Dispute erupts over George Pratt art book crowdfunder

The Kickstarter for Into White, an art book retrospective of the work of illustrator George Pratt has seemingly collapsed just short of the printers, following a clash between Pratt and the book’s publisher Joel Meadows. Both claim a misappropriation of funds, with Meadows seeking legal advice for defamation.

George Pratt is a reputable illustrator and comics artist whose painted work on covers and interiors at the Big Two across the 1990s and early 2000s earned him many fans. He is best known for the DC graphic novel Enemy Ace: War Idyll (1990), based on the DC war comic by Robert Kanigher and Joe Kubert; Batman: Harvest Breed (2001); and Wolverine: Netsuke (2002). All earned the artist Harvey, Eisner and international comics award recognition.

Joel Meadows is a British comics personality who founded UK comics magazine Tripwire, which has been operating in various forms since 1992. In recent years Meadows had turned to Kickstarter to bring Tripwire and his own creative endeavours to life. George Pratt’s art book, Into White, was to be Meadows first foray into broader publishing.

Planned as a 9″x12″ 250 page book, the original Kickstarter for Into White: The Art of George Pratt took place between May 12 to June 11, 2025, making over £38,000 on a £5,000 funding goal (about $50,000). Late pledges brought the total sum to over £41,000 (roughly $55,000) by August 2025. In an update on April 4, Joel Meadows claimed that – after a delay for Pratt and his designer to revise the book, which had been expanded to 336 pages – Into White was headed to the printers. Pratt even posted an update on the campaign on April 6 showcasing the chapter spreads for the book, but mentioning the book was being sent for printers proofs (not full printing). Suddenly on April 15, Meadows declared to backers that the project had been cancelled.

Meadows said:

“Dear supporters

“So George Pratt has cancelled the book and we are trying to arrange a refund schedule for everyone. However George Pratt is now in possession of $20,000 and it is unclear how those funds will be used to issue refunds towards all of the pledges on this campaign.

“It is unfortunate it has come to this but this book has been killed by Pratt himself.
At Pratt’s specific request, Tripwire is also no longer involved with any aspect of this project.”

Pratt, who was seemingly no longer able to access the Kickstarter to give a statement, emailed all backers telling a different side of the story. In a post to the Facebook group devoted to his art, it was claimed that when the book was set to head to the printers, Pratt found out “there was only $20,000 left of the money [Joel Meadows] raised through the Kickstarter” with $30,000 having been already spent by Meadows on “Personal Expenses” (full message can be read at the end of this post).

Allegedly, as a result of this discovery, Pratt demanded the remaining funds (which he received April 9), and as a result of a breach of trust ended his partnership with Meadows and Tripwire’s role as publisher. He also intended to self-publish the book.

Pratt wrote:

“I want to assure you, I am not going to let Joel’s actions get in the way of this book finally coming to life. I just spent over 10 months of my life pouring my heart and soul into this thing. I am beyond proud of what I have created and cannot wait to share it with all of you.
“This book will happen, and you will all receive a copy.”

On April 17, Meadows posted a public response via Tripwire’s website, his personal social media, and the Kickstarter campaign. In it, he claimed that Pratt made a series of unilateral decisions about the book, without discussion or consultation, including adding an extra 80 pages, dropping the paperback edition (which was a tier of the original Kickstarter), and expecting a larger print run, all of which would have increased shipping costs.

Meadows also mentions that, after Kickstarter’s cut, the project paid out around $46,000 (some $4000 of the $50,000). Of the $26,000 spent, Meadows mentions that part of the Kickstarter moneys would have gone on “the running and admin costs of the publisher”, a $2000 sum is also mentioned as having been paid to a copy editor.

He said:

“I took money out of the campaign because I started the campaign, ran and administrated it from June until the end of March. The purpose of running a campaign is to bring in revenue as part of an arrangement between a creator and publisher in this case. This has been our business model for Tripwire over the past few years.”

As for the $20,000 Pratt received, Meadows claimed that it was delivered as a result of bullying on Pratt’s part – and no refunds can be given for the now-cancelled project until it is returned. Further, he concludes by suggesting he is taking legal advice for defamation over Pratt’s assertions about his character.

With claim and counter claim, this could get messy. 

George Pratt’s full statement sent by email to Kickstarter backers:

Dear Supporters,

When I posted an update on April 5th, the book was finally done. We were ready to order a printer’s proof and then move ahead and run the books once we were happy with the press quality. Very exciting!

