Forum - View topicNEWS: Dreamwave Shuts Down
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Necros Antiquor
 Posts: 571 Location: Funny in a car crash sort of way |
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I think I saw some of their work in Nintendo Power. They did some adaptions of Custom Robo, Metroid Prime, and Metal Gear Solid. The art was pretty good (and they got the style of Metal Gear's art down), but the story and plot left something to be desired. Or it could just be the fact that the characters in Custom Robo aren't good (I never played it) and Samus just isn't the person to move the plot forward with her limited speech.
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Stueypark
Posts: 116 |
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Who knew the American dollar was so influencial in Canada...
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Emerje
 Posts: 7337 Location: Maine |
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When the majority of your readers are American it is. Some of their writers and artists had already bailed out due to the "unsustainable monetary commitments" so it was only a matter of time. What sucks is that despite their problems they never let on. Personally speaking I know the Transformers community is crushed by this, none of their comic lines were finished and some of them (like G1 ongoing and War Within) were really starting to get good. Not to mention they were still announcing new titles like Beast Wars and some of their own projects like a new Warlands series. I had already posted this in the Manga section, but not many people read that so I'll repost it here:
Emerje |
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jstillion
 Posts: 16 |
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1st Crossgen, now DW
It's hard to be independent comics now and be mainstream. Will really miss Dark Minds (not that it published that often). |
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Tempest
 I Run this place.ANN Publisher  Posts: 10420 Location: Do not message me for support. |
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90% of North America lives in the United States. Most publications and websites in North America produce their content for the entire continent. It's the only sane thing to do since limiting yourself to Canada would be limiting yourself to 10% of the population. Besides, Americans and Canadians have pretty much the same entertainment preferences. With the $US losing over 25% of its value in under 2 years, it leaves foreign businesses with a dilemma. Increase the price you charge American clients, and maybe lose those clients, or make 25% less revenue on sales to those clients (90% of your clientel). Likewise, the falling $US is really bad for US importers. And alternatively, companies that import from the United States, as well as companies that export from the United States, love the falling $US. But, the US is more of an importer than exporter, so the low $ is a bad thing for more people (Americans and foreigners) than not. Eventually, if the $US doesn't rebound (and most expect that it won't), the cost of many products in the United States, even the ones manufactured in the United States, will increase. Falling currency always leads to inflation. For those that are on the outside (like Dreamwave), that inflation can't come soon enough. Unfortunately for Dreamwave, it didn't come soon enough (mind you, they listed the $US as one contributing factor, not the principle reason they closed). -t |
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Joe Mello
 Posts: 2256 Location: Online Terminal |
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Emerje, is this the same Dreamengine that worked on The Butterfly Effect or am I just nuts?
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tstidm
Posts: 20 |
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I am not surprised because of the American dollar being so low and they weren't able to meet costs. I hope that this takes the rights to someone like Tokyopop or Viz who has stability and will do it in a more Graphic Novel style. That will drive sales big time.
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sinistertaco
Posts: 96 |
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This is more their own fault than Pat Lee has let on.
They had a number one book in Transformers for 6 months, and various top 20 entries from then on, but they expanded way too fast for their own good. They flooded the market with mini-series after mini-series, they had G1 Transformers, Transformers Energon, etc. Beast Wars was on the horizon. But in trying to do all of this, they dilluted their own market way too quickly. Combined with the fact they had big problems with getting things out on time, the insane cost of licensing something as pricey as Transformers, and that their non-TF books were marred with slow output and scheduling changes, and there wasn't a recipe for success. Its sad to see these companies fold, first Crossgen and now Dreamwave, but the reality is their own failures start first and foremost with themselves, and hopefully people have taken a lesson about how not to run a company. Pat Lee is a good guy. This is a dude that was drawing tons and tons of Transformer sketeches at cons for free and had a smile on his face the whole time. But as they say, artists don't make for particularly good bussiness men. Its sad, but not unexpected. I hope they all find work elsewhere. |
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Ranmah
 Posts: 294 Location: Stomp'n on Tokyo Tower |
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That stinks that Dreamwave is closed. Though I agree that they over-saturated the market with Transformers related comics. They should of kept it as Transformers.
I normally like reading the Street Fighter Comics by Udon. Is the Udon comics still popular in the US? Ranmah |
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s_j
Posts: 162 |
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The closure of CrossGen, MV, and now Dreamwave is not just a reflection of their business practices alone (certainly not for MV, at least), but of the volatility of the comics industry as whole. It's just a really tough business to be in, with high production overhead, thin profit margins, and fierce competition for a narrow market. Highwater was also another high-profile closure this year, and it wasn't too long ago that both Top Shelf and Fantagraphics were in trouble because of the LPC bankruptcy. Closer to home, Ironcat has also had a rough year. And while ComicOne's current situation is unclear, if the worst are confirmed than this would be the first major kink in the previously bulletproof armor of manga that nay-sayers have been waiting for. (This would be the biggest closure for me personally, since I really like some of their output. Production quality was never too much of an issue with ComicsOne, imho.)
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Emerje
Posts: 7337 Location: Maine |
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No, supposedly this is a new company run by Pat Lee's brother Roger Lee.
Er, wont happen. First off Viz doesn't do any original work and Tokyopop's extent at orginal work are their Cine-manga and Rising stars. Neither company is actually capable of full on comic book development like Dreamwave was. Also, Dreamwave was already releasing their comics in graphic novel form (called Dreamwave Pockets or Pocket Books) and it didn't help them much. Emerje |
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Stueypark
Posts: 116 |
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Even so, the change in the value of a currency will normally only affect the price of imported commodoties, not intellectualm properties. And despite the change in currencies (Canada's dollar hasn't changed much in perspective to America's dollar) and with the required resources already in country, and the change in dollar value can't even be felt because they aren't doing any business with outside unaffected nations like those in the EU.
I think the company is just making up a bunch of fancy sounding excuses for poor management. |
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kusanagi-sama
 Posts: 1723 Location: Wichita Falls, TX |
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Looking at ComicsOne website, they haven't had a single press release since July of last year. This makes me a little worried, as I want to buy the Onegai Teacher Manga ($4.95 each), Novel ($3.95) and Onegai Twins Novel ($3.95 also). They are on sale at the website, and all 4 books would cost me $17.80 ($26.30 with shipping).
I suppose I could buy the manga and volumes at Waldenbooks, Booksamillion, Suncoast or some other book store. |
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Lemharth
Posts: 18 |
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This is horrible, Dreamwave is probably one of the best comic book companies ever. Personally I was never interested in their anime related series, I really liked their originaly series. Their artwork was always fantastic, it wasn't just a pretty cover and shitty artwork on the inside. It was elaborate detailed and wonderfully coloured. Not to mention it didn't fall into what everyone thinks American comics are: Big buff guys in brightly coloured spandex...this is really lame...
Things like this always give me second thoughts about becoming a comic book artist, all these companies closing down and well...I probably be better off trying something else with my life. |
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BakaKaiju
Posts: 2 |
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These comments say it all. The devauling of the dollar argument is just a smokescreen for the fact that Dreamwave was a poorly run business. Although it is sad to see the property in limbo, it is actually a relief to see these books halted. If they came out any more infrequebtly, you would think Kevin Smith were writing them... |
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