From TFormers.com

 

Dreamwave Productions Ceases Operation

By News_Staff

Tuesday January 04, 2005 05:49 AM CST

 

 

Dreamwave has sent out an official press release stating that they have ceased operations with one of the reasons being “the shrinking comic book market combined with a weak U.S. dollar and unsustainable monetary commitments has finally proven to be too financially taxing� but Pat Lee also assures us he will continue his dream by working with other studios with "new exciting projects". TFormers & TFans wishes Pat Lee & the rest of his associates the best of luck in their new ventures. Read on to view the entire press release.

PRESS RELEASE

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

 

Toronto, Ontario – January 4, 2005 - Dreamwave Productions announced today that after eight years in the comics industry, four of which they were self-published, they will be ceasing operations.

 

Established in 1996 by brothers Pat and Roger Lee, Dreamwave infused a stagnant comic book market with art and design that effortlessly combined the then dominant “American� art style with the newly emerging Japanese “Manga� art style. Since then, the company had grown to become one of the comic book industry’s premiere publishers, producing a variety of original titles.

 

In 2002, Dreamwave firmly established itself in the comic industry as a force to be reckoned with when it launched an all-new Transformers comic’s line. The return of the 80’s icons shattered industry sales records, skyrocketing the book to the number one sales slot for an impressive six months. The Toronto-based company’s other successful licenses included Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Duel Masters from Japan, as well as properties like Devil May Cry and Mega Man from video game giant Capcom Entertainment.

 

President of Dreamwave Productions, Pat Lee stated “there are a number of reasons for my decision to close Dreamwave�, citing that “the shrinking comic book market combined with a weak U.S. dollar and unsustainable monetary commitments has finally proven to be too financially taxing.�

 

As the only Canadian independent comics publisher, Dreamwave Productions has struggled in recent years to maintain its status within a relentlessly shrinking comic book market. Unfortunately, consistently diminishing sales totals over the last several years have taken their toll on the small publisher and made it impossible to continue.

 

The specific details for closure have not yet been released but Lee assures both fans and clients alike that “although this is the end of Dreamwave as a comics publisher, I will still be penciling a number of new exciting projects in conjunction with other studios in the upcoming years.�

 

- 30 -

PR & Marketing Department

Dreamwave Productions

oh well, maybe marvel will pick it back up

Blaming the US dollar for your bad business sense is a weak cop-out. :tdown

crap...

and i loved those guys....

eh... does this mean the comics are worth more now?

there originals were excellent, but they DID phase out all of them and even stopped with some of the other properties that werent doing as well, like duel masters, and focused only on transformers

“...and unsustainable monetary commitments ...�

 

 

Hmm, wonder what that means... :roll Is that their way of saying that artists, writers, and such want to much money? Meh.

...sad.

It's not the "US dollar" or "Weak Industry"... it's how they handled there company. They had what "darkminds" and "warlands" or something and what else when they landed Transformers? They SHOULD have phased out there originals (since I heard they stunk) slowly and worked ONLY on the two main Transformers series... G1 (which should have been ONGOING) from the get go, and Armada/Energon... and they should have done War Within every other six months as it was.

 

CONSISTANCY would've helped too.

G1 Ongoing... one artist... one writer... although Saracchi was shunned compared to Patryck/Mick... WHO brought them to that number one spot? For G1 it should have always been Sarracchi and Figueroa... Furman and Raiz could've rocked War Within... and Furman and Guido could've done great had they kept Armada/Energon... Pat Lee should've stuck to the desk keeping shippments out on time and talk bubbles colored correctly.

 

...okay... end rant now... but that's a sour dissappointment. They had so much they could've done, and just did it all wrong. When some one new takes it over... AND THEY WILL... I hope they do it right. Consistency & Quality.

So true. I couldn't agree with you more. :thumb

They spread themselves too thin working on other projects, when they should have stayed with Transformers the whole time.

“...and unsustainable monetary commitments ...�

 

 

Hmm, wonder what that means... :roll Is that their way of saying that artists, writers, and such want to much money? Meh.

It may have meant "Artists and writers expect to get paid for work they perform." "We couldn't pay them. So we will blame the U.S. because we have no sense of business."

 

How's that?

i think they were trying too hard on a couple things, like the Killzone comic book, the game didnt get that much press to begin with, so you can imagine how little press the comic got. not to mention that when dw switched to mainly focusing on tf comics, they stopped being main stream, back when they were with image and when they first went off into their own company, they were widely distributed, but over time, as their core titles switched to tfs, they slowly got dropped for the main table beside marvel and dc where they had previously been. after that, it is pretty much a matter of "out of sight, out of mind", happens all the time, happened to Apenation, which had dozens of top artists/writers, and it happened to crossgen, which had some of the most innovative stuff, as well as some of the top creators working exclusively for them

Blaming the US dollar for your bad business sense is a weak cop-out. :tdown

That doesn't make it any less true.