dave roman ([info]yaytime) wrote,
@ 2007-05-15 17:57:00
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Current music:The Specials: Ghost Town
Entry tags:adventures of tymm, alien circus

My big graphic novel that no one knows about.


So a while back I wrote a 3-part graphic novel series called "Alien Circus" for Platinum Studios that was beautifully illustrated by Luke Weber. It was a big space aventure series that mixed Hamlet with Marsupilami and was a lot of fun to work on. I ended up developing a whole universe complete with tons of creatures, planets, history and plots for potential spinoffs.

At some point Platinum decided to change the name to The Adventures of Tymm and register a domain name for it. But as far as I know they have no plans to actually release it in print.

But I recently found out from a friend that they changed the name back to Alien Circus and it is being serialized on Drunkduck.com (yay!) without any credits for the people who worked on it (boo!)

I have no idea if they'll serialize the whole thing or not! I'm hoping so, just because it would be nice for the work to finally get seen, if not read (the lettering is hard to read at the current size--which seems easily fixed by cropping the white around the pages and running them a bit bigger.)

But I guess maybe if a lot of people read it and like it, someone might want to release it in print some day??



These are are the Rosencrantz & Guildenstern inspired characters who are hired to destroy the prince (who is still just and egg when the story begins)




















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[info]daltonnw
2007-05-15 11:01 pm UTC (link)
That looks great. What's up with the lack of credits? LAME.

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[info]larsony
2007-05-15 11:29 pm UTC (link)
Insult to injury, the random people commenting on the pages as if they're communicating with the artist or writer. "Excellent work as usual"? They don't even know who they're addressing!?

Grrr. This looks really good, man. I guess you don't have any say in what happens to it now?

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[info]rstevens
2007-05-15 11:38 pm UTC (link)
What a terrible name change. I know what a "Space Circus" is. WTF is a "Tymm" ?

Is Platinum related to DJ Coffman or am I confusing comic companies?

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[info]rstevens
2007-05-15 11:39 pm UTC (link)
(ALIEN circus, sorry)

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[info]yaytime
2007-05-16 12:26 am UTC (link)
I think they originally changed it because they had a lot of other projects with the word "Alien" in the title that I assume must have been bigger priorities. I didn't mind "Tymm" in the title because it's the name of the main character and I've found people usually want the name of the book to be the name of the character. But I still always referred to it as Alien Circus so I'm happy it changed back.

And yeah Platinum is publishing some stuff by DJ Coffman. His comic won a contest they held if memory serves...

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[info]lunchbreak_pat
2007-05-15 11:52 pm UTC (link)
I passed the quiz portion of the "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire" auditions but (evidently) failed the interview portion. When they asked me what I would do if I won the million dollars, I told them I wanted to start a company to publish comic books, and I still think about what kind of stuff I would put out if I had gotten on the show and won big. This is EXACTLY what kind of stuff I would put out.

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[info]yaytime
2007-05-16 04:01 pm UTC (link)
You and me both Pat! It's so frustrating to see how many good cartoonists are out there struggling. I've fantasized a million times over about various publishing plans....Maybe someday a bunch of us should team up and pool our resources together.

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[info]trishalynn
2007-06-21 12:42 pm UTC (link)
This has been my dream, too. I totally want to work in publishing still, and I think that once I get my credit back to normal and can contribute some startup money, I'd want to be part of this endeavor.

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[info]granulac
2007-05-15 11:54 pm UTC (link)
These pages look great! I would love to see this in print someday.

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[info]jeepersjournal
2007-05-16 12:16 am UTC (link)
The style/layout remind me a lot of french kids comics..... it's too bad it's only getting seen in a sketchy way. Does Platinum own it completely?

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[info]yaytime
2007-05-16 01:20 am UTC (link)
Yeah, it was a work for hire project so I always knew they'd own it outright. And I probably wouldn't have been as disappointed in it not coming out if it wasn't for the fact that the artist did such a great job with it!

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[info]astroboy12
2007-05-16 12:37 am UTC (link)
I second that this has a European feel to the art - awesome looking stuff - seems like a fun world to write for.

as others have said, I'm guessing you have no control over what happens to it now?...

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[info]yaytime
2007-05-16 01:26 am UTC (link)
The original editor definitely encouraged us to think of the project in terms of European albums. Everything was formatted to work in that market. But I guess whatever plan they had to sell it there never manifested.

