VAL STAPLES ON THE STATE OF MV CREATIONS

[MattBrady]

MV Creations has ridden the roller coaster of the comics industry. Once, a studio on the cutting edge, finding success with landing and successfully launching Mattel’s He-Man as a comic property, the studio has now hit hard times, with creator debt, belt-tightening, and now, a public appeal.

What went wrong? Where did things off track, and how can they right themselves again? We asked studio head Val Staples to describe the situation in his own words:


For over two years MVCreations has worked to give you comics we hoped you would enjoy.

We care a great deal about all of the comic projects we worked on and faced a lot of challenges along the way.

But a few things have happened that have essentially ruined our little studio that we could not control.

About a year and a half ago, we moved from Image Comics to CrossGen Entertainment to publish our books. At the time, it seemed like the smart move. CrossGen had proven to be on the up-and-up, we had friends there who were very happy and they had programs in place to reach younger readers which was something we always wanted to do. Of course, what we didn't know is that they were sailing a ship that was taking on water at an alarming rate. None of us had any way of knowing.

When payments never came, we complained, fought and eventually sued. And by the time the smoke cleared about six months later, CrossGen went bankrupt right after defaulting on a settlement agreement we had reached. This put their debt to us at almost $60,000.00. This was a crushing blow that crippled our income and our ability to publish comics during that time and beyond.

Determined to move forward, we did what we felt was the smart and responsible thing. We dropped all titles that were not performing well. We dropped all plans to publish new titles that we either had on the drawing board or were in discussions to create. We then continued to budget carefully so we could continue to publish our two top comics: Masters of the Universe and SpookShow International.

The core MV studio made the switch to freelance graphic design, as we knew those two comic titles couldn't make enough money to pay for the people who worked in our offices or help to pay back the debt CrossGen left us. Still, despite putting the best foot forward and working hard to keep that income coming, we had very little luck in finding work in today's tough economy. For an entire year instead of whittling away at the debt CrossGen left us, we found ourselves moving further into debt just trying to stay alive.

We were dealt another blow earlier this year when the details of MOTU character usage rights became clear. Despite our initial discussions prior to getting the license and an understanding of where we were going to go with the story and characters, we suddenly faced not only not being able to bring back fan favorite characters not yet seen, but also not being able to even create new characters and places. Imagine telling a story where you cannot travel to any new places in a world or encounter any new characters important to the story or that served as simply background filler. We ultimately had to scrap six issues worth of story and almost two issues of art for the Volume 3 arc we wanted to do. This pushed our creator debt even further into the ground along with our now growing studio debt.

Today, we find ourselves facing a debt of a little over $140,000.00

Not a huge debt as far as most companies are concerned. But for a little studio like ours, it's a monstrous amount of money that we have no way of paying in any relatively short amount of time.

During the past few months, MV's operations have almost been completely shut down. Everyone who worked here took pay cuts after CrossGen never paid, but it was never enough. Now everyone who worked in the studio except me has moved on to a new job or a new career path. Even our online store depends on the time generously donated by fans like yourself to help pack and ship product. By the end of the year, I will be moving the studio to a much smaller and more manageable location to help offset expenses even further.

Myself and the artists across the world who work with me are still engaged in as much work as we can find to help raise money. But it's nearly impossible to achieve our original goal of getting out of this mountain we are under.

I hate asking anyone to help rescue us from what has happened. But I have no other alternative than to turn to my friends and fellow fans for your support. I don't know if raising such a large amount of money is even possible. I'm hoping maybe, with your help, we might be able to at least pay off most or all of the creator portion of the debt (which is about $88,000.00). Then, I might be able to find a way to make payments on the other debts I owe. Or, if I can find no other alternative, file for personal bankruptcy without inconveniencing any of the other hard working creators who helped MV along the way to give you the comics we hoped you enjoyed. If anyone has to go down with the ship, it should be me. But I don't want to see the other people who contributed suffer.

I don't plan to return to publishing for licensed books. My focus right now is on these debts And if we can ever recover, I hope to do some self publishing with other up-and-comers for the profits the books generate. In the mean time, I've put together a free online resource for those of you who have considered publishing or getting into comics. It's even good for working creators who may not fully understand why it's so hard to get by in today's comic book industry.

