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[nomoment]

Long story short: Dreamwave goes bust. They lose their valuable Transformers license due to crappy comics. Freelances don't get paid. Pat Lee keeps his Porsche and moves to Marvel without paying the freelancers.

Then he has the gall to do an interview like this: http://www.newsarama.com/forums/showthread.php?threadid=39738

Pat Lee should get punched in the face.

 

[lexy]

Have a friend that worked for Dreamwave doing some freelance work, I'm pretty sure he got paid (IIRC, he was working for them right before the bankruptcy). He doesn't have any ill feelings toward DW or Pat Lee.

 

[KidGalactus]

Yeah, the guy is a fucking douche.

People like this usually lose track of all the people they piss off in life, and it's those people that typically destroy them.

 

[Alucard]

Asshole or not, the man can DRAW.

 

[Takuan]

It's been very hurtful for me to see how this process has impacted a number of people that I have counted as friends and supporters. I just haven't had any control over it whatsoever. Each of the decisions was made for financial reasons that I've had absolutely no part in shaping.

Is he lying through his teeth? If not, I see no reason why he's an asshole and why he deserves a punch.

 

[nomoment]

Asshole or not, the man can DRAW.

Pat Lee can draw? That's a first. Tell me, what can Pat Lee draw other than big robots?

His non-Transformers work is atrocious.

Is he lying through his teeth? If not, I see no reason why he's an asshole and why he deserves a punch.

Yes, he's lying through his teeth. I thought that was obvious enough.

 

[FortNinety]

I have to ask, what was the deal with the comics? Why did they flop?

I picked up the first issue and was somewhat impressed, but wasn't able to follow along... it was a bit confusing how there was six different #6, three of them being reprints, the other being totally different series but no real indication of thise. There seemed to be a ton of them at one point, and then all of a sudden, they went under. Can anyone add some insight?

 

[Cheerilee]

I have to ask, what was the deal with the comics? Why did they flop?

I picked up the first issue and was somewhat impressed, but wasn't able to follow along... it was a bit confusing how there was six different #6, three of them being reprints, the other being totally different series but no real indication of thise. There seemed to be a ton of them at one point, and then all of a sudden, they went under. Can anyone add some insight?

I had been wondering the same thing ever since it happened.

It seems from the interview that it was time to renew the Transformers licence, Dreamwave wanted to sign, and Hasbro wanted to sign, but... Dreamwave just "didn't know how to do that" (to be fair, neither do I, but that's not my job), so the licence expired and Dreamwave stopped being able to put out Transformers comics.

Pat Lee seems to think they should've had more non-Transformers comics, but that's not what they were good at. They should've made sure that nothing happened to their Transformers licence.

Since they couldn't put out TF comics, DW declared bankruptcy, which always screws someone. Expecting one guy to make something as big as a corporate debt "all right" again out of his own pocket is a bit much.

But people are asking "What debt? Where did all the money go?" For a while there, Dreamwave occupied most of the top spots on the comic book sales charts. And DW seemed to be milking the heck out of things.

The only thing I can think of (aside from Pat Lee apparently calling dibs on the company Porsche before the end) is that DW wasn't earning as much profit as it had appeared. They did seem to be putting out "high production value" comic books. And there were probably a number of major commitments made which turned into big problems with the abrupt and unexpected cancellation of the Transformers series. Heck, most of these "freelance" artists who are supposedly upset about not having been paid had probably been working on Transformers issues that never legally had a chance to go to press (a press that may have been paid for in advance).


Of course, this is all just me guessing, because this interview is the first I've heard of all this.

 

[nomoment]

I have to ask, what was the deal with the comics? Why did they flop?

I picked up the first issue and was somewhat impressed, but wasn't able to follow along... it was a bit confusing how there was six different #6, three of them being reprints, the other being totally different series but no real indication of thise. There seemed to be a ton of them at one point, and then all of a sudden, they went under. Can anyone add some insight?

