SCHISM from DEFIANT - Kickstarter ft. Jim Shooter, David Lapham

[midnightonearth]

Hello everyone!

This is my first post here, hopefully I am in the right place. I was told this was the place where people come if they want to get the attention of Jim Shooter fans!
We are a launching a Kickstarter to get the DEFIANT comics crossover from 1994 - SCHISM: Be Careful What You Dream - finally published.

Jim was on my show, and we became great friends. In the process, we discovered that the SCHISM books from back then were mostly completed.

After about four years, I am proud to say we are launching a Kickstarter to get these books finally published.

SCHISM - Be Careful What You Dream Kickstarter

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/sc ... -you-dream

Thank you!
Jake
Host of the Midnight, On Earth Podcast

[Ryan]

Hello everyone!

This is my first post here, hopefully I am in the right place. I was told this was the place where people come if they want to get the attention of Jim Shooter fans!
We are a launching a Kickstarter to get the DEFIANT comics crossover from 1994 - SCHISM: Be Careful What You Dream - finally published.

Jim was on my show, and we became great friends. In the process, we discovered that the SCHISM books from back then were mostly completed.

After about four years, I am proud to say we are launching a Kickstarter to get these books finally published.

SCHISM - Be Careful What You Dream Kickstarter

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/sc ... -you-dream

Thank you!
Jake
Host of the Midnight, On Earth Podcast

Looks very cool! I'm more of a Broadway fan, but it will be awesome to final be able to read these after so many years.

Backed. Will need to do a Defiant re-read now

[magnusr]

we are launching a Kickstarter to get these books finally published.

Backed.

/Magnus

[possumgrease]

I backed this. Can't wait to read the story.

[SouthernComicGeek]

Awesome! Just backed

[syzhang28]

Very exciting! Thank you for doing this. I can't wait to back but I do have some questions first.

- Do you have permission from the owners of the Defiant library? Lorne Michaels owns it, I believe. I'd love to see this but I don't know how I'd feel about supporting a bootleg.

- Do you have the blessing of all the creators. You mention some big names like David Lapham and JG Jones. Have they given permission to their work being used this way? Sounds like you spoke to Jim Shooter and he has maybe blessed which is great but let us know about the rest.

- Are the creators being compensated by the ultimate money raised in the kickstarter? To put it bluntly, they need to be.

- Have the creators been paid for this work? I know you did not commission it but if they haven't been paid for it back when it was first created then they own it and need to be asked permission and compensated for the work. That may even be on top of the compensation from the kickstarter. Might not matter since they might have been paid back when.

I have a few more but those are the burning ones. Excited to hear your responses and back the campaign to success!

[midnightonearth]

- Do you have permission from the owners of the Defiant library? Lorne Michaels owns it, I believe. I'd love to see this but I don't know how I'd feel about supporting a bootleg.

Lorne Michaels never owned the rights. I asked Jim, that was Broadway Comics - yes we have permission.

- Do you have the blessing of all the creators. You mention some big names like David Lapham and JG Jones. Have they given permission to their work being used this way? Sounds like you spoke to Jim Shooter and he has maybe blessed which is great but let us know about the rest.

Yes, we are good with them. Jim is even our consulting editor. We have a lot of Defiant crew, Pauline Weiss even. They all helped in some way.

- Are the creators being compensated by the ultimate money raised in the kickstarter? To put it bluntly, they need to be.
Of course they are. And it's a volunteer effort on the production end.

- Have the creators been paid for this work? I know you did not commission it but if they haven't been paid for it back when it was first created then they own it and need to be asked permission and compensated for the work. That may even be on top of the compensation from the kickstarter. Might not matter since they might have been paid back when.

They were fully paid for all the work in 1994

Hope that helps!

[RyanMcLelland]

Awesome project. So glad this is coming out.

So someone asked if Lorne Michaels owned the property to which you said no.

But Random House should be the current rights holder of Defiant (and Broadway). They gave the permission? If so I’m totally stoked they did. If they did not - who owns the current rights?

Again - so stoked this is finally coming out.

[Darke]

Honestly this is a dream come true. I remember as a kid waiting for these books to hit the stands, and being so disappointed they never did.

I would love if the meaningful crossover issues (like the Dark Dominion issues) would be completed as well - but I'm guessing that's outside the scope of the series, and maybe they don't even exist.

[ManofTheAtom]

Awesome project. So glad this is coming out.

So someone asked if Lorne Michaels owned the property to which you said no.

But Random House should be the current rights holder of Defiant (and Broadway). They gave the permission? If so I’m totally stoked they did. If they did not - who owns the current rights?

Again - so stoked this is finally coming out.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DreamWorks_Classics

On August 16, 2001, Classic Media and Random House won a joint bid for the assets of Western Publishing, with Classic Media acquiring the entertainment division (including the Dell Comics and Gold Key Comics libraries[11]) and Random House acquiring the Little Golden Books publishing properties.

Broadway Video's former family entertainment library (Lassie, The Lone Ranger and Sergeant Preston of the Yukon),[30][31] including:

I don't see anything about Defiant there, but we do know Random acquired it at some point.

[ManofTheAtom]

Jim Shooter
Dear Bryan,

One of the principals of Classic Media is Eric Ellenbogen. Eric was the President of Broadway Video Entertainment, backers of Broadway Comics. BVE acquired the rights to the DEFIANT properties as part of the settlement of a lawsuit between DEFIANT's backers, the River Group and BVE. Too long a tale to explain here.

Eric was "sold" along with BVE (including Broadway Comics) to Golden Books Family Entertainment, where he was made either President or CEO. The DEFIANT rights came with BVE to GBFE.

