Bootleg comics (wall of words advisory)

[Aweandlorder]

Working in the music biz always gets me to compare music and comics:

Distribution hierarchy is similar; from the distributor to brick and mortar stores through digital avenues. The same.

Artist compensation and licensing of material is almost identical. Such as also packaging; compilation, reissues (reprints). Licensing deals which will result in film or TV show features almost always makes an artist and a comic title hotter, or more sought after.

Even variants and remixes are almost the same concept: The music industry has remixers whereas comic books have variants (different interpretation of a piece or "a cover" no pun intended)

The only place where I find stark differences are with bootlegs.

The music business is notoriously known for artists who bootleg other popular music properties. Sometimes making a name for themselves by doing so! Usually an artist will "sample" a piece of popular music, then call it their own, sometimes they will even borrow entire phrases or melodies. The labels would not always chase these bootlegers because they will not sell too many copies, and in the case that they do, they will send a cease and desist letter and usually that resolves the matter.

It amazes me that nothing like that was ever done in the comic world. Especially since bootleg usually results in lower print/press runs and gets recalled often. Just these two factors alone are enough to make a collector's wettest dream.

I know that there are some counterfeit bootleg copies of comic books (Cerebus & X-Men 94 comes to mind), but this is not the same concept as bootlegs in music.

Imagine a well written and drawn unlicensed Deadpool comic, or a Harley one.. Or both!

I am not endorsing such an idea, but I just wonder how come this was never done.

[Davenport]

Imagine a well written and drawn unlicensed Deadpool comic, or a Harley one.. Or both!

I am not endorsing such an idea, but I just wonder how come this was never done.

Comics have a long history of "Fan Art".

Usually things like artists doing unlicensed characters, writers producing fan-fiction or fanzines, and sculptors producing statues and 'garage kits' is a tolerated form of fan-involvement and free publicity. Companies let it slide for the most part.

 

If fan-creators get too good, too prolific or too popular they'll be hired or shut down with a formal 'Cease and Desist' letter. For many it's the path to becoming a professional insider.

[shadroch]

There is little or no money in bootlegs.If I wrote the greatest X-Men novel ever, and hired a fantastic artist to illustrate it, I still couldn't bring it to market.

[Aweandlorder]

Imagine a well written and drawn unlicensed Deadpool comic, or a Harley one.. Or both!

I am not endorsing such an idea, but I just wonder how come this was never done.

Comics have a long history of "Fan Art".

Usually things like artists doing unlicensed characters, writers producing fan-fiction or fanzines, and sculptors producing statues pr 'garage kits' is a tolerated form of fan-involvement and free publicity Companies let slide for the most part.

 

If fan-creators get too good or too popular they'll be hired or shut down with a formal 'Cease and Desist' letter'.

For many it's the path to becoming a professional.

 

are you referencing fanzines? I admit Im not a Fanzine connoisseur but I hear good things.

But as the comparison to music bootlegs is concerned I would say its slightly different by means of distribution. For years, decades, official distributors have distributed unlicensed properties to music stores, mostly record stores. I am yet to walk into my LCS and find unlicensed properties on their racks. Including fanzines.. thoughts?

[Aweandlorder]

There is little or no money in bootlegs.If I wrote the greatest X-Men novel ever, and hired a fantastic artist to illustrate it, I still couldn't bring it to market.

 

Do you mean no money in record bootlegs? I beg to differ. There are plenty of success stories in the urban market. 50 cent mixtapes come to mind as one which lunched a superstar

As to comics, If you wrote a fantastic X-Men book with great art to boot (no pun) and had a good distributor, your book will either sell thousands till a proper legal notice is established, or, it would get pulled off right away, by the time making it a sought after book. Win win

[Davenport]

Imagine a well written and drawn unlicensed Deadpool comic, or a Harley one.. Or both!

I am not endorsing such an idea, but I just wonder how come this was never done.

Comics have a long history of "Fan Art".

Usually things like artists doing unlicensed characters, writers producing fan-fiction or fanzines, and sculptors producing statues pr 'garage kits' is a tolerated form of fan-involvement and free publicity Companies let slide for the most part.

