PAT LEE w/ NEWSARAMA

[Hunter Rose]

Havent seen this posted so:

 

PAT LEE ON THE DREAMWAVE BANKRUPTCY

by Alex Segura Jr.

 

We’ve heard from two of the freelancers, now we’ve gone to the Dreamwave main man himself, Pat Lee. We managed to get a quick chat in with Lee between deadlines, touching on freelancer payment, the Dreamwave collapse and where things go from here.

 

Newsarama: Could you give us a little background on what went wrong with Dreamwave? How did it go from a successful company to bankrupt in a matter of years?

 

Pat Lee: You say ‘a matter of years,’ like it’s been a short time. Believe me, in the process of growing a company, a ‘matter of years’ is a long time. As you’ve stated, Dreamwave was a successful company, and we experienced a lot of success for many years.

 

Yet, growing a company is a continual learning process that involves making mistakes, learning from those mistakes, and then using the lessons you've learned to do things better the next time you have to make similar decisions.

 

We made several mistakes at Dreamwave. Some of them we learned from, and a couple of them, we couldn't recover from.

 

To the surprise of everyone, including ours, we were impressed with the initial success of Transformers comics, and we were a little mesmerized too. Initially we supplemented our Transformers titles with original titles and concepts that were designed by me, thus providing us with a diversified line of comic books. But as the years went by, I was involved in the day-to-day operations of the company much more than I should have been.

 

I didn't stop having ideas for new concepts, characters and titles; I just stopped having the time to develop them properly and interweave them into our line of comic titles.

 

So the DW line of comic books and trade paperbacks became dependent on Transformers, instead of a healthier mixture containing more original concepts.

 

When DW and Hasbro came to a legitimate impasse concerning the renewal of the Transformers license, we discovered that the mix of titles DW could publish without the Transformers' license was simply too small to sustain the monthly expenditures which are part of every company's financial situation.

 

We didn't properly anticipate the difficulties that actually ensued in renewing the Transformers' license. Both DW and Hasbro wanted to get the agreement signed, but the license expired, and we were left with only one viable financial alternative.

 

NRAMA: What, if anything, would you like to say to the freelancers that claim they never received monies owed to them for work performed for DW? Do you foresee them all getting paid?

 

PL: The DW bankruptcy was a very painful and difficult process for all parties involved, including the principals. We were hoping to find a way through our difficulties that did not involve bankruptcy, and we held on as long as possible. But resources were stretched, and we didn't have as much time to plan the process as we would have preferred.

 

The other thing to remember is that this process has very strict rules, guidelines and procedures. Once a company enters that process - and a Receiver or Trustee is chosen - then the former owners of a company - such as myself - have absolutely no discretion in the disbursement of monies. I have absolutely no control over who gets paid - and who doesn't . . . how much they get paid . . . or when they get paid.

 

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.

 

This has definitely been one of the more painful lessons to learn from this process.

 

NRAMA: What would you have done differently, if given the chance to start DW over?

 

PL: I'd stay out of the day-to-day operations of the company so that I could devote my time and energy to creating the exciting characters, concepts and alternate worlds that are the lifeblood of the comic book industry.

 

We'd try and locate a 'home run' license such as we found with Transformers, but I'd make sure that at least 40% of our revenues as a company were generated by our own properties. That would create a revenue base that would provide financial independence from any licenses that we chose to publish.

 

I'd make sure we had top-flight management in place to run the company on a day-to-day basis. I'd be intimately involved in the big-picture decisions that shaped the company's destiny, but I'd delegate the management of the company and personnel to a highly qualified management team, so that I can do what I love best - draw comics and create the exciting, vibrant, exhilarating characters that inhabit them.

 

NRAMA: Do you feel criticism thrown against you and other DW staff members is warranted?

 

PL: I think that almost all of the criticism that's been directed at me and other DW staff members originates from people that think they've been injured or hurt by the closing of DW in some way. They're expressing their pain verbally because there's no other avenue for it to take. I understand and accept that.

 

The loyal people on the staff of DW were simply doing their jobs as best they could under very trying emotional and financial circumstances. To blame them for any of the bankruptcy or ensuing difficulties is just unfortunate and wrong.

 

As for me . . . nobody regrets the DW bankruptcy more than I do. My brother, Roger, and I invested over five years of our work, our sweat and our effort in building a company that published good comics that fans enjoyed. To watch that all get swept away was such an emotionally wrenching situation that any criticisms directed at us were pretty much included in everything else cataclysmic that was happening.

 

Nietzsche said "That which does not kill me makes me stronger."

 

We're stronger now - but we've certainly paid for it in sleepless nights, emotional turmoil, and painful regrets. I feel like we've come through a violent and destructive tropical storm. There's mayhem and havoc everywhere, but we've made it through physically and emotionally intact. Now it's time to rebuild and to focus on the future, which is exactly what we intend to do.

[Steevy Maximus]

Pure fluff piece, not ONE of the major issues (lack of pay before the bankrupt, Dreamengine, the porches) were even addressed.

 

Like every interview since DW's demise, the "superstar" gets a bunch of underhand throws.  I wonder when (or if) this guy will ever do a REAL interview?

[Hunter Rose]

For my part -

I have a lot of sympathy for him...

He maybe is full of sh** and a complete JackA**

 

But everything he said about the collapsing of a company and declaring bankruptcy is totally true...

 

I know people who wont be getting paid for another 2 years... But i swear they WILL get paid...

they maybe feeling very cheated now though.

:tfsad

 

Hunter

[Jacen98]

a bunch of backtalk... sounds like he knew he was a bad business man, and when the ship sank he jumped. Leaving the hard working crew to fend for themselves...

they could have closed up shop with alittle class, finished what they started for the fans and left a true legacy, even with very little time left.

its just sad that he didnt let his people know when he did, the crew could have made better choices for themselves and probably would have still found a way to support and finish the last things at dreamwave. I think pat knows that the left everyone on a sinking ship and if he really cared he could still make up for the bad choices.

Keep drawing pat.... but I'm not buying anymore. and I only got back into comics because of transformers. call me stupid but there are alot of "truths", things that people still want to believe in.

[Jacen98]

did any one see the crying ghost image of golden-age captain america behind me when I wrote that?

[Starscreamer]

He is like a Rob Liefeld....but with actual talent...

[Jacen98]

stephen platt but with alot of money

[Hunter Rose]

hmmm - i know it really seems like he is a complete villian but i cant just condemn him whole sale like that...

 

And i agree on the Lefield comment -- most worthless contribution to sequential art EVAH

 

Hunter

[Quickshift]

The guy is spineless, if you ask me.  He may not have control over disbursements to those owed monies, but he could have the class/cahoneys to pick up the phone and directly address his art staff in some way instead of dodging them.  Like Patyk and McDonough said, they wanted answers and instead got the runaround until legal action was their only recourse.

 

I'm still confused anyway... he says he needed a more diverse portfolio of successful titles to keep the company afloat, but he didn't say why DW couldn't afford renewing the TF license.  Was it because the TF profits were being funneled into lame titles that had a crappy ROI?  If so, then it wasn't anything about portfolio diversity or the heavy cost of buying the TF license, it was just about putting out nothing but shelfwarmers (aside from TFs.)  So, lesson learned - it's not about having a diverse portfolio, it's about not dumping money into losing projects.

[Angelophile]

Pat Lee is a prince among men.

 

Or a total douche. I always get confused between those two.