That’s when Joel told me there was only $20,000 left of the money he raised through the Kickstarter. He had spent all the other money on “Personal Expenses” $30,000.00. Over 60% of the funds. Joel ran the Kickstarter campaign himself and controlled all the money. I assumed what we raised was in safe hands. Untouched until press time, right? When I found out he had spent the money, I was shocked, enraged, and brokenhearted. I demanded Joel wire me the remaining funds, the $20,000; so that he couldn’t mishandle any more of the money. He did wire me that money on April 9th. Mind you, I had never had access to a single dollar of the funds prior to this point.

Once I received the money, I realized I could no longer trust Joel as a partner. He told me he had no plans to replace the money he spent. So I told Joel he would no longer be publishing my book. I gave Joel a cease and desist to stop him from contacting any distributors, comic shops, book stores, etc. to prevent him from making any money on preorders or in any way being a representative of my book.

I began speaking with representatives of Kickstarter (the company) for their advice on how best to move forward to get everyone reimbursed. However, once I informed Joel I was speaking to Kickstarter, he removed my access to the Kickstarter campaign, and then posted the update you received about the project being cancelled.

Since Joel posted his update I have received many emails of concern from the amazing community of artists and supporters like you, providing help and solutions.

I want to assure you, I am not going to let Joel’s actions get in the way of this book finally coming to life. I just spent over 10 months of my life pouring my heart and soul into this thing. I am beyond proud of what I have created and cannot wait to share it with all of you.
This book will happen, and you will all receive a copy.

I did manage to secure all of your email addresses before Joel locked me out of the Kickstarter, and I will continue to update all supporters via email.

Thank you again for your support. It means everything to me.

Sincerely,

George Pratt

Joel Meadows/Tripwire full public statement, April 17:

With George Pratt making a public comment about the campaign for Into White: The Art of George Pratt, we felt that it was important for us to issue a statement…

As anyone who has run a Kickstarter knows, and we have run at least a dozen successful campaigns before, the purpose of any campaign is to cover the expenses required to print the book to satisfy the people who have pledged on the campaign and also to cover the running and admin costs of the publisher. It is not designed to cover an indeterminate amount decided arbitrarily at a later date without the consultation and full consent of the publisher. I took money out of the campaign because I started the campaign, ran and administrated it from June until the end of March. The purpose of running a campaign is to bring in revenue as part of an arrangement between a creator and publisher in this case. This has been our business model for Tripwire over the past few years.

So the money is currently there to print the book as per our original agreement, page count and format but Pratt has decided to act unilaterally and has changed the format (added 86 pages without our consent, dropped the paperback even though the campaign had a number of pledges for a paperback edition, included text content in the book without any consultation with us and vastly increased the print run). Changing the format and page count increased the weight of the book, which incurs extra postage costs for fulfilling the campaign. All of these decisions he took unilaterally way beyond the costs from the original estimate and the first we knew of these changes was when he announced them as a done deal to us without any consultation with us.

I would dearly love to see this book published and a few days ago, I contacted Mr Pratt to suggest a solution whereby we reduce the print run to the amount we had originally intended to print but he wasn’t prepared to listen or compromise.

Because of George’s decision to pull the book, we are hoping that we can remunerate everyone who has pledged on the campaign. But currently he is holding the funds which he insisted we send him back without explaining what he will be doing with this money currently. For us to offer any kind of refund towards this campaign, he needs to send this money back to us as the campaign is in the Tripwire name.

Since I wrote this statement, Pratt has chosen to release defamatory statements stating that I stole $30,000 from the campaign when we only received £36,000/ $46,000 after Kickstarter took their cut. I have sent $20,000 to him last week so that proves that he is lying about this and it’s easily provable how much the campaign raised and what the project was about including the original page count and format, all of which he changed and altered and bullied me into acquiescing to his demands. I also paid our copy editor $2000 very recently as agreed between ourselves. As with every other campaign I have run, the campaign included money to cover administration to set up and run the campaign, promote the book and negotiate deals and terms with places like Lunar, Bud Plant, Stuart Ng Books and others.

The book could still be published as per the original kickstarter campaign even with the additional page count and weight but any decision to move forward lies in the hands of George Pratt as he is in possession of the remaining funds from the campaign and the final designed book.

He has now stated that he intends to publish the book himself which he is able to do as he has the files and the $20,000 I sent to him. He bullied his way into the position he is in so I felt I had to set the record straight as he is attempting to destroy my name wherever he can.

We are currently seeking legal advice and looking at whether anything he has said is defamatory.