I knew going in I wouldn't really have any control. I just hoped (and still do) that it would be published in some way shape or form. Even if it's just on the internet. But I feel like if the graphic novel for kids market continues to expand SOMEONE should consider putting it out in print! I just don't think it's a priority for Platinum compared to their more high profile stuff. Maybe I'll become famous in the next year and they'll realize what a goldmine they are sitting on ;)

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[info]merofi
2007-05-16 01:12 am UTC (link)
man this looks so awesome~! But the fact that they don't credit you or the artist on the drunk duck page makes me really mad. What purpose does it serve to not mention an artist's name? Really! >=(

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[info]leborcham
2007-05-16 01:32 am UTC (link)
Wow that looks GREAT. SO European. What a shame you can't publish that here.

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[info]yaytime
2007-05-16 01:49 am UTC (link)
thanks. I was kind of inspired to post some pages from it after reading the press release about Platinum in the new PW Comics Week. I keep holding onto a faint hope that one day they'll mention Alien Circus as something they may actually publish.

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[info]boltcity
2007-05-16 01:45 am UTC (link)
This looks really nice. I thought it was a shame that t never saw print back when Luke told me about it, and I feel he never gets quite enough credit for his talent. Anyway, I like the "The Ballad of Halo Jones" vibe to it. Very cool. :)

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[info]nervousystem
2007-05-16 02:03 am UTC (link)
I can almost read the words, but then my eyes start to hurt. I'm sure it's really funny, though!

The artist you've got on this project is knocking these pages out of the ballpark!

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[info]static_eddie
2007-05-16 03:41 am UTC (link)
I'm going to have to make some time to read through this... it looks fun!
Also, I have some space monkeys in my grimoire and this reminds me that they're getting antsy and want some shot at fame.

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[info]fortninety
2007-05-16 05:19 am UTC (link)
Wow... haven't heard the name Alien Circus in years...

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[info]alisa5179
2007-05-16 05:33 am UTC (link)
This looks like such an awesome project! It realllly bothers me when artists aren't credited for their work.

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[info]yaytime
2007-05-16 03:58 pm UTC (link)
Well, I guess it's better than giving other people credit for it! I'd like to assume that it's just an oversight on the part of whoever uploads comics to the Drunk Duck site. But I think the thing for me is that as a company they let it be an oversight because the project is an afterthought to them at this point. They have huge library of material they can put out instead of Alien Circus--even though it's completely finished and ready to go. And maybe a lot of it is better than what we did. They've gone through some editorial changes so I'm no longer in the loop. It's been a few years since I wrote anything for it or talked about it with anyone beyond the original editor who no longer works at the company.
But then whenever I look at some pages from the comic it reminds me of how much time and energy was spent and what a large part of my life it was at the time. I go back and forth between giving up, fearing it was a big waste of our time...to hoping there's a light at the end of the tunnel if someone just takes a chance and puts it out there.
Cuz as everyone knows I'm all about the satisfaction of the finished product and hopefully people getting to read it.

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[info]netizenron
2007-05-16 03:32 pm UTC (link)
It really does look stunning.

I was so apalled they didn't credit you, I made comment on Comic Bytes. I'd been kind of on hiatus with it, but sometimes things have to be said.

Here's to seeing print. :) ... someday.

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apology to Dave
(Anonymous)
2007-05-16 06:26 pm UTC (link)
Dave, it's Dan Forcey here, VP of Content Development from Platinum. I wanted to write you a personal apology here about your credits being omitted on Drunk Duck. It was entirely a mistake on our part and not an intentional omission in any way, shape or form. There was a custom homepage, just like we've done with some of our other titles (like the one here: http://www.drunkduck.com/Blood_Nation/index.php) that we had made for this and it somehow got deleted along the way. You can also check it out on our own comics site (http://www.platinumstudioscomics.com/index.php?template=comics&option=com_content&task=view&id=39&Itemid=46) and you'll see that are proud to have your name associated with this property and proud of the property itself. We actually have a lot of plans for Alien Circus and I apologize, again, for not being in better contact with you about this.

This is a mistake on our part that I wholeheartedly apologize for any disrespect that you felt from it. I completely see why you would feel that way and I feel terrible because of it.

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[info]yaytime
2007-05-17 07:03 pm UTC (link)
Hey Ron,
Thanks for writing the supportive post! I didn't realize that people would end up getting so worked up by it!
But hopefully the attention on the issue will help other creators in the long run.

