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The Cavewoman Action Figures Budd Root is the creator of Basement Comics' popular series, Cavewoman. Over a year ago, Root entered into an agreement with Christensen (of Avatar Press) to license the Cavewoman character to Avatar for the purposes of making an action figure. Root even drew a special 10-page Cavewoman story specifically to promote the figure. As part of the deal, Root's take on the action figure was to be seven percent. Based on the average past performance of the other action figures Avatar distributed, Root calculated that seven percent would equate to around $7,000.
Root never saw the money. Several months after signing the licensing deal with Avatar, Root finally received a call from Christensen. According to Root, Christensen claimed sales of the action figure were poor--so poor that Avatar was going to have to declare bankruptcy on the whole deal. They weren't going to be able to pay him.
Root contacted his attorney, Bud Roberts. In an interview at The Comic Book Store in North Little Rock, Arkansas, Roberts confirmed that he had made a formal request of Christensen back in the summer of 1999, demanding an accounting of the action figure sales.
To date, Roberts has received no reply; neither he nor Root learned how many Cavewoman action figures were sold.
However, a source at Diamond Distribution, the major distributor for direct sales stores, places Diamond's total orders of the figure at around 5,000 pieces, including nearly 2,100 sold as single units, and almost 500 case lots. The net cost to retailers was $8.75 per unit, and the Cavewoman action figures are still offered for sale through Avatar's website.
Christensen says the action figure deal wasn't an Avatar project. "Avatar Press had nothing to do with the Cavewoman action figure license," he says. "We were simply allowing Bolt Entertainment, the licensor, to solicit it in our selection." |