Why do you think Marvel is holding back Civil War #4 and all the tie ins?

The main reason is that the writer and artist of the main tile were falling behind. Here is the announcement that everything was going to be delayed and fans and retailers were going to be screwed over

"In information released to comic book retailers Tuesday, Marvel has announced that issue #4 and 5 of their hugely successful Civil War series are being delayed.

Civil War #4 [and all its variant cover editions], originally scheduled to be released tomorrow, is now scheduled for September 20th. Issue #5 and all its variants, originally scheduled for next month, is now scheduled for November 15th.

And because of the nature of the storyline, the delays in the main series will affect the related and tie-in titles, like Civil War: Front Line.

In the announcement, Marvel wrote:

“Over the next few weeks, the Civil War proper title and a few of the tie in books that are closely related to the story in the main book will be shipping later than originally planned. In an attempt to accommodate the creative team of Millar and McNiven and keep the artistic integrity and high standards of the event, we will be shifting the following titles:

CIVIL WAR 4 (JUN061952; $2.99) moves to 9/20

CIVIL WAR 4 TURNER VARIANT (JUN061953; $2.99) moves to 9/20

CIVIL WAR 4 TURNER SKETCH VARIANT (APR068201; $2.00) moves to 9/20

FANTASTIC FOUR 540 (JUN061961; $2.99) moves to 9/20

CIVIL WAR FRONT LINE 6 (JUN061955; $2.99) moves to 9/27

AMAZING SPIDER-MAN 535 (JUN061938; $2.99) moves to 9/27

CIVIL WAR FRONT LINE 7 (JUL061956; $2.99) moves to 10/11

CIVIL WAR 5 (JUL061952; $2.99) moves to 11/15

CIVIL WAR 5 TURNER VARIANT (JUL061953; $2.99) moves to 11/15

CIVIL WAR 5 TURNER SKETCH VARIANT (JUL061954; $2.00) moves to 11/15

CIVIL WAR FRONT LINE 8 (JUL061957; $2.99) moves to 11/22

PUNISHER WAR JOURNAL 1 (JUL061988; $2.99) moves to 11/22

PUNISHER WAR JOURNAL 1 (Black and White) (JUL061989; $2.99) moves to 11/22

FANTASTIC FOUR 541 (JUL061965; $2.99) moves to 11/22

AMAZING SPIDER-MAN 536 (JUL061941; $2.99) moves to 11/22

CIVIL WAR 6 (AUG062033; $2.99) moves to 12/20

CIVIL WAR 6 TURNER VARIANT (AUG062034; $2.99) moves to 12/20

CIVIL WAR 6 TURNER SKETCH VARIANT (AUG062035; $2.00) moves to 12/20

CIVIL WAR FRONT LINE 9 (AUG062036; $2.99) moves to 12/20

PUNISHER WAR JOURNAL 2 (AUG062066; $2.99) moves to 12/28

CIVIL WAR FRONT LINE 10 (AUG062037; $2.99) moves to 1/4/07

AMAZING SPIDER-MAN 537 (AUG062018; $2.99) moves to 1/4/07

FANTASTIC FOUR 542 (AUG062045; $2.99) moves to 1/4/07

CIVIL WAR 7 moves to 1/17, Not yet solicited

AMAZING SPIDER-MAN 538 Not yet solicited

FANTASTIC FOUR 543 moves to 1/24/07, Not yet solicited

NEW ADDITIONS TO THE CIVIL WAR CHECKLIST!

BLACK PANTHER 23 CW December 2006

CIVIL WAR: WAR CRIMES December 2006 ONE SHOT

BLACK PANTHER 24 CW January 2007

BLACK PANTHER 25 CW February 2007

CIVIL WAR FRONT LINE 11 February 2007

Also, starting in November some Marvel will be branded as “Casualties of War” -- similar to how they branded titles as “Spider-Man Unmasked” and “Road to Civil War”. Those titles are:

MOON KNIGHT 7

In December

CAPTAIN AMERICA: WINTER SOLDIER SPECIAL

IRON MAN/CAPTAIN AMERICA SPECIAL

MOON KNIGHT 8

In January 2007

BLADE 5

MOON KNIGHT 9

“The need for these shifts came about as the September [for November shipping product] Marvel Previews #37 was going to press and we were not able to make adjustments,” reads Marvel’s explanation to retailers. “The December Marvel Previews will reflect the changes and additions. At this point we do not anticipate further changes to the schedule. We apologize for the inconvenience but feel that this is in the best interest of the quality of the event and for retailers to continue to realize the immense sales for these books. We are announcing these shifts early enough in the hopes that retailers can adjust their buying patterns for the next few months. Also, we hope the addition of a few more key Civil War titles will make up for any lost sales that result from these moves.”

Look for more information regarding these changes as it becomes available.

Update 08.16.06 8:25am - When contacted for comment by Newsarama, writer Mark Millar said: "All I can say is that I'm as surprised by all this as you are. In fact, I only found out about it when I got up this morning and read my email. But you know what? This is a very cool thing for Marvel do to because it would have been so much easier to just go for a cheap fill-in artist instead of pushing back the books. Steve had virtually no lead-time on Civil War and a title with a million characters has proven much tougher than he expected. He and I both assumed a fill-in would be on the cards at some point, but Marvel credit Steve with a huge amount of our book's success and, as a creator, I'm genuinely stunned they spread the project out by another seven weeks to make it work for him. Marvel really took a bullet here. This pushes a lot of cash into the next financial quarter for them and they've really put product over profit here. I absolutely never expected them to work their entire publishing schedule around an art delay, but it's cool that they did and I totally take my hat off to them. Sure, it's horrible when a book we want is a little late, but I can live with a few weeks if it means getting Steve McNiven every issue. Apologies to readers and thanks to many people who were worried this meant I'd got sick again (I'm doing absolutely fine, thanks). This has been the biggest book of the millennium so far and it's clear people are passionate about waiting. But, honestly, it'll be worth it for seven issues of pure McNiven."

The press release was pretty clear. They're not ready and instead of using fill in artists or leaking surprises, they're going to delay the whole thing.

don't know.