That wraps issue 4! Updates will resume next Monday with something special.
Ring order updates... you'll have until Monday to get your orders in for the rings. I can't guarantee that any will be available after this run, so be sure to order one now if you really want one for your collection.
If you had've read the other comments NeoDarklight, you'd have noticed that DJ got screwed over by Platinum comics.
He's been blocked from his own comic for ages now and it's not gonna be updated here again, if it's even ever updated again.
Here's to HBN, it lived a long life and I hope it comes back again someday, even if it's only at DJ's site, because I'd still read it there anyway.
Le sigh. This is actually the comic that got me reading other super hero type comics, I actually quite enjoy the genera now. Well, here is hoping for the best.
I think this is a prime example of corporate stupidity defeating mankind. This is a great comic and the larger companies would have to pay a hundred people to put together something half this good. Maybe someday the contracts will all expire or the fans can help DJ purchase the full rights to HBN so we can see the series continue.
Go figure, a nearly invincible superhero brought down by accounting.
the great DR.ARGON regrets to inform you he has just made you his newest victim in his quest for drunk duck domination!to see the carnage jut look for your friendly villain next door.
This is an awesome comic it's a pity that it in haitus. In truth I am upset at myself for not finding this sooner and even thou months have passed since the last update I'll hope for the best since this is definitely one of the great comics. But regardless of what happens I wish you, DJ Coffman, the best of luck in whatever you choose to do. And thank you for the flobots.net.
I started reading HBN a few weeks before it went offline and I would do just about anything to seen it comes back. I hope the show won't be on HBO or something like that so I will be able to wath it
Oki doki... I found about HBN a few weeks ago as it was running on Top Web Comics, in a Flash video ad titled "Splastk Video Fantastic". (see www.comflix.net) I bet quite a few have seen it too when voting for some other web comic. It is named "DJ Coffman's Hero by Night" and it's got the "Platinum Studios" logo in the beginning of each clip.
It was not easy to find the rest of the comic, since there were no links to it, but when I finally did, I read the whole lot of it. Superb! (My feelings are much like when Jack gets cheered by people standing in their windows after he beats up the hoodlums. :) )
Does this mean that PS is putting in some effort to get new readers to HBN? Does it even mean that new chapters will be written soon, DJ? Did you even know about this promotion drive? Please let us in on what's happening here, I would of course love to read more than what is already out here! And by the way, why does your comment say "that wraps issue 4", when the last page is called "Issue 3 - Fight Night - Page 24"? :-? Simple typo or hidden pages somewhere?
Sorry, I'm one of those horrible people who sees the worst scenarios as best because something good can come from it.
I suppose my hopes come down to HBN coming back.
I like the tings I like, and I want them to be around.
And I was aware you didn't do everything on your own.
When people say They did something huge on their own, say a senator giving a speech, or in this case waht you said, I automatically know there are other people involved.
No one does anything on there own, even if it comes down to something as simple as a smile form a loved one, a good word from a fan, or a 5 dollar bill that someone handed to you.
I just stopped and read the new comic mid-comment here.
I like it/ I like revolution and change, seeing good people thinking other people are good. *yawn* anyways, keep up the good work.. I haven't been sleeping enough, hope you have been
Deraymou, two things. First I want to clarify something that might have been misconstrued in my previous comment. When I said 300 pages for FREE, i meant that you can read the whole thing here for free. And I didn't mean to say I "did it all on my own", because Jason Embury was a big part of the production team, a 2 man crew of juggernaut like production!- And to Platinum's credit they DID in fact pay us for just about everything you see here, so I don't have anything to complain about in that department.
I think Platinum going out of business would be terrible for any future for HBN, so please don't wish on that. It's been a bad year for everyone. Regarding the TV show, I actually think THAT could be the thing that re-kickstarts the HBN universe in amazing ways. -- IN fact, HBN wasn't in the top 10 on Drunk Duck for months, then the TV news broke and it jumped up in the top 10s of both DD and Wowio, and it likely brought in a bunch of new fans, even though the book and webcomic side is stalled.
