Very Bad Publishers
I know when I was growing up, I never considered the idea that the very people responsible for making my favorite comic books were also being treated in such horrible ways. Colleen talks about how even though she got an advance on her work, the publisher gave her false numbers about the comics they published to get her into a contract, and then deducted many different costs against her advance so that she was looking to make hardly any money off of her comic for at least a couple of years. Like Colleen says in her posts, "I had made a serious beginner’s mistake. I had not researched my publisher."
Comic creators seriously have to look out for themselves. They are essentially small business owners and their product is themselves and what they can offer, just like a plumber or home inspector. New and old creators need to read the fine print to ensure they are not being taken advantage of. It stinks that this is the environment that some work in and there are some great publishers out there, but you always have to be careful when it comes to matters of money.
Comments
My ex-wife is/was a very,close friend of Colleen’s and I remember hearing the artist/writer talking about how she had to deal with publishers. I also know several other creators who can tell equally horrible tales.
It seems unfair that those on the business end of things often (but not always, thankfully) have little consideration or respect for the individuals on the creative end of the medium. Of course, comics are the only place in which this happens.
This is off topic, but I have noticed it doesn’t bother most people, but I often wonder why it is necessary to list just about everyone from Publisher down to accountant in many of the comics I read. Do I really care? Do even their parents?