| Brutta notizia per tutti i fans di Huntik Secrets & Seekers.Il magazine di Huntik è infatti ufficialmente cancellato. Ecco la notizia. Da The Silverware Deviantart: If you are an Huntik fan, read this!
by ~the-silverware, Apr 10, 2013, 1:46:58 PM
Journals / Personal
Dear italian and foreign fans of Huntik who follow my page, my apologies for not posting any new material in a long time. The promotion of my novel and some health problems take up a heavy toll on me. I'm making this journal entry because there are a few things you should - no, you have the right to know. I ask the active fans of Huntik who follow my blog to share these news on italian and foreign groups of discussion. Maybe talking about this stuff will move something.
Huntik Magazine, the comic, is dead. It has been dead for one year, actually, but no one seemed to care telling the readers. No one did as much as telling that to the artists who have worked on the series for almost four years, too.
Yes, that's right. All the pencillers and colorists who have worked on Huntik Magazine were never officially notified that Rainbow had made the decision to end the series last year, we only learned unofficially and told each other. We were, quite literally, abandoned to ourselves from day to night, by everyone.
The last issue published was #18. A #19 was completed in February 2012 by me and four other people, but despite it being delivered, it seems to have never seen print. A #20 was also in the layout stage and aborted simply because the penciller was never emailed back.
Over the last year, we've tried time and again to get paid for our work on #19, but Kappa Edizioni, who was responsible for the art direction and handling the artists, kept delaying payments that were already overdue, until its CEO stopped answering. Rainbow does not seem responsible for the current situation (in fact, it appears they DID pay the issue) but they do not seem to care either. There is currently a lawsuit promoted by the artists of Huntik pending on Kappa Edizioni for several thousands of euros of unpaid material from Huntik Magazine.
Like many, I am most displeased of how poorly this comic has been handled. Over the years I've seen all sorts of bad things going on: inconsistent art direction, contradictory directives, bad organization, discharging delays from above on the artists, budget constantly going down, scarce consideration for new ideas and biblical times for payments, sometimes in the order of 9 months - 1 year. A few truly competent people trying to manage things through. It all resulted in a magazine barely holding up, with repetitive storylines and a general deep lack of inspiration, originality, vision. Even though it was just a tv show adaptation, not a graphic novel, I hated they treated like this Huntik Magazine and the people who worked on it, because the series had started out with such promise and it literally fell down upon itself bit by bit. American companies do amazing things with their franchises in the comics, why do we play down instead? I have no idea.
Let alone the waste, I hate just as much the FALSE FRIENDS, who one day were telling me how much they liked my work, appreciated my efforts and thanking me for my commitment, and the next day were ready to disappear into thin air with my money with all sorts of lame excuses. No one is taking responsibility for the current situation and this is such a disappointment. I am not calling us brothers in arms, of course, but when you work with someone for a long time, you're supposed to develop some sort of friendship and loyalty towards your colleagues. Guess that's asking too much when it comes to some people, even when you saved their sorry asses more times than you can count.
I really shouldn't be lashing out like this. I should do like everyone else and not care. As a pro cartoonist, I tend to regard the things I do that are not my personal stuff with a necessary degree of personal detachment, much like a doctor needs some emotional distance from its patients to work with a clear mind. Well maybe I'm more something of a Doctor House. I do care, and yes, Huntik Magazine was kind of important to me. That I tell to those who "don't give a shit", colleagues, directors, managers or whatever! It has been one of my most important works so far, and my first important assignment. I've given a lot to it. I've worked on it even when I was ill or during holidays, my wife even made its degree thesis on it. You may not care, but I spat my blood on those pages. So, it makes me sad to see it screwed by some dickheads.
And I'll get my fuckin' money back, by the way, you dickheads. |
