Pat Lee

2008-05-01T21:05:52Z

159.91.48.185:

{{disambig2|Pat Lee, the superstar comic book artist|the uncredited artist who actually draws all his stuff for negligible pay|Alex Milne}}

[[Image:Patlee.jpg|right|thumb|300px|"Strength and Honor"<ref>[http://patleeart.deviantart.com/ PatLeeArt] at deviantART</ref>]]

'''Patrick C.K. "Pat" Lee''' is a Canadian artist. He was the president of [[Dreamwave Productions]] and drew some of their ''Transformers'' comics, until most of his employees noticed he wasn't paying them. Subsequently, he was also the president of Dream Engine until all its employees noticed he wasn't paying them either. He's currently the president (?) of Pat Lee Productions, where it remains to be seen if he notices he isn't paying himself.

:''Japanese name:'' '''Michiyamenotehi Funana'''
:''Other known titles, aliases and nicknames: '''The [[Override|Transman]]''', '''Superstar Artist''', '''Mr. Talented'''<ref>[http://www.alivenotdead.com/rosannewong/A+MASTER+IN+DISGUISE-ANDREW+LIN+vs+PAT+LEE-MR.+TALENTED+(round+2-2)-profile-113669.html Rosanne Wong about Pat Lee painting a mural on her apartment wall]</ref>

==History==
===Before the Transformers===
[[Image:Dreamwave.jpg|left|thumb|200px|Chillingly prophetic.]]
Pat Lee was born in Montreal on June 28, 1975<ref>[http://www.angelfire.com/pa/infrarred/infrarred2.html Pat Lee's own biography on his old Angelfire website]</ref>, and raised in Toronto. At the age of 16, right after graduating from high school, Lee was eager to find a job in the comic book industry, sending over 150 pages of sample aftworks to [[Marvel Comics|Marvel]] and [[Wikipedia:DC Comics|DC]]. Unfortunately for Lee, both publishers realized what a shoddy artist he was. Unfortunately for the rest of the world, however, Lee eventually managed to catch the attention of infamous [[Wikipedia:Image Comics|Image Comics]] co-creator [[Wikipedia:Rob Liefeld|Rob Liefeld]] at a Toronto convention in 1994, who would hire Lee (now aged 19) to work as a penciller on various titles for Liefeld's Image studio [[Wikipedia:Awesome Comics|Extreme Studios]]. After that, Pat Lee would also work for [[Wikipedia:Jim Lee|Jim Lee's]] Image studio [[Wikipedia:Wildstorm Productions|Wildstorm Productions]], as well as accepting work-for-hire assignments from Marvel (who had now apparently changed their mind regarding his artwork).

In 1996, Pat and his brother [[Roger Lee|Roger]] decided to start their own studio within Image Comics, [[Dreamwave Productions]], with Pat acting as the company's president. With Dreamwave, Lee would continue accepting contractual work for other publishers (such as the four-issue limited series ''Wolverine/Punisher: Revelation'' for Marvel), but also started to publish his own <strike>blatantly plagiarized</strike> originally created titles such as ''[[wikipedia:Ghost in the Shell|Darkminds]]'' and ''[[wikipedia:Record of Lodoss War|Warlands]]''. Collaborations with various magazines and advertising campaigns helped to further advance Dreamwave's reputation. Initially, the "hook" for Dreamwave's financial success was Pat's drawing style, which many readers viewed as "manga-like" (although readers of actual Japanese Mangas had a different opinion on this matter).

===Transformers by Dreamwave===
In 2001, Pat and Dreamwave submitted a contribution for a feature named "Big 80s" that was published in issue #111 of ''Wizard: The Comics Magazine'', depicting Pat's own take on one of his favorite properties from his childhood days, the ''Transformers''. Proving to be a huge hit among fans, [[Hasbro]] would consider the general art style a benchmark when they were offering the license for a new ''Transformers'' comic later that year.<ref>[http://www.comicbookresources.com/columns/index.cgi?column=litg&article=1365 Lying in the Gutters confirming that other publishers were interested in the Transformers license]</ref> Unsurprisingly, it was Dreamwave themselves who finally acquired said license, commemorating this as a turning point in the history of their company by officially cutting all ties with Image and becoming an independent publisher on their own.

