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Studio Ironcat was a small publishing company based in Fredericksburg, Virginia, dedicated to publication of manga and later, Amerimanga. The company is most known for its publication of the first volume of Megatokyo, a prominent webcomic, as well as the flamboyant style of one of its founders, Steve Bennett. The company was also known for regular turmoil within its wake, primarily during the years 2001–2003. One of these led to a period where the company did business under a different name as I.C. Entertainment.
The company, commonly referred to as "Ironcat", published under the Studio Ironcat, I.C. Entertainment and Fuzzy Kitten imprints. They also had an adult imprint, Sexy Fruit. Over the course of its lifespan, Studio Ironcat published over fifty titles.
For the first few years of business, things were running somewhat smoothly, but this changed in 1999, with the first major problem for Ironcat.
During the post-Kimura restructuring by Kanzaki and the Bennetts, Office assistant Kathryn Hofer left in January 2000 due to lack of pay and bias treatment, Chief Graphics Designer and Copy Editor Mark Hofmann departed in June 2000, citing an issue with internal, "high-school" Office politics and lack of pay. Hofer's and Hofman's grievances would later prove to be tragically prophetic, as later employee departures would cite the same problems.
On October 6, 2003, Brown, Johnson, and Graphics Editor Ellen Ohlmacher gave an interview to ANN, accusing Bennett of denying pay to themselves and several other company employees. A follow-up report by ANN stated that "financial documents obtained by ANN demonstrate a three-month gap in one employee's payment from March 31 to July 3, followed in September by back pay of only one-third of the $1,800 the employee claims to be owed. The records also indicate other former employees have not received some or all of their claimed back pay." ANN later reported both Brown and Johnson eventually received full back pay as of October 27, though it is unknown if anyone else had received their missing pay.
As Ironcat's finances deteriorated and internal politics began to leak to the public, the company gained a reputation as a hotbed of "chaos", filled with "high-school politics" amongst staffmembers. At one point the company held a "Save Ironcat" sale at the 2003 Otakon anime convention. During this time, the company returned to the Studio Ironcat name in October 2003, having settled amicably with Kanzaki over the name and other issues.
However, the Amerimanga ventures turned out to be disastrous. The first volume of Megatokyo, released in January 2003, was a bonafide hit, with the entire first printing selling out. Ironcat prepared for the release of the second volume when the publishing deal between Ironcat and Fred Gallagher, Megatokyo's creator, fell through. Gallagher would later write on the Megatokyo web site that the parting between him and Ironcat was amicable, though rumors had it that Bennett stated that Gallagher demanded more money for the license. However, many Megatokyo fans noted that Ironcat never shipped out many of their pre-orders for Vol. 1 and also insisted that fans pay in full for pre-orders on Vol. 2 when it had not even gone to press. Gallagher would eventually take Megatokyo to rival publisher Dark Horse Comics.
However, while Ironcat had expressed an interest in continuing the series, it would have been difficult as Senior Editor Kei Blue had departed the company in July, and fourteen other AmeriManga artists followed suit. Blue told ANN that a clause specifying a timetable for product release and payment was included in the AmeriManga artists' contracts, and that when Ironcat failed to meet the timetable, the contracts were automatically voided. Afterwards, several artists publicly stated that they would not work with Ironcat again.
Additionally, Ironcat began to have problems with some of their other artists. The deal with Dean fell through, with Dean opting not to publish Real Life with Ironcat. A more public disagreement occurred when Bennett stated that Ironcat could not contact Japanese artist Saya, creator of Central City, blaming it on an ex-employee who allegedly took the artist's information. In turn, Saya made a public statement, voicing that she was easily able to be contacted via her website, that she had never received any payments from the company and that she would never work with Ironcat again. She also stated that Bennett "has no right to say this about his former employee. If they really wish to talk to me, my e-mail address is very easy to find because there were links from their former web page to mine."
Namir Deiter came too late to help Ironcat. Deep in debt and unable to obtain additional capital, Ironcat was forced to cease printing its current properties and to decline options to license promising manga titles.
On January 28, 2005, Studio Ironcat closed operations and made a statement regarding this matter on their website. From that point, the Studio Ironcat website remained open with orders still being taken for present stock, but the site served as a clearing house for the remainder of Ironcat's published stock. On January 12, 2006, a notice was placed on the front page that the catalog was being sent to a Liquidation for final dissolution of remaining stock. The site is now closed.
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