D.J. Coffman - Sequential Artist, Thinker

Been up and working here, bright and early. The 300th Will Draw Anything turned into a link from the buyer on Reddit.com, which brought a huge spike in traffic, and about 100 more orders while I slept and counting. It’s an insanely viral happy accident. I just hope, like the buyer of the 300th drawing, folks are patient in waiting and knowing that there are currently hundreds of drawings ahead of them, so it might take a while for their drawing to show up.

Not only that, I have the FLobots comic to work on as well.

I got a google alert this morning directing me to this thread on some financial board that brought up my name and Wowio… and whadaya know, it’s Platinum Studios Chief Operating Officer, Brian Altounian spouting off about the bad press from Wowio not paying their creators on time, and bringing up my name and situation, the “D.J. Coffman fiasco”- A couple of the quotes there, done pissed me off reading before coffee.

Because he complained that we were 3 weeks late on the final payment to him??? That’s hardly good business sense. And yet somehow Platinum is painted as the evil corporate bad guy (DJ has called us much worse, despite the fact that we paid him almost $100,000 in fees and paid his way to numerous comic conventions - one should ask DJ how many conventions he has attended since his gravy train left town…)

First.. he says I was only “3 weeks late on my last payment” this is TOTALLY FALSE. I have paperwork and contracts to prove otherwise. So you’ve got this guy, running this company who doesn’t even KNOW (or he’s flat out lying) about a situation. The TRUTH is, and I never brought this up out of kindness and understanding, but 90% of the entire time I was paid, it was NEVER ON TIME. My contract stated when I was to be paid after I invoiced, (7-10 business days) and because of a bunch of mismanaged “pass the buck” crap inside the company, it was always more like 30 days after invoicing, which I was fine with and let go. But the 3 weeks late quote is bullshit. If they want me to, I’d be more than happy to break down the dates and go into vivid fucking detail of when I should have been paid what and just how late they actually were… but I don’t have time this morning, and I have an important point to make here….

He uses the “only 3 weeks late” to insinuate I don’t have good business sense??? Brother, please. I was one of the only people behind the scenes there questioning their marketing and PR within the comic book industry, which was pretty much ZERO. Not to mention the bad press and bad blood which I had always tried to get to the bottom of, and in my experiences and speaking, I was able to get the press and other creators to give them a second look. That maybe they had changed.

The “gravy train” comment really burns my ass. For one, Platinum wasn’t a GRAVY TRAIN to me. I questioned openly the 500 dollar dinners they’d do at Chicago Comicon, where THAT didn’t make any business sense at all to me… we had a dinky artist alley table and could have been taken more seriously with a publishers size booth for the price of FUCKING DINNER. People behind the scenes knew I was frustrated about this, and I even had phone conversations with Scott Rosenberg about it. He knew I was so frugal with my own money and budgets that back in January he even proposed giving ME control of the entire HBN budget for the year (which would have been a godsend) — It always seemed very backward to me, flying creators in for artist alley spots, when they could have done so much more with what they spent on FOOD. Ridiculous. I had sort of shrugged it off like, well, these guys must have a bunch of money to just burn. But now if Brian Altounian wants to represent like he’s the great white father of corporations in sending creators to shows…. so be it.

You want to REALLY know why I haven’t been to any shows since JUNE? Well, for one, there have only been like 2 shows I missed, so he can take that gravy train comment and shove it right up his smarmy ass– two, I’m kind of embarrased to show up with Hero By Night work when I know it’s not finished. Three, I am pretty poor at the moment, and I’m working hard to pay my bills and do good work with other companies that really have no ties to having to go to comic book shows. But how insulting is it, insinuating that now that I’m not with Platinum, I can’t afford to go to shows.. FUCK THAT. Platinum Studios can’t afford to go to shows now! There’s a BIG FUCKING REASON they didn’t have Comic Book Challenge 3 in San Diego this year and it was only over the website…. Platinum is BROKE AS SHIT. Check their financial records. Hell, i think they are broker than I am at this point… and they surely have more debt than I do too. The only difference is, I won’t be filing for bankruptcy by the end of the year and I pay my bills on time. A novel idea?

Let’s talk about what i DID at those shows too, and the shows I did on my own on the east coast! I represented Platinum very well, spoke one on one to retailers and creators. I was doing the job of someone who’s salary would have been 60-80k a year just as a marketing executive, let alone the creation aspect… Brian likes to mention a lot how much they paid me (100k?) but he doesn’t GET IT. Flip that around with how much quality I brought to the table with the creation of the Hero By Night Universe, which was THE ONLY comic they put out that was praised by critics who had burned them before, suddenly they were fans of HBN and anytime a new issue came out, they had glowing reviews and would think “wow, maybe Platinum Studios isn’t half bad after all” — Of the 3000-5000 properties they often tout as having in their library, not one EVER broke into the mainstream comic book press, and along came Hero By Night. They kissed my ass up and down, and if you look at what I was actually making… it was a DROP IN THE BUCKET compared to what HBN can (and likely will) become for Platinum.

