I promised follow-up to my CrossGen-related posts of August 13 and September 23 (from what I understand permalinks may be "Bloggered" so you can find the latter entry on this page and the former in the August 2003 archive) as the situation with the company changed, and I have a doozy to pass on this time. By the way, happy National Comic Book Day, everyone.
From the comics news site Pulse comes the following, which I'm repro'ing in its entirety and I'm sure my friend Heidi MacDonald won't mind:
In a major restructuring today, financially beleaguered CrossGen underwent layoffs and changed its basic working structure, The Pulse has learned.Which is somewhat remarkable considering that CrossGen has been one of the major sponsors of Pulse's site (Comicon).
Creative staff, previously on salary as employees of the company, were switched to a page rate, resulting in a lower income, in most cases. In addition, they were given clearance to seek freelance work at other companies, another drastic change in the way CrossGen has traditionally done business. At least one artist, Butch Guice, has already quit the company.
In addition, there were a large number of layoffs in both the creative and business side, perhaps as many as 20-25.
Since launching in May of 2000, CrossGen's unorthodox set-up has won both praise and skepticism. While lauded for their ontime publishing schedule, high production values, and attention to genres that other companies weren't publishing, their studio structure--putting all the members of a creative team in an office together, with everyone from the writer to the colorist as a salaried employee--was viewed as risky. Founder and President Mark Alessi based the setup on his experience in the software industry, where he felt having a team working together created a creative atmosphere based on camaraderie. Alessi made his fortune at a software company that developed an early version of JAVA before selling the firm to Ross Perot.
While controversial, the studio system worked well overall, with most creators enjoying both the working environment and the benefits of being an employee.
Over the past few months, CrossGen's monetary problems have become common knowledge, as freelancers stepped forward with tales of not being paid, and the shipping schedule had to be altered to allow for the cash flow problems. CrossGen personnel have assured both the creative community and the press that more financing was on the way.
Today multiple sources confirmed the change in status for the creative team, some of whom have already picked up work at Marvel and DC. In addition, at least one creator, Guice, artist of RUSE, has quit the company outright. Guice also served as assistant art director .
It is unknown how this will affect CrossGen's overall publishing schedule moving forward.
CrossGen was not available for comment.
The whole thread is well worth reading through (including Dirk Deppey's comments and the link to his blog's reporting of the situation); a similar thread has been started at the comics news site Newsarama but I haven't perused it yet. I'm half-expecting some deranged CrossGen fans to attack me and Robin as the proximate cause of the company's downfall rather than acknowledging the actual culprit - overextension precipitating a financial situation which included, among other things, the non-payment of freelancers that we brought to light. Heck, if I had that kind of power believe me I'd use it for good, not evil. I mean, sic me on Washington DC and Sacramento, y'know? Not a comics company whose books I touted and thoroughly enjoyed right up until they screwed my husband out of $1300.
However, as some speculate, this "restructuring" could be a prelude to Mark Alessi obtaining the next round of financing he's sought. If they get the bucks to continue publishing and pay all the people they owe, this situation could still resolve itself on something of a positive note. Stay tuned!
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