By Fawney Bologna
Special to DFG ONLINE!
Carnage City
Startling news broke this morning when word quickly spread throughout the DFG offices that DFG Comics has filed for bankruptcy protection. DFG president Dan Graves was quick to issue the following press release:
"Fans will have noted that there have been no DFG publications released in the 2010 year to date. This has been because of an ongoing labour dispute with C.R.A.P.O.N.U. (Creators, Receptionists, Artists, Pencillers, and Oceanic Nautical Illustrators' Union)* local 41. We have continued to offer generous compensation to all our staffers but they walked off the job in early January and as such no new publications have been produced or released. This has, of course, affected our revenue stream. We are now at the point of having Carnage City National Bank calling our line of credit. This is not the end of DFG Comics, only an interlude. We are confident that we can work out an arrangement both with our creditors and our staff."
The catalyst that led to the strike was the increasing use of non-union workers, especially the "Todd Abbot Studio" (which works at a much lower page rate) leaving staffers with fewer assignments and certainly with fewer prestige assignments. We spoke with Marty "Red" Bullshevic, a DFG staff letterer and president of C.R.A.P.O.N.U. local 41, "The last straw was when DFG VP Darryl Andrews took Todd Abbot and his studio to the new B.C. headquarters. There were a lot of DFG staffers who thought they would get to move west as well and become part of the 'west coast bullpen.' We were completely shut out and Todd Abbot Studios got preferential treatment over longtime DFG staffers, contrary to the collective agreement. That's when we walked."
DFG legal counsel, Sir Milton Goldfarbstein, K.G., Q.C., LLB, PhD (who is in remarkably good health for his age, having been born in 1867, and having suffered several health scares in the past few years) made the following statement: "Red Bullshevic and C.R.A.P.O.N.U should go back and read their collective agreement. There is nothing that states we have to favour them over contracted studio work. We would have never been so foolish to let labour run the shop at DFG."
The stand-off continues with DFG on the brink of collapse. And all of this begs the question, if the Todd Abbot Studio is so favoured over DFG staffers, why has it failed to produce any material this year?
* Editor's note: The Oceanic Nautical Illustrators joined the union in 1932 when they were being treated very poorly by despotic ship captains. Other artists and support workers in the creative world rallied to their support in a show of solidarity and later that year C.R.A.P.U. became C.R.A.P.O.N.U.
Friday, April 16, 2010
Monday, December 28, 2009
Sunday, November 1, 2009
Leaving on a Jet Plane - DFG VP heads to Vancouver to open new office
By Fawney Bologna
Special to DFG ONLINE
Carnage City's favourite son, DFG Vice-President and Co-publisher Darryl Andrews, left the home of DFG Comics and its subisidiary companies this morning at 6 a.m. to begin a new venture. With the economy swinging into recovery it was decided that it was time that DFG open a new corporate office in Vancouver B.C. Mr. Andrews was pegged as the man to do it. "Darryl has long been our point man on new ventures," said DFG President and Co-Publisher, Dan Graves, "He headed up our radio programs in the early 1980's and our TV, Film and Video departments in the late 1980's. He has recently been responsible for merchandising and licensing. He is the man postioned to take us into the next decade. When we met earlier this year it was decided that Vancouver would be the natural place to be given all the potential tie-ins to the 2010 Winter Olympics being held around that city." Word has it that Mr. Andrews will also be working with his brother Markus Andrews, another DFG superstar artist on some exciting new projects for DFG!
There wasn't a dry eye in the airport as crowds gathered to wish the celebrity co-publisher, artist and director well as he departed. As he passed through the gates, the Carnage City Radio Symphony Orchestra and Chorus were on hand to sing a moving rendition of John Denver's "Leaving on a Jet Plane." As he approached the gate Mr. Andrews to one look back, with a tear visible in his eye, gave a gentle wave and passed through the gate. "I'm going to miss him," said Dan Graves, "we have worked so closely together over the years, and while he has often been away at other branch offices such as Newmarket, the Beaches Pickering, Warkworth, and lately, Peterborough, I know his heart finds its home in Carnage City." Mr. Graves wiped a tear and turned away as the orchestra and chorus concluded the last verse of the song with the words, "babe I hate to go,"
Watch this space for future press releases from DFG Vancouver.