Dick Snyder was the Chairman of GBFE and ultimately ran the show. GBFE/Snyder shut down Broadway Comics because they/he didn't want to be in the comics business, among other things. They only acquired us because we were part of a package.

Soon thereafter, GBFE went belly up. Eric Ellenbogen became CEO, I think, of Marvel. For a brief period, it seemed that he might bring me back as Editor in Chief. I had other friends and supporters on the board, too. But, the Perelman/Icahn mess was instrumental in removing that possibility, and also ended Eric's stay at Marvel.

Eric later formed Classic Media with a partner. Eric, who often said, "I never met a copyright I didn't like," acquired the GBFE portfolio (from Random House, I think, which had bought some or all of it out of bankruptcy). So, they ended up with the Dell/Gold Key stuff, the Broadway stuff, and BVE stuff like Lassie and the Lone Ranger. I think they've acquired other properties besides. Dunno.

http://jimshooter.com/2011/06/prophet-of-doo.html/

[RyanMcLelland]

Awesome project. So glad this is coming out.

So someone asked if Lorne Michaels owned the property to which you said no.

But Random House should be the current rights holder of Defiant (and Broadway). They gave the permission? If so I’m totally stoked they did. If they did not - who owns the current rights?

Again - so stoked this is finally coming out.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DreamWorks_Classics

On August 16, 2001, Classic Media and Random House won a joint bid for the assets of Western Publishing, with Classic Media acquiring the entertainment division (including the Dell Comics and Gold Key Comics libraries[11]) and Random House acquiring the Little Golden Books publishing properties.

Broadway Video's former family entertainment library (Lassie, The Lone Ranger and Sergeant Preston of the Yukon),[30][31] including:

I don't see anything about Defiant there, but we do know Random acquired it at some point.

Well we know that there is permission. I’d just love to know who gave that permission. Call it the old reporter in me - or the old Defiant fan. Or just being plain nosy.

[ManofTheAtom]

Awesome project. So glad this is coming out.

So someone asked if Lorne Michaels owned the property to which you said no.

But Random House should be the current rights holder of Defiant (and Broadway). They gave the permission? If so I’m totally stoked they did. If they did not - who owns the current rights?

Again - so stoked this is finally coming out.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DreamWorks_Classics

On August 16, 2001, Classic Media and Random House won a joint bid for the assets of Western Publishing, with Classic Media acquiring the entertainment division (including the Dell Comics and Gold Key Comics libraries[11]) and Random House acquiring the Little Golden Books publishing properties.

Broadway Video's former family entertainment library (Lassie, The Lone Ranger and Sergeant Preston of the Yukon),[30][31] including:

I don't see anything about Defiant there, but we do know Random acquired it at some point.

Well we know that there is permission. I’d just love to know who gave that permission. Call it the old reporter in me - or the old Defiant fan. Or just being plain nosy.

[Ryan]

Here's a good introduction to Schism and Defiant from our former board member, Todd Luck:

https://youtu.be/DyArO9TnwE4?si=sRVhCWgR6ZFvnkqG

[1st Among Equals]

Not too familiar with kickstarter. If the goal is not met by the end date, is the project scrapped?

[Ryan]

Not too familiar with kickstarter. If the goal is not met by the end date, is the project scrapped?

Yeah with Kickstarter if the goal is not met, no one is charged and the don't get any of the funding.

[valiantdude]

i guess you guys know about this now...

we should all support this, so it makes it...

heres a youtube video thats on the kickstarter page, its a great interview..

schism interview...
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=ZLAecrk9zWc

[Ryan]

i guess you guys know about this now...

we should all support this, so it makes it...

heres a youtube video thats on the kickstarter page, its a great interview..

schism interview...
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=ZLAecrk9zWc

Great interview, thanks for sharing dude

[Jim Shooter fanboy]

I have backed this project and am very excited about it. If you like quality comics (or storytelling) this will likely hit it out of the park. I am a big fan of Valiant (under Jim Shooter and Barry Windsor-Smith’s watch), Defiant, and Broadway. I also love Nexus, Grimjack, and American Flagg and Alan Moore in comics, and read Tolkien, Zelazny, Jack Vance, Moorcock, Bester, Harlan Ellison, CL Moore, Kuttner, Leiber, Brackett, and Bradbury in prose. Defiant Comics were wonderful, a great demonstration of talented creation and well deserving of this (maybe) last hurrah. So…please support and enjoy the comics when they come out

[caxiotis]

I’m in! I need closure on this story.

[Ryan]

Whatever you think of DEFIANT, it's definitely crazy that the entire mini-series was drawn and has been rediscovered. A lost 'event' comic from the creator of Secret Wars and Unity, two of the best event crossover comics of all time. 160 pages of unreleased, prime 90s event comics from some of the best creators of that era. Crazy.

[reddog]

I'm sure I'll get destroyed and I don't post here much but this screams scam.

[ManofTheAtom]

I'm sure I'll get destroyed and I don't post here much but this screams scam.

You could reach out directly to either Jackson or Shooter on Facebook to ask them about it, see what they say.

[reddog]

not interested...and, just for info, all the trademarks for Defiant owned by Enlightened Entertainment Partners LP are abandoned or cancelled including Schism https://www.trademarkia.com/owners/enli ... artners-lp

[Chiclo]

not interested...and, just for info, all the trademarks for Defiant owned by Enlightened Entertainment Partners LP are abandoned or cancelled including Schism

Anyone could publish a Schism?

DIP anyone?