Wikipedia provides a good summation the situation:

Much of the controversy surrounding Dreamwave suddenly appeared in its closing days, when it became apparent that the company had been neglecting to pay many of its employees, not just McDonough and Patyk. When a list of the company's debts surfaced online, it became apparent that combined, they owed in excess of a million dollars. Saying a lot about their business practises and what company money was spent on, two of the very few items on the list marked "secured" were Pat and Roger's BMWs. Several artists, including Figueroa and Guidi, having previously remained genial on the matter, have recently aired their grievances with the company, which as of April 2005, include having to pay FedEx for shipment of art they never got paid for in the first place.

Detractors of the comics themselves have tried to cite the falling sales of Dreamwave's books for their financial failure, but it should be noted that the Generation 1 comic book always outsold the G.I. Joe comics published by "rivals" Devil's Due, and that company is still in existence. If nothing else, the colossal windfall from the incredible, unpredicted sales of the first miniseries, properly managed, should have been enough to sustain the company. It is clear that chronic mismanagement played the biggest role in the closure of Dreamwave.

Pat Lee has permanently earned himself the ire of most, if not all fans, due to his ego - constantly identified as a "superstar artist" in DW press releases (when in actuality, his art is viewed as disproportionate, inconsistent and poorly laid out), his final words on Dreamwave essentially consisted of him saying he was fine, because he was still getting work from other companies.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dreamwave

 

[nomoment]

Oh, and here's a nice list for you guys:

HANDFUL OF DUST

With such scurrilous rumourmongers like myself, it's good to see at least one comics magazine doing some decent journalism, interviewing Pat Lee about the fall of Dreamwave without mentioning Dream Engine, McDonough, Patyk or the variety of deceptions the company undertook. Looks like Lying In The Gutters could learn a lot.

Sadly all we're left with is the list of creditors, with a little identification of the debt where instantly known.

DREAMWAVE PRODUCTIONS OF THE TOWN OF MARKHAM, IN REGIONAL MUNICIPALITY OF YORK, IN PROVINCE OF ONTARIO

Mailing List Creators What? Contingent

1 ADAM PATYK $18,400.00 $18,400.00 TF Writer
2 JAMES MCDONOUGH unknown
3 JAMES MCDONOUGH $26,286.00 $26,286.00 TF Writer

Secured

4 BMW GROUP FINANCIAL SERVICES CANADA $56,000.00 Roger's BMW Z3
5 BMW GROUP FINANCIAL SERVICES CANADA $58,000.00 Roger's BMW X5
6 IMAGE FINANCIAL SERVICES INC. $10,294.00
7 NATIONAL LEASING CORPORATION unknown Equipment
8 NORTHSTAR LEASING CORPORATION unknown Equipment Leasing
9 STEELCASE FINANCIAL SERVICES LTD. unknown Office