To you and to other HBN fans, thanks for the support. Stay positive. You can find new comic work from me as I build the new FLOBOTS universe over on http://flobots.net - New Science Fiction comics are running M-W-F starting Monday December 15th.
It seems HBN is finally gonna drop outa the top 10....
I guess lasting 7 months up top without an update is quite a feat, though.
I'm also pained to think of the TV series... I don't think it's gonna be high enough budget to really look good. Maybe.. just MAYBE it'll be good enough and get enough money so PS will feel better, allow them to settle money disputes, and le the comic continue.
Or t will be terrible and HBN wil spiral into an Abyss of No Return...
Hoping for the former!
Yes indeedy. It's an absolutely fantastic comic. I wonder if a petition would work...
I dunno, maybe PS will go bankrupt and someone will buy them up and you can get your comic back in the process
I hear there a HBN tv show coming out. I realy sorry about all that has happen HBN was my one of my top three favorites comics and if there anything i can do to help just tell me and I will do it.
DJ, whatever you end up doing please let us know. I would love to know how this great story ends, or see your other projects succeed. And I do have a few of your comics in print, which I requested from my store of choice. HBN was one of my favorite of all time Webcomics, and I've been reading around 100 a night for years now it seems. It is one of my greatest hopes that some resolution comes to draw HBN out of the "past tense" and into life again. Too many great works have gone silent or unfinished on this great interweb.
Wow, Very nice comic dude. I have just read the entire thing in less than 24 hours, and its pretty much the entire reason i joined the site. I love it. Please keep it up. :). Also, If this is fifty years later, wouldn't the Professor and GG be old, old men?
I just have to wonder WTF is platinum thinking? Hey DJ sorry you couldn't make it out to XcapeCON this year maybe next year... We'd also love to have you do soemthing with Dark Elf Designs if you ever get the chance.
Deraymou, no hard feelings at all. If anything you prove that even NEW readers finding HBN are pretty passionate about having it back. It's a shame that falls on deaf ears over at corporate. Even though there's no new HBN out, thanks for reading it. It's good to know new and old fans still want more.
*nod* I believe your word, DJ. Admittedly, it was hard to dig up alot of information on the topic, I simply stated what I saw all over our 'ever-reliable' source of information: The internet. I had only just read HBN about 2 weeks before my post here. I wholeheartedly intended to buy the comics until I saw it end so abruptly. If buying them holds any hopes of bringing it back, I'll purchase them, by all means(I suppose I'm a hypocrite in that sense), I try to support the comics I like, pre-ordered Night School amongst other comics that I have... I'm lucky that I'm still young enough o blow most of my money on things with little regard to saving ^^;;
"Deraymou" The funny part is that your comment and DJ's would normally be deleted. A company that actually monitored this page that reflects property that IT owns would do that. The reality is that I very much doubt that this page is ever looked at by anyone who actually works for Platinum. Meanwhile, DJ still can say anything here. Considering Platinum's past comments about him, you would think they would stop that. It's their total lack of interest in on-line comics that is revealed in this. Get contract, forget about it until some one in Hollywood calls. I still think that the TV press release is hype to get more investors. In this economic environment, they probably won't get it.
Deraymou- You're wrong. At least to the point that I don't care about HBN or it's fans. I did the best I could given the circumstances to keep HBN going, or to set things up so I could continue it on my own. And to turn the tables on you, did you ever actually BUY any HBN books? Just curious. If you did, god bless you, but law of averages says you probably didn't. I have a long experience in Webcomics and posts like this one are usually made by passionate fans who miss their "free" entertainment, and I'm sorry about that!
I poured a lot of soul into this work, even going above and beyond the call of duty of putting over 300 pages of extra content online for FREE all on my own-- I did that for the fans and for the sake of the HBN universe. Even Platinum would tell you that. Believe me, it wasn't for my wallet.
