Waldman watched the list of publishers shutting down operations and selling-off-assets sales, and grabbed printing machines, plates, artwork, and unsold books, as well as disposable coverless books, whose covers had been torn off and sent to the distributors for refund, at garbage bin prices (e.g. almost nothing). Because the books had already had their original cost refunded, it was then illegal to sell them. Apparently, he had new artwork done for new covers, and sometimes changed the name of the lead characters, or named the books after lesser characters, whose names were changed, and never had their own books. So they were safe from being recognised by copyright owners, despite being sold grouped in packages in toy stores and discount stores. His potential problem of breaking copyright and trademark laws was almost completely avoided because these comic books weren't sold in the regular comic book outlets, and the copyright infringements couldn't be discovered, because the books' insides couldn't be noticed, as the books were inside plastic bags. The covers showing drew no attention, as the characters were not really recognisable (as they were drawn off model), and their title names were different from their stories' characters' names.
In addition, to making some profits, it may also be that he used his I.W. Comics and Super Comics for a tax shelter by taking the standard writeoffs for various operations, or, he, potentially, at least, ran large personal expenses through the not-so-profitable company.
Link to the book:
Tippy Terry 01