Furniture Lease

10 TEDDY AND ANNE LEE $141,000.00 Pat & Roger's parents
11 TELETECH FINANCIAL CORPORATION unknown

Unsecured

12 407ETR $60.00 Toll Highway
13 ALAN WANG $13,733.00 $13,733.00
14 ALEX MILNE $4,330.00 $4,330.00
15 ANTHONY WASHINGTON $343.00 $343.00
16 BELL CANADA $730.00 Telephone
17 BELL CANADA $963.00 Telephone
18 BELL CANADA $1,077.00 Telephone
19 BENJAMIN LEE $6,720.00 $6,720.00
20 BRIAN AUGUSTYN $1,324.00 $1,324.00
21 C & C OFFSET PRINTING CO. (NY) INC. $24,679.00 Printing
22 CANADA REVENUE AGENCY $6,300.00 Canada Tax Office
23 CANADA REVENUE AGENCY unknown Canada Tax Office
24 CANON CANADA INC $70.00 Photocopier
25 CITICAPITAL TECHNOLOGY FINANCE LTD $662.00 (this place shares the same address with #11 Teletech Financial. It could be the body in charge of their asset clearance).
26 DIAMOND COMIC DISTRIBUTOR unknown
27 DON FIGUEROA $15,435.00 $15,435.00
28 EDWIN GARCIA $2,375.00 $2,375.00
29 ELAINE TO $20,501.00 $20,501.00
30 ERIC MICHAEL BURNS $478.00 $478.00
31 ERIK SANDER $2,059.00 $2,059.00
32 ESPEN GRUNDETJERN $6,375.00 $6,375.00
33 FEDEX $5,983.00 Shipping
34 FERD POBLETE $6,010.00 $6,010.00
35 GUIDO GUIDI $2,716.00 $2,716.00
36 GWL REALTY $36,608.00 Office Rent
37 HASBRO, INC. $494,442.00 TF Royalty
38 HEENAN BLAIKIE LLP $1,663.00 Lawyer
39 IMAGE FINANCIAL SERVICES INC. unknown
40 JEREMY TIONGSON $10,096.00 $10,096.00
41 JOE NG $2,114.00 $2,114.00
42 JOEL BENJAMIN $3,678.00 $3,678.00
43 JOHN NEY RIEBER $1,550.00 $1,550.00
44 JOHNATHAN HO $444.00 $444.00
45 JOSHUA PEREZ $1,642.00 $1,642.00
46 JUSTINO DAVID PENA $2,206.00 $2,206.00
47 KE JIANG $630.00 $630.00
48 LIN JIAN LONG $161.00 $161.00
49 MARCELO MATERE $4,045.00 $4,045.00
50 MATT HANSEN $658.00 $658.00
51 MILLER THOMAS LLP $1,787.00 Lawyer
52 MORGAN THOMAS $8,753.00 $8,753.00
53 MOST MANAGEMENT (CAPCOM) $9,195.00 Capcom Royalty
54 MTS ALLSTREAM INC $3,514.00 Long Distance Carrier
55 PATRICK BUENDIA $555.00 $555.00
56 PAYMENTECH CANADA $75.00 Credit Merchant Services
57 PITNEY BOWES $85.00 Office Appliance
58 QUEBECOR WORLD LEBONFON $4,685.00 Printing
59 QUEBECOR WORLD MONTREAL MAGOG $243,917.00 Printing
60 REED EXHIBITIONS $3,345.00 Trade Show
61 REGENT PUBLISHING SERVICES LIMITED $1,742.00
62 RICH YOUNG $16,412.00 $16,412.00
63 ROBERT ARMSTRONG $420.00 $420.00
64 ROBERT RUFFOLO $805.00 $805.00
65 ROMULO ADALBERTO SOARES DA SILVA $3,237.00 $3,237.00
66 SHELDON LAZAROVITZ unknown unknown
67 SIGMOND TORRE $600.00 $600.00
68 SIMON FURMAN $16,674.00 $16,674.00
69 STAR CHOICE $128.00 Satellite TV
70 STUART NG $956.00 $956.00
71 SUSAN LOU $3,953.00 $3,953.00
72 TALENT PUN $1,800.00 $1,800.00
73 TELLUS MOBILITY $655.00 Cel phone
74 UPS unknown Shipping
75 VMC GROUP $1,154.00 Marketing services (Trade Show Booth)
76 WEB OFFSET PUBLICATIONS LIMITED $38,947.00 Printing
77 WINTERBELL $4,520.00 $4,520.00
78 XL LABORATORIES INC $3,284.00 (Associated with poster printing)
79 YVONNE POON $210.00 $210.00

Number of creditors printed = 79
Total $1,364,248.00 $213,204.00

One very different aspect comparing the fall of CrossGen and DreamWave, was that with CrossGen they owed a lot more, but the money was mostly to corporations. With Dreamwave, a much greater percentage, over a quarter of a million, is owed to creators.

And look how much Hasbro are owed... whatever deal the new Transformers publisher has with Hasbro may include some recoupment of this loss, in exchange for the existing Diamond orders.

We mentioned the Lee's parents as a secured creditor, and the apparent circumstances behind those last week. But just how did all those cars end up being listed as "secured?"

http://www.comicbookresources.com/columns/index.cgi?column=litg&article=2102

 

[Ninja Scooter]

didn't he used to work for/with Liefeld?