Feel free to check out the Poor Man's Guide to Self Publishing whenever you want and I hope you all find it of use:
http://www.mvcreations.com/articles/publish.html

We never expected to get hit with these kinds of problems along the way. And I apologize for groveling before you, begging for your help. I know that many of you have your own debts that need your attention. And even if you want to help, it's very hard for you to do so. Not to mention there are many other people across the globe who face problems far worse than our own who deserve the attention.

I hope that if you've enjoyed our comics or visited He-Man.org these past few years you will consider helping us out by doing one of three things:

1. Making a purchase at our online store.
( http://mvcreations.safeshopper.com/ )
Please bear in mind if many of you graciously make a purchase, it may take us longer than usual to send out the items simply due to the magnitude of orders placed. Our apologies in advance if this is the case.

2. Making a donation via PayPal.

If you are interested in making a PayPal donation, you can do so by clicking on the link below.

MV Creations PayPal Donation

3. Making a check/money order/cashier's check donation via mail.
If you are interested in making one of those types of donations, you can do so by mailing your donation directly to the studio:

MVCreations
1316 Jefferson Street
Lynchburg, VA 24504

That address will be good through the end of December. After that, we will have moved to a new location.

Once again, my apologies for burdening you with this kind of request. But this is my last option. I held out for as long as I could so I wouldn't inconvenience anyone else. I should have asked for help sooner, but I actually thought we might be able to recover from the debt. I actually ended up making it worse.

I thank you all for reading this and considering a purchase/donation to help out. We could have never done any of this without all of you supporting our books. I'm grateful to have had the opportunity to publish comics that some of you enjoyed and to have worked with a huge roster of extremely talented creators. Thanks again.

- Val Staples, MVCreations President

[JONAS]

May I ask what Lynchburg based comic pro's does now?? This place does not exactly dazzel you with opportunities.……

[Egg]

Val,

My heart goes out to you and yours this holiday season! I’ve enjoyed your books immensely and can imagine this has to be a tough decision! I’ll keep you in my prayers and will take you up on your offer to sell me some comics! I hope everything works out in the end!

Sincerely,

Egg Embry
Editor – www.ArcanaStudio.com

[Aaron]

It makes me so mad to think that Crossgen, a company I *adored* and supported aggressively would be primarily responsible for sinking a promising studio. Just another reason to despise Mark Alessi, I suppose.

Val, my best to you and your team. I'll be making a donation very soon.

Aaron

[Rich Johnston]

I'd also like to applaud MVC's openness, compared to other companies who do all they can to hide their problems, and bring creators to ruin with false promises.

[Mike Bullock]

Val,
I've told you this before, but always remember we wish you the best. I'll see if I can help spread the word and I'll be making a donation myself as well as asking the other members and fans of Runemaster Studios to do so also.

[djcoffman]

This is sad news, and puts a squeeze on my stomach. However, like Rich kinda said, it's also refreshing to see someone be honest and transparent.

Too many times, things go bad, and people cover things up with hype and more hype. It leaves a false sense of hope for some self publishers who fall into the same trap.

And then there are also the people who LOVE to see you fail. There are probably people really happy to see a company with a great franchise property fail. ... I'm not one of them.

For the life of me, I can't figure out how a He-Man comic isn't selling like gangbusters, especially written by a super nutso fan of He-man like Val is. I think he lives on Eternia!!!

Anyway, to MV, VAL, -- Sorry to hear this. And I wish you guys all the best.

[Spider-Friends]

This makes me sick. I'm not a fan of He-man but I was watching you every step of the way, living vicariously through you. The books were absolutley beautiful.

My donation is coming via Paypal. Best of luck to you.

[skeletorjr]

What a shame. MV has done fantastic work, their MOTU book is so good, and the Rob Zombie comic comes in a close second. Thank you, Val and the rest, for everything you've given us. I will definitely be donating.

[mavinga]

I had the priviledge of visiting the studio on Jefferson Street.

My family is in Lynchburg and I returned after college for a short stay until the town bored me to tears. If that town is anything, it's affordable. So if there are contacts outside, it's a great place to be. In my case, it was not.

When I visited MV Creations, it looked like they were up to something. Phones rang, a positive interruption I assume, it seemed like there were a lot of things going on at the same time. I met Val, Leanne and John who were present at the time and left some art samples. They were kind, friendly, and showed me a lot of the work. I heard from Jon a few other times by email, but nothing came of it. I was happy that Lynchburg actually had something significant, sad that I couldn't be a part of it. A few months later I left for San Diego.

