The Shock of Dealing With AfterShock – Zac Thompson & John Layman

Posted in: AfterShock, Comics | Tagged: john layman, Zac Thompson

Last year, Bleeding Cool ran a story about AfterShock Comics filing for bankruptcy. Now more creators are speaking out about their experience

Last year, Bleeding Cool ran a story about AfterShock Comics filing for bankruptcy, after we had run a number of stories concerning the comic book publisher  and what had seemed an inability to pay their freelance comic book creators what was due to them. AfterShock Comics issued us the statement “Thank you for reaching out. For easy reference, here is our statement on the matter, the company is addressing late payments as outstanding funds owed to the company come in. There are no non-payments. Everyone who is owed money will be paid. We recognize our obligations and consider creator compensation our number one priority. We apologize for this situation and are making our best efforts to rectify it as quickly as possible.”.

Zac Thompson and AfterShock Comics

As part of the #ComicsBrokeMe thread a week or so back, Zac Thompson tweeted about “when my Publisher took an entire 90K option deal for themselves and refused to share any of that money with the creative team. We had to fight for 2 years to even see the paperwork and at that point the money was long gone.”

He then chose to name names. “F-ck it. This was Aftershock. How they managed to declare bankruptcy while also robbing creators blind is sincerely beyond me. The contract language they used to do this was carefully hidden in the fine print. They charge “overhead” fees to creative teams that are insanely high #’s that ensure books NEVER break even. They are under no obligation to be transparent about these overhead fees. I want to be crystal clear that if these terms were at least explained to us then I wouldn’t be salty because I at least knew what I was getting into. They weren’t. It was left purposely vague and it took them YEARS to explain themselves.”

Zac Thompson wrote The Brother of All Men, The Replacer, Relax, Undone Blood, Her Infernal Descent and I Breathed A Body, all published through Aftershock Comics. John Layman who wrote The Man Who F#&%ed Up Time and Eleanor and the Egret at Aftershock concurred.

Jon Layman and AfterShock Comics

“Same experience. Contract said expenses would be deducted from profits, failing to mention 7-10k per issue was automatically tacked on as “infrastructure expense.” Huge option payment resulted in zero dollars…  This ensures when Aftershock options something, creators never see a dime. Aftershock also closed deals without creator input, so by the time we got involved we had zero negotiating power. If Netflix makes MAN WHO F#%*ED UP TIME into a movie, it will have a budget in the tens of millions, and creators will get producer fee of $2500 each. If my math is right, and it probably isn’t, I get less that $500 of a 55k Netflix option on THE MAN WHO F#%*ED UP TIME. Even so, I’ve been trying for MONTHS to get a straight answer from Aftershock when I’ll see this motherfuckin’ chump change. I can’t get one! Needless to say, I also have no creative input. If Greg Berlanti makes THE MAN WHO F#%*ED UP TIME into a Netflix movie, I’ll have no involvement or input and my $2500 “producer” fee is purely ceremonial.”

Aftershock Comics have announced a number of options for TV series and films. We would be interested in speaking to creators who have received any of that option money. Jon Layman tells me “When I did Man Who F#%*ed Up Time, I found out after the fact they deducted $7,000 per issue as infrastructure cost. They’ve since raised it to 10k per issue. nobody will ever see a dime.”

I understand that Aftershock has sent letters out to current working creators telling them that their payments are going to be late… Does anyone else have similar – or opposite – tales to share?

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