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

[syzhang28]

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

Sadly it does. OP has only given vague answers and no details. We are still waiting for information on who the owners of the characters are that have given permission for instance. That is a vital answer. It might not make a difference since it doesn't look like it will be funded but I did reach out to David Lapham who I have bought art from before. He said he hadn't heard about this before my inquiry ie no permission given and no share of the funds raised have been discussed with him. Not a good look OP, can you please chime in and clarify.

[midnightonearth]

Hello!

I was asked to come back and check on this thread, and boy I'm glad I did.

I don't do internet forums, but I know they can be rough.

First, no this isn't a scam. How could that be possible when all of the people working on the new material are alive, and would let you know if it was a scam. It wouldn't be on Kickstarter. That should be an easy one to figure out.
It does hurt a bit knowing the years of work we put into find into finding these pages, including people like Jim Hollister curator of the DEFIANT Comics museum, Janet Jackson, and Pauline Weiss, but okay.
It's a strange thought, but again it's the internet.

As far as David Lapham, first thing you have to remember is that all of the work was created in the 1990's and the work was fully paid for then, as both Jim Shooter attested to on my show, and David Lapham has talked about in the past. That's what made this Kickstarter possible, it would be a lot more expensive with just a plot. Especially with the legends that worked on the books.
We have had a hard time getting a hold of him specifically. Zack Lynch, former DEFIANT intern, and EIC of Blue Shack Comics has worked with David directly on his books. We've been emailing him, calling him on all the numbers we have, and sending him social messages, with no response so far.
If you have a way to contact him please give him my email - contact@midnightonearth.com. All of his social posts are years old. I'm not sure how you found him, but please connect us if you can.
He will be getting compensated, we just have to find him. And, remember it was work for hire back then that he was paid for fully. We have been actively trying to connect with him since at least early 2024. None of us can get a hold of him.

And lastly the rights, yes we have the okay. If it doesn't make sense the way you might be thinking about it, based on the information you have, perhaps it is because it isn't what people think it is.
And even more so, maybe we are being vague because there is something far, far, bigger coming and we don't want to spoil the surprise.
Have patience, it will be worth the wait.

Trust us - Janet, Pauline, Jim Shooter, myself, Jim Hollister, Zack Lynch, and all of the people helping this happen would not scam you.

This is an absolute incredible piece of comic book history and deserves to be treated with the reverence it deserves. Please help us get the word out, so we can get these books in people's hands, and move on to the next thing. Whatever that might be!

Hope this answers some questions.

Thank you,
Jake

[RyanMcLelland]

Hello!

I was asked to come back and check on this thread, and boy I'm glad I did.

I don't do internet forums, but I know they can be rough.

First, no this isn't a scam. How could that be possible when all of the people working on the new material are alive, and would let you know if it was a scam. It wouldn't be on Kickstarter. That should be an easy one to figure out.
It does hurt a bit knowing the years of work we put into find into finding these pages, including people like Jim Hollister curator of the DEFIANT Comics museum, Janet Jackson, and Pauline Weiss, but okay.
It's a strange thought, but again it's the internet.

As far as David Lapham, first thing you have to remember is that all of the work was created in the 1990's and the work was fully paid for then, as both Jim Shooter attested to on my show, and David Lapham has talked about in the past. That's what made this Kickstarter possible, it would be a lot more expensive with just a plot. Especially with the legends that worked on the books.
We have had a hard time getting a hold of him specifically. Zack Lynch, former DEFIANT intern, and EIC of Blue Shack Comics has worked with David directly on his books. We've been emailing him, calling him on all the numbers we have, and sending him social messages, with no response so far.
If you have a way to contact him please give him my email - contact@midnightonearth.com. All of his social posts are years old. I'm not sure how you found him, but please connect us if you can.
He will be getting compensated, we just have to find him. And, remember it was work for hire back then that he was paid for fully. We have been actively trying to connect with him since at least early 2024. None of us can get a hold of him.

And lastly the rights, yes we have the okay. If it doesn't make sense the way you might be thinking about it, based on the information you have, perhaps it is because it isn't what people think it is.
And even more so, maybe we are being vague because there is something far, far, bigger coming and we don't want to spoil the surprise.
Have patience, it will be worth the wait.

Trust us - Janet, Pauline, Jim Shooter, myself, Jim Hollister, Zack Lynch, and all of the people helping this happen would not scam you.

This is an absolute incredible piece of comic book history and deserves to be treated with the reverence it deserves. Please help us get the word out, so we can get these books in people's hands, and move on to the next thing. Whatever that might be!

Hope this answers some questions.

