ASP TO RESTRUCTURE, ADDRESS SCHEDULE DELAYS

[MattBrady]

Press Release

It’s been a busy couple of years here at Archaia Studios Press as the company has produced a growing catalog of award-winning and critically acclaimed comic books and graphic novels. But ASP has also run into a few growing pains along the way---as does any new publishing company---and today must announce that it must take a moment to restructure following the decision of Aki Liao, ASP’s co-publisher, to step back from an ongoing role at the company for personal reasons.

“Mark and I started ASP Comics as a hobby business in classic ‘two-guys-in-a-garage’ fashion, and that hobby business has grown well beyond its initial size and scope. In fact, well beyond my expectations,” said Aki Liao. “Along the way, we’ve built up a line of comic books and graphic novels of the highest quality. It’s been an amazing ride, and I enjoyed meeting a lot of wonderful people along the way, especially the talented group of creators that I’ve had the good fortune to work with. It is with a sad heart that I depart as I’m no longer able to give the company the kind of commitment it requires and wish everyone at ASP the best for the future.”

Ken Light, an investment banker at the DAK Group specializing in small to mid-size company divestitures, sales, and acquisitions, will be assisting ASP in the search for an outside investor or strategic partner to acquire Aki’s stake in the company.

As part of the reorganization, the company will also take the opportunity to address internally the publishing delays that have plagued it of late to ensure a smooth schedule that satisfies not only its own standards but also that of its creators and the expectations of fans and retailers.

“Our growth in the last year has clearly strained our workflow capacity,” said ASP co-publisher Mark Smylie. “Lateness has historically been a problem with many creator-driven and creator-owned titles, but our own workflow issues have exacerbated the situation. We are as frustrated with our struggle to get books out on time as, I’m sure, are our readers, and we want to make sure we come out of the reorganization with a better workflow and solicitation process model. So while there will be some further delays in the release of recently solicited titles as we restructure, we also want to make sure we emerge in the next few months from our reorganization with a release schedule that we can hit on a regular basis, as guaranteed as possible. We can only ask that our many supporters, retailers and fans alike, be patient with us during this time.”

All ASP titles are available worldwide at finer comic book shops, bookstores, amazon.com, the ASP Store at Indie Press Revolution (www.indiepressrevolution.com) and electronically at DriveThruComics.com. ARTESIA is now available at WOWIO.com, with other ASP titles to follow.

[PaulCrocker]

I have been in awe of ASP's properties. At the same time, I have been going crazy with the delays. I hope things work out for them. There are too many top books there for them not to succeed.

[SeanWang]

Definitely disappointing considering the first issue of my sci-fi book RUNNERS: THE BIG SNOW JOB was set to debut next week. D'oh! And there were a lot of other titles I was looking forward to. But I'm a patient guy. Hopefully anyone waiting for the new RUNNERS series (and their other favorite ASP titles) won't mind waiting a little bit as well.

In the meantime, work proceeds on the series. I'm more or less done with issue #2, and I've put some preview pages on my website: http://www.seanwang.com/run02_snowjob/

I'm also about a third of the way through the pencils on issue #3. So RUNNERS will definitely be ready to go when ASP's ready for it.

[ShinAkuma666]

Exactly, the company is not closing, just restructurating, a little wait now should make things go smoother in the future.

[Ravengregory]

my son is still waiting on the next issue of Mouse Guard.

[Nat Gertler]

But Raven, your son will always be waiting on the next issue of Mouse Guard -- because I'm betting that as each one comes out, he devours it almost instantly, and then is waiting for the next! Am I right?

[NICKD]

ASP is a great young company.They have alot of great properties that I'm looking forward to. hopefully they will be out by years end. I commend them on a great efforts.

[A Dave Lewis]

Several of the creators for ASP's titles will be releasing a separate statement either later today or tomorrow, saying, in essence, that we are not alarmed by this news, we were informed in advance of this possibility, and we remain quite confident and on-track with our respective titles at ASP. In the words of Douglas Adams, "Don't Panic."

Official statement to come, gang.

[ArchonComics]

Does this mean that I won't receive my hardback trade of Primordia? Wah!!!

[mpMann]

In February of last year I completed work on Inanna's Tears, in June, it was Some New Kind of Slaughter, and this past February I finished The Grave Doug Freshley. That's approximately 400pp of comics I had hoped to see out this year. They may be delayed, but I expect them to show up proudly emblazoned with the ASP logo.

[Petersen]

I have posted my thoughts on my blog:
http://davidpetersen.blogspot.com/20...ructuring.html

though I'll also share them here:
By now fans of Mouse Guard have had a chance to see the news about ASP’s restructuring. Obviously, I have known about it for a while now, but waited for the news to go public before talking about it.

As one of the earlier additions to the ASP family, I’ve had many interactions with Aki Liao over the years and while I will miss him, I can see that this will be a positive change for the company. I still strongly believe in the vision, quality, and talent Mark Smylie has brought to ASP.

"What does this mean about future Mouse Guard issues and hardcovers?" you may be asking. I have no plans to move Mouse Guard to another publisher. Once the restructuring is complete Mouse Guard will be back on track. I apologize for the delays thus far and hope that the fans can bear with us. The coming weeks should give us a better idea of the timeline for upcoming releases.
No matter what, I am fully committed to creating more Mouse Guard and getting it into the fans hands as soon as possible.

-David Petersen

[NTapalansky]

I have to agree with the Dave's and everyone else that's weighed in on the creator front: ASP has consistently had some of the most unique, daring, enjoyable, and frankly some of the best books on the racks in the past few years.

AWAKENING will be sitting tight as the restructuring begins and though we're bummed about the delay in issues 4 and 5 as well as the hardcover, we're looking forward to getting those to you as soon as possible.

Plus now we've got some time to work on a few other fun projects...

- Nick

[Sir Jon]

You'll find nothing more than loyal fans and even more loyal creators following Mark Smylie. Heartening.

[A Dave Lewis]

An official-ish creator support statement has been both sent out to various media outlets and posted at my blog: http://captionbox.net/loosepages/?p=408

A number of additional creators have lended their names to this statement since that draft went live, including Robert Randle (Revere), Jason Becker and John Rea (Killing Pickman), Chandra Free (The God Machine), Rob Vollmar (Inanna’s Tears), Nick Taplansky (Awakening), Roel Wielinga (Primordia), and the team behind The Engineer.

S'all good.

[C. Sellner]

Of the many publishers we've been in talks with, have contact with and folks part of, ASP has been one of the best, smartest and professional operations in the indy scene. ASP announcing this restructuring is not a red flag of their imminent departure, instead its the kind of professionalism, honesty and up front style that makes them so classy.

I've talked more with Mark than Aki, but both are great guys and incredibly on the ball. I wish Aki all the best in his new directions and know that things will settle with an even better, stronger, and more impressive operation.

[thingone]

I really hope Archaia gets back on its feet. Its comics were incredible, even if sales didn't come close to matching quality and entertainment quotient. My fingers are crossed.

[Shtickfigure]

Originally Posted by thingone

I really hope Archaia gets back on its feet. Its comics were incredible.

ARE incredible. Don't go using that past tense.