You know, part of that makes me sad, because I had several long conversations with CEO Scott Rosenberg, who I considered a friend. He seemed to “GET IT”, everything I’d ramble on about. Brian Altounian would kind of agree in an enthusiatic way, but now I see that he never really DID get it. My first clue to that was when I was asking him about when I could expect my pay to come, and he said he wasn’t sure… and showing no concern for my OWN situation, thinking of the company and how it would look, I asked him “Well, I’m cool right now, but what happens when other creators start coming out saying they’re owed” — I figured it would make the company look like a joke…. and Brian replied:

“D.J., it doesn’t matter. There will always be new creators lined up to work with us because of the Hollywood deals.”

That’s when I definitely knew things were in trouble, and my heart pretty much sank, and i knew it was time to start planning on jumping ship. I talking to other past employees, things were a lot worse behind the scenes. I can understand that they don’t like the bad press or blog posts. And now, a repeat, with Wowio creators not being paid, only 6 weeks after Platinum “acquires” them. I’ve been quiet about Wowio for the most part. I knew other creators were pissed about not being paid on time, and emailing ME about it, but I ignored it and put it off. Last week the steam built, and I started getting emails from interviewers where I spelled out exactly how I now feel about the situation and how unethical it is. Platinum Studios has learned absolutely nothing from the “D.J. Coffman fiasco” -

They pretty much squandered a great thing with what HBN had built for them, the invisible thing they couldn’t see or grasp or GET. In a Hollywood environment where many independent super hero genre things were being bought and produced, (Hancock, INvincible, etc) I’d cringe when I’d see statements or PR, or someone on video saying “Well, we’re more than just super heroes” and not even mention that they actually had the #1 Super Hero Comic on the WEB! Read by more people than Spider-Man, Batman and numerous iconic classics… never mentioned it, but it was fact. And I built that myself by knowing how to utilize the web and webcomics, when the big companies did not. It might STiLL be the #1 read super hero comic online today. If that’s not a talking point in a pitch.. I don’t know what is. Who was pitching? Did they mention that? and if not… why the hell didn’t they?! That is poor planning and management. I joked with Rosenberg one time, but I was serious… put ME in the room pitching Hero By Night and we’d have a damn BEN 10 type franchise on our hands… even BETTER! I still believe that.

They have no HUMAN voice for their company, only poorly written and ill-timed press releases. As one ex-editor told me, they are simply playing the bullshit game, hoping ONE thing hits big to make up for all the other losses. They’re wearing the fancy clothes they can’t really afford, to try to look like big players… but instead, they look like hucksters. They might be able to blend in well out in Hollywood, or feel good about themselves patting each other on the back, but the stark reality is, nobody in COMICS really trusts them at all.

They can no longer get covered by Newsarama, Comic Book Resources, The Pulse (who they owed advertising money to last time I checked)– all of the A+ comic news places, won’t give them the time of day. They won’t even run press releases now, barely at all. The only time they do get mentioned is for the negative. And their lack of HONEST communication with creators and the press, makes them look even worse. Comic Book Challenge 3 has been going on and not ONE of those sites has covered it, because they know this year it’s bullshit. Instead of a HUMAN voice out there making friends and changing hearts and minds about your company, you have their CHIEF OPERATING OFFICER out stirring up bad blood on a financial forum, and making excuses as to why creators shouldn’t be complaining about WOwio.– AND SPAWNING POSTS LIKE THIS ONE FROM ME! - Good job, retard.

I hesitate to say “this company doesn’t care about creators”, because there are some really good people in the company and that have been associated with the company, but their leadership is abysmal. The core of the issue is, creators need to be paid in a timely manner. Especially when the work they are doing is the ONLY thing you have going for you. Their dreams are your “fuel”. Last time I checked, you have to pay for fuel first before you drive off and burn it.

How to fix Platinum? I’m not going to give them a full on business plan (which I have/had) I think it might actually be too late for them in the comic book field to be taken seriously, no amount of movie deals or putting out an actual movie will do that) , but if I were the CEO, I’d fire the COO, or just have him sit behind a fucking desk and try to raise money. I’d then spend that money more wisely. I’d pay creators on time, all the time, on the dates agreed to on their contracts. Unhappy creators=bad business. And we’re not talking much here to keep them happy… pay them on time so they don’t have to worry about their bills! One of the Wowio guys who is owed told me he was counting on that check to come so he could fix his car.  I’d hire a limber blogger as my marketing and PR… and, I’d probably at this point, change the name of my company. I guess they can do that after Platinum goes into bankruptcy protection?

Curiously, I noticed they deleted the first entry from their “new” blog, which was all about their FULL INTERVIEW with Publishers Weekly about Platinum Studios not paying creators. The one where Brian Altounian accused me of possible insider trading or some shit, and actually disclosed things publicly that HE shouldn’t have said. I hope the SEC actually DOES investigate the levels of bullshit going on there. And maybe they can ask themselves… are they nervous about that? And if so…. why??? Have you done something wrong? Wait.. now that I’m thinking about it… Brian Altounian, the CHIEF OPERATING OFFICER at Platinum Studios is lying directly to investors on an investor board, trying to paint things as cheery, and poo-poo any of the actual truth.

Sigh. I don’t think they ever WILL learn, and frankly I don’t care. In the end, I’m still doing what I love to do. Two decades from now, three, four, maybe five or even six, if I’m super lucky seven,  I’ll still be creating comics and other things…

UPDATE: - Brian Altounian has deleted the part of his message that I linked and quoted referencing me. You know, that makes it look even guiltier of saying something wrong there. Dumb, dumb, dumb…