Thank you,
Jake

With the copyrights for the characters being Dreamworks Classic (understanding that someone did state the trademarks have been abandoned) are you stating that Comcast / NBC Universal gave permission for this project? Are they just allowing you to self publish this IP without actually licensing characters they own?

If, for some strange reason, the rights don’t belong to Dreamworks Classic - who purchased Classic Media - then who is it that you got permission from? And, again, is it just permission or did you have to secure licensing rights to be able to publish these characters?

Clarification would be great.

[reddog]

wow....for sure a scam...."incredible piece of comic book history and deserves to be treated with the reverence it deserves"....that's the biggest scam of all

[ManofTheAtom]

If you can contact Lapham to ask him about it, why not also contact Shooter and Jackson to ask them as well?

[Ryan]

wow....for sure a scam...."incredible piece of comic book history and deserves to be treated with the reverence it deserves"....that's the biggest scam of all

Sounds like a personal issue reddog. Take your axe to grind against Defiant or Shooter somewhere else.

[Ryan]

With the copyrights for the characters being Dreamworks Classic (understanding that someone did state the trademarks have been abandoned) are you stating that Comcast / NBC Universal gave permission for this project? Are they just allowing you to self publish this IP without actually licensing characters they own?

If, for some strange reason, the rights don’t belong to Dreamworks Classic - who purchased Classic Media - then who is it that you got permission from? And, again, is it just permission or did you have to secure licensing rights to be able to publish these characters?

Clarification would be great.

He says it right there, 'we have the okay'. What's exactly going to satisfy you? Do you need to review all the documentation yourself? Sworn video testimony?

[RyanMcLelland]

With the copyrights for the characters being Dreamworks Classic (understanding that someone did state the trademarks have been abandoned) are you stating that Comcast / NBC Universal gave permission for this project? Are they just allowing you to self publish this IP without actually licensing characters they own?

If, for some strange reason, the rights don’t belong to Dreamworks Classic - who purchased Classic Media - then who is it that you got permission from? And, again, is it just permission or did you have to secure licensing rights to be able to publish these characters?

Clarification would be great.

He says it right there, 'we have the okay'. What's exactly going to satisfy you? Do you need to review all the documentation yourself? Sworn video testimony?

Sure - I would love to review all the documentation if that’s an option. “We have the okay” does come off as an unsatisfying answer when the rights belong to a multibillion dollar company. Does the okay mean they are licensing the characters from Comcast? Is that cost built into the Kickstarter? If so - why doesn’t the Kickstarter say so? When do multibillion dollar companies just give “the okay” to have their characters published?

There are some interesting questions that aren’t answered by OP’s “We have the okay.” If that satisfies you, so be it.

Sworn video testimony would also be fine with me. Something more than an off the cuff answer should be answered.

[Ryan]

Sure - I would love to review all the documentation if that’s an option. “We have the okay” does come off as an unsatisfying answer when the rights belong to a multibillion dollar company. Does the okay mean they are licensing the characters from Comcast? Is that cost built into the Kickstarter? If so - why doesn’t the Kickstarter say so? When do multibillion dollar companies just give “the okay” to have their characters published?

There are some interesting questions that aren’t answered by OP’s “We have the okay.” If that satisfies you, so be it.

Sworn video testimony would also be fine with me. Something more than an off the cuff answer should be answered.

Sure man, do you need to review the legal documents of all the comics you buy or kickstarters you support? Why don't you just email Comcast since you're so concerned?

Pretty odd to barely post for 10 years and then come in hot demanding legal documentation for a kickstarter. Why the sudden keen interest?

Why not leave this thread for the fans who are excited and take your legal questions directly to the people running the kickstarter and Comcast?

[RyanMcLelland]

Sure - I would love to review all the documentation if that’s an option. “We have the okay” does come off as an unsatisfying answer when the rights belong to a multibillion dollar company. Does the okay mean they are licensing the characters from Comcast? Is that cost built into the Kickstarter? If so - why doesn’t the Kickstarter say so? When do multibillion dollar companies just give “the okay” to have their characters published?

There are some interesting questions that aren’t answered by OP’s “We have the okay.” If that satisfies you, so be it.

Sworn video testimony would also be fine with me. Something more than an off the cuff answer should be answered.

Sure man, do you need to review the legal documents of all the comics you buy or kickstarters you support? Why don't you just email Comcast since you're so concerned?

Pretty odd to barely post for 10 years and then come in hot demanding legal documentation for a kickstarter. Why the sudden keen interest?

Why not leave this thread for the fans who are excited and take your legal questions directly to the people running the kickstarter and Comcast?

I really don’t care what you think is odd nor about my posting habits. I’m back here because OP came here to post about the project. And then I have questions. Then you lambast me.

