Balrog said:
On a side note, I sent Mr.Trampier money for a Wormy graphic novel that was in the works in the mid-80s.
Much to my disappointment, a month or so later I got a letter from him (with my money back) saying he was having problems getting the project off the ground and thanking me for my interest in it. IIRC, that might have been around the end of Wormy's run.
Yep, me too. I've still got the button and the little certificate someplace.
I think that this was the source of the whole shebang. (Since I don't know Mr. Trampier personally, and am having to guess at most of this, take it with a big whopping handful of salt...)
It's obvious that Trampier was attempting to produce the graphic novel/collection entirely on his own, with no connection to TSR (hence his need to solicit money directly from potential customers). While this is fairly common today, it was less so (and a lot less easy) back then.
Most freelance artists in the 80's (and for that matter, today) got published under "work-for-hire" contracts, which are VERY restrictive. In particular, they tend to transfer all rights in perpetuity. If this was the case for Trampier, then by selling the Wormy strips to Dragon, he was giving up ALL ownership of them forever - so he couldn't put together his own collection of his own work, because legally it was no longer "his", it was TSR's. If TSR decided to put out a Wormy collection, or make a Wormy TV show, or do anything else with the strip and the characters, Trampier would have no input and would receive no additional money, unless TSR decided to be generous. If, like many artists, he didn't read or fully understand the fine print, this may have been a surprise. It can be quite a shock to an artist to find that the work he poured his heart and soul into no longer belongs to him in any way. This would explain not wanting to have anything to do with publishers anymore.
Mind you, I think that "My work will never see the light of day again" is a bit extreme, but not knowing all the details, I really don't have the right to be judgemental. I do miss Wormy, and am saddened that Trampier seems to have given up on comics altogether. If that's so, the world has lost a great artist.
