So, who is owed what from the Dabel Brothers' collapsing their deal with Marvel? I have a few names and numbers, but this is the tip of the iceberg.
Ricardo Ratton and Alex Starling, owed $1650 for pencils/inks/colours for half of "Ptolus" #5
Eduardo Pansica and Alex Starling owed $3300 for pencils/inks/colours for all of "Ptolus" #6
Jason Berek-Lewis $250 for script for "Legacy: The Rebellion"
Ig Barros, $195 for digitally painted cover of "Magician" #7
Rodney Buchemi owed $6900 for pencils/inks of all of "Red Prophet" #7, 8 and 10 and the cover of "Red Prophet" #11 and 12
Vitor Ishimura paid $900, still owed $2400 for "Wyrms" #4 and #5
Luis Hernrique owed $800 for pencils of 16 pages of "Anita Blake" #6
Alisson Ricardo paid $540, owed $1175 for cover of "Origins Of Prey" #2, pencils for "Origins Of Prey" #3, 13 pages of pencils in "Origins Of Prey" #4.
There are plenty of other people who have asked me not to run their details, for fear that they will never be paid or will alienate potential employees.
In my experience, a willingness to say you are owed money by a comics company, in a straightforward manner, after a reasonable period of time will only engender good feeling from other companies towards that individual. But, especially with Marvel involved, I can understand individuals' concerns.
One explanation Les Dabel has given to people asking what happened is that he believes he signed a poor initial deal with Marvel, against his own attorney's advice. He paid off other debts initially, but gave Marvel until this September to pay enough money to keep the cashflow going. However, this did not stop Dabel from promising and failing to pay creators. Despite claiming he has guaranteed incoming arriving from Marvel, he states he couldn't get a bridging loan from any bank. And in San Diego he was claiming that he was ending his deal with Marvel to speed up payments to creators, at a loss to himself.
This story is thrown in doubt in that the deal broke up only weeks before September, the date at which according to Dabel, Marvel were meant to pay a large cash sum. Creators remain unpaid. And any bank, shown contractual guaranteed income coming in a short period of time, would likely fall over themselves to lend money.
Currently, Dabel Bros. artists who are promised payment by Marvel have been asked to sign the standard Marvel Work-Made-For-Hire agreement before they receive their cheques, creating uncertainty as to who actually owns what. And this only covers titles that Marvel is continuing to publish, other creators look like they may remain unpaid.
Kas R. DeCarvalho, Esq., corporate counsel for Dabel Bros. Productions, replied to enquiries Monday morning stating, "DB Pro is currently in the process of finalizing the termination of it's partnership with Marvel.
"While this process is underway, we apologize, but we cannot publically discuss the terms of that agreement. In the interim, we are in the process of paying off all DB Pro debts, and we remain committed to ensuring that all creators who have worked with the Dabel Brothers--whether on Marvel-published projects or otherwise--will be paid in full in the immediate future. Any previously un-invoiced requests for payment should be forwarded directly to DB Pro at ldabel@dabelbrothers.com."
More to come, I'm sure.
no mention of Jimmy Bott as yet.
Last week's story about the possibility of Diamond announcing at Baltimore that they will be dropping or reducing their reorder penalty for retailers ordering from non-Premier publishers has shaken out all sorts of interesting things.
Some wonder how can Diamond afford to cut reorder penalties? Well, because more and more independent comics product is offered to retailers at 50% discount, as opposed to the 57% that some of the smaller publishers enjoyed during the Distributor Wars TM, there has been a defacto penalty on independent publishers anyway. There's talk of a move to online-only reorders. And of course, there's competition.
Diamond have enjoyed an effective direct market monopoly on comics distribution by brokering exclusive distribution deals with the four largest "Premier" comics publishers.
But I understand that there are one or two companies interested in entering the direct market distribution system right now, who will be making themselves known at Baltimore next week. Initially they are interested in working with high profile independent publishers who don't feel best served by Diamond, first in bookstores, then into comic stores. But their interest may extend across the independent publishers and to Premier publishers whose exclusive contracts with Diamond may be up for renewal.
Could this be the beginning of the end of the Diamond monopoly? Are Diamond's upcoming announcements the sign of them fighting back?
And will Baltimore be the perfect setting for a bunch of distribution hoodlums to make a grab for Stringer Geppi's territory?
now if this happens, it could be interesting. of course they will have to do something to counter Diamond's exclusivity with DC/Marvel/Image/Dark Horse, but if it does happen it will be a benefit to smaller publishers.