[[Image:Fallenpatlee.jpg|thumb|200px|right|Why do Pat Lee's Transformers look like they're about to take a poop?]]

In addition to providing the art for various adverts, posters and covers, Pat would draw the first two ''Generation 1'' limited series, [[Prime Directive|Vol. 1]] (aka "Prime Directive") and [[War and Peace|Vol. 2: War and Peace]]. Subsequently, he would concentrate on controlling Dreamwave as its president and spend more time on his biggest hobby, fast cars, assigning art jobs to other artists (many of them hired directly out of the fandom) instead. Rumors about a rigid "house style" committing other artists to draw in a style close to Lee would start to circulate soon, most evident in the second ''War Within'' miniseries, where the original pencils by artist [[Andrew Wildman]] were drastically reworked by the inker, with rather disappointing results. Meanwhile, Lee's only other major contribution in terms of art would ultimately be some of the character profiles published in the eight-issue [[More Than Meets The Eye]] limited series.

Eventually, Lee realized that his hobby was using up more money than Dreamwave was making, despite having dominated Diamond's sales charts for several subsequent months with the ''Transformers''. As a consequence, he started to delay payments to freelancers, later extending this practice to full-term employees, eventually ceasing to pay them altogether, while at the same time accepting contractual work for Marvel and DC again, such as issues of ''House of M'' or ''Superman/Batman''. When he realized that this couldn't be a permanent solution, Pat and his brother Roger spent four months secretly transferring most of Dreamwave's assets to a new company named Dream Engine, whose website domain was registered to Roger's name<ref>[http://www.comicbookresources.com/columns/index.cgi?column=litg&article=2059 Lying in the Gutters discovering the existence of Dream Engine]</ref> before finally declaring Dreamwave's bankruptcy on January 4, 2005, blaming the weak Canadian Dollar and other scapegoats for the company's failure.<ref>[http://www.tformers.com/article.php?sid=4053 Dreamwave's final press release]</ref> The overall amount of Dreamwave's debt was far over a million dollars.<ref>[http://www.comicbookresources.com/columns/index.cgi?article=2102 Lying in the Gutters' list of Dreamwave's creditors]</ref>

===After Dreamwave===
With Dream Engine, Lee would work on various projects such as an ''X-Men/Fantastic Four'' crossover for Marvel, issues for the ''Batman/Superman'' series for DC and a relaunch of [[Wikipedia:Cyberforce|Cyberforce]] for [[Wikipedia:Top Cow Productions|Top Cow]], another Image studio. More controversies would arise when Pat spent a significant amount of Dream Engine's company funds on the campaign of his girlfriend [[Wikipedia:Aimee Chan|Aimee Chan]], who would eventually win the title of Miss Hong Kong in 2006. This ultimately resulted in Pat being asked by Dream Engine and his brother Roger to leave the company.<ref>[http://www.comicbookresources.com/columns/index.cgi?column=litg&article=2575 Lying in the Gutters reporting on Pat Lee's involvement with Aimee Chan]</ref>

After parting ways with Dream Engine, Pat Lee started his new enterprise, Pat Lee Productions.<ref>[http://www.patleeproductions.com/main.html Pat Lee Productions]</ref> Reportedly, he is currently spending a lot of time in Hong Kong and wants to start his own clothing line.

