In
mid-2003, the independent comics publisher Fantagraphics surprised fans by
announcing they had a major cash crunch and needed to make money fast on
comics sales, or they might go under. Much the same thing surfaced at Otakon
with the independent manga publisher from Virginia, I.C. Entertainment, the
company that first drew attention as Studio Ironcat. Word was spreading that
a big deal, expected to draw profits to the small business, had fallen apart
and instead was going to produce large losses - and that was the reason for
the small "Save Ironcat" banners that had popped up at the convention. In
its early years, I.C. had seen turmoil when one of the company's three founders
had been removed from the business, but talk was that this problem was far
more serious and had the potential to sink the business.
Steve Bennett,
one of I.C. Entertainment's founders from six years earlier,
said all of he money trouble talk was true. Yes, some of the company's workers
had left because paychecks were late. And yes, the troubles stemmed from
the big deal that had been announced in late 2002. I.C. had arranged with
Fred Gallagher, one of the creators of the Megatokyo online comic, to publish
the series in collected, graphic novel form. At first, the deal seemed to
be a perfect match. The first volume of the collected Megatokyo went on sale
in January of 2003, and all of the first printing was sold. According to
Bennett, I.C. had prepared for the release of the second volume, having the
books printed and readied for sale, when the deal fell through.
Gallagher
wrote on the Megatokyo web site that the parting between he and I.C. was
an amicable one. There's been talk, most prominently on the ICv2 web site,
that Dark Horse is going to handle future releases of the collected Megatokyo. Dark Horse is one of the leaders in the
graphic novel niche. That's a coveted position in the U.S. comics industry
because major chain book stores are more interested in book-style collections
of comics than in the old-style 32-page monthlies. Regardless of who publishes
future Megatokyo books, the loss of the deal leaves I.C. with some big problems.
They lose potential profits from Megatokyo sales, and they lose the money
they spent to print Megatokyo vol. 2 books which they now can not sell. That's
why Bennett spent the Otakon weekend trying to sell all of his accumulated
inventory, to make enough money to get the small company through the summer
money woes.
In
mid-2003, the independent comics publisher Fantagraphics surprised fans by
announcing they had a major cash crunch and needed to make money fast on
comics sales, or they might go under. Much the same thing surfaced at Otakon
with the independent manga publisher from Virginia, I.C. Entertainment, the
company that first drew attention as Studio Ironcat. Word was spreading that
a big deal, expected to draw profits to the small business, had fallen apart
and instead was going to produce large losses - and that was the reason for
the small "Save Ironcat" banners that had popped up at the convention. In
its early years, I.C. had seen turmoil when one of the company's three founders
had been removed from the business, but talk was that this problem was far
more serious and had the potential to sink the business.
Steve Bennett,
one of I.C. Entertainment's founders from six years earlier,
said all of he money trouble talk was true. Yes, some of the company's workers
had left because paychecks were late. And yes, the troubles stemmed from
the big deal that had been announced in late 2002. I.C. had arranged with
Fred Gallagher, one of the creators of the Megatokyo online comic, to publish
the series in collected, graphic novel form. At first, the deal seemed to
be a perfect match. The first volume of the collected Megatokyo went on sale
in January of 2003, and all of the first printing was sold. According to
Bennett, I.C. had prepared for the release of the second volume, having the
books printed and readied for sale, when the deal fell through.
Gallagher
wrote on the Megatokyo web site that the parting between he and I.C. was
an amicable one. There's been talk, most prominently on the ICv2 web site,
that Dark Horse is going to handle future releases of the collected Megatokyo. Dark Horse is one of the leaders in the
graphic novel niche. That's a coveted position in the U.S. comics industry
because major chain book stores are more interested in book-style collections
of comics than in the old-style 32-page monthlies. Regardless of who publishes
future Megatokyo books, the loss of the deal leaves I.C. with some big problems.
They lose potential profits from Megatokyo sales, and they lose the money
they spent to print Megatokyo vol. 2 books which they now can not sell. That's
why Bennett spent the Otakon weekend trying to sell all of his accumulated
inventory, to make enough money to get the small company through the summer
money woes.
