Set Description
One of J. Michael Straczynski's earliest comic book products, this DC-published title was written between seasons two and three of the television series. JMS himself wrote the first issue; the intention was that he would then provide rough outlines to other writers to expand into four-issue cycles, for a planned total of 24 issues.
That ... didn't happen. The title suffered from a range of issues, including paper quality, shifting art styles, creative differences between JMS and the other writers, and so forth. In all, 11 issues were released, all in 1995. Scripts had already been prepared for another four-issue arc (that would have been #12-15) and an outline existed for the four-issue arc following that. However, DC's editor refused to approve the script for issue #12 as written; JMS refused to accept the edits. DC management declared the issue at an impasse. Normally, outside writers do not have creative control over scripting, but in this case, JMS was both writer and rights-holder. Ultimately, JMS opted to cancel the series rather than compromise on the story.
Babylon 5 returned to comics in 1998 for the three-issue miniseries In Valen's Name; to avoid the problems of the original title, JMS scripted all three issues personally and published them in serialized form in the UK Babylon 5 Magazine. He then licensed reprint rights to DC, ensuring that he retained editorial control.
All 14 DC comics were released to both the comic shop direct market and to traditional "newsstand" retailers (who, by 1991, were mostly bookstores). CGC does not currently distinguish between direct market and newsstand editions for these books, but I do. This set, The Zocalo Collection, is named for Babylon 5's on-station marketplace, and includes direct-market books. My newsstand copies can be found in its companion set, The IGN Collection, named for the primary in-universe media outlet.
