Closing The Book Of Platinum, Moving On
“DJ, you’re not a YES man. Lots of people I deal with in Hollywood are surrounded by YES men (or dude’s just milking the cow and nodding their heads), and what they need to do is be surrounded by more guys like you”
Fed Ex showed up with a check from Platinum paying me up to date anything that was owed to me, so that whole issue is over with. I’m glad they paid me, and honestly none of this would have blown up for me if I hadn’t nearly lost my house and life banking on or trusting that money would show up on time. It is what it is though, and I learned a valuable lesson that there is no job security anywhere, no matter what a piece of paper says. The envelope included a letter saying my “consultant” agreement with them was terminated as of today, which is fine with me, because in my mind it was terminated when checks never really showed up on time in the terms of that agreement.
People are still yammering on about rights issues, and giving me advice to call lawyers, or I’ve had MULTIPLE lawyers call or email me about “putting the screws to Platinum” and getting my rights back to Hero By Night, and I want to put the fucking brakes on all of those thoughts or discussions. While I do appreciate people caring about my best interests (although some are totally out for their own benefits, i mean, you know you hear those jokes about lawyers showing up at car accidents? Well believe me they show up when they hear the words DREAMWORKS and Movie deals and stuff too, and I don’t have time for that shitty nonsense) — So listen, #1, my original contract is still intact with them, and I’ve never once ever disputed the fact that Platinum owns Hero By Night, I gladly and willingly SOLD IT TO THEM, straight up. Trust me, there are no loopholes or weaselly ways out or about it, they own it, it’s fine, and I’m still connected and I’ll still make money with anything they ever do with it, and that’s what I originally signed on for with Comic Book Challenge.
The only reason rights came up at all, was because not in lieu of any money owed to me, they offered that shot at me taking over the print/webcomics thing on my own to keep it going, because like I honestly said, it’s no surprise that they were losing money putting out the books, it would have been a no-brainer to not take the loss, but continue to generate stories and content they could represent to their part of the entertainment world. I was still, even when staring at some SERIOUSLY BAD things in my own personal finances, looking out for the best interest of Platinum and the future of Hero By Night with my original statement on why books that were solicited weren’t going to be coming out, because fans, retailers, etc deserved to know. People that know the ground level of the comic industry know this, it can’t be pushed under a rug and you decide not to care what only 1000 people think. You gotta approach it with caring what 10 or 100 people might think, and address it honestly and as openly as possible.
I guess I have no more beef left with them, but I’m still a little disheveled on the way I was communicated with, or not communicated with. They know why I got my pants in a bunch. And I don’t think anyone could know the exact pressures or time frames I was under, even though I did communicate those pretty transparently. My only hope now is that they learned a big lesson from my critiques both internally and externally in going forward and dealing with other creators and inside this small little comic book industry. You can’t just focus on the “BIG” things in Hollywood. Especially if the “fuel” in “Comics Fueling Media Everywhere” is “comics.” Communication, good or bad, has to be consistant and often, not in sporadic problem errors or waiting for a fire to break out to douse water on it.
Best of luck to them going forward, and I sincerly hope hard lessons were learned on all sides.
I learned mine.
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Good.
Now, let’s move on to one of our other plans to take over the world.
Muhahaha…
Despite what everyone else says, I still think you are a classy guy.
Sucks that this happened, but I guess it is for the better.
Guess it’s a good thing you aren’t a one-trick pony, eh?
Yay!
Now, what about the other fellas that are owed money to? Any word on that?
That’s none of my business. It’s up to them to complain if they’re not happy, or not complain and hope for the best I guess!
So does this mean I should cancel my standing orders for HBN stuff? I just got a pre-order email for #5. How does this work? I mean, does Platinum intend to just end HBN as it stands or what?
Those of us who are simple consumers and have no knowledge, and frankly, no interest in what goes on behind the comic. (though I am glad you got paid for work performed)
Congratulations on getting your dough, finally! That’s really awesome to hear.
Out of curiosity, why do you think Platinum was losing money on Hero By Night? I only ever heard good things about it. Was it a matter of too much going out, and not enough coming in, so to speak?
Gseke- who sent you a preorder email for issue 5? It surely wasnt Platinum. Yeah, the production has ceased, so no books solicited will actually be coming out right now. (4 and 5 for sure)
Albone- many companies are losing lots of money in the direct market system. The sales numbers unless you’re DC or Marvel aren’t very high, even if then. So yeah, it’s more of an investment in the IP than actually turning profit off of books. We were lucky to be working on it and paid for as long as we were I guess (so Ive been told) — it sucks. I could take it and self publish it htough and make more money on my own, because I’d have no employees.
w00t Hero By Night is back!
So happy to hear!
The comic book industry much like newspapers are a suffering a slow death. Less than 45 titles per month sell more than 50,000 (which is nothing) http://www.comichron.com/MonthlyRankings/Diamond2008/DiamondMay2008/tabid/302/Default.aspx
Marvel has stated their future is in Hollywood. With CGI capable of doing anything and video games being so realistic comics just fall flat. On top of that who wants to pay $5 per issue that is read in less than 10 minutes. Don’t worry about Platinium they will be among the first casualties of the failing economy. You got out just in time DJ.
And it’s only going to get worse as people continue to tighten their belts.
I’m very happy for you that the money came through. Onward. By the way, you are a star now, you shouldn’t be drawing anything for less than five dollars.
I agree, if you say the sketch takes 5 minutes (which I suspect is a TOTAL LIE) you should at least get $1 a minute/$60 an hour. You can take less per hour when you get a multi-hour project.
@BMOC
Web comics is the way to go. Period.
Print comics are certainly on the decline and DJ’s web comic projects are the way of the future. It is a sad state but many print publishers and creators seem to have their heads in the sand and refuse to acknowledge what is happening. I think DJ is right that he is lucky they kept it going as long as they did and they are nuts not to let him continue it in an online format for their benefit if they are shopping it to Hollywood.
Forgive me, for I am slow - does the end of your “consultant agreement” mean that Hero by Night is now over as a comic series?
Glad you got paid. Very glad. That’s a nasty situation to be in.
One of the creators’ rights I’ve been thining about lately is “right of information,” which encompasses stuff like right to know about the accounting on your titles, right to know the status of payment, right to know number of copies sold, etc.
I have to hope that, despite the large number of stories of creators being screwed, public conversation (perhaps even debate) resulting from stories like yours will help individual creators be more aware of what they should look for in contracts and hope for from publishing partners, and help the industry know what creators desire and need out of the relationship. Sorry, I know that sounds banal…
Coldpay Said: “One of the creators’ rights I’ve been thining about lately is ‘right of information,’ which encompasses stuff like right to know about the accounting on your titles, right to know the status of payment, right to know number of copies sold, etc.”
Man, I like that!
It looks like part of that falls under article 9 (”The right to full and accurate accounting of any and all income and disbursements relative to our work”) of the Creator’s Bill of Rights.
We should have Scott McCloud amend the Bill.
http://www.scottmccloud.com/inventions/bill/rights.html
That is great you got what was coming to you from the product ( boy that sounds horrible that way.), but you know what i mean, right?
Anyways, these stories from her and Dreamwave in the past, scares the bejeebus outta of me, on thinking of small press, webcomics sound more my speed, at least you can put this all behind you, and get cracking on other projects, or HBN (which rocks btw..)
Anyhoo, glad to hear that things are getting back to normal.
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