-30-
Special to DFG ONLINE
dateline: Carnage City International Airport
Carnage City's favourite son, DFG Vice-President and Co-publisher Darryl Andrews, left the home of DFG Comics and its subisidiary companies this morning at 6 a.m. to begin a new venture. With the economy swinging into recovery it was decided that it was time that DFG open a new corporate office in Vancouver B.C. Mr. Andrews was pegged as the man to do it. "Darryl has long been our point man on new ventures," said DFG President and Co-Publisher, Dan Graves, "He headed up our radio programs in the early 1980's and our TV, Film and Video departments in the late 1980's. He has recently been responsible for merchandising and licensing. He is the man postioned to take us into the next decade. When we met earlier this year it was decided that Vancouver would be the natural place to be given all the potential tie-ins to the 2010 Winter Olympics being held around that city." Word has it that Mr. Andrews will also be working with his brother Markus Andrews, another DFG superstar artist on some exciting new projects for DFG!There wasn't a dry eye in the airport as crowds gathered to wish the celebrity co-publisher, artist and director well as he departed. As he passed through the gates, the Carnage City Radio Symphony Orchestra and Chorus were on hand to sing a moving rendition of John Denver's "Leaving on a Jet Plane." As he approached the gate Mr. Andrews to one look back, with a tear visible in his eye, gave a gentle wave and passed through the gate. "I'm going to miss him," said Dan Graves, "we have worked so closely together over the years, and while he has often been away at other branch offices such as Newmarket, the Beaches Pickering, Warkworth, and lately, Peterborough, I know his heart finds its home in Carnage City." Mr. Graves wiped a tear and turned away as the orchestra and chorus concluded the last verse of the song with the words, "babe I hate to go,"
Watch this space for future press releases from DFG Vancouver.
-30-
Saturday, September 5, 2009
DFG President Flys Back From High Level Meeting in Peterborough
By Fawney Bologna
Special to DFG ONLINE!
DFG President and Co-Publisher Dan Graves spent last weekend in Peterborough for a high-level corporate meeting with DFG VP and Co-Publisher Darryl Andrews. The contents of the meeting was, for the most part, hush-hush, but when reached for comment Mr. Graves was able to give the following details:
"Essentially, we plotted out the entire upcoming year of DFG Comics. Here's what I can tell you. Captain Nepto Prime is on hold for the moment while Darryl Andrews works on a brand-new title The Winged Avenger! As for Spy Comics Presents, issue #6 will be released soon and issues 7 through 10 have been completely scripted. We are also excited about our new line of comic strips. Leighton Graves and I are working Cosmic Man, while the Todd Abbot Studio has resurrected an old DFG Movie concept, Mitchum and Felix and have completed the first three installments."
We reached DFG VP Darryl Andrews to ask him about the new Winged Avenger! comic. "I really can't let the bird out of the cage on this one just yet," he said, "All I can say is that this was a concept Dan and I came up with waaaay back in 1984. Due to other commitments it has been on hold for 25 years! Dan recently slipped the character in as a background character in the Battle of the Invincibles story arc in Spy Comics Presents. It seemed that the timing was finally right to tell the story of a character who is destined to be one of DFG's powerhouse properties!"
Leighton Graves had this to say about the upcoming Cosmic Man strip: "Well, Dad and I wanted to work on something together so I suggested that we explore another one of DFG's little used characters. He appeared on some covers in the early 1980's and in recent issues of Spy Comics Presents. We began to wonder about his secret identity, origins and powers, and then I said, 'hey Dad, why don't we let the fans decide?!" Dad agreed and so we will be featuring special polls on the DFG fan club page where YOU get to decide everything about Cosmic Man!"
Todd Abbot was reached about the Mitchum and Felix comic strip and made the following comments: "Mitchum and Felix were really unused properties in the DFG canon. I'm led to understand that Peter Repovski (who had starred in the Holden and Bates detective series with Dan Graves) was tired of playing the bumbling sidekick against Dan's straight man William Holden, so Darryl Andrews, who directed the DFG films commissioned a new series. In that series Dan starred as the ultra-cool, Don Johnson-esque police detective 'Mitchum', while Peter played his computer geek info-tech partner 'Felix.' Pete really didn't care much for that role either and the series was cancelled after two episodes due to poor distribution. At the Peterborough corporate meeting we were going through our video archives and rediscovered the series. It really is a hidden gem in the DFG corpus. There was a strong feeling we should revive Mitchum and Felix in comic strip form (after all Holden and Bates had been recently revived in Spy Comics Presents as part of the New Invincibles). All the staff were busy with other projects so I suggest that my studio take a crack at it. We have three episodes written, pencilled and inked. Flora is now colouring them." When asked if he was personally involved with the project, Mr. Abbot added, "I drew all the faces. I like to maintain quality control over all my studio's projects and this is one way I can ensure the 'Todd Abbot stamp of approval.' And by the way, eagle-eyed fans will note that Felix is drawn much like Frank Bates. The reason for this is that we really wanted to retain the Peter Repovski look. He's such an impressive actor with incredible facial gestures. We love drawing him. Here's a juicy little tid-bit, we're hoping to reintroduce the DFG villain Milo, who was also featured in the Holden and Bates series and last seen in Spy '96. My artists are carefully studying pictures of the actor who portrayed him, John Burgess, to ensure an authentic portrayal!"
Special to DFG ONLINE!
