Hey, there's something to be said for unbending optimism…!

I'm not suprised at all that nothing has happened with the Legion hc ot that Sebastian is in hiding after taking everyone's money. He handled Transformers: Genesis really well too! (*_*)

Sinister
I appreciate this round up of statements issued by Seb. I'll admit, he's not making things look good for himself…

*sigh*

I'd still like to try and believe that he's just a collossal idiot and not a scam artist but he really isn't helping his case.

I'm with ya, man. In a way, it doesn't make sense why he'd want to scam us. I mean, the Legion issues were totally legit. Aside from the slight delay in release with a few of them, the whole operation was very professional. But now we've got this hardcover which has been on delay for 3 f*cking years! Either he's a total idiot when it comes to business matters, which is inconsistent with the handling of the original 4 issues, or he's a two-faced scam artist with a lot of nerve - also inconsistent. I find both of them hard to believe, yet one of them must be true!

At this point I just want to know “why”. Why did this happen? How did this situation get so out-of-hand? Why the hell did Seb scam us (if he did)? What was he thinking, in any case? Will we ever, EVER get the product we payed for, in this lifetime? I'm beginning to think not. It's all so vexing….

Sosfantomes, I didn't even know that Dan (or Elwood) had a website. It's worth a shot, but will probably have no results.

Sinister, I have to admire your unwavering optimism and faith in Seb. That's a lot more than the rest of us have.

Ghoulishfright
I mean, the Legion issues were totally legit. Aside from the slight delay in release with a few of them, the whole operation was very professional.

Well, they were legit in the sense that he actually published them, that much is true (which I understand was your point). However, the way they were delayed to the point where the last issue came out almost a year after it should have been, shows that he's been unprofessional from the start… but not to the point he has been with the hardcover. (I'm not trying to fight with you as I fully understand your point, so please don't take my comments the wrong way.)

What is most perplexing about this whole ordeal is that the hardcover is primarily a reprint of the other four issues, and not totally new content. The plates (or whatever the Masters are called in comic book production) already exist for the bulk of the book's content. So it's not like a whole new book has to be created from scratch.

Probably the thing that should piss everyone off even more, especially when you put the whole situation into perspective, is the lost opportunity. Because Seb couldn't get a damn reprint of previously released material published, we never got an ongoing series of NEW stories, which would have been about three to four dozen issues by now (as someone calculated on one of the forums). At this point, even if he put out the hardcover tomorrow, almost nobody here would buy any future comics from him. The amount of ill will he generated against himself is just too great.

John from GCC told me that he “believe(s) Sebastien's license for GB expires this year” (which couldn't come soon enough in my opinion). If that's the case, then this is the do-or-die year for the hardcover. If Seb's license expires before the book hits stores, he will be completely unable to publish it for legal reasons… unless Sony is stupid enough to renew his license.

While we could hope that someone else will pick up the rights and do something productive with it, the license is somewhat tainted now in regards to comic books, so any future publisher who picks up the license will have to do a LOT of good will to make it viable again.

Sinister, I have to admire your unwavering optimism and faith in Seb. That's a lot more than the rest of us have.

Meh… someone has to. Doesn't mean I'm “on his side” I just… I'm anxious to avoid a situation involving pitchforks. I guess I'm just trying to go with the idea that Dr Frankenstein obtained those body parts perfectly legally…

It is a shame about the missed oppertunity of an ongoing series. I imagine this has also had an effect on the lack of a series 2 of Ghostbusters action figures, and I dearly would have loved to get hold of some of those.

From what I've heard, I believe you're right about Seb losing the licence. I imagine the best option for the man currently, presuming he is financially unable to publish any significant number of books, is to sell the rights to another company… who's going to be interested though?

With any look, the GB Video Game will move some companies to show an interest in Ghostbusters and seb's product and we'll see some turn around based on that… *fingers crossed*

Because Seb couldn't get a damn reprint of previously released material published, we never got an ongoing series of NEW stories, which would have been about three to four dozen issues by now (as someone calculated on one of the forums).

That would be me. Updated assessment:

If Legion #1 had come out when first solicited for, February 2004, and each issue came out monthly like they were supposed to, the mini-series would have wrapped up in May 2004 with issue #4. With a planned one month breather between Legion #4 and ongoing #1, Ghostbusters #1 would have come out in July 2004.

Assuming sales strong enough to keep going, Ghostbusters #43 would have come out this month, January 2008.

So remember the possible dozens of comics and probably trade paperback compilations of said comic (which is a pretty standard practice nowadays) we've been cheated out of having because we and Sony trusted this crook.

