What does a writer make? 0

[NoMan]

I finished the Wolverine TPB (after holding the falling-out pages together). It collects the Wolverine 4 issue series in '82 by Chris Claremont and Frank Miller and I got to thinking: How much money do you think Claremont got for writhing that? What do comic scripters make?

Thanks in advance.

[kav]

what writers and artists make varies and is a closely guarded secret.  the best estimate I have is $100-$200 per page.

[John R]

I remember reading this in the book "Marvel Comics: The Untold Story" by Sean Howe and being surprised at the amount Lobdell was making at the time.  I found the quote in this article.

"You mentioned writer Scott Lobdell making $85,000 a month?

Yes, in the late 90s, writing the X-Men titles. But the thing is, that’s not unusual for someone who would be a top TV writer. It’s only unusual in the world of comic books. And that was only at the height of comics’ success, on a title like X-Men."

[NoMan]

8 hours ago, John R said:

I remember reading this in the book "Marvel Comics: The Untold Story" by Sean Howe and being surprised at the amount Lobdell was making at the time.  I found the quote in this article.

"You mentioned writer Scott Lobdell making $85,000 a month?

Yes, in the late 90s, writing the X-Men titles. But the thing is, that’s not unusual for someone who would be a top TV writer. It’s only unusual in the world of comic books. And that was only at the height of comics’ success, on a title like X-Men."

Thanks. I need to re-read that book. I'm guessing Claremont got screwed. Also in the Marvel book is a paragraph about Miller berating Marvel in front of them at a con in Baltimore in 94. He brings up Claremont. 

[Gatsby77]

I'd be interested to know what Fabian Niceza was making in 1990-1991. At one point he was writing New Warriors, Alpha Flight and The Avengers, and then added New Mutants/X-Force to the roster.

[NoMan]

During one these guys convention appearances has anybody ever asked these guys point blank what they made? I guess that would be rude. 

[kav]

they consider that extremely rude

[Squeezy McSphincter]

12 hours ago, NoMan said:

Thanks. I need to re-read that book. I'm guessing Claremont got screwed. Also in the Marvel book is a paragraph about Miller berating Marvel in front of them at a con in Baltimore in 94. He brings up Claremont. 

I think I recall reading in that same book that Claremont had a lot of pull at Marvel at the time, including not allowing his girlfriend to be fired even though she was incompetent (or otherwise somehow undesirable in the office).  I'm sure he got paid well, especially since he was there for so long and so prolific.

[NoMan]

14 minutes ago, Bubb Rubb said:

I think I recall reading in that same book that Claremont had a lot of pull at Marvel at the time, including not allowing his girlfriend to be fired even though she was incompetent (or otherwise somehow undesirable in the office).  I'm sure he got paid well, especially since he was there for so long and so prolific.

Uh, it was dave Cockrum that couldn't afford health care at the end of his life and Marvel payed into his doctor's bills. 

[ComicConnoisseur]

On 2/10/2017 at 7:58 PM, NoMan said:

I finished the Wolverine TPB (after holding the falling-out pages together). It collects the Wolverine 4 issue series in '82 by Chris Claremont and Frank Miller and I got to thinking: How much money do you think Claremont got for writhing that? What do comic scripters make?

Thanks in advance.

They actually made more money in the 1980s and 1990s because they all got commissions if their comics they written or drew sold over 100,000 a month.

One year, and I will try to find the link later Claremont cleared over $300,000 and that was 1980s money! Now the best way to make money as a writer is create a character you can merchandise. Merchandising is the way to go now than monthly sales.

Similar thing happened with rock stars,as in the 80s and 90s the top acts would sell multi- millions of copies, now the new stars would be lucky to do 100,000, so with that they make the bulk of their money from selling t-shirts and merchandise at their concerts they have to now go out on the road to perform.

The game has changed,as it was probably easier to make big money as a top comic writer or rock musician 25 years ago than it is now.

Edited February 12, 2017 by ComicConnoisseur

[entalmighty1]

On 2/11/2017 at 2:36 PM, NoMan said:

During one these guys convention appearances has anybody ever asked these guys point blank what they made? I guess that would be rude. 

It's rude to ask that of anyone, not just an artist.  Having coworkers/competitors/others know what you make can cause a mountain of problems, justifiable or not.

