by Alex Segura Jr.
Funny books are a tough business. Whether you're trying to break in as an artist or writer, the odds aren't good. But few potential creators think beyond the initial assignment, and the hurdles that may await them even after their big break in the four-color industry.
Adam Patyk and James McDonough (who for a period of time wrote under the name “Brad Mick”) were experiencing a fan's dream: After years of effort and networking, the creative duo were writing a top-selling book featuring characters they'd grown up admiring. Comic book writing became their careers, and the question no longer was
when they'd get their shot, it was
what will we work on next?
But the bubble burst.
Transformers, the property Patyk and McDonough helped lift to the highest levels of sales and catapulted the team into the roles of full-time comic book creators, wasn't lucrative enough to keep floundering company Dreamwave afloat. And as rumors of financial peril swirled around the former Image studio and its star artist/publisher Pat Lee, Patyk and McDonough were left with a harsh reality: checks not arriving, e-mails bouncing back, silence from their employer and a growing fear that maybe things had taken a turn for the worse. As regular Newsarama readers know, things did go south.
Dreamwave filed for bankruptcy amid claims of unpaid freelancers, fiscal mismanagement and the usual he-said, she-said that has become all too common in the comic book industry when a company goes under. We caught up with Patyk and McDonough to get their take on the Dreamwave collapse, their initial work and discussions with the company and how they've had to deal with the loss of their jobs, creative outlet and -- possibly worst of all -- the damage it brought down on their reputations.
NEWSARAMA: How did you guys get involved with Dreamwave?
ADAM PATYK: We were both working at Wizard at the time, which is where we initially met. Both of us were trying to push coverage of Transformers-related material to add some variety to the magazines. When Dreamwave got the TF license, we ended up meeting them through magazine-related contacts and intros at conventions. As far as working on comic-related material, I had previously done some editorial work for Black Bull and also helped write numerous scripts for the various "strips" in the Wizard magazines during my time there.
JAMES MCDONOUGH: Dreamwave originally approached me about coming aboard when they began to make serious strides in their relationship with a company whose higher-ups had apparently expressed interest in forming a partnership with Dreamwave. Before that, my primary focus back in school was scripting for various media, including television and film.
NRAMA: Give me a rundown of the titles you worked on for DW. Which projects stand out as your best work? Why?
MCDONOUGH: We worked on
Beast Wars -- which was never published,
Custom Robo, Devil May Cry, Transformers G1 Volume 2 and Volume 3, More Than Meets The Eye for G1 and
Armada, Transformers Summer Special, Micromasters, Transformers/G.I. Joe: Divided Front and a few others things. We also worked on developing a few projects editorially, like
War Within: Age of Wrath and others, in addition to helping on some Dreamwave-owned properties, such as
Capsoul. One of the things I was most excited about was the direction our
Transformers G1 ongoing series was headed. It was really disappointing to us for the series to stop so abruptly.
PATYK: I'm also sorry that we couldn't finish
Transformers/G.I. Joe: Divided Front. We really enjoyed working on that one, and we were blown away by the positive response to the intro issue from the readers, especially the G.I. Joe fans. It was a real bummer when some freelancers alerted us to the fact that Dreamwave actually tried to take portions of our scripts, like G1 #11 and
TF/Joe #2, and continue our stories without our input or permission and without paying for those scripts or what had come before. It was ridiculous.
NRAMA: What were those early days with DW like?
PATYK: After he had moved on to Dreamwave, James contacted me about getting involved. Apparently, they were looking for more people who could provide a solid editorial structure, and he brought me up because of my previous work experience and business background. Once I got more heavily involved, I talked to Pat more frequently on the phone and via e-mail, or when getting together for meetings. At the time, he seemed very supportive of our efforts to get things on track editorially in terms of direction and maintaining quality, though it did feel like we were fighting an uphill battle trying to rein things in and get things running more professionally.
MCDONOUGH: At first I was hesitant to commit to Dreamwave, but they convinced me with what sounded like a fairly solid long-term plan to form a partnership with one of the companies they were working with. I actually dealt with Pat and his staff quite frequently when I first signed on, since I moved up to their offices in Canada for a while to help them iron things out. The situation wasn't at all what I expected, and I was actually kind of surprised by it. Despite the huge success of Transformers, it really felt more like a fledgling operation than an established publisher. Many people were definitely trying their hardest, but there also seemed to be a lot of people involved that weren't quite qualified for their positions.
There was a definite feeling of resistance and frustration as we were trying to implement a more rigid professional structure. There was a kind of struggle going on back and forth between the attempt to revamp the operation and the people who appeared to be worried that they wouldn't have a place in a more professional environment. It seemed kind of silly -- instead of just doing their jobs and eliminating the possibility of seeming unprofessional, some people would just make things needlessly difficult. I don't think either of us was or is claiming that we're 100 percent perfect or that we know it all, but we were trying very hard to implement a working structure that would help the company last.
