzz for it began nearly five years ago. It was actually solicited for a June 2001 release, but pulled from DC's shipping schedule at the last minute. Heidi MacDonald who was then editor of the book, said she was told orders had been canceled because the book would have shipped late, making it eligible for return by retailers. "Because, you know, everyone would return a nonfiction trade paperback," she posted, sarcastically, on The Comics Journal Message Board.

In the years that followed, the book was never re-solicited and its absence from the publisher's shipping schedule has greatly extended an already lengthy gap in the appearance of new entries in the Big Book series. That series, which collects in comics form cultural curiosities and odd biographies from the margins of history, gives every sign of having come to an end with the non-appearance of Wild Women.

Written by flamboyant writer/performer/radio personality Rev. Susie the Floozie (aka Susan Barrows), the book was to profile notable women throughout history who had made an impact on our culture while pushing the envelope of unconventional behavior. Among the women to be profiled were risqué nightclub singer-comic Rusty Warren, B-movie goddess Tura Satana, presidential candidate Victoria Woodhull, 19th century sex star Lola Montes, legendary seductress Cleopatra, scandalous writer Anaïs Nin and kinky pin-up icon Betty Page. The Rev. Floozie was to write the text for the entire book, while an assortment of artists drew the individual mini-biographies. Artists included Mary Fleener, Lea Hernandez, Salgood Sam (aka Max Douglas), Jimmy Palmiotti, Colleen Doran, Amanda Connor, Gregory Benton, Eric Shanower, Steve Lieber, Pia Guera, David Roach, Seth Fisher, Philip Bond and Minnie Moore.

On May 25, 2004, in response to her inquiries as to the book's seemingly endless delays, Fleener received the following letter from DC Editorial Administration Representative Sean Ford: "As you are probably aware by now, unfortunately, the Big Book of Wild Women has been canceled and will not be published by DC Comics. Your artwork has been returned to you as per the voucher agreement you signed with DC. However, with receipt of the work, you are not immediately regaining publication rights to the work. As indicated in paragraph 13 of your FACT-101 voucher, DC retains the rights to print the work. You are able to regain rights to your work by reimbursing DC for the total page rate paid to both the Writer and Artist of a particular work. If you do intend to re-use any of the work you created for this project, you must reimburse DC Comics as well as coordinate with the Writer or Artist of the work."

Though the letter opened with the form greeting "Dear Creative Contributor," other contributors whom the Journal contacted, said they had received no notice at all regarding the book. Doran told the Journal, "I know absolutely nothing about the Wild Women book. Honest. I have heard nothing, seen nothing and can't figure out why it has never come out. I did my work on it years ago."

MacDonald, meanwhile, though she no longer worked for DC, was acting as an "agent" on behalf of some of the contributors in an effort to resuscitate the book. MacDonald declined to confirm her activities to the Journal on the record and urged the Journal not to pursue the story, fearing unwanted press attention might have negative repercussions on the book's chances of seeing print. The Journal expressed the opinion that since four years of silence had not gotten the book on the shelves, a little attention could hardly make things worse. At press time, MacDonald had made no progress that she was willing to report.

The Journal contacted Ford, the bearer of bad news to Fleener, and he confirmed that the book had been canceled, then, suddenly realizing that he was talking to a journalist, declined to comment further. He invited the Journal to pursue its questions through official DC channels. Those channels begin with DC PR spokesperson Adam Philips, who relayed the following reply from unnamed higher-ups: "The Big Book of Wild Women has never been canceled, but we can't comment further on that."

To review: The completed Big Book has been resting on the shelf since its canceled solicitation three years ago. Fleener is notified that the book will not be published by DC. A member of DC's editorial staff confirms its cancellation. MacDonald is feverishly and quietly negotiating to revive the book's chances of being published. And DC's official line is that the book is not and never has been canceled.

It's difficult to make all this add up, but Fleener has a theory: "Doesn't surprise me that the left hand don't know what the right one is doing at DC, but on the other hand, if they say the book isn't canceled, then their contract is still 'active' -- Get it? We're still in 'pre-production.'"

The term "pre-production" or "pre-publication" is a sore point for Fleener, because, even though the book is more than three years overdue and even though Fleener was told DC has no intention of publishing it, defining its status as being in "pre-publication" allows DC to sell back or hold onto the publishing rights indefinitely under the book's contracts. The contract identifies only two stages for the book to fall into: 1) post-publication, in which contributors may regain publication rights as soon as four years after the book's original publication if DC chooses not to reprint it; and 2) pre-publication, in which the "Artist may only reacquire rights therein granted to Publisher upon the complete reimbursement to Publisher by Artist(s) and Writer of all advance payments made for such Story. Upon Publisher's complete reimbursement, this Agreement shall become null and void as pertains to such Story, and all rights to such Story shall jointly revert to Artist(s) and Writer."

The significance of this passage in the contract is that it sabotages the chances of the book's collective content ever seeing print from any publisher other than DC, and since DC has given every indication that it is in no hurry to publish it, that means The Big Book of Wild Women could remain in perpetual limbo.

[To read the rest of this article, please see The Comics Journal #262.]

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