SPEAKEASY CLOSES ITS DOORS

**MattBrady** · 02-27-2006, 08:33 PM

Vito Delsante, the "unofficial" press liason for Speakeasy Comics (and a creator with two projects that were due to come out through the publisher) has sent out the following statement:

"As unofficial public relations for Speakeasy Comics, I feel it is my duty to inform everyone that as of 3:30 PM today, Speakeasy Comics has shut its doors and will not be publishing comics for, at the very least, the rest of the year. Most, if not all, creators have been contacted and informed. If I'm not mistaken, all books scheduled to ship in March will ship. April and May books are up in the air, while June books are cancelled. "

The news had been percolating throughout the industry for the better part of the afternoon, with creator Joshua Hale Fialkov (Elk's Run) posting on his blog around 3:00 pm:

So, just got off the phone with Adam Fortier, President etc. of Speakeasy Comics. Speakeasy is no more. Due to some payment problems and low sales, it seems, they've had to lock up shop.

Elk's Run... well... We're working on it. The book is 90% done, and it's murder keeping it away from you guys, cause frankly, I've never been prouder than I am of the back half of the series. Everything clicks, and it's just amazing work from Keating and Noel... The type of stuff you, as a writer, only dream of having turned in.

The book will come out. You will get to read the rest of the series.

When and How are still our main questions.

In a quick interview with Newsarama, Delsante said that he's unsure of exactly what the final straw for the company was, saying, "I think it just got to be too overwhelming to come out under the wave of all that came to a head recently. Late books, funding...personality clashes...I'm not sure."

Delsante added that, in regards to a "temporary" status of being shutdown, he based his feelings on a conversation with Speakeasy chief Adam Fortier, who told him that he was planning on taking some time off before making his next move.

As for Speakeasy's partnership with Ardustry, if forced to guess, Delsante would consider it dead. "I will say that in my eyes, it helped bring things to a hault," Delsante said. "There was talk of having hands tied, editorially, and I'm not 100% sure and I'm guessing, it seems like before the partnership, things were shaky, but we were still doing comics. I don't know what happened between then and now."

The Ardustry deal, as observers wil recall, apparantly was the beginning of a wave of cost-cutting changes for the publisher, with minimum sales limits being set into place, and titles both being dropped by the publisher, and also leaving of their own accord, such as the relatively high-profile Rosario Dawson-helmed Occult Crimes Taskforce, which has moved to 12 Gauge, and Frank Espinosa's Rocketo, which has moved to Image. Since late last year, rumors have swirled about the company, many invovling lack of payment to creators, and problems/difficulties with shipping.

In speaking with Publisher's Weekly about launching and living through 2005, Fortier said, ""I believe that with the advent of the DC/Marvel mega-crossovers, [those series] pushed everybody else out. It was a situation that you've got to react to."

And as for meeting sales goals, Fortier told the trade, "It's very hard to sell that number of copies [at the break-even point]. People will not really support something new. Unfortunately a lot of people lost a lot of face in the industry, and we're at the place right now where people want to believe the worst."

Update 02.27 9:25pm EST

In a late-day conversation with Speakeasy founder Adam Fortier, the publishing head boiled it down to simplest terms:

“We didn’t get money,” Fortier said when asked what was the big reason behind the closure was. “Money that was supposed to come through never materialized for a number of months.

“Right now, I’m working on getting money so I can pay back the printers and the creators. All in all though, the creators aren’t really owed a great deal of money – not even a Dreamwave amount, and much less than a CrossGen amount.

“I’ve called all my creators, I’ve called all my artists, and basically everybody knows that we’re going to take as good of care of them as we can. We’re not leaving anybody out in the lurch, we’re not declaring bankruptcy, we’re not running away from debt, so that’s something, at least.”

Asked if he would think about bringing the company back at some future date, Fortier said that for Speakeasy, this was it. “I don’t see Speakeasy coming back,” Fortier said. “I just don’t have any passion for this. The last number of months was full of constant problems, and the last week was just full of working…not even to keep people happy, but just to keep people satisfied. It’s just too tough. It’s not necessarily a great place to be anymore.”