Although the Dreamwave higher-ups were constantly commenting on the problems with the staff and the desire to "broom" the majority of them, it didn't seem like anything was done to improve the situation. In retrospect, I wonder if that was somewhat intentional.
NRAMA: You guys were writing a top-selling book for a pretty recognizable property, going to conventions, networking, etc. How did it all feel?
MCDONOUGH: It was very rewarding to get to write "funny books" for a living and be a part of that creative process, but there was never really a moment where I stopped and said, "Whoa!"
PATYK: Right. It's not like the comic game is really some glamorous industry where you can get blinded by the glitz. Either way, it was difficult to enjoy anything because we were constantly being pressured for more output. This wasn't just the scripting we were contracted for, but additional work that kept popping up for us -- helping them write business plans, helping represent Dreamwave at meetings with other companies, etc. It just never felt like there was a moment to breathe, which got really frustrating because we weren't getting paid for a lot of the writing, let alone all of the other functions we were being asked to perform.
NRAMA: You were an associate editor at
ToyFare and James was a staff writer at
Wizard. You both left at different times, but what factors played a part in deciding to work on writing full-time?
PATYK: In all honesty, many of the people involved with industry "gateways" like
Wizard are there to get in the game. It seemed like a logical step to take that editorial and industry experience and apply it more directly to the creative side of things, which is ultimately where we both wanted to be, anyway.
MCDONOUGH: Agreed. Establishing yourself in any industry often requires you to network from the entry level on up. Many of these institutions serve as prime opportunities for aspiring professionals to "pay their dues" while learning more about the industry from the inside out.
NRAMA: What was the first sign that things weren't as they seemed?
PATYK: Hindsight is 20/20, and there were a lot of things that should have been pretty good indicators -- including the disparaging comments made by Dreamwave higher-ups about many previous associates that had left on bad terms. Obviously, in retrospect, you see a lot of things that seem like neon signs screaming, "Get out!" At the time, though, I accepted a lot of things based on their word and the feeling that we wanted to be "team players" and help out. Honestly, if there's any real regret that I have, it's the fact that we were naive enough to take people's word at face value and trust them to be honest with us.
Once we figured out that we were the only people who had our best interests in mind, it was practically too late. The first major thing that I can look back on as a sign happened in late 2003 and early 2004. I had just done a lot of editorial work for Dreamwave, and they kept dodging the issue of paying me for it. At the time, it seemed like it could be legitimate -- they said they were very busy, a lot was going on, etc. I was even sent messages about it, asking me to be patient and saying things like, "I know I owe you big time" and "I will move quickly on getting you the payment info."
Of course, that never happened and I never saw any money for that work. That's not even included in the amount that Dreamwave owes me because, unfortunately, I dropped the issue. I just decided to focus on the future work and payments -- my way of showing that I was willing to work with them in good faith and be a team player when they were having trouble. They did a good job of fostering this impression that we were all on the team for the long haul, and any questioning was made to feel like personally insulting disloyalty.
MCDONOUGH: Similarly, in the summer of 2003, I noticed that they started to get later and later with payments for scripts. Moving into 2004, problems started to get more obvious as other freelance writers started contacting us about their payment problems as well. We were pushing to get everyone paid, including ourselves. At one point, we were told that Dreamwave was having financial problems, and we offered to have our payments delayed temporarily so other freelancers could get paid.
Again, we did this in part because we honestly felt that we all had a future with the company and wanted to help out. We later found out through the bankruptcy that most of the other freelancers hadn't been paid either and were also owed substantial amounts of money. Our question is: Where was that money going if they didn't pay us and they didn't pay everyone else?
NRAMA: When did you and James seriously begin to worry, and how did you express those concerns to DW?
PATYK: Once the late payments and excuses started to become really chronic, we knew something was wrong. While this was going on, the books continued to sell in numbers that would have thrilled any other small publisher...yet the creative teams for their highest-selling books weren't getting paid for their work! It was at a point where my girlfriend and I had to renew our lease, and I asked directly for a clear answer about the payment situation from Dreamwave, simply to know whether we would continue being able to afford living in our place. I was told that everything would work out, just give them time, etc., etc. Long story short, my girlfriend and I ended up stuck with a lease and none of the money I was promised would be there to pay for it.
MCDONOUGH: The thing that gets really nerve-wracking is that, on several occasions, we stated that we were interested in leaving due to the lack of quality control and the payment issues. Each time, we were begged to stay and promised that things would improve. The bottom line is, if at any time there was any real problem with us or our work, they could have easily ended the situation professionally by telling us that things weren't working out, paying us what they owed, and calling it a day. Instead, they kept asking us for more product and more ancillary assistance on projects we weren't even contracted to do. The only real problems started when we requested our money and told them we couldn't keep producing work for them without getting paid for it.
