From the annals of Comics History, a column Steve Gerber wrote for Rolling Stone in 1975 – that never ran – about the plight of Superman’s creators Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster, and the way comic book creators are treated by publishers:

Comic book artists and writers are still paid on a per-page basis, not by the hour or by the job, unlike freelance writers and illustrators in other fields. There’s a reason. When printing and engraving costs go up, the publishers can make ends come slightly closer to meeting by chopping a page off the editorial matter of a book. In the past five years, comics have declined from an average of 20 pages of story matter per issue to 17. So although page rates have risen dramatically since the 40′s (rates for writers now average about $18 per page; pencil artists around $40; inkers in the $25 range), it’s all the creator can do to keep pace with inflation.

“It must be understood that the comic book industry is 20 years behind the times,” states Neal Adams. “Therefore, the guys who run the companies still approach the question of the rights of artists and writers the way they did 20 years ago: it’s the job of the creative person to produce for the businessman and the businessman’s job to make money. Anything the writer or artist does is like piecework in a factory.”

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