IN THE LAST published issue of Way of the Rat, there’s a storyline in which the comic book’s thieving heroes — Boon Sai Hong and his talking monkey, Po Po — are trapped in a cave of treasures. There’s no way out, no food or water, only piles and piles of gold taunting them as they slowly starve to death.

As a metaphor for CrossGen Comics — the maverick comic book company that published Way of the Rat and a slew of other titles during the early 2000s and briefly became one of Hollywood’s hottest property generators before flaming out in a spectacular bankruptcy — one could do a lot worse. There aren’t talking monkeys in this short, tragic business fable, but there is a kindof evil genie (Steven Spielberg), a type of fire-breathing dragon (Ross Perot) and a sort-of white knight (Disney). And, of course, there are piles and piles of just-out-of-reach riches.

“Like Camelot, it was brilliant and then disappeared,” says producer Michael Uslan, who helped CrossGen set up a slew of movie and TV projects during its brief heyday. “It could have been glorious had the roof not caved in.” The tale begins in Florida in 1999, when former computer whiz kid Mark Alessi cashed in from the tech boom to pursue his dream of launching a cutting-edge comic book brand. He sold his successful consulting firm, The Technical Resource Connection, for $44 million in stock to Perot Systems — the energy corporation headed by Perot, a rambunctious Texan who made a significant independent run for president in 1992 — and used the windfall to rent office space outside Tampa and hire a staff of writers and artists.