NRAMA: What was the company's reaction? Did they give any assurances?
MCDONOUGH: Assurances were made regularly. It was a situation where we were constantly asked to stay aboard and promised that things would work out. They were talking about establishing a partnership with another company, and they had us working on a business plan for that. That was kind of the carrot they dangled in front of us, the promise that it would become a more professional enterprise if we just stuck it out a little while longer.
PATYK: Asking for our money became such a time-consuming ordeal that we had to ask other people to help do it for us, because it was so distracting. Please remember, this wasn't about $40, it wasn't about $400, it was even about $4,000...we were talking about a debt of almost $40,000 between the two of us. I don't think anyone can say that we jumped the gun or didn't give them ample opportunities to work things out. We were very patient, but enough was enough. At one point, they acknowledged the problem and provided us with payment plans to pay off their debt to us. When asked how they intended to make the back-payments and still keep up with the newly accruing debt for current projects, there was no real answer. They soon started being late on and missing the payments from their own payment plans, and ultimately stopped paying entirely. This made working extremely frustrating and difficult.
The worst part was when we got to the lawsuit stage and listed the amounts we were owed. At first, they tried to tell us through their lawyer that they owed us much less--even though we had payment plans sent to us directly from the company heads! It really got to be unbelievable.
NRAMA: As many know, you weren't the only freelancers affected by this. Did you hear any other horror stories from fellow DW writers or artists during the period leading up to the bankruptcy?
MCDONOUGH: There were a few instances of other creators asking for assistance in getting paid, which we tried to provide. After our final falling out with Dreamwave, we opted to make a brief public statement about the matter that we cleared through our lawyers, in part to clarify things, and in part to let the other freelancers know what was really going on. After that, some of them chose to contact us and share that they were in a similar situation, but didn't know what to do.
PATYK: After the matter became public, we actually heard from some former Dreamwave associates who told us some of the things that had gone down with them...stories that we wished we had known beforehand. That's part of our reasoning behind talking about this, to let others know what to watch out for and warning them to be careful in these scenarios.
NRAMA: Give me a timeline from the point you guys thought, "Ok, this is getting weird" up until the end. What was Dreamwave saying? Did communication slow down to the point of no response? Who did you deal with directly?
PATYK: There were so many things going on that it's almost impossible to pinpoint one event; it was more the combination of everything going on simultaneously. There were a lot of things. At one point, for example, we were being pressured to take a trip to help them represent the company to one of its licensors. When we declined in favor of working on our scripts because we wanted to keep things on track, the vibe definitely became weird and somewhat hostile. It was like the additional work was expected of us, even when it could potentially interfere with other things.
MCDONOUGH: We primarily dealt with Pat. We both had frequent phone conversations and e-mail discussions with him. Ironically, my last conversation with him actually involved his request for us to help them in preparing the pitch to re-up the Transformers license, which we ended up leaving in their hands.
NRAMA: What was the last straw that made you realize "We might have to take legal action here"? How is that progressing?
PATYK: We were getting no response to our constant requests for updates about the status of our payments, but demands for our work kept increasing. We even started to get messages from other companies' reps, asking what was going on with the company and if we were getting paid. Not long after, one of Dreamwave's higher-ups employed tactics that seemed to us like an attempt to discourage us from asking for our money. We thought that was unacceptable, especially considering how patient we had been in trying to work with them about things. When we brought our concerns to their attention, hoping for some clarification to ease the situation, we got conflicting responses and excuses that just made things seem even more dubious.
MCDONOUGH: Not only was it insulting that they would stoop to that level when we had tried everything to work things out professionally, but it also made things even more uncomfortable than they already were. Realistically, would anyone be willing to continue trying to work with people who weren't paying you while consistently making money off of your work? Until everything started coming out leading up to the bankruptcy, we had no clear reason to even suspect that their problems were so severe, because for all intents and purposes the majority of their titles were making money and they were telling us about all these new deals they were signing.
First, we had our legal counsel serve them with a demand letter, asking that we be paid the balance of what we were owed. We had made clear that we would be unable to meet their constant demands for new work when we still hadn't been paid for what had already been published and sold months ago. It was around this time that they terminated our contracts, sent out a "secret" e-mail asking industry forums not to let us speak out, and posted a press release implying that our being overworked was somehow responsible for the lateness of the books -- as opposed to the fact that they weren't paying us. Interestingly, they quietly changed the press release on their own website after our lawyers told them it was libelous, but seemed to make no attempt to publicly correct the original release which they had sent out across the Internet.
