Recently I covered Mini-MegaCon with the side intention of bringing to attention the practice of comic book artists “copying” other artwork. I had plans to interview Greg Land, have a round table discussion with other artists, and I bailed out. I seen Land at his table, and he seemed like a sad guy and couldn’t bring myself to insult him while he is with his daughters (did he bring his kids on purpose). However my feelings on this subject no longer required an interview by him directly. Now first, I hope you notice I threw the term “copying” in quote marks a few sentences ago because there is a little blurriness when interpreting what qualifies as copying?

Homages. Paying tribute is something that happens in comics quite often. Right off the top of my head I can remember Spider-Man #1, and how many others have paid homage to it in the years.





Then there is the other side of what “copying” can mean, and why you have to stop buying into it. Some, if not all artists, reference other work to help finish a piece. Many artists, even well known greats like Alex Ross, take pictures of a person or even themselves to make sure their drawing is proportioned and exactly the look they were going for. Referencing in itself is not a bad thing at all.

Some artists seem to have taken this “copying” to a whole new level by literally copying other art and doing a re-skin on the costume to make it theirs. Now taking other peoples art is commonplace in other forms of entertainment; music is a great example. Sometimes a DJ samples another song, in electronic or rap music. This is something people have problems with. Then there are artists like DJ Shadow who mixes tracks to the point where they are brand new tracks, I don’t believe copying applies to this. Covering a song is of course a homage.

For a better analogy, comedians are not able to copyright their jokes, so thus people like Carlos Mencia are able to make a career by stealing other comedian’s material. I think we all can agree this is wrong and shouldn’t be supported. I believe the problem with artists copying other peoples work, no matter the medium, is a lack of awareness. While there are geeks like myself who do research on things we like and find this information, we the minority.

I end up being forced to ’separate the art from the artist’. Knowing that money is going to an artist’s pocket that I don’t support becomes necessary.

A very relevant example is the Xbox LIVE Arcade game, Shadow Complex. As it turns out, the game is based in a world created by Orson Scott Card, a homophobe who engages in public speaking events to preach his views of what marriage should be. In protest of this man, gamers are boycotting the game; which I agree with, despite the fact that the team who worked on the game may not share Card’s views. But in the eyes of many, knowing that a percentage of their money could go to support Card is enough for them to not put down the 1,200 MSPoints ($15) for the game.”

Now back to the meat of this issue, comic book artists copying works. First, there is a fair amount of photo reference, which I admit is okay:



Now it gets slightly weird when the artist copies their own work:





Finally, this is where I draw the line, copying another comic book artists work, clearly not in a paying homage way:


Scott Mcdaniel | Greg Land


Greg Land | Travis Charest


Jim Lee | Greg Land


So how does this happen? Surely Joe Quesada, Marvel’s Editor-in-Chief, would not let such things continue, right? Well, his reply to the copying of works by others leaves you to believe that he is all about business. Quesada makes sure to point out that Greg Land “bailed us out from some very bad deadline crunches” (proven also by this video I took of Greg Land at Mini-MegaCon below the Quesada quote). Then goes off on a weird side tirade attempting to demean people who do not approve of this copying of work because of his kids:

“I want you to close your eyes after reading this and imagine this possible scenario. Lets say you got what you wanted and through your efforts such a stir occurred through fandom and every publisher that Greg Land was no longer working in comics and couldn’t do what he loved to do; what he was meant to do to support his family. Would you feel better? Could you sleep at night? If the answer to both of these questions is yes, then I guess there’s nothing more than I can say on the subject outside of keep doing what you’re doing.”



Comic book artist Brandon Peterson was questioned by my cousin on this very subject. He was candid and spoke against the practice. He admits that references is sometimes necessary for you to get your own take on a subject accurately, but it is frowned upon among other artist.

There you have it. While I feel that referencing a photo as inspiration or as a homage is acceptable, I also support the idea to stop buying comics in which artists who participate in heavy copying are involved. I know it sucks when you are in the middle of a story arch and the next few issues are drawn by one of these hacks, but be strong and do not buy those issues. I know it’s a clichéd saying, but “speak with your wallet”.

I know there are many who know the usual names of these copying artists (Greg Land, David Mack, Rob Liefeld), but if you are just finding out about this practice in comic books, check out these sites for great information and conversation about this very topic: the official Marvel forums, 606 Studios, Digital Webbing, NeoGAF, the very awesome JIM SMASH !!! blog, and Newsarama

A very special kudos to Comic Book Resources which has a whole thread for [Petition] Get Greg Land off of Uncanny X-Men

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[ For those interested, my Livejournal'sh account of Mini-MegaCon is here and if you want to see the Cosplay click here ]