In the middle of all this came the Fleetway Film and Television debacle. This is described more fully in the later pages of the 2000AD section of this site. Suffice it to say, that Fleetway were trying to get me and other 2000AD creators to sign away all rights, including moral rights, to characters we'd created for 2000AD, claiming that they owned all rights anyway and signing this new document was merely a formality. As no money was on offer in exchange for these rights, I declined to sign.
This incensed Fleetway management and they tried to persuade Egmont Interactive MD Jon Davidge to put pressure on me to sign their wretched piece of paper. To his credit, Jon told them he had no power to force me to do that.
Interestingly it was shortly after this that the head office of Egmont in Denmark decided that enough had been invested in the Fun Online venture and instructed the German office to shut down Egmont Interactive operations.

That meant, with the third issue of Fun Online just despatched to the printers, the magazine was cancelled.
Considering how much had been spent editorially on that issue, it seemed like madness not to publish at least that one and get back some of the investment via magazine sales.
But the decision was final. In November 1996, Fun Online was dead.
Some of the Egmont Interactive staff were absorbed back into the UK Fleetway company. Michelle French returned to the Fleetway Production Department. Gary Bell returned to the Fleetway marketing department and Richard Burton was appointed a Managing Editor in the Fleetway Editorial Department.
Both Jon Davidge - whom Fleetway had seen as a thorn in their side since his resignation the previous summer - and I needed to find some alternative employment.