There have been a couple of interesting posts over the last couple of days about Marvel’s interim deal with the Writer’s Guild of America. First up, in a long editorial about the deal, Don MacPherson wonders if the creators of Marvel’s comic books are getting anything from their Digital Comics Unlimited initiative:
These recent developments give one pause and give way to questions. Has Marvel factored this new revenue stream into its contracts with the men and women who create their content? If not, could Marvel justify any kind of resistance to such additional compensation in light of its sister company’s acquiescence to the demands of the WGA? Might comics writers and artists look at the WGA’s actions and see the advantage of organization and solidarity, leading to a similar labor entity in the North American comics business?
It’s possible these questions may be moot. For all I know, Marvel is ahead of the game and has already acknowledged an obligation to beef up its payment package for talent. Then again, it’s possible that Marvel sees the online venture as a life preserver in an ocean of business challenges such as shifts from print to broadcast and online advertising, the added costs of the afore-mentioned creator royalties and dwindling circulation numbers (at least as compared to the industry’s heyday decades ago).
Second, Johanna Draper Carlson wonders if Joe Quesada feels bad about crossing the picket line to appear on the Colbert Report. Or does Marvel’s recent deal with the WGA outweigh Quesada’s appearance on the writer-less show, as Jason M. Bryant said in our comments section yesterday? What say you, fandom?
January 29th, 2008 at 10:24 am
I guess i dont see the issue here, Joe Q may technically be a writer but since he is not writing for tv or films i dont see why he (or any other non-tv/movie writer)can be blamed for going against a strike he has no part of, perhaps there is some part of this story i am missing.
January 29th, 2008 at 10:57 am
Oh his message board, Bendis posted this press release, and someone snarked back “What about paying creators for MDCU?”, and he responded, “They’re working on it.”
Take that for what it’s worth.
-Steve!
January 29th, 2008 at 11:20 am
You know, sometimes I’m just babbling. I really don’t need the pressure of being taken seriously.
January 29th, 2008 at 12:40 pm
LITG has been covering this for a while.
Marvel do not pay royalties, only “Incentive payments” which pay out when sales hit certain targets. They do not cover non-USA sales, something that caused consternation to one creator when they discovered that their 30,000 selling book sold considerable more than that when reprinted in Europe.
Regarding the MarvelDCU, Marvel are not paying anything to creators until they have seen how profitable it is. And neither are they obliged to. A number of creators have expressed dissatisfaction to me.
January 29th, 2008 at 9:08 pm
“They do not cover non-USA sales”
Including the UK?
Are the Soleil creators being paid for the American editions of their work?
Where’s all the money going?
//\Oo/\\
January 30th, 2008 at 4:24 pm
People really don’t get the whole concept of crossing a picket line.
You’re a SCAB if you cross the picket line to do the work of people who are picketing. But if you cross the picket line to do business with the company the people are striking against, you’re still disregarding the whole strike and hurting the effectiveness of said strike.
By crossing the line to appear on a show that the writers are striking against, you are not supporting the writers or the WGA.
Marc Guggenheim has said, in a thread on the mothership: “Speaking solely as a WGA member (and not a representative thereof), I’m not disappointed in Joe at all. He isn’t a member of the WGA (or the DGA, SAG or IATSE, for that matter) and, therefore, has no legal or moral obligation to honor the picket line. Nevertheless, he still solicited the opinion of at least one highly successful WGA member before committing to go on the show — a classy move, in my opinion, that he didn’t have to do.”
I disagree with the moral obligation thing. Union member or not, anyone who considers them any sort of friend of labor should feel morally obligated to stay away from a business during a strike.
Personally, I’m starting to wonder if the “highly successful” WGA member was Loeb…who just so happens to, also, be a producer, I believe.
January 31st, 2008 at 9:37 pm
“Are the Soleil creators being paid for the American editions of their work?”
European deals are very different. ALL comics are creator-owned (at least in some fashion) and the creators are paid mostly by royalties. So, yes, they probably will be paid.
(About 9-12% of the cover price of every comic sold depending on the deal they have with the publisher, in case you are wondering.)
Best,
Hunter (Pedro Bouça)