What's happened as of late is really unfortunate, there were a lot of high hopes (there still are) and I wish you the best Val. Hopefully with the talent and wisdom MVC will get back on the right track.

Something like this affects everyone involved in comics, I think says quite a bit about the current state of the industry in America.

[MIKEON-LINE]

I guess Image wasn't willing to publish the books again...but why? I thought MVC parted ways on good terms - and isn't what Val and co. did what Larsen wanted Image to do as well?

[AlexLothos]

Man, like what has already been said, this makes me sick to my stomach. I've been looking up to you guys and everything you've been doing to stay on top of things though at every step situations seem to keep kicking you in the gut. Gah, the MOTU restrictions are new (to me)... I knew licencing had some strict rules but I didn't know it went THAT far to where you couldn't create anything new or show characters they haven't re-vamped yet. Man, that sucks.

Thank you very much for "The Poor Man's Guide to Self Publishing"... it has been an eye opener and a very huge help.

Through all this madness I wish you and yours a happy holidays.

[MattZitron]

I met Val at Wizard World Chicago, and despite his debt problems him and the MVC crew still pulled the stops out for the CBLDF.

I'm gonna go and make a donation!

And you should too!!

Matt

[MurrayC]

It's funny how things can change overnight.

Over at www.ComicsPriceGuide.com , I was adding all the latest issues to the database when I noticed that "Masters of the Universe" was now being published by Image Comics.

[Erik Larsen]

Originally posted by MIKEON-LINE
I guess Image wasn't willing to publish the books again...but why? I thought MVC parted ways on good terms - and isn't what Val and co. did what Larsen wanted Image to do as well?

No--we WERE willing to publish the books again--and at least one book came out through us in the last few months. We published a Tales of the Realm trade and an issue of Masters of the Universe...

Val left Image a while back (before my tour of duty) and returned recently but things haven't been going particularly well. I should let Val speak for himself on what's gone on most recently but the future doesn't look too bright for He-Man or Spookshow. I think both Mattel and Rob Zombie are no longer in the picture--but I'm not 100% WHAT the story is there.

[JONAS]

Originally posted by mavinga
I had the priviledge of visiting the studio on Jefferson Street.

My family is in Lynchburg and I returned after college for a short stay until the town bored me to tears. If that town is anything, it's affordable. So if there are contacts outside, it's a great place to be. In my case, it was not.

I was happy that Lynchburg actually had something significant, sad that I couldn't be a part of it. A few months later I left for San Diego.

Trading Lynchburg for San Diego sounds like the thing to do!!

But you are right MV Creations did bring somthing to this otherwise EXTREMELY dull and depressing place........but affordable like you said.

[tgail]

Damn it! This all just makes so me mad.

In all honesty, I had absolutely no interest in any of the books MV publishes. I looked at them, but never felt compelled to buy them. However, I did think that going to Crossgen was a good idea for them. It made a lot of sense. Heck, Crossgen was selling dreams back then. You'd have to be insane not to accept. At least it seemed that way...

Now to see this happen to them just because they trusted the wrong people. There is no better example of how evil and heartless corporate business can be. Alessi drove Crossgen into the ground and everyone associated with him went down with it, but he got to walk away clean with all his money, because he was prepared for something like this from the beginning. He probably even made money off it all.

I sympathize with MV a great deal for this disasterous situation. Even though I can't afford it, I'm tempted to go and buy as much as I can from their online store to help them out. Of course, I'd have to resell it back to my local comics shop soon after to recoup some of the expense. haha! But I'd give it a read out of respect. Who knows, I might enjoy it this time around. If I enjoy it enough, there's always room enough on my shelf for another trade. The world is so depressing these days, I could use some extra escapist entertainment. Especailly if it's for a good cause!

Todd G
The Human WMD
http://www.wmdcraftcircle.com

[tgail]

Originally posted by Erik Larsen
No--we WERE willing to publish the books again--and at least one book came out through us in the last few months. We published a Tales of the Realm trade and an issue of Masters of the Universe...

Val left Image a while back (before my tour of duty) and returned recently but things haven't been going particularly well. I should let Val speak for himself on what's gone on most recently but the future doesn't look too bright for He-Man or Spookshow. I think both Mattel and Rob Zombie are no longer in the picture--but I'm not 100% WHAT the story is there.