“There’re so many different things, and it’s kind of tough to point to one thing and say, ‘My God, this is the one things that’s destroying all of us!’ It’s very much a self-fulfilling prophecy. In order to be very successful in the comic book industry, I believe that people believe – and so it becomes true – you need to have your series done before you solicit it. You need to be able to show people, you need to be able to give people confidence in the product, and then you need to be able to pay your bills anyway if they don’t have confidence and they don’t really want to support it. Of course what happens there, is that there’s no way to run a company like that. You just can’t do it. Nobody has money like that. Even with millions, like CrossGen, it couldn’t be done. So, if the multi-millionaires don’t have money to be able to run a company like that, what hope does anybody else have?”

As far as how many cerators are owed money, Fortier said the total stands at about six, not counting the studio, Grafiksismik, which Fortier said is a seperate case, but once that will be paid in full.

Also, according to Fortier, there are no Speakeasy books in any distribution pipeline. "We are done," he said, adding that for him, personally, he's looking at taking some time off.

"I may, once this all is settled out," Forteir said, "Just try to be a fan again. I haven't been just a fan of comics in quite a while."

gcoleman99 · 02-27-2006, 08:37 PM

Wow. Just...... wow.

tralfaz · 02-27-2006, 08:39 PM

im so glad I stop collecting their books. didnt want another crossgen

HBKShowstoppa · 02-27-2006, 08:39 PM

Hmmmmm....havent read much by them, but from what I did read, it's a shame they're done for now.

Hobowatcher · 02-27-2006, 08:40 PM

I wan't more Grimoire, and Black Coat looked AMAZING.

BlackDog · 02-27-2006, 08:40 PM

What comics do they publish?

This is sad news nonetheless.

Inferiority · 02-27-2006, 08:43 PM

I know they did the first six issues of Rocketo, although I don't think they've released 5 or 6.

Thomas Mauer · 02-27-2006, 08:45 PM

Oh man, that's horrible!

martinp · 02-27-2006, 08:47 PM

What!? I am just starting to get into THE HUNGER and METAL LOCUS was also looking promising. Damn Damn Darn. Maybe another company will pick some of the titles up. What a mess for all those creators.

www.vistacomics.com

Steve Bryant · 02-27-2006, 08:52 PM

Yeah, I'm pretty bummed out about it, too. I've been receiving reports all last week how ATHENA VOLTAIRE #1 had sold out at Diamond.

I guess we're officially looking for a new publisher.

--Steve

khuxford · 02-27-2006, 08:53 PM

You had to see this coming. Their new, daring "profit AND loss sharing" approach...their attempt to own more of their products so they could steal more of those profits...all the creators jumping ship...

Can't wait to see Rich Johnston's column. The fact that it is being posted later than usual today...I'm thinking Rich will be addressing it.

Duke Jupiter · 02-27-2006, 08:56 PM

I'd like to know what the status is on #5 & 6 of ROCKETO seeing the light of day. I guess it's more likely that we'll see these issues first collected in the upcoming TP being published by Image.

Unless Image picks up the publishing on the book with these issues instead of starting with #7. Don't matter to me, long as I get to read 'em.

Sad news about another comics company biting the dust. The fans have spoken. I sure hope it doesn't get down to 2 or 3 companies publishing all the comics out there - that would suck.

- DJ

atomika · 02-27-2006, 08:57 PM

I left Speakeasy because I wanted to do more of the heavy lifting
myself.

It's neccesary for creators to do everything they can to get their baby out
there.

Comics are here to stay Speakeasy just ran into some hard times.

I wish Adam and Chris nothing but the best, they really
are great guys.

Warmest regards

Sal Abbinanti

PS- Thank you to everyone that stopped
by our Atomika booth at the NY show.

Atomika-Artist/publisher
www.mercurycomics.com

RichJohnston · 02-27-2006, 09:01 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by khuxford
You had to see this coming. Their new, daring "profit AND loss sharing" approach...their attempt to own more of their products so they could steal more of those profits...all the creators jumping ship...

Can't wait to see Rich Johnston's column. The fact that it is being posted later than usual today...I'm thinking Rich will be addressing it.

