Runemaster leaves Alias

As has been reported in numerous places, of which I saw it here first, Runemaster Studios, the creative collective behind kid-friendly titles Lions, Tigers and Bears and the newly-launched The Gimoles, has parted ways with publisher Alias Comics. Alias was slated to publish the Gimoles mini-series and a trade paperback of L,T&B (which was originally published by Image). Confused? Good.

I can't really add much to the newsiness of this story, considering I'm jumping into it late, but I should point readers to this interesting exchange, which includes comments from Alias Executive Director Mike Bullock and even features a cameo from writer Ron Marz, who serves as "editor" on the mini.

Here's a snippet from the Runemaster release, touching on the reasons for the split:

“Our relationship with Alias initially seemed like a match made in heaven,” stated Runemaster’s President Mike Bullock. “However, the current direction Alias is pursuing no longer fits with our vision for Runemaster Studios, so we have no choice but to part ways.”

According to Bullock, Runemaster is terminating the licensing agreements for Lions, Tigers and Bears and The Gimoles for cause, due to material breaches committed by Alias.

"Material breaches," on first read, seems to be just a nice way of saying "non-payment." Marz's comment on the Newsarama thread following the release seems to confirm this. Marz says:

"While you're at it, Mike, you might want to talk to Brett about paying Mike Bullock and other creators what you owe them.

Just a thought."

Apparently confirming the problem, Miller responds to Marz:

"We're taking care of it. Thanks for your concern, Ron."

More from the release:

“It's unfortunate the situation has come to this," Bullock said. “We’ve exhausted every avenue of reconciling our differences with Alias and securing what is owed to us. This is a last resort, but we've been left with no other option."

As for the future of Runemaster’s properties, a new publisher has already been secured for a second Lions, Tigers and Bears mini-series, with the first issue of the series already nearing completion. Fans can expect to see it in stores in early 2006. The Gimoles #2 was delivered to Alias in mid-July for release in August, but has yet to appear in stores. According to Bullock, Runemaster has yet to receive a satisfactory explanation from Alias for the delay, nor has a new release date been established.

"It's frustrating. I'd like to personally apologize to the fans who supported us by picking up the first issue of Gimoles," Bullock said. "This is something that's out of our hands right now, but I promise you, the story will be finished, one way or another."

As Tom Spurgeon has noted a number of times, this isn't the first misstep for Alias. Their initial, much-hyped launch of titles stumbled out of the gate later than expected, and in the previously-mentioned thread, Miller alluded to the cancellation of some Alias books. Not to mention the fact that the company has yet to find a way to get their books sold through Amazon.com.

Miller continues:

"This year has indeed been a learning experience, and we'll take what we've learned and use it to grow in the years to come. I'm sure there will be more mistakes to come, but we'll survive them and hopefully flourish, God willing.

For those of you who support us, thank you for believing in us. For those of you who don't, thanks for motivating us."

And later, showing some signs of wear, Miller hits back at the critics:

"Okay, again, thanks to those who support Alias, but I'm a little confused by the 'kicking them when they're down' bit.

I mean, we're talking about one studio that had one book coming out through us that was selling so poorly that we were going to cancel it.

So... how does that bring us 'down'? Again, our biggest seller, Lullaby, is doing better numbers through Alias directly than it did when it was at Image. We just topped our highest selling 75 cent book by several thousand copies with the orders on Victoria's Secret Service. We're signing up some bigger name talent for launch next spring (that we'll talk about when the time comes), and we're constantly a top 20 publisher in a field of hundreds. Sometimes closer to top 10.

So... yeah, we lose Gimoles. Big whoop-ti-do, we were cancelling it anyway. How does that bring us down exactly?"

A lot to digest. I open all this up for discussion.