Start Shareaholic LikeButtonSetTop End Shareaholic LikeButtonSetTop

Happy Valentines Day!

If you are a big fan of comic art it is probably fair to say that you “love” comics. We all have favorite characters, stories, creators, publishers and comic shops that we may have proclaimed affection for at some time. Some of us love the medium and the nuances that make it unique as an art form. Some of us love to make comics because is the most comfortable way we have of expressing ourselves creatively.

Go ahead and say it, “I love comics!”

Don’t expect to find that quote printed on little candy hearts anytime soon.

People that are passionate about comics know that there is something special that attracts us to the medium that is not always easy to explain and is often quite different for each of us. Sometimes our passion for the medium blinds our judgement and poor decisions are made.

A lot of bad decisions have been made for the love of comics. Many creators have been so happy to be working professionally in a field they love that they threw caution to the wind and signed their soul over to you-know-who. The trail of casualties never ceases to amaze me and continues to grow.  Most surprising is that some of the biggest names in comics have been taken advantage of the most. Siegel, Schuster, Kirby, Simon, Finger, Barks, Ditko, Gerber, Colan, Wolfman, Moore, and now Friedrich top off an endless list of exploited victims.

If you are a fan of comics and are someone aspiring to work in the field it is hard not to know that the industry was built on the exploitation of creators. Work-for-hire was the norm and many creators literally gave away priceless creations to the major comic book publishing houses for the hope of a meager, steady income.

Most of those same talented comic purveyors, whose characters made scads of millions of dollars for their publishers,  struggled financially later in life and had little or no health benefits. Some have gone or are going to the grave penniless. A number of creators managed to get out of the industry while the going was good and found success elsewhere while never looking back on the field that scorned them.  Sad.

Fortunately, today, there are other options in the industry and, more importantly, creators have the best opportunity to take control of their creations than ever before. If you are a creator, don’t let your love for comics  blind you. Seek out those options. Learn and understand the laws about copyright and trademark. Have council when you enter into agreements with publishers, know what you are signing. Avoid work-for-hire agreements like the plague and if you do work in that kind of situation don’t create new characters. Use the multitude of characters that those publishers swindled from past creators and remember that anyone of them could have been your next, brilliant creation.

This Valentines Day, as we read about Gary Friedrich’s current, obscene battle with Marvel/Disney over Ghostrider, be resolute that this kind of history does not repeat itself. Don’t allow your self to be hurt by the ones you love, especially not comics. If you are a fan of comics, don’t watch the creators you love suffer. Support the independent projects and the web comics as much as you can. We at CO2 Comics greatly appreciate that you are here right now reading this blog and enjoying our comics. We hope you continue to return. We also hope that you let those exploiters of comic creators know, with your well earned dollars, that you will no longer support their abuses.  Do it for the love of comics!

If you loved Gary Friedrich’s GHOST RIDER, send Gary a donation.

Celebrating Thirty Years of Comics History!

Gerry Giovinco