tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2837001751311078781.post8852994931920079755..comments2024-03-28T05:23:01.707-05:00Comments on A MOMENT OF CEREBUS: The Creators Bill Of Rights 25th AnniversaryA Moment Of Cerebushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02718525538144698138noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2837001751311078781.post-4332086580854025192013-11-18T00:50:33.348-06:002013-11-18T00:50:33.348-06:00Minor, pointless quibble: Jim Lawson has been work...Minor, pointless quibble: Jim Lawson has been working on the TMNT since before 1988 and would have kept doing so if Pete hadn't sold out to Viacom. <br /><br />That said, I can see both points of view. Using the TMNT as an example- Given that a lot of artists have gone through and done a lot of minor TMNT comics work, those guys shoulda got (and did get) page rates for doing an issue or two here and there. Jim, on the other hand, drew thousands more pages of the TMNT than Kevin and Pete ever did and created entirely what I consider the best TMNT comic book story (Blindsight). I had read that he and Steve Murphy (who had written a significant chunk of TMNT lore) got a share of the 60 million bucks Viacom paid for the IP, but I doubt he got a sum anywhere near what he was morally (or at least what I consider to be moral) entitled to get. Especially considering that Viacom now owns the literally thousands and thousands of story pages he wrote and drew, which are being reprinted and will likely be reprinted over and over again as long as some TMNT fan is there to buy them. I read an interview just after the TMNT were sold where he stated that he never got a raise on his page rate in the entire time he was working on those books- which is kind of amazing to me. <br /><br />As for the Creator's Bill of Rights itself- I always felt like it was just a way to remind comic book professionals, newbies, and wannabes that your creativity has value and if you're not careful you may just end up buttfucked like Siegel and Shuster. Every bullet point on that list of 'rights' is in reference to the horrible things that happened to all of the greats who were foolish enough to trust their employers or timid enough to be bullied by them (or more accurately, too poor to afford a lawyer and too in need of work to say 'no'). "It could happen to YOU."Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2837001751311078781.post-74650675600304734052013-11-17T01:49:13.563-06:002013-11-17T01:49:13.563-06:00The Bill of Rights seems like a misplaced effort t...The Bill of Rights seems like a misplaced effort to me. I think the problem for creators is not a lack of initial legal rights, but a deprivation of rights through bad contracts and through a lack of bargaining power. <br /><br />Many, if not all of the rights claimed in the bill are and were already protected under the Canadian Copyright Act or otherwise under Canadian law. Most of the listed rights would have been (and continue to be) covered by section 13 of the Copyright Act, which says that the author is the first owner of the copyright in his or her work. The default position of the Copyright Act is that creators have copyright in their own works. <br /><br />Also, it seems redundant to feel the need to declare that you have the right to consult a lawyer in business transactions. Rest assured, this right exists. It sounds like the problem here was comics creators either not knowing or not asserting their rights. <br /><br />The real overall problem is that creators must contract with somebody if they wish to disseminate their works, which means creators must grant at least some rights to others, or nothing can happen. The contracts have been the real problem, in that creators have been contracting out of all or most of their rights. Stating that creators start out with all creative rights is not a solution to that problem. There is nothing in the "Bill of Rights" that protects artists from signing bad contracts.<br /><br />Furthermore, what Dave proposes from his relationship with Gerhard is irrelevant to the real issue of protecting creators from bad contracts, since ultimately, Dave’s decision to make Gerhard a partner was at Dave’s discretion, or a matter of Gerhard’s bargaining power in their relationship. That basically boils down to the same reasons Marvel or DC make their decisions, namely that they think it is in their business interests. Dave and Ger also agreed on when and on what terms to end their business relationship. It seems like Dave’s relationship with Gerhard was best handled between the two of them on a contractual basis and not through preexisting rules imposed from without. This is exactly how Marvel and DC prefer to do business. <br /><br />So frankly, it’s no wonder that the other creators weren’t impressed with Dave’s ideas. Dave’s business decisions could easily be characterized not as high-minded morality, but naked self interest: namely, keeping Gerhard happy so that Dave could finish the book.<br /><br />-Reginald P.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2837001751311078781.post-65108117467581922382013-11-17T01:29:49.781-06:002013-11-17T01:29:49.781-06:00I think it can't be understated just how impor...I think it can't be understated just how important a creative partner Gerhard was in the Cerebus project. Re-reading the early books makes it quite clear that Dave could not or would not produce a monthly comic that demanded so much of his time in researching and writing it if he also had to provide the sort of backgrounds that Gerhard could create. The last four fifths would have looked very different if he had. I love how Dave solved the problem with so much black space throughout much of <i>High Society</i> and then the white space of the latter HS and early <i>Church & State</i> issues, and no doubt he would have come up with creative solutions for other background needs, but the books as we know them are as good as they are because Gerhard did such great work for so long and that freed Dave to focus on writing it. A series of freelancing employees over a twenty-year period could not have made the book look better. I hope Gerhard benefited and continues to benefit from Cerebus being almost as much his life's work as it is Dave's. May their example of creative partnership and ownership, regardless of what it actually is at the moment, be one that is considered a historical one and a good one to follow for future such comics partnerships.Michael Grabowskinoreply@blogger.com