Nope, it's going up later today because of CBR. I wrote it usual time.

Arses.

samnoir · 02-27-2006, 09:07 PM

That is really as shame.

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jltorres · 02-27-2006, 09:09 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by martinp
What!? I am just starting to get into THE HUNGER and METAL LOCUS was also looking promising. Damn Damn Darn. Maybe another company will pick some of the titles up. What a mess for all those creators.

www.vistacomics.com

http://www.newsarama.com/forums/show...threadid=55872

The Hunger will continue to come out as Markosia book. The article has all of the information as well as my thoughts on the present situation.

TerryX · 02-27-2006, 09:10 PM

Next on the list... Alias

Cyphon · 02-27-2006, 09:14 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Duke Jupiter
I'd like to know what the status is on #5 & 6 of ROCKETO seeing the light of day. I guess it's more likely that we'll see these issues first collected in the upcoming TP being published by Image.

Unless Image picks up the publishing on the book with these issues instead of starting with #7. Don't matter to me, long as I get to read 'em.

Sad news about another comics company biting the dust. The fans have spoken. I sure hope it doesn't get down to 2 or 3 companies publishing all the comics out there - that would suck.

- DJ

5 and 6 may never see the light of day as single issues. The trade collecting 0-6 is coming out soon from Image, and then they're off on #7, so I can't imagine they'd go back and publish 5 and 6 and singles. WHich is too bad for those of us who already have 0-4 and want to finish the arc. But, it's a great book, so if I have to pick up the trade, I will.

xomanowarfan · 02-27-2006, 09:14 PM

Very very sad news....

Quote:

The Ardustry deal, as observers wil recall, apparantly was the beginning of a wave of cost-cutting changes for the publisher, with minimum sales limits being set into place, and titles both being dropped by the publisher, and also leaving of their own accord.

What was the deal with Ardustry? Who/what are Ardustry? Was there a newsarama article about this deal that I missed????

xomanowarfan · 02-27-2006, 09:15 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by RichJohnston
Nope, it's going up later today because of CBR. I wrote it usual time.

Arses.

Where can I find this article?

RichJohnston · 02-27-2006, 09:16 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by xomanowarfan
Where can I find this article?

When CBR put it up.

Midas · 02-27-2006, 09:17 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Steve Bryant
Yeah, I'm pretty bummed out about it, too. I've been receiving reports all last week how ATHENA VOLTAIRE #1 had sold out at Diamond.

I guess we're officially looking for a new publisher.

--Steve

Steve, I hope you find one. You've got one guy who'll follow you wherever you go. I loved the first issue. Great story/great art.

This is such a shame. Speakeasy/Fortier had a great eye for talent. That company put out a lot of great stuff--and was slated to put out a lot more. I should've seen the writing on the wall when they didn't due their full-page ads in the latest issue of Previews....

xomanowarfan · 02-27-2006, 09:20 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by RichJohnston
When CBR put it up.

Thanks. But, whats CBR? sorry if its a stupid question.

blankpoint · 02-27-2006, 09:21 PM

As a retailer, I think their entire launch was problematic.
I got burned on their initial run, and dropped it all a few months in, except for special orders. Almost the same for Alias and AP.

CyclopsScott · 02-27-2006, 09:22 PM

Man, easily my favourite new publisher of the last while, its horrendous seeing this happen. Just barely 1 year in existence.

After the pain of Kiss Kiss Bang Bang going down with CrossGen, I'm pained to see Grimoire go down with Speakeasy. Speakeasy honestly seemed like such a sure thing, especially compared to Alias, and started so strong... a title just coming out from them was enough for me to check it out, but to go under, that's just heartwrenching.

Helios also... I wonder what will happen there...

Best of luck to everyone involved... I was looking forward to Government Bodies and UTF, plus Athena Voltaire was awesome. Grimoire though was owned internally I believe, which saddens me to most to be without. Flipping over to their site, I'm seeing Hawker Hurricane which sounded like a total blast.

I was wondering when the 'bad news' that always seems to happen on my birthday would hit. There we go.

Scott Summerton