==Published Transformers works with Pat Lee credit==
===Comics===
* ''[[Prime Directive|Transformers: Generation 1 (vol. 1)]]'': [[Prime Directive (preview)|Preview]], [[Prime Directive issue 1|#1]], [[Prime Directive issue 2|#2]], [[Prime Directive issue 3|#3]], [[Prime Directive issue 4|#4]], [[Prime Directive issue 5|#5]], [[Prime Directive issue 6|#6]]
* ''[[War and Peace|Transformers: Generation 1 vol. 2: War and Peace]]'': [[New World Order|#1]], [[Brothers' Burden|#2]], [[Cold War|#3]], [[Passive Aggression|#4]], [[Countdown to Extinction (comic issue)|#5]], [[Revelation|#6]]
* ''[[More Than Meets The Eye|Transformers: More Than Meets The Eye (G1)]]'' #1, #3, #6 (assorted profiles)
* ''[[Armada (Dreamwave comic)|Transformers: Armada]]'': [[Dreamwave Armada issue 6|#6]], [[Dreamwave Armada issue 7|#7]]
* ''Transformers Armada: More Than Meets The Eye (Official Guidebook)'': #1, #2, #3 (assorted profiles)
* ''20th Anniversary Transformers Summer Special'': Individual story "[[Welcome to the Jungle]]"
* assorted covers for nearly all the Dreamwave Transformers series

{{note|With the revelation of [[Alex Milne]] ghosting for Pat Lee on Top Cow's ''Cyberforce'', and artist Edwin Garcia being credited for "backgrounds" on the ''Generation 1'' titles, it's uncertain how much of the art credited to him has actually been the work of Pat Lee at all.
<p>
''Various artworks originally created by Lee for the covers of the first ''Generation 1'' limited series were also used by both [[Hasbro]] and [[Takara]] for their [[Commemorative Series]] and [[Transformers Collection]] series of reissues. Following the demise of Dreamwave, Hasbro would also continue to use cover artwork drawn by Lee for promotional images and various pieces of merchandise, such as a [[Transformers Monopoly]] board game. Presumably, the reason for this is because Hasbro no longer have to pay Lee for his art.}}

===Packaging art===
====Alternators====
* [[Smokescreen (G1)|Smokescreen]]
* [[Sideswipe (G1)|Side Swipe]]

{{Note|The packaging artwork for [[Alternators]] Smokescreen was also used for the profile card of Takara's ''Binaltech'' counterpart.}}

====Commemorative Series====
* Series III [[Jazz (G1)|Autobot Jazz]]
* Series IV [[Prowl (G1)|Prowl]]
* Series IV [[Red Alert (G1)|Red Alert]]
* Series V [[Hoist (G1)|Hoist]]
* Series V [[Inferno (G1)|Inferno]]
* Series VI [[Grapple (G1)|Autobot Grapple]]
* Series VII [[Hot Rod|Rodimus Prime]]
* Series VII [[Dirge (G1)|Dirge]]
* Series VIII [[Sideswipe (G1)|Side Swipe]]

{{Note|The artwork for Hoist, Inferno, Grapple, Rodimus Prime and Dirge was done specifically for these reissues; the rest was recycled from covers of Dreamwave's first ''Generation 1'' limited series.}}

====Transformers Collection====
* No.0 [[Optimus Prime (G1) toys|Convoy]] (Optimus Prime)
* No.1 Meister (Jazz)
* No.2 Prowl
* No.6 [[Megatron (G1) toys|Megatron]]
* No.7 Lambor (Sideswipe)
* No.10 [[Soundwave (G1)|Soundwave]]
* No.12 [[Mini Vehicle|Minibot Team]]
* No.16 [[Insecticon (G1)|Insectrons]] (Insecticons)

{{Note|None of these artworks were created specifically for these reissues, but were instead recycled from old promotional posters or covers of Dreamwave's first ''Generation 1'' limited series.}}

==Criticism and controversy==
[[Image:Patleehowtodrawoptimus.jpg|left|thumb|250px|1) Draw a circle. 2) Draw Optimus Prime. 3) Give him [[scraplet]]s. 4) Give him leprosy.]]