Holy crap, we could've had 43 issues?! It has been a long time, hasn't it! What a pity…

spookcentral
Well, they were legit in the sense that he actually published them, that much is true (which I understand was your point). However, the way they were delayed to the point where the last issue came out almost a year after it should have been, shows that he's been unprofessional from the start… but not to the point he has been with the hardcover. (I'm not trying to fight with you as I fully understand your point, so please don't take my comments the wrong way.)

Not at all, I definitely agree. I guess when I said “legit” I was referring more to the quality of the products. The delays were un-professional, yes, although at the time I didn't mind - I was willing to give Seb the benefit of the doubt. Of course now this unprofessionalism has reached levels beyond absurdity. I think the real disappointment however is the fact that the Legion mini-series was so great, and that 88mph had so much potential to make an ongoing-series that could've been so awesome. It's still a bit hard to believe that a guy (Seb) who was seemingly so concerned with making a quality product (which Legion certainly was - best thing since XGB i.m.o.) could suddenly become a total scammer. There must be more to this story, and I hope we find out in time. Like you say though, the Hardcover is basically just a compilation of pre-existing stuff, plus the Aykroyd foreward. This should not have been delayed for a single day, let alone 3 bloody years! Even though I think 88mph studios was capable of some real quality stuff, I'm glad that Sebastien is losing the license. That we've been forced to endure such grief and waiting is beyond stupid. If we're lucky, and the new game re-energizes the franchise then maybe some new company will pick up the rights, and start an on-going series. And if we're really lucky it will be as good, or better than the mini-series. Just as long as Sebastien no longer runs the show, I'll be happy.

…Oh. And if we ever get the damn Hardcover, I'll be happy as well.

Sinister
It is a shame about the missed opportunity of an ongoing series. I imagine this has also had an effect on the lack of a series 2 of Ghostbusters action figures, and I dearly would have loved to get hold of some of those.

From what I've heard, I believe you're right about Seb losing the license. I imagine the best option for the man currently, presuming he is financially unable to publish any significant number of books, is to sell the rights to another company… who's going to be interested though?

With any look, the GB Video Game will move some companies to show an interest in Ghostbusters and seb's product and we'll see some turn around based on that… *fingers crossed*

I don't think the comics had anything to do with the lack of a series 2 of Ghostbusters action figures. I think it was a likeness rights issue, with Neca not being able to secure the rights for all four guys. I seem to recall that being the case. Bill probably was the hold-out, but who knows - and at this point, who cares. I'd prefer to focus my thoughts on things that are actually going to see the light of day, such as the new game.

It's interesting that you mention Seb selling the rights to another company because when I exchanged a few brief forum messages with him exactly two years ago, two days ago (Feb 1, 2006), I mentioned to him selling the rights to Titan Books in the UK since they actually already had a Legion softcover published AT THE TIME! He flat-out refused to consider the option of selling the rights. He wouldn't swallow his pride to do the right thing then, and I know he won't do it now either. Stubborn jackass.

As I said, all we can hope in terms of comics is for the rights to expire and for someone with a WORKING business model to pick it up. It's times like this that I wish Tony Caputo didn't retire NOW Comics. I don't know if they were ever close to being as big as Marvel or DC, but even if they were low on the industry totem pole, they sure as hell produced product like one of the big boys. Good quality, timely releases, and a generally consistent release schedule (I think there were issues near the end… but that was near the END, not the beginning). Best you could say for 88MPH is that the product they DID release was good quality. One out of three ain't… shit, one out of three IS bad!

Doc Fritz
If Legion #1 had come out when first solicited for, February 2004, and each issue came out monthly like they were supposed to, the mini-series would have wrapped up in May 2004 with issue #4. With a planned one month breather between Legion #4 and ongoing #1, Ghostbusters #1 would have come out in July 2004.

Assuming sales strong enough to keep going, Ghostbusters #43 would have come out this month, January 2008.

So remember the possible dozens of comics and probably trade paperback compilations of said comic (which is a pretty standard practice nowadays) we've been cheated out of having because we and Sony trusted this crook.

Fritz, thanks for coming forward, as you deserve the credit for calculating the “could've been” status for the ongoing series. It's really sad that we would have had 48 issues already (43 ongoing, 4 Legion, 1 Zeddemore Factor), and yet all we really do have is 5 (4 Legion and 1 Zeddemore). I'll exclude the variant covers and Titan softcover TPB as that's just duplicate content.

Ghoulishfright, I too hope that the new game will regenerate interest in Ghostbusters, especially from companies that actually have a WORKING business model and can produce products in a timely manner. Still, if all that comes out of it is just the new game, I won't be complaining.

He's obviously in way over his head. I think everyone would be right in claiming their money back - you never know, i imagine the product would appear pretty quickly if that were the option he was faced with, call me cynical…

But yeah, I'm glad Titan books were on form over here, anyway.