(Fifty bucks says this gets muted or deleted or I get otherwise punsihed)
Ya know... looking at both sides of the issues, it seems neither DJ or PS gives a shit about the fans, and that it's only been about the money... Otherwise I think they'd have tried to settle things better...
Not that it matters in our fine Capitalist Nation. And how the corporate bigwigs trying to rake in the money realize that the populace who's backs they ride upon are too spineless to take the steps necessary to fix things. The rich get richer, the poor get poorer and our foundation continues fluxing in and out of collapse. And don't forget those legal folks who make a killing while stretching such contract deliberations-like the one hopefully going on for HBN- who milk every minute and second to get more money
*stretch* At least it's always a good conversation piece at work
A "stupid corporate contract" that DJ signed, understood and agreed to? You're implying that DJ was too stupid to know what he was getting into or agreeing to do.
Don't worry Walrus. From what I've learned of Platinum Studios, their main interest is TV and film adaptations. I believe believe one of the main guys in Platinum had a large part in getting the Men in Black comic adapted for the big screen so the desire to repeat this success is understandable.
Incidentally, this is why Coffman felt so optimistic at first about getting the webcomic rights to the comic back, because to Platinum, that wasn't the most valuable part of the IP.
I swear if they replace DJ Coffman with some new artist and writer, there's no chance in hell I'll read this comic. DJ Coffman is the only one who could make this comic good. Anyone else would just ruin it.
Well reading about all of this is ugly and I'm saddened to hear how things have developed. I don't have high hopes that things will resolve anytime soon.
This actually reminds me of the case of Nickelodeon vs Jhonen Vasquez's Invader Zim. The show received a lot of criticism and wasn't considered popular enough and the result of that was an abrupt cancellation of the show were the show creators were given a very rude note to vacate the premises. Today of course all of this is considered a huge mistake. The huge crowd of loyal fans surfaced and the network realized what kind of a cash cow they had just slaughtered. If memory serves me right, then Jhonen last statement about whether or not he'd consider working for Nickelodeon again was: "I rather shoot my own head of with a sawed of shotgun. "
As of now I consider HBN to be in intensive care.
It is too early to say RIP.
It is not too late to save it.
I wish you best of luck with everything Coffman. I sincerely hope things will work out. I hate to see another Invader Zim out there.
I completely trust my Dad's business knowledge and insight and so I related this situation to him as best as I could to get his point of view.
His response was that from his perspective, it would be extremely difficult for DJ to re-establish good relationships with the company, however it is worth a try.
From my Dad's point of view, he could fully understand Platinum being pissed off with someone they supported causing serious damage to their reputation, intentionally or unintentionally. I am sure DJ did it unintentionally, but there would be a huge job in persuading the company that that is the case. I assume there are many people who worked hard there who suddenly found that they were being undermined by someone the company supported, an experience particularly strong for those who supported him.
My Dad feels that the best chance DJ has is to go the the CEO or equivalent manager of Platnium, truly apologise for all harm caused, and state that he will be fully supportive of the company in the future.
According to Dad, this will give him a 10% chance of restoring relations with them.
If they cannot see that this is going to just become a bigger thorn in their side the longer they let it go then that is on them. i guess all you can do is try to call them one more time DJ and leave the ball in their court.
ok DJ, Platinum,
BOTH y'all need to get into talks soon about this and stop fighting over it on the forums or i am gonna start thinking that this is a PR stunt to draw attention to y'all. Like both of ya have already said, violations have been made on both sides it seems now. Why not get into some PRIVATE talks and try to get this settled so that neither of your names gets drug through the mud any further, for everyone's sake.
Well i have read the blog and have heard both sides give their points. It is an unfortunate situation that will leave the Fans of HBN in limbo waiting to see what the outcome of any further negotiations will be. I suggest that everyone interested in finding more information on this debacle to read the blog.
Heads up to Platinum. Releasing how much money I may have made, including in the original contract timeline there, is a breach of the first contract's confidentiality statement.