In addition to Lee's shoddy business practices, his art has also often been the target of criticism among fans. While, as noted above, he was initially praised by many fans for his "manga-like" drawing style (which is heavilly inspired by the character designs and visual cues used by [[Studio Ox]]), others criticized his tendency for exaggerated proportions, emphasis on rounded robot body parts, making the characters look "inflated" and marshmallow-like, a general lack of sequential storytelling skills and the overall look of his human characters (see "[[Dull surprise|dull surprise]]" for more on ''that''). Even his critics often admitted that his work for covers and posters was better than his actual comic book interior artwork; however, that would change soon when even his cover artwork saw a severe decline in quality starting with the second ''Generation 1'' limited series. The introduction of other artists who would draw Transformers characters in a similar style, while avoiding many of the problems Lee was criticized for, would further shift the public opinion against Lee's artwork. Rumors that Lee's drawing style was used as a standard for the internal "house style" that other Dreamwave artists had to follow didn't exactly help his reputation either.

Following the demise of Dreamwave, Lee would present himself as a victim of circumstances in various interviews, completely dodging the issue of unpaid creators and the existence of Dream Engine.<ref>[http://web.archive.org/web/20061120012852/http://www.wizarduniverse.com/magazine/wizard/000230624.cfm Wizard "interview" with Pat Lee following the closure of Dreamwave, archived version]</ref><ref>[http://forum.newsarama.com/showthread.php?threadid=39738 Newsarama interview with Pat Lee following the closure of Dreamwave]</ref> In addition, it would turn out that Lee had made sure to transfer ownership of his formerly company-owned Porsche to himself before giving up Dreamwave,<ref>[http://www.comicbookresources.com/columns/index.cgi?column=litg&article=2184 Lying in the Gutters reporting on the Pat Lee Porsche story]</ref> and had spent half a million Canadian dollars on a new luxury apartment even before the Dreamwave bankruptcy.<ref>[http://comicbooks.org/columns/index.cgi?column=litg&article=2203 Lying in the Gutters reporting on Pat Lee's new apartment]</ref>

In 2007, it would turn out that Lee's personal involvement in his girlfriend's beauty pageant campaign had resulted in him being unable to meet deadlines for issues of Top Cow's ''Cyberforce'' series. As a consequence, Pat had asked [[Alex Milne]] to draw those issues in his stead. After a few issues, what little credit was initially given to Milne was dropped entirely, with Pat submitting the artwork under his own name instead, paying Milne merely a fragment of the money Top Cow was paying him. When Top Cow found out, Pat stopped paying Milne entirely.<ref>[http://www.comicbookresources.com/columns/index.cgi?column=litg&article=2581 Lying in the Gutters reporting on Alex Milne ghosting for Pat Lee]</ref> Previously, other artists had also confirmed that Lee had only drawn the robot characters during his days at Dreamwave, leaving the backgrounds entirely to his (still credited) assistants.

In the fall of 2007, Aimee Chan changed her status on her [http://www.alivenotdead.com/aimeechan/details.html alive not dead social networking page to "single"]. Oops!

Recently, a newly registered Wikipedia user repeatedly tried to remove any reference to the controversies surrounding Pat Lee in his own article, instead replacing them with more PR-friendly resume details.<ref>[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:Contributions/Hyrocomics Contributions by Wikipedia user "Hyrocomics"]</ref> <ref>[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:Contributions/219.78.200.95 Contributions by IP 209.70.200.95]</ref> One can only wonder whether Pat himself took a cue from [[Floro Dery]].

