ClassAction.org as the news that nearly 40 comic creators have banded together for a class action lawsuit against Action Lab Entertainment. The lawsuit claims that contracts should be null and void because the publisher has fallen short of its contractual obligations. Plaintiffs include Brockton McKinney, Rylend Grant, David Pepose, Jorge Santiago Jr., Chad Perkins, Jeremy Whitley, Massimo Rosi, Dexter Weeks, Jason Strutz, DeWayne Feenstra, Colleen Douglas, Rod Espinosa, Jason Imman, Ashley Victoria Robinson, Emily Martin, and many more.
The 46-page complaint goes over the list of problems, including issues with printing, promotion and marketing, sales and income report, and much more. The lawsuit says the publisher failed to notify creators when the office “shut down without reason”.
Action Lab president Bryan Seaton is also named as a defendant in the lawsuit and the suit says he stepped away from the company in November or December of 2019 without telling the creators due to “personal health reasons,” leaving Shawn Pryor in charge of daily operations. The publisher’s offices were also closed from December 16, 2019 to January 6, 2020 during with creators weren’t paid and marketing was not done. Pryor then left the company in January 2020. Seaton then left the company in February 2020 with no replacement. Action Lab shut down in March 2020 without telling any creators and during that time no work was performed by the defendants according to the plaintiffs.
Much of this is new revelations in the ongoing saga and fight that has spilled out into social media.
Action Lab points to some of its troubles towards Diamond, the comic distribution company which suspended some of its operations during COVID.
Seaton has pushed back at some of these charges publicly in a September 2021 interview refuting the complaints about missed payments, lack of publishing plans, and lack of communication. In that interview Seaton said the publisher was strong financially and open for business.
The lawsuit says issues began well before the pandemic with promises of print releases and not just digital. The lawsuit also claims that Action Lab would change the terms of the original agreement with creators and the projects wouldn’t be solicited until a certain number of issues were completed. The lack of communication and marketing forced creators to spend their own money to market their comics.
The lawsuit goes on to say the publisher would regularly change release dates without informing creators which would impact their own events like signings at stores around the release. That even includes the cancellation of entire comics due to a lack of pre-orders.
Even further, the lawsuit says Action Lab had further issues when it came to accounting failing to provide promised sales and income numbers but also shared inaccurate quarterly reports on digital sales. Sales issues included those done at conventions which weren’t recorded.
The class action lawsuit is looking to represent all individuals in the United States who have signed publishing and/or licensing agreements with Action Lab Entertainment.
You can read the full analysis of the lawsuit here and read the lawsuit below.
Source: Graphic Policy