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[info]djcoffman
2007-05-16 04:32 pm UTC (link)
Tried to post yesterday to ask you, but I think Firefox wasnt allowing me- trying again in clunky IE- but now that this has turned into some feeding frenzy for people who dislike Platinum, I'm wondering this... did you contact Platinum about this at all? It does look like a really great project, one I'm sure they'll do somethign with at some point (soon?) here.

I'm just wondering, if you created this universe for them, and possibility of spinoffs, etc, why not be the one who's actually writing those in the future and being paid to do so or more involved with royalties, etc?

I didn't really work with the editors you've worked with at all, but honestly I can't see how they were out to not credit it on purpose-- it was likely an oversight on DrunkDUck because htey probably don't have a cover with the new logo on it, etc, and they havent done the full treatment to site design like they've done with their other projects there that are in print. I bet it gets released as a GN, especially after all this weird media coverage.

The best to you and Frank! It looks fantastic!

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[info]yaytime
2007-05-16 06:08 pm UTC (link)
Hey DJ,
I actually don't have any contacts over at Platinum anymore. When Jim McLauchlin took over Lee's job he had left a phone message introducing himself but we ended up playing phone tag once or twice without connecting (it was around the time I got married and my job was moving offices). When I got back from my honeymoon, I left a lot of messages with Jim but eventually I found out that he wasn't working there anymore. So having already gotten used to the idea that Tymm/Alien Circus was old news I kind of went back to accepting its fate. And that probably would have been the end of it until I found out that they were running the material online over at Drunk Duck. The part of the story that I left out was that when I first saw it there the pages were being run out of order from the middle of chapter 2. This was around the time of NYCC in February, so when I saw Lee Nordling there we started talking about Tymm/Alien Circus with fond memories. I mentioned seeing the material online and out of order. He said he'd pass the info on to someone at Platinum. Time flew by as it often does for me, and when I saw the new press release in Publisher's Weekly it reminded me to check back over on Drunk Duck and see if they ever updated and addressed the issue. I was happy to see that they did restart the pages from the beginning,…but disappointed to see no credits or even an explanation for what the series was. Like you said it probably was an oversight on the part of the guys at Drunk Dunk. But I think understandable that I also felt a bit burned.

To be honest, I really just WANTED to post about my excitement and encourage everyone to go and check it out because I’d been waiting years to finally be able to show it to people. I wanted to post about it when I first found out it was on Drunk Dunk, but assumed it was better to wait till they made the correction because they started serializing it at a weird place (chapter 2). So now that it was “re-launched” and I was ready to post a link to the comic, I felt like I had to address the fact that we weren’t credited there. But in doing so it put a spotlight on how unimportant Alien Circus STILL is for Platinum after all these years of it being completed and hearing NOTHING about it. It’s weird to me that they would just start posting pages without any plan or explanation of what they were posting. And do so for several days without wondering if people would want to know who was behind the material. I’m sure they don’t mean any ill will. Everyone I’ve ever met at Platinum has been very nice. And I understand that companies will always focus on what is new and exciting. And I’ve accepted that may never be this project. I go back and forth between moving on and getting really nostalgic. I just wanted people to know that it exists and that we put a lot of heart and energy into it.

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[info]djcoffman
2007-05-16 06:12 pm UTC (link)
Yeah there has been a lot of changing of the guard since last summer over there. I would guess that a lot of the projects they own, not every employee there knows the creative team names. Toss Dan Forcey a line sometime-- dan.forcey@platinumstudios.com , I'm sure now that their books are actually coming out they must have been planning something for this project to have it in the works over on Drunk Duck too.

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yes, please
(Anonymous)
2007-05-16 07:04 pm UTC (link)
yeah, Dave, please email or call me if you ever have any questions. Don't exactly want to broadcast my direct line to the world but drop me an email at dan.forcey@platinumstudios.com and I'll send it to you.

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[info]madscott
2007-05-16 08:11 pm UTC (link)
I like the look of it. I'll check it out. came here from comixpedia btw

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[info]madscott
2007-05-16 08:12 pm UTC (link)
wait.. I see they have your name on it now.

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Beautiful work
(Anonymous)
2007-05-16 11:27 pm UTC (link)
Hi, Dave. I got a heads up about the lack of credits on your work by they who shan't be mentioned. I've had my own problems with them over the past while, what a pack of...well you know whats.

All that to say. Beautiful work there. Maybe some day the you know whats at you know where will have the good grace (not likely) to put your work in print. There isn't enough work like this in comics. And god knows we need more of it.

Cheers.

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