With all this and the fact that they stopped responding to our attempts to negotiate, we were forced to move forward with our lawsuit, which covered the money we were owed in past-due payments, the money owed for wrongful termination of our contracts and damages for their defamation. Obviously, the last thing we wanted to do was get involved in a legal situation with anybody, but their lack of response to other attempts to work things out left us with no choice. It was a very weird time. Threatening, anonymous posts directed at us started to appear on their message boards. It was creepy, but almost funny -- these posts were attacking fans as if they were us, and the fans were like, "Slow down, there!"
PATYK: To make a long story short, Dreamwave presented no defense against our claims. They defaulted on the lawsuit, meaning that the next step would have been for the court to assess damages against them on our behalf. Of course, as everyone knows by now, it was right after that that they declared bankruptcy, preventing us from getting any of our money.
So, even after that particular legal battle, it was conveniently arranged so that we didn't end up seeing a dime. After the bankruptcy, things continued to be very strange. Some of the creditors appointed to be inspectors in the bankruptcy proceedings turned out to still be employed with Dream Engine, for example. We've also heard that people apparently have plans to sell or reprint work that we were never paid for, but we have yet to be notified of any plans to first pay us or any of the other creators involved.
NRAMA: Have either of you spoken to Pat or anyone at DW since the bankruptcy announcement? What have they said?
MCDONOUGH: Pat dropped out of contact abruptly as the matter started to unfold, despite our numerous attempts to get in touch with him to try to resolve things before being forced to take the legal route. It's all really too bad, because so much of this probably could have been avoided if the people involved had just tried to be more forthright about things instead of ignoring issues or trying to keep things a secret. After that, we were also contacted by several Dreamwave staffers and freelancers who kept us abreast of the situation as it unfolded.
PATYK: Recently, we were also asked by a group of former employees and freelancers about potentially forming a group claim to pursue the company's higher-ups for possible "breach of fiduciary obligations." Also, after the incidents on the Dreamwave website, some people apparently figured out that we weren't posting on the Internet boards, so that became an avenue for those claiming to be associated with the situation to make baseless personal attacks on us without fear of retribution. Friends would let us know about this stuff, and some of it was just crazy. Even though we had a pretty clear idea who some of the people doing this were, they would hide behind fake names and whatnot to keep from getting publicly taken to task for their false statements.
NRAMA: If you could talk to Pat directly right now, what would you ask of him?
PATYK: We'd ask, "Can we get our money?"
MCDONOUGH: And we'd ask for an apology, as well as an explanation, regarding the whole situation. It was awful to have to go through this whole ordeal when all we ever wanted or asked for was to be paid for the work we had provided.
NRAMA: How has this, and the negative press inherent in a sticky situation like this, affected your careers? Do you find it harder to get work in the industry?
MCDONOUGH: Standing up for ourselves in this situation definitely seems to have made things a little tougher. Even when you're in the right about a situation like this, people become wary because of the bad press involved. The best thing I can say is that if anyone in the industry has any doubts or questions, please feel free to ask us directly. Similarly, if someone wants to make any statements about us, feel free to let us know and put your name to them. Then we can compare the facts.
PATYK: We certainly never wanted to give people the impression we were troublemakers, and -- maybe naively -- we hoped that we wouldn't somehow be blamed for responding to the fact that Dreamwave wasn't paying us. We tried every option to work things out. Once things were underway, we opted to be honest and just put out a few brief, factual statements that we had cleared through our lawyers at the time. Yet some people still tried to spin it like we were airing dirty laundry, when we were only trying to tell our side of the story in the face of a company that had already put out misleading press releases and under-the-radar e-mails about us. It's never been our intention to spit any dirt, which should be obvious because there's much more that could have been said if that had been our goal. At the end of the day, they didn't pay us for the work we did for them. I don't think anyone can fault us for trying to fight for our rights in that situation. We simply want the money we're owed for our work.
NRAMA: Is there anything you'd like to say to fans of the books that are wondering about what you guys are up to?
PATYK: Currently, we've been doing some toy- and animation-related development work. Overall, things have been very difficult because of the loss of the money we were owed in addition to the money we had to put into fighting the legal battle, but one of the few bright spots throughout it all was the support we got from many of the fans. We both put a lot of time and effort into what we were doing; if nothing else, we're glad that a lot of people enjoyed it.
MCDONOUGH: We're very thankful for their support through all of this. If it wasn't for the fans informing us about some of the things that were going on, we probably would have been in an even worse situation. It's still shocking to believe the tactics that were being employed.
NRAMA: Coming out of this experience, what are you left with? What lessons have you learned and what are you guys doing to move forward?
MCDONOUGH: Well, we've been left with a lot of debt...
PATYK: And now we're certainly more cautious about future endeavors and cognizant of the potential pitfalls.
Newsarama Note: Check back shortly for an interview with Dreamwave's Pat Lee