Check out this line in particular:
"When all is said and done, we paid over $200,000 in direct costs and hundreds of thousands of dollars in internal costs to support this property and promote it and DJ. In fact, of those expenditures, we paid DJ in excess of $90,000 over the past 20 months."
I do wonder about the terms of ownership. There is a difference between ownership of the trademarks for example, and the work that is the webcomic. I hope he has some degree of ownership and control of the trademarks so future content can't be created without his involvement. (Or that there is some sort of reversion of rights if the property goes unused). Mostly I hope the two parties reconcile. Until this, it seemed like both parties were trying to do what they could. However, the blocking of DJ and so forth just will leave a bitter taste in the mouths of many.
DJ had some separate blog area no? Is there any additional word on this?
What I would like to see now is if Platinum Studios would come and give us an official statement of what is going on. They probably won't, but I would like to hear their side of the story as well.
How is it breaking the contract though if Platinum Studios' financial records are on the fcc.gov site and everyone and their mother can see that their finances were / are in shambles? Just doesn't seem right that they black ball DJ whenever there were other creators blatantly threatening them. Meanwhile, DJ took the classy way out. Anyone who knew of DJ Coffman before HBN knows how he can lambaste other companies / people. Platinum should be relieved that he didn't go all out old school DJ style!
Basically DJ Coffman did break part of the contract that he signed with Platinum. Just about every comic company has a part of the contract that says you're not suppose to discuss payment without getting the ok from your boss. Of course Platinum didn't want it out in the open that they couldn't pay their creators(of course everyone knew it that was in the creators circle it just wasn't talked about). Then when DJ Coffman mentioned it on his blog and then CBR did an article about the whole thing Platinum just got a little up set. I'm honestly sad to see this series end I loved the hell out of this series and bought every issue, even the trade. Basically Platinum did what they thought they needed to. Is it the right thing I'm not sure. Needless to say if they redo the series and have another team on it I have a feeling it won't do so well do to this fiasco. Their only hope of getting anything out of this franchise now is to either go the film route of wait several years for a new audience and relaunch it then. Best of luck to DJ Coffman, I have a lot of respect for this guy and loved HIS HBN.
I have no doubt that Platinum Studios were legally entitled to do what they did, and that HBN's creator probably signed or agreed to something that gave them the rights to do such a thing.
At the same time, Platinum Studios need to learn something about PR and relations with the fans. If this sort of things gets out, especially that they did this without communicating with the guy who had spent so much work brining HBN to what it is today, they will have a much harder time in the future gaining creators.
Platinum seems to rely on various new talent on the internet to keep going, a good strategy as there is a lot of talent out there, however this sort of treatment can easily be heard about by many people. The result is that many talented and creative people who could potentially create great works for Platinum and generate money for them would be scared away by fears that their creative works would be trampled upon. My impression is that some people already feel this way, but actions like Platinum have just done surely don't help matters.
I have a big WTF? over my head right now... and what you guys are posting doesn't sound so good either... and the author/creator Muted??? with a comment of "Locked out"? and yeah where did those last several pages go to...?
WTH is going on?
-Posted on Jul 07, 2008
User: Anonymous
So how do you know for sure that his contract was over and that he was "relieved" from his authorship? And why was his post "MUTED"? Just sounds and comes off as peculiar to me and to alot of other HBN followers as well I'm sure...
No, he wasn't hacked. What he means is that now that his contract with Platinum Studios is over, they've taken the liberty to relieve him of his authorship of Hero By Night.
DJ, I recently ordered volume 1 through Heavy Ink and it's GORGEOUS. I'd love to buy the journals in book form too. Are they available? Will Heavy Ink be selling volume 2 soon?
So how do you know for sure that his contract was over and that he was "relieved" from his authorship? And why was his post "MUTED"? Just sounds and comes off as peculiar to me and to alot of other HBN followers as well I'm sure...
