OMG Blames Stan Lee For Poor Profits Over NHL Deal

[Rich Johnston]

OMG, the company that provides 3D mapping software for the likes of Call Of Duty, Black Swan and Assassin's Creed has seen its profits fall year on year from £3.7 million to £0.7 million.

And to what does it attribute the blame for this unfortunate turn of events? Why the failure of the Guardian project masterminded by Stan Lee to give National Hockey League teams their own superhero each.

Characters were dreamed up by Stan, with comics created by a range of creators , with covers by Neal Adams. OMG were to animate all the characters.

The venture gained considerable press last year, not least on Bleeding Cool. But to no avail, according to OMG.

While NHL still sells Guardian merchandise, the website seems to have stalled, half finished, and hasn't been updated since the summer...

[vid]

Clearly, it's actually Gary Bettman's fault. Just like everything else.

[CammyKnoxville]

I blame Obama!

[thekamisama]

It was the NHL's promotion. Stan Lee was just an employee as was OMG. I am assuming they were paid for the work. Unless there were bonuses expected based on success of the project or future work guaranteed from it's success, they shouldn't have lost anything unless they lowballed their contracts. Either way it is their own fault.

[SAMURAI36]

If this company had done any real research, they'd have known that Stan Lee doesn't actually create comic book characters, and never really has. They should have gone directly to one of the comic book publishing companies for what they needed.

Stan Leiber is nothing more than a figure head in comics.

[CBattles6]

That's OMG's fault for signing on with such a dud of a program.

This had to be one of the most half-baked ideas in cross-promotional history. Poorly conceived, poorly advertised, and, as far as OMG is concerned, poorly animated. And that's without taking about the heroes themselves. The Pittsburgh Penguins' hero is The Penguin? The Carolina Hurricanes' hero is The Hurricane? Very creative.

[TampaDave]

If this company had done any real research, they'd have known that Stan Lee doesn't actually create comic book characters, and never really has. They should have gone directly to one of the comic book publishing companies for what they needed.

Stan Leiber is nothing more than a figure head in comics.

While he gets far too much credit, he did have a hand in Spider-Man, Fantastic Four, Thor, and the Hulk. (as a side note, I was watching this HD special on New York and Marvel, where Lee is talking about the Gwen Stacy storyline, except he isn't the one that killed her).

But, it's been a long time since he had a good idea. One only has to look at Stan Lee's DC series, that stripper cartoon, Who wants to be a superhero, or whatever else he's done in the last few eyars.

And, creating a comic book character called the Penquin would have created nightmarish problems for the NHL. DC can't copyright it, but they do own the trademark to a comic book character called the Penguin. There is a reason why DC doesn't do a comic book with a character called Wolverine and why Marvel doesn't have one called the Joker.

[Meyeraustin]

If this company had done any real research, they'd have known that Stan Lee doesn't actually create comic book characters, and never really has. They should have gone directly to one of the comic book publishing companies for what they needed.

Stan Leiber is nothing more than a figure head in comics.

Jeez, put that in a time machine and mail it back to 1985 when someone would still believe it.

Stan had a hand in everything he made. Sometimes it was just a spin but there is no creation of his that he did not contribute to.

[ME!]

While he gets far too much credit, he did have a hand in Spider-Man, Fantastic Four, Thor, and the Hulk. (as a side note, I was watching this HD special on New York and Marvel, where Lee is talking about the Gwen Stacy storyline, except he isn't the one that killed her).

But, it's been a long time since he had a good idea. One only has to look at Stan Lee's DC series, that stripper cartoon, Who wants to be a superhero, or whatever else he's done in the last few eyars.

And, creating a comic book character called the Penquin would have created nightmarish problems for the NHL. DC can't copyright it, but they do own the trademark to a comic book character called the Penguin. There is a reason why DC doesn't do a comic book with a character called Wolverine and why Marvel doesn't have one called the Joker.

I've always wondered how Marvel manages to have a character called The Scarecrow to be honest.

[BigAl6ft6]

Clearly, it's actually Gary Bettman's fault. Just like everything else.

Preach it, brother! Although, Lee's terrible characters didn't exactly help much. But Gary Bettman is fairly not good.