I guess once the debt gets this deep, it doesn't matter if someone is willing to help out in the publishing department or not. It still costs money. You gotta pay those other pesky people involved in the process. What a drag. I sure hope this poor guy can get out of the hole he's found himself in. I can't imagine what kind of burden that much debt would be on a person emotionally. Hell, there are times when my credit card debt depresses me...


Todd G
The Human WMD
http://www.wmdcraftcircle.com

[Solamon]

Originally posted by Aaron
It makes me so mad to think that Crossgen, a company I *adored* and supported aggressively would be primarily responsible for sinking a promising studio. Just another reason to despise Mark Alessi, I suppose.

Val, my best to you and your team. I'll be making a donation very soon.

Aaron

I feel the same way that you do Aaron. I loved just about everything CrossGen ever published. As a matter of fact, I wouldn't even have gotten back into comics after an 8 year hiatus if it wasn't for CrossGen. What a shame that they would be the ones to almost sink this fantastic studio.

I assume the Disney buyout didn't do much to help MV? Sometimes I hate how business works. The investors get payed first followed by the actual workers and creators.

[Ravengregory]

My kids really liked He-Man too.

[Val]

First off,
thanks everyone for the kind words. It means a great deal to all of us.
Everyone has been super supportive. And I just wish I hadn't allowed things to get dug in so deep before asking for help.

I'm not sure why I thought we could pull out of the debt. Because obviously, it didn't work.

In regards to Image, Erik pretty much summed that up.

Image has been very open to us since CrossGen.
Plus, I admit that I was a bit more headstrong and demanding for our titles during our first run at Image.
Now I'm more laid back (well, I try to be) and realize some things have to happen at a more relaxed pace.
Image has a lot on their plate, and some understanding is in order when each book at Image is just as important as the rest.

I should also give credit to Jim Valentino, as he was one of the ones who began talks with us along with Eric Stephenson about returning to Image.
We went to them, apologized for our poor judgement in going to Crossgen, and we took it from there.

Eric S and Jim were both super cool about the whole thing and were very accepting to whatever we had to say.
Then Erik continued with the discussions when Jim and him made the switch. And Erik has been very helpful.

Image published the TOTR trade, as Erik mentioned.
Issue 7 of MOTU comes out from Image today (Wed), and issue 8 in about a month. And that's for MOTU, at least for a long long time.
We were behind in getting those to Image due to all the legal approval stuff with Mattel and the whole financial thing.
Rob is still working on finishing up the current story arcs in SpookShow, but he's been really busy with Devils' Rejects.

Thanks again, everyone.
- Val

[Philldogg]

Originally posted by JONAS
Trading Lynchburg for San Diego sounds like the thing to do!!

But you are right MV Creations did bring somthing to this otherwise EXTREMELY dull and depressing place........but affordable like you said.

I don't think Lynchburg's that bad, I rather like living here. It's beautiful, the weather is mild, and it's affordable.

I had no idea MV creations was here though. I never really paid any attention to He-Man, just not interested, but I would like to stop by the studio and help out. What are the hours?

[Hannibal King]

It is sad that another group of people are still getting the big screw from Crossgen so long after the ship has sunk. I never cared for MV's He-Man adaptions but I do wish them success in fending off the creditors and hope they are able to pay off their debt.

[mpg]

How is Crossgen allowed to get away with this? How can they just not have to pay up?

nobody did more damage to the comic industry than Alessi. this whole situation stinks

Mattel has been very dissapointing in all this too. He-man had a chance to really gain some steam, and sit on shelves next to the x-men, the jla and spidey. some suits just dont have any foresight.

thanks for everything, val. i will be ordering some figures for my nephews and giving them some comics for xmas. from you site of course

[Val]

Originally posted by Philldogg
I had no idea MV creations was here though. I never really paid any attention to He-Man, just not interested, but I would like to stop by the studio and help out. What are the hours?

The hours used to be 9am to 6pm.
But since it's just me here now, the hours are all over the place.
I work some really bizarre hours just working on the deadlines and trying to do what a studio of people would have done.

so I usually work until I crash, and then just get up and repeat the cycle.

It's always better to call ahead, if you could, and leave a message and I'll get back to you.
We keep the door locked so people can't just wander in (which was beginning to be a problem).