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As the final online nail in the CrossGen coffin, the former publisher’s website has gone dark, with a placeholder at the main page, and a search engine page at cgforums.com, the former home of the CrossGen message board. According to WHOIS information, the registration for CrossGen.com expired on September 14th, 2004. While the site currently says that it is under construction, with a Network Solutions banner across it, the page is only a placeholder, as the registrant is now listed as “Pending Renewal or Deletion.”
While the domains once owned by CrossGen were listed as part of the company’s assets which the company has asked the Bankruptcy Court to allow it to sell, it’s unclear if a buyer would be able to reclaim the domain if they chose to reestablish the company and restart it as an ongoing concern.
Last edited by Dave; 2004-11-19 1:34 AM.
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That's too bad. I followed Crossgen from before the very beginning - my dealer at the time hooked me up with his preview copies of the first four books. I liked the Crossgen booth at the Chicago Con back in 2001 and spent the better part of my time there. Everyone associated with the company was wonderful to me, especially Mark Alessi. I talked to him after their round-table and he was just a great guy.
I read every title they put out and regularly broke my "one-storyline" rule with new titles, only to be rewarded for my patience. Unlike Image's second wave title, Crossgen's were actually a bit better than the first four.
What happened to that company is a shame. Hopefully it'll somehow get back on its feet and come back stronger than ever, but somehow I doubt it...
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I read Crux long after the point that it obvously should've been a mini-series. And I read the anthologies that came out, and bought the first Ruse trade tpb, but it was all lacking a spark. I don't know how to explain it, but it just wasn't up to standards. I think the problem was, Mark threw all that money into it right off the bat without letting himself build a fanbase. Hell, I knew people who would write Crossgen to tell them they doubted their books just because they'd get a bunch of freebies.
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Is crossgen completely out of the business now? Have they stopped making comics? I used to follow this story but haven't recently.
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I'm intrigued to see what happens to the properties. Were they creator owned?
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I'm pretty sure they were owned by Crossgen. I'm interested in seeing where Lady Death goes now, since Crossgen recently aquired the rights to the character and now there is no Crossgen.
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Tracking those properties can be difficult if they are not registered as trade marks. I have long tried to find out what happened to the old First Comics properties (Badger, Dynamo Joe, American Flagg!, Nexus and E-man), but haven't been able to work it out.
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Didn't the pres. of Crossgen loan them some money last year to keep in business? I remember reading somewhere that it might have just of been a ploy to keep the rights to the books and characters by making them the collateral for the loan.
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I had thought the president of Corssgen was an eccentric millionaire who decided to throw some money into the comics as a bit of a lark.
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Disney Publishing Acquires Assets of CrossGen Entertainment
PRESS RELEASE: Monday, November 15Disney Publishing Worldwide (DPW) today announced the acquisition of the assets of CrossGen Entertainment, Inc., an innovative publisher of comic books and graphic novels, fortifying DPW's position as the world's leading publisher of children's comics. CrossGen's stable of epic fantasy and science fiction properties include Abadazad, Ruse, Way of the Rat, Meridian, Mystic, Route 666, and Sojourn. Disney represents approximately 50 percent of all children's comic magazines sold around the world, reaching readers of all ages with 220 million comics each year.
 "To maintain our leadership position, we are committed to developing and acquiring top-quality, powerful content that expands our rich comic portfolio and CrossGen has some great properties," said DPW President Deborah Dugan. In light of recently reported declines in reading, we are developing creative new approaches using comics to engage children in the written word, and we hope to benefit from CrossGen's experience in this area.
Named Comic Publisher of the Year among small comics publishers for three consecutive years, CrossGen was founded in 1998 and by 2000 had grown into one of the largest independent comic publishers in the U.S. The company s intellectual properties are known for their excellence in production, artistry and writing; their compelling stories; and their multi-dimensional characters. Other Cross Gen assets include a comics-based educational and literacy program; the proprietary BeeVee Player and Chameleon technologies that enables enhanced online publishing of comics and magazines as well as new digital business models; and an initiative to publish comics online in several countries, including China.
"Given Disney's legacy in comics, global distribution relationships and talent for multi-media storytelling, I believe we have found a great home for these properties," said CrossGen's CEO and founder Mark Alessi.
One of the first CrossGen titles DPW plans to develop is Abadazad, a complex and deeply engrossing story of a girl's search for her lost brother, set in a fantastical world within a world. Four Abadazad books are already slated to be published by Hyperion Books for Children, an imprint of DPW.