 

If fan-creators get too good or too popular they'll be hired or shut down with a formal 'Cease and Desist' letter'.

For many it's the path to becoming a professional.

 

are you referencing fanzines? I admit Im not a Fanzine connoisseur but I hear good things.

But as the comparison to music bootlegs is concerned I would say its slightly different by means of distribution. For years, decades, official distributors have distributed unlicensed properties to music stores, mostly record stores. I am yet to walk into my LCS and find unlicensed properties on their racks. Including fanzines.. thoughts?

I've seen plenty of Fanzines in LCSs over the years. I don't know for sure, but I bet they could be found on MCS or Mile High today. They're 'history' and collectible.

 

Plus, keep in mind comic book characters weren't always the zillion-dollar properties they are today. There was a time when publishers might slap a promo-cover on an issue so they could be given away in shoe stores. Comics were meant to sell quickly or be remaindered to a dumpster. The risk of bootlegs was non-existant.

[InvstmntComcSuply]

There is a lot of physical labor involved in the artwork.

It doesn't take as much to appropriate a riff.

About the closest I could think of is Air Pirate Funnies

[Aweandlorder]

There is a lot of physical labor involved in the artwork.

It doesn't take as much to appropriate a riff.

About the closest I could think of is Air Pirate Funnies

 

Strong point... Yet, I wonder how will this come to play with social media and networking avenues such as kickstarter backing up such a project

[shadroch]

There is little or no money in bootlegs.If I wrote the greatest X-Men novel ever, and hired a fantastic artist to illustrate it, I still couldn't bring it to market.

 

Do you mean no money in record bootlegs? I beg to differ. There are plenty of success stories in the urban market. 50 cent mixtapes come to mind as one which lunched a superstar

As to comics, If you wrote a fantastic X-Men book with great art to boot (no pun) and had a good distributor, your book will either sell thousands till a proper legal notice is established, or, it would get pulled off right away, by the time making it a sought after book. Win win

 

 

50cents mix tapes weren't bootlegs. He produced them himself. They weren't distributed by a major label but they weren't bootlegs. Its how most rap performers make a name for themselves. Rick Rubin used to hawk Run-DMC and Kurtis Blow tapes long before Def Jam was anything but a dream.

[InvstmntComcSuply]

Also the IP is completely different. Music is regularly covered by bands everywhere and is usually seen as a tip of the hat to the originator. Songs are one-offs, they don't really have a continuing "story".

 

Successful comic characters have a history and more importantly a future, that has monetary value, that could be damaged by people misappropriating the IP. Thus the zealous protection by publishers,etc.

[comicwiz]

About the closest I could think of is Air Pirate Funnies

 

Air Pirates Funnies were not bootlegs. They were parodies, and O'Neill insisted it would dilute the parody to change the names of the characters, claiming the parody was fair use.

[InvstmntComcSuply]

About the closest I could think of is Air Pirate Funnies

 

Air Pirates Funnies were not bootlegs. They were parodies, and O'Neill insisted it would dilute the parody to change the names of the characters, claiming the parody was fair use.

 

It didn't seem like the OP was describing bootlegs. More of an appropriation of a character by someone other than the original artist/publisher. APF was the closest I could think of in this vein. There just aren't a lot of examples that are not parody/satire since the industry is far more protective of the IP.

[The Kaptain]

[Darjis_]

yeah, wouldn't a bootleg of a comic be some indie printing group reprinting a title and selling it? Re: Amazing Spider-man #1

 

As well, I wouldn't consider artists who rip off or license riffs/samples/etc from other artists as bootlegging. Bootlegging, in my mind, would be an artist who sells unlicensed remixes of such and such artists OR steal entire songs, rename it and sell it as their own. To me, that's a bootleg. Example: Front Line Assembly samples from movies heavily in their music. They aren't bootlegging that movie.

 

As well, there was a hefty legal battle between Will I Am, Matt Zo & Arty because Will I Am took Zo & Arty's riff from a song and created a new track with it thinking his legal department had gotten the rights, which they didn't. He didn't bootleg the Zo/Arty track, but rather borrowed from it. Or even covered it if you will.