I’m excited for the project. I am. But I have a question. If you feel my question is in the wrong place - too bad. OP brought this up.

You want me to start contacting Kickstarter and Comcast? Okay. I have no problem reaching out to them.

[ManofTheAtom]

I don't believe this is a scam.

I think it's legitimate.

I don't want the guy's project to be torpedoed by negativity, but some form of straight and clear answer about the rights would go a long way to placate the doubters.

[Ryan]

I really don’t care what you think is odd not about my posting habits. I’m back here because OP came here to post about the project. And then I have questions. Then you lambast me.

I’m excited for the project. I am. But I have a question. If you feel my question is in the wrong place - too bad. OP brought this up.

You want me to start contacting Kickstarter and Comcast? Okay. I have no problem reaching out to them.

Absolutely no lambasting going on. You all raised your concerns, and the OP responded with a thorough response including his email.

If that's not enough for you, I would contact the principals in the project directly. Janet Jackson, Pauline Weiss, and Jim Shooter have all been involved with comic books and licensing characters for decades. You think they would be involved with a project that's using dubious or fraudulent licensing? That seems lacking in logic but ok then I would contact them directly with your concerns.

[Ryan]

I don't believe this is a scam.

I think it's legitimate.

I don't want the guy's project to be torpedoed by negativity, but some form of straight and clear answer about the rights would go a long way to placate the doubters.

What part of "And lastly the rights, yes we have the okay." Isn't straight and clear? How much straighter and clearer does it need to be said?

I don't want the guy's project to be torpedoed by negativity

That's exactly what it feels like. People with their axe to grind against Shooter or whatever have another chance to try and grind it

[ManofTheAtom]

I don't believe this is a scam.

I think it's legitimate.

I don't want the guy's project to be torpedoed by negativity, but some form of straight and clear answer about the rights would go a long way to placate the doubters.

What part of "And lastly the rights, yes we have the okay." Isn't straight and clear? How much straighter and clearer does it need to be said?

I don't want the guy's project to be torpedoed by negativity

That's exactly what it feels like. People with their axe to grind against Shooter or whatever have another chance to try and grind it

Well, "we have the okay" is vague. "We licensed the publishing rights" or words to that effect would be clearer and succeed at placating the doubters.

The lack of a copyright indicia in the KS doesn't help.

[Ryan]

Well, "we have the okay" is vague. "We licensed the publishing rights" or words to that effect would be clearer and succeed at placating the doubters.

The lack of a copyright indicia in the KS doesn't help.

But then he goes on to explain why he's being vague. They obviously have bigger plans that are not a done deal at this point, but Schism is approved or it wouldn't be on Kickstarter?

If that's not enough for people on here, like I said contact the principals directly or just don't support it, it's up to them.

And lastly the rights, yes we have the okay. If it doesn't make sense the way you might be thinking about it, based on the information you have, perhaps it is because it isn't what people think it is.
And even more so, maybe we are being vague because there is something far, far, bigger coming and we don't want to spoil the surprise.
Have patience, it will be worth the wait.

[possumgrease]

As a fan, I don't really care if they have permission or the legal right to print it although it should be noted that it appears they have secured the permission. This isn't a case of pirating. This is comic archeology or, to use less grandiose language, it's a fan project.

If anyone is concerned that the project is taking money away from Comcast, then that person is lost to this world and needs help.

[ManofTheAtom]

Well, "we have the okay" is vague. "We licensed the publishing rights" or words to that effect would be clearer and succeed at placating the doubters.

The lack of a copyright indicia in the KS doesn't help.

But then he goes on to explain why he's being vague. They obviously have bigger plans that are not a done deal at this point, but Schism is approved or it wouldn't be on Kickstarter?

If that's not enough for people on here, like I said contact the principals directly or just don't support it, it's up to them.

And lastly the rights, yes we have the okay. If it doesn't make sense the way you might be thinking about it, based on the information you have, perhaps it is because it isn't what people think it is.
And even more so, maybe we are being vague because there is something far, far, bigger coming and we don't want to spoil the surprise.
Have patience, it will be worth the wait.

Clearly, the vagueness is what is rubbing some people the wrong way.

[RyanMcLelland]

Well, "we have the okay" is vague. "We licensed the publishing rights" or words to that effect would be clearer and succeed at placating the doubters.

The lack of a copyright indicia in the KS doesn't help.

But then he goes on to explain why he's being vague. They obviously have bigger plans that are not a done deal at this point, but Schism is approved or it wouldn't be on Kickstarter?

If that's not enough for people on here, like I said contact the principals directly or just don't support it, it's up to them.

