If you’re on Twitter, you may have already noticed that today is #CreatorOwnedDay on the service – and elsewhere on the internet – with comic creators challenged to come up with new characters and ideas that they would own and control. It’s also the first day of Tom Spurgeon’s effort to mention creators’ names in connection with their creations instead of the publishers, something he launches with a post naming three characters’ creators in case you weren’t aware. Clearly, creator rights are on a lot of minds today, and deservedly so, as Steve Bissette points out when responding to the latest round of Avengers movie teases:
I won’t be seeing The Avengers movie. I will encourage others to avoid it, if and as I can.
The thought of sitting through another bloated multi-million dollar-budgeted charade about how “it’s right to fight for justice” when Marvel/Disney can’t cough up the equivalent of, say, one day’s shooting budget for catering or grips to toss a bone to Jack’s heirs—well, that act of enduring that film isn’t at all attractive or appealing to me any longer on any level.
THE AVENGERS? It’s a sham.
If you’re not bothered by, or have made peace with, the Kirby Estate/Marvel situation, then what about the Siegel and Shuster heirs and DC, in regards to the ownership of Superman? Or the Watchmen situation with Alan Moore, Dave Gibbons and DC? Or, for that matter, the lawsuit between Tony Moore and Robert Kirkman over The Walking Dead‘s rights and royalties?
Creator rights are one of the big, messy areas of comics that have historically only been addressed half-heartedly (albeit with good intentions); whatever the reason, it feels as if the collective patience with this unresolved existence is wearing thin, and change may be around the corner. Things like #CreatorOwnedDay and Spurgeon’s efforts may be small starts, but here’s hoping that they lead to bigger things.
March 1st, 2012 at 11:47 am
I’ll probably get flamed for this but I’m tired of whiny creator’s and their families bitching about how they got screwed. Frankly nobody forced them to work in the field they did, there was no gun being held to their head or anything like that.
I really don’t see the situation any different then say the housing market where the builder who does all the work building the house doesn’t make anywhere near the amount of money that the mortgage holder makes when that house is sold.
The publishers are the one who put up their own money with no guarantee of profits to have these characters marketed and published, that entitles them to the lion share of profits. This is how business works.
March 1st, 2012 at 1:31 pm
I agree with Red everythng you said is right it was all work for hire or they signed the contract so they all need to deal with it. I’m getting sick of all of this.
March 1st, 2012 at 4:33 pm
You two guys know nothing about the history of comics. Please keep your opinions to yourself until you do.
March 1st, 2012 at 4:34 pm
houses are easier to build than drawing comics. in fact most houses are built by more than one person.
March 1st, 2012 at 4:38 pm
I love how this guy wants to talk all about Jack Kirby getting credit when 3 of the characters, Hawkeye, Black Widow and Iron Man were created by Don Heck. But Don Heck’s name doesn’t get headlines, which is a shame because he’s every bit the artists Kirby and Ditko were.
Also, If I’m the fx guy and I spend 40 hours a week for 2 years working on the avengers why should I not get a cut of the profits but the comic creators kids get some, I’d understand if it was actually Jack, Don, or Steve, they put in the work.
March 1st, 2012 at 5:08 pm
Jack Kirby didn’t build the house, he invented it.
March 1st, 2012 at 5:15 pm
Marvel would be nothing without Kirby, all creators deserve credit for their creations, Kirby especially.
March 1st, 2012 at 5:21 pm
Credit doesn’t equal money, Jeffrey. You need to grow up quite a bit, no matter your actual age.
March 1st, 2012 at 6:02 pm
Lots of spoiled children in here masquerading as being fiscally conservative. It’s ridiculous how people want copyright to pretty much only benefit businesses.
March 2nd, 2012 at 6:23 am
4 interior pages from John Byrne’s new creator owned superhero comic TRIO #1:
http://westfieldcomics.com/blog/interviews-and-columns/idw-previews-frankenstein-alive-alive-and-trio/
March 2nd, 2012 at 7:37 am
I love smaller and creator owned books. I plan to spend this weekend reading Essex County and Daytripper (again).
March 2nd, 2012 at 8:41 am
Creator owned can bite everyone. McFarlane was a great champion of it and left Marvel for his own company and yet fought Gaiman over creator owned rights. Now he has to cough up $450,000 (after interest). Rich has the story on his site for those interested.