{{-}}

==Trivia==
* Before the launch of Dreamwave's ''Transformers'' comic books, Pat expressed a certain level of ignorance with regard to the brand's history. For example, he claimed that, in retrospect, the [[Generation 1 (cartoon)|Transformers cartoon]] was so amazing that it was only a matter of time before the [[Generation 1 (toyline)|toys]] were made.<ref name="animefringe">[http://www.animefringe.com/magazine/01.03/feature/2/index.php3 Interview with animefringe.com]</ref> In the same interview, he also admitted liking [[Generation 1]] [[Sideswipe (G1)|Sideswipe]], whom he considers a "wicked character", regretting that he "died" in the [[The Transformers: The Movie|movie]].<ref name="animefringe"/>

* During Dreamwave's heyday, Dreamwave press releases would constantly titulate the company's president as a "superstar artist", even after the company had started hiring various other artists, including [[Don Figueroa]], most of whom would prove to be vastly more popular among fans than Lee.

[[Image:FuNaNa.jpg|right|thumb|250px|Those fancy Japanese characters look AWESOME. Too bad I can't read them.]]

* Fans discovered an old personal website Pat had set up prior to the big breakthrough with Dreamwave.<ref name="infrarred">[http://www.angelfire.com/pa/infrarred/ Infrarred] [sic] Pat Lee's Angelfire homepage</ref> In retrospect, many of the quotes and graphics featured on the site would prove to be either hilariously ironic or frighteningly prophetic, such as a promotional image depicting Pat, his brother Roger and then-Dreamwave exec Alvin Lee walking away from a nuclear explosion (see [[:Image:Dreamwave.jpg]]); or a header graphic that features his name, "Patrick Lee", replaced by random Katakana characters (ミチヤメノテヒフナナ), which read "''Michiyamenotehi Funana''". Soon, this would become his new nickname among fans, used exclusively in a mocking manner.

* Pat Lee once set a hill on fire.<ref name="infrarred"/>

* After the launch of Dream Engine, Lee's resume at the company's website claimed that he was responsible for relaunching "X-Men, Batman and more", thereby implying that those franchises had long lingered in a near-dead state until Superstar Funana blessed them with his divine reanimating powers.<ref>Pat's resume at the now defunct Dreamengine website.</ref>

* All of the above is ''absolutely true''. We're not kidding.

{{-}}
==Memorable quotes by and about Pat Lee==

{{quote|It is a mistake to suppose that men succeed through success; they much oftener succeed through failures.|Pat Lee <ref>[http://www.jazmaonline.com/interviews/interviews2.asp?intID=318 Jazma Online Interview]</ref>.}}

{{quote|If he ever wants out of comics, Pat Lee's got a heck of a career as an auto mechanic.|''Wizard Magazine''<ref>Verbatim quote from a <strike>[http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v472/dailyraider/patlee.jpg butt-kissing advert]</strike> article published in an issue of ''Wizard Magazine''.</ref>.}}

{{quote|First of all... Can I just say how nasty it is when the cab driver farts and doesn't roll down the window?? Geez... What's wrong with these guys - I mean, what do they eat? I was so grossed out I had to roll down the left AND right window just so he knew for sure I was pissed!.|Pat Lee<ref>Bizarre quote from[http://www.alivenotdead.com/patlee/Van+Ness+Transformers+Lap+Top-profile-129515.html Pat Lee's blog]</ref>.}}

{{-}}

==See also==
* [[Dull surprise]]

{{-}}
==Other external links==
* [http://www.myspace.com/patleeart PatLeeArt] at MySpace
* [http://www.alivenotdead.com/patlee Pat Lee's alive not dead profile blog site]
* [http://patleeart.deviantart.com/ Pat Lee's deviantART page.]

==References==
<references />

[[Category: Colorists|Lee, Pat]]
[[Category: Designers|Lee, Pat]]
[[Category: Dreamwave|Lee, Pat]]
[[Category: Illustrators|Lee, Pat]]
[[Category: Pencillers|Lee, Pat]]<div id="wikia-credits"><br /><br /><small>From [http://transformers.wikia.com Teletraan I: The Transformers Wiki], a [http://www.wikia.com Wikia] wiki.</small></div>

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Pat Lee