 

my 2cents

[Aweandlorder]

There is little or no money in bootlegs.If I wrote the greatest X-Men novel ever, and hired a fantastic artist to illustrate it, I still couldn't bring it to market.

 

Do you mean no money in record bootlegs? I beg to differ. There are plenty of success stories in the urban market. 50 cent mixtapes come to mind as one which lunched a superstar

As to comics, If you wrote a fantastic X-Men book with great art to boot (no pun) and had a good distributor, your book will either sell thousands till a proper legal notice is established, or, it would get pulled off right away, by the time making it a sought after book. Win win

 

 

50cents mix tapes weren't bootlegs. He produced them himself. They weren't distributed by a major label but they weren't bootlegs. Its how most rap performers make a name for themselves. Rick Rubin used to hawk Run-DMC and Kurtis Blow tapes long before Def Jam was anything but a dream.

 

Exactly

How about Kenny Dope's "The Bomb"? Vanilla Ice Ice baby? I can name you hundreds more, but Im sure that you know of them already

[comicwiz]

About the closest I could think of is Air Pirate Funnies

 

Air Pirates Funnies were not bootlegs. They were parodies, and O'Neill insisted it would dilute the parody to change the names of the characters, claiming the parody was fair use.

 

It didn't seem like the OP was describing bootlegs. More of an appropriation of a character by someone other than the original artist/publisher. APF was the closest I could think of in this vein. There just aren't a lot of examples that are not parody/satire since the industry is far more protective of the IP.

 

The closest thing to"bootlegs" in comics were the Undergrounds posted in another thread. In vintage Star Wars, the Turkish "UZAY" or Polish bootlegs are two such examples. Both cases came down to fan appreciation inspired to produce a rip-off due to lack of access to the original product.

[BlowUpTheMoon]

 

I love this photo for so many reasons.

[Aweandlorder]

About the closest I could think of is Air Pirate Funnies

 

Air Pirates Funnies were not bootlegs. They were parodies, and O'Neill insisted it would dilute the parody to change the names of the characters, claiming the parody was fair use.

 

It didn't seem like the OP was describing bootlegs. More of an appropriation of a character by someone other than the original artist/publisher. APF was the closest I could think of in this vein. There just aren't a lot of examples that are not parody/satire since the industry is far more protective of the IP.

 

The closest thing to"bootlegs" in comics were the Undergrounds posted in another thread. In vintage Star Wars, the Turkish "UZAY" or Polish bootlegs are two such examples. Both cases came down to fan appreciation inspired to produce bootlegs due to lack of access to the original product.

Actually Underground Comix are a great example, not so much in exploiting intellectual properties, but they were a new avenue for comic books to be distributed evading known distribution channels, giving birth to a new comic book format. Excellent point

[Aweandlorder]

yeah, wouldn't a bootleg of a comic be some indie printing group reprinting a title and selling it? Re: Amazing Spider-man #1

 

As well, I wouldn't consider artists who rip off or license riffs/samples/etc from other artists as bootlegging. Bootlegging, in my mind, would be an artist who sells unlicensed remixes of such and such artists OR steal entire songs, rename it and sell it as their own. To me, that's a bootleg. Example: Front Line Assembly samples from movies heavily in their music. They aren't bootlegging that movie.

 

As well, there was a hefty legal battle between Will I Am, Matt Zo & Arty because Will I Am took Zo & Arty's riff from a song and created a new track with it thinking his legal department had gotten the rights, which they didn't. He didn't bootleg the Zo/Arty track, but rather borrowed from it. Or even covered it if you will.

 

my 2cents

 

Well it could be many things, but a common bootleg is at its very basic an unlicensed or un-cleared music property which was exploited by another artist. A white album could be an unlicensed remix, an unofficial live or studio recording, or many other things.

Its a very complex subject in the music industry, which I find surprising is missing in the comic world. Good or bad

[comicwiz]

Funny, I was laughing at the Rob Granito pic, but then I recalled just reading a Bleedingcool post regarding Gary Parkin.

 

In the case below, I think it's blatant ripping-off for profit, but I wonder, could the blank/sketch covers start to cause some issues, and blur the lines on preconceived notions for bootlegs?

 

Gary Parkin, The Rob Granito Of eBay Sketch Covers?