There are few certainties in life. We live, we die, and new comics are always released on Wednesdays. Unless there is a holiday, then we all get screwed and have to wait an extra day. Regardless, the business of comics makes a large chunk of its money from the floppies, and those of us that are there week after week to buy issues as they come out. Unfortunately, there are many cases where a book's shipping schedule is so erratic that it's difficult to know when a new issue is coming out, thus encouraging the new fan addage "wait for the trade".

However, those of us that have stayed true to the periodical format have weathered some trult tremultuous delays in order to keep reading the books we enjoy by the creators we adore. Or, in some cases, have weathered the delays only to decide that the book is pure shlock and should never be seen again. This week, CraveOnline takes a look at the most begrudingly delayed comic books of the past decade. 

Crave Online's Top 10 Most Delayed Modern Comics

10. Ex Machina (DC/Wildstorm)

First Issue: August 2004
Most Recent Issue: #43, August 2009
Longest Time Between Issues: Four months - Issue #40 (February 2009) - #41 (June 2009)

Ex Machina is, without a doubt, one of the best books of the last decade. Unfortunately, it narrowly squeezes in the top 10. Though it has not been a chronic offender of massive delays, sometimes a great book that misses a month or two here and there is much worse. At best, Brian K. Vaughan and Tony Harris' superhero political epic has had an erratic shipping schedule. Thankfully, this is one of the few books on this list that we can safely say was worth the wait every time. Plus - if you do the math - had this book shipped on its normal monthly schedule since it started, it would have finished by now, and we would be down one book to look forward to.

9. Astonishing X-Men (Marvel)

First Issue: July 2004
Most Recent Issue: #30, August 2009
Longest Time Between Issues: Seven months - Issue #12 (August 2005) - #13 (April 2006)

I have said it a thousand times, but one more won't hurt. Astonishing X-Men is the best X-tale in existence, barnone. The only downside to Joss Whedon and John Cassaday's 25 issues, is that they were spread out over nearly five years. Of course, it was off to a good start, until slowly but surely, issues started slipping from one month to the next, and finally Marvel simply declared that the title would start shipping bi-monthly, in an effort to cover things up. Ironically, even this didn't do much, as the title still saw constant delays.

This is a prime example of why "waiting for the trade" has become such a mantra.