DFG President and Co-Publisher Dan Graves spent last weekend in Peterborough for a high-level corporate meeting with DFG VP and Co-Publisher Darryl Andrews. The contents of the meeting was, for the most part, hush-hush, but when reached for comment Mr. Graves was able to give the following details:
"Essentially, we plotted out the entire upcoming year of DFG Comics. Here's what I can tell you. Captain Nepto Prime is on hold for the moment while Darryl Andrews works on a brand-new title The Winged Avenger! As for Spy Comics Presents, issue #6 will be released soon and issues 7 through 10 have been completely scripted. We are also excited about our new line of comic strips. Leighton Graves and I are working Cosmic Man, while the Todd Abbot Studio has resurrected an old DFG Movie concept, Mitchum and Felix and have completed the first three installments."
We reached DFG VP Darryl Andrews to ask him about the new Winged Avenger! comic. "I really can't let the bird out of the cage on this one just yet," he said, "All I can say is that this was a concept Dan and I came up with waaaay back in 1984. Due to other commitments it has been on hold for 25 years! Dan recently slipped the character in as a background character in the Battle of the Invincibles story arc in Spy Comics Presents. It seemed that the timing was finally right to tell the story of a character who is destined to be one of DFG's powerhouse properties!"
Leighton Graves had this to say about the upcoming Cosmic Man strip: "Well, Dad and I wanted to work on something together so I suggested that we explore another one of DFG's little used characters. He appeared on some covers in the early 1980's and in recent issues of Spy Comics Presents. We began to wonder about his secret identity, origins and powers, and then I said, 'hey Dad, why don't we let the fans decide?!" Dad agreed and so we will be featuring special polls on the DFG fan club page where YOU get to decide everything about Cosmic Man!"
Todd Abbot was reached about the Mitchum and Felix comic strip and made the following comments: "Mitchum and Felix were really unused properties in the DFG canon. I'm led to understand that Peter Repovski (who had starred in the Holden and Bates detective series with Dan Graves) was tired of playing the bumbling sidekick against Dan's straight man William Holden, so Darryl Andrews, who directed the DFG films commissioned a new series. In that series Dan starred as the ultra-cool, Don Johnson-esque police detective 'Mitchum', while Peter played his computer geek info-tech partner 'Felix.' Pete really didn't care much for that role either and the series was cancelled after two episodes due to poor distribution. At the Peterborough corporate meeting we were going through our video archives and rediscovered the series. It really is a hidden gem in the DFG corpus. There was a strong feeling we should revive Mitchum and Felix in comic strip form (after all Holden and Bates had been recently revived in Spy Comics Presents as part of the New Invincibles). All the staff were busy with other projects so I suggest that my studio take a crack at it. We have three episodes written, pencilled and inked. Flora is now colouring them." When asked if he was personally involved with the project, Mr. Abbot added, "I drew all the faces. I like to maintain quality control over all my studio's projects and this is one way I can ensure the 'Todd Abbot stamp of approval.' And by the way, eagle-eyed fans will note that Felix is drawn much like Frank Bates. The reason for this is that we really wanted to retain the Peter Repovski look. He's such an impressive actor with incredible facial gestures. We love drawing him. Here's a juicy little tid-bit, we're hoping to reintroduce the DFG villain Milo, who was also featured in the Holden and Bates series and last seen in Spy '96. My artists are carefully studying pictures of the actor who portrayed him, John Burgess, to ensure an authentic portrayal!"
Following the meeting, Dan Graves flew home on the DFG corporate Jet DFG-1, pictured above.
Thursday, September 3, 2009
DFG Corporate Conference Set to Take Place at Peterborough Offices
By Fawney Bologna
Special to DFG ONLINE!
Early this morning, this reporter received a plain brown envelope with a detailed agenda of an upcoming TOP SECRET meeting of the DFG executive staff. The meeting is scheduled to take place this weekend at the Peterborough HQ, and the agenda looks packed. It is, however, difficult to decipher the agenda of the meeting as it appears to be written in code in order to avoid press leakages. One of the agenda items refers to a new seires "taking flight." This can only refer to the upcoming Winged Avenger series. Will this new title be a focus of this meeting? Only time will tell. Another agenda item makes reference to "old friends." Could this be the completion of the unpublished Spy '96 Annual? Again, we will just have to wait and see. More developments will be posted as information becomes available.
Special to DFG ONLINE!
Early this morning, this reporter received a plain brown envelope with a detailed agenda of an upcoming TOP SECRET meeting of the DFG executive staff. The meeting is scheduled to take place this weekend at the Peterborough HQ, and the agenda looks packed. It is, however, difficult to decipher the agenda of the meeting as it appears to be written in code in order to avoid press leakages. One of the agenda items refers to a new seires "taking flight." This can only refer to the upcoming Winged Avenger series. Will this new title be a focus of this meeting? Only time will tell. Another agenda item makes reference to "old friends." Could this be the completion of the unpublished Spy '96 Annual? Again, we will just have to wait and see. More developments will be posted as information becomes available.
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