And lastly the rights, yes we have the okay. If it doesn't make sense the way you might be thinking about it, based on the information you have, perhaps it is because it isn't what people think it is.
And even more so, maybe we are being vague because there is something far, far, bigger coming and we don't want to spoil the surprise.
Have patience, it will be worth the wait.

Clearly, the vagueness is what is rubbing some people the wrong way.

I talked to Jake. He’s a great guy and his passion for the project really shows. It seems Schism is in the right hands.

As for the rights it seems that he’s playing coy for a reason. So for people like me who are interested in the legality of publishing this book, coy doesn’t exactly work. But the coyness is because of what comes next beyond Schism. And it seems that there is going to be “a next.” What that is, I have no clue.

But it’s good to hear that there is a revelation coming that will make sense for Defiant fans.

[ManofTheAtom]

Well, "we have the okay" is vague. "We licensed the publishing rights" or words to that effect would be clearer and succeed at placating the doubters.

The lack of a copyright indicia in the KS doesn't help.

But then he goes on to explain why he's being vague. They obviously have bigger plans that are not a done deal at this point, but Schism is approved or it wouldn't be on Kickstarter?

If that's not enough for people on here, like I said contact the principals directly or just don't support it, it's up to them.

And lastly the rights, yes we have the okay. If it doesn't make sense the way you might be thinking about it, based on the information you have, perhaps it is because it isn't what people think it is.
And even more so, maybe we are being vague because there is something far, far, bigger coming and we don't want to spoil the surprise.
Have patience, it will be worth the wait.

Clearly, the vagueness is what is rubbing some people the wrong way.

I talked to Jake. He’s a great guy and his passion for the project really shows. It seems Schism is in the right hands.

As for the rights it seems that he’s playing coy for a reason. So for people like me who are interested in the legality of publishing this book, coy doesn’t exactly work. But the coyness is because of what comes next beyond Schism. And it seems that there is going to be “a next.” What that is, I have no clue.

But it’s good to hear that there is a revelation coming that will make sense for Defiant fans.

Awesome.

[ManofTheAtom]

Since the same company owns Defiant, Broadway, and the Gold Key characters I've often wondered what a shared universe with all those characters would look like.

[Ryan]

I talked to Jake. He’s a great guy and his passion for the project really shows. It seems Schism is in the right hands.

As for the rights it seems that he’s playing coy for a reason. So for people like me who are interested in the legality of publishing this book, coy doesn’t exactly work. But the coyness is because of what comes next beyond Schism. And it seems that there is going to be “a next.” What that is, I have no clue.

But it’s good to hear that there is a revelation coming that will make sense for Defiant fans.

That's awesome, its understandable. I was just frustrated that this thread was getting so negative when to me this is the most exciting thing that's happened in the '90s Valiant fan world' in over a decade.

I remember you being a thoughtful poster back in the day, I hope you keep posting more here.

[RyanMcLelland]

I talked to Jake. He’s a great guy and his passion for the project really shows. It seems Schism is in the right hands.

As for the rights it seems that he’s playing coy for a reason. So for people like me who are interested in the legality of publishing this book, coy doesn’t exactly work. But the coyness is because of what comes next beyond Schism. And it seems that there is going to be “a next.” What that is, I have no clue.

But it’s good to hear that there is a revelation coming that will make sense for Defiant fans.

That's awesome, its understandable. I was just frustrated that this thread was getting so negative when to me this is the most exciting thing that's happened in the '90s Valiant fan world' in over a decade.

I remember you being a thoughtful poster back in the day, I hope you keep posting more here.

Thanks for the kind words. I’m excited for it too - I didn’t want to come off as I’m not excited for it. The old reporter in me just kicked in. But having a “new” Defiant book thirty years later is absolutely exciting.

I’ll be posting more. I was locked out and couldn’t get a password reset, but now that I’m squared away I can come back and chat. Thanks Ry.

[Cyberstrike]

Since the same company owns Defiant, Broadway, and the Gold Key characters I've often wondered what a shared universe with all those characters would look like.

Weird.

[ManofTheAtom]

Since the same company owns Defiant, Broadway, and the Gold Key characters I've often wondered what a shared universe with all those characters would look like.

Weird.

But nonetheless interesting.

"Doctor Solar meets Plasm"...

[Cyberstrike]

Since the same company owns Defiant, Broadway, and the Gold Key characters I've often wondered what a shared universe with all those characters would look like.

Weird.

But nonetheless interesting.

"Doctor Solar meets Plasm"...

Doctor Solar: Man of the Atom meets The Good Guys meets Star Seed would be a lot more fun.