The most successful publishing properties also generate excitement throughout Disney, including its motion picture, television and games units, Dugan said, and Abadazad lends itself perfectly to Disney's synergistic philosophy.
Disney's long history in comic books began when the first Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck comic magazines were published in 1935 and 1942, respectively. Disney Publishing Worldwide has enjoyed tremendous success with W.I.T.C.H., a comic magazine for tween girls that debuted in Italy in 2001, and is now the fourth largest magazine in the world in terms of international editions (33 editions generating over 1 million copies/month). W.I.T.C.H. books are currently published in 20 countries, and a TV series launch is planned for early 2005.
Disney Publishing Worldwide is the largest children s publisher in the world, with books and magazines in 55 languages in 75 countries, reaching more than 100 million readers each month.
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So... Disney now owns CrossGen. What does everyone think? I'm not a CrossGen reader (beyond having read the first RUSE trade paperback collection), so I'm not too familiar with the titles, but I have to think that Disney will affect the output of the company. It is, after all, a children's publisher.
On the other hand, Disney's movie properties have made decidedly adult-oriented films, so this assumption could be wrong.
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Well, they're actively gearing their plans for ABADAZAD towards the 8-15 age bracket, but I'm still looking forward to it as long as DeMatteis and Ploog are onboard. MERIDIAN has been mentioned for a target audience of female teens and 'tweens.
WAY OF THE RAT is being considered as a movie property, so hopefully would be getting a more grown-up treatment.
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Deosn't this mean Disney has positioned itself to compete with Marvel andDC?
Isn't this potentially the most significant thing to happen in superhero comics publishing in decades?
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November 6th, 2012: Americas new Independence Day.
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It's possible, Dave -- I guess it depends on whether Disney thinks it's worthwhile to get into the comics biz.
I think comic-book companies -- like novel publishers -- are becoming less about the comics and more about the movie rights, the only really profitable thing left in the comic-book biz nowadays. Perhaps Disney has picked up CrossGen mostly for the characters, since several of them could be developed for movies.
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If Disney has been following Marvel's recent successes, perhaps they are quite keen to acquire some properties they can run as movies.
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Disney is already in the comics biz. Have been for years. They produce 50% of (non-manga) comics worldwide. If they really use their muscle to make a play for the North American market, they'd absolutely overshadow DC & Marvel. Here's a recent Newsarama article about Disney & CG.
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I think we're all aware that Disney is already in the comics biz. I know I was taking that for granted -- but they're mostly about their own cartoon properties, such as the ever-popular Donald Duck (Kalle Anke in Sweden), Mickey Mouse, and the rest. Yet Disney doesn't really compete directly with DC or Marvel because they focus on very different parts of the market. Disney aims squarely at the children's market with its "funny animals" (though of course they have an adult following just as newspaper comics do), while DC and Marvel aim at the teen and young adult market, mostly with superheroes but also with adult-oriented products such as DC's Vertigo and WildStorm lines and Marvel's Max line. CrossGen was intended to be a direct competitor with DC and Marvel from day one because its intended audience was the same, while Disney has not really been in direct competition with either of them because its intended audience is very different -- if anything, Disney and Archie comics are in direct competition with each other (I'm assuming Archie hasn't been bought by Disney yet -- I don't know), as they focus on the same youth market.
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yes, but Disney could always choose to spread it's wings with this acquisition and compete with Marvel and DC.
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But will they? And can they regain the loss of enthusiasm about CrossGen ever since the company began to fail?
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probably not without a complete overhaul.
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Quote:
The Time Trust said:
But will they? And can they regain the loss of enthusiasm about CrossGen ever since the company began to fail?
Its amazing what a bit of money and publicity can do, and Disney has got plenty of cash to throw around.
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I think it's a pretty safe assumption that they'll try to prep Abadazad for a film.
The real question is, will they indeed, step into the North
American comics market full force? If so, I don't see them kowtowing to Diamond. This could potentially shake up the industry on multiple levels.
Disney is also publishing a graphic novel "Last Battle" about the clash betwen the Romans and the Gauls, which is being painted by Dan Brereton. (There's a thread around here somewhere.) Another sign that they're interested in putting more focus into the market.
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Has Disney announced plans to revive all of CrossGen's titles, or are they primarily using the assets for movies and other media?
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Judging from the press release posted above, so far they're tight-lipped about their plans.
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Its an relatively established character portfolio.
I just checked the Australian TM database to see what Disney has pending. The only ones which stand out are The Incredibles and Kim Possible.
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