t economist suntribune business saturday april 13 2002 into comic giant roger left and pat lee transform a model of domesticity trie- dirt devil into a transformer- postereater the brothers r are behind mark h a m b as ed dreamwave productions a fast- growing comic book pub lisher staff photosjoerd witteveen by carol cooper special with all hard work no play and a little luck two york region broth ers have transformed a favourite childhood toy into a comic book success story the april issue of transformers generation 1 from pat and roger lees markhambased company dreamwave productions was aprils bestselling comic book in north america with a third run in the works the first and second printings have sold a total of 210000 copies outselling publications from comic book giants marvel dc and image it just has been absolutely incredible said president art director and penciler 26yearold pat lee of richmond hill our company has been through ups and downs more downs than ups and the comic book industry wasnt the strongest place to be creating comic books started as a childhood hobby for the brothers they have little formal training in the field when we were young we were always drawing comic books pat said when we were 12 or 13 years old we did our first transformers comic book in our backyard it was just for fun it was just something we could show our friends four years ago we had no idea we would be a publishing company little did we know that we would have a day like this when we would have a licence for transformers transformer toys launched dur ing the early 80s through a tv show are vehicles such as cars trucks and planes that can be manipulated to transform into robots they were favourites of the lee brothers we collected the toys from the beginning when they first came out pat said we were so into the cartoon show we memorized the lyrics the sounds we memorized everything even to this day we know the lyrics to the song a onepage illustration started off dreamwaves recent success when wizard magazine asked pat to create atransformer art piece for its 80s nostalgia edition based on overwhelmingly posi tive reader response- dreamwave beat out 10 bigname competitors to win licensing rights from hasbro transformers manufacturer to produce comic books and other items such as posters andxalen- dars the licence came in december 2001 just as the studio was prepar ing to go out on its own previously image comics published dream- waves original comics such as darkminds warlands echo and banished knights transformers generation 1 is the first independent publication for dreamwave productions the company began four years ago with five employees arid worked out of pats old bedroom see toys page 12 family practice 2002 presents a whole new series the arthritis socieiiu tomorrows gift whether is a bequest a yilt life insurance or i masters week specials you can plan to ensure conihuiinj support lor nrlhrilis research nearly four million canadians who counting on you i or more about our planned yivinj program contact the arthritis society give to oivc hope richmond hill 5805 177 educational entertaining enlightening dr stephen mclaren chief of family practice community event series 2002 tuesday april 16 2002 7pm 830pm markham stoufryiile hospital auditorium admission and parking free courtesy of our sponsors markham stouffville hospital merck frosst tstxftrfife mf hospltal jtgolf i evolutions i its a groove thing markham location 5328 hwy 7 1 block east of mccowan 9052016621