[the blob]

On 2/10/2017 at 11:12 PM, John R said:

I remember reading this in the book "Marvel Comics: The Untold Story" by Sean Howe and being surprised at the amount Lobdell was making at the time.  I found the quote in this article.

"You mentioned writer Scott Lobdell making $85,000 a month?

Yes, in the late 90s, writing the X-Men titles. But the thing is, that’s not unusual for someone who would be a top TV writer. It’s only unusual in the world of comic books. And that was only at the height of comics’ success, on a title like X-Men."

How many titles did he write?

In the late 90s, even if they were selling 200,000 copies at $2 a pop...Marvel getting less than $1 of that... not sure how they could pay him that much for one title. Maybe 4 or 5 titles?

[the blob]

The nice thing about a writer is that they can probably do 4-8 different issues a month if they are high energy and such.  They could -script a lot more than that I am sure, but no doubt a chunk of time is spent dealing with the editors and artists in tweaking stuff to make it work, even if done by skype/phone, whatever.

[the blob]

On 2/13/2017 at 11:03 AM, entalmighty1 said:

It's rude to ask that of anyone, not just an artist.  Having coworkers/competitors/others know what you make can cause a mountain of problems, justifiable or not.

That is rude.  If you're asking because you're interested in trying to do this for a living, you should probably start with someone who isn't well known and try to get a sense whether they are making a living or not without getting into numbers. AKA someone you might be if you can actually find some work.  Asking a star is meaningless. Someone here posted something on how little lesser known artists make, even people with a fair amount of work.  Jim Zub (Skullkickers, Samurai Jack..) has a great website.  I think he did this as a side gig for a while during which he was also a teacher, but that might be someone else.

[the blob]

Of course, I'm just as bad.  I once asked an adversary (I'm a lawyer, but am just a cog in a large entity) how much the rent was on his office space.  He thought it was "rude" (but eventually gave me a decent idea of what it was after I explained why I was asking), but frankly, I always want to do my research and have some idea what it will cost if I want to go into private practice.  So, I totally understand being curious.  Writing comics seems like a cool job, I get it.  Sure beats writing a 57 page brief on lord knows what, like I just finished doing.

[the blob]

On 2/10/2017 at 7:58 PM, NoMan said:

I finished the Wolverine TPB (after holding the falling-out pages together). It collects the Wolverine 4 issue series in '82 by Chris Claremont and Frank Miller and I got to thinking: How much money do you think Claremont got for writhing that? What do comic scripters make?

Thanks in advance.

Claremont was obviously a star at the time who had the leverage to jump ship to DC for big bucks like Byrne did in the 80s, so he may have been somewhat unique.

[NoMan]

45 minutes ago, the blob said:

Of course, I'm just as bad.  I once asked an adversary (I'm a lawyer, but am just a cog in a large entity) how much the rent was on his office space.  He thought it was "rude" (but eventually gave me a decent idea of what it was after I explained why I was asking), but frankly, I always want to do my research and have some idea what it will cost if I want to go into private practice.  So, I totally understand being curious.  Writing comics seems like a cool job, I get it.  Sure beats writing a 57 page brief on lord knows what, like I just finished doing.

That's why I was hoping someone else has (had) asked. I'm not gonna. 

[John R]

3 hours ago, the blob said:

How many titles did he write?

In the late 90s, even if they were selling 200,000 copies at $2 a pop...Marvel getting less than $1 of that... not sure how they could pay him that much for one title. Maybe 4 or 5 titles?

From what I've gathered, he had long runs on Uncanny X-Men, X-Men, Excalibur and Generation X, while also writing The Fantastic Four and Iron Man (Heroes Return) and so at some point he would've been writing at 6 titles a month.

[F For Fake]

I'd have to imagine that the salad days are over for writers at the Big 2. I have no idea what they make, but I'd have to imagine any "real" money is made on the back-end, such as points on best selling trade paperback sales, etc. There has to be a reason why all of the good writers fled to Image, where they have creative control, get a bigger slice of the pie, and are in control of licensing/merchandising/optioning deals. The only reason I could see an established writer working for DC or Marvel is nostalgia.

[the blob]

16 hours ago, John R said:

From what I've gathered, he had long runs on Uncanny X-Men, X-Men, Excalibur and Generation X, while also writing The Fantastic Four and Iron Man (Heroes Return) and so at some point he would've been writing at 6 titles a month.

ok, then yeah, 85K seems feasible.  still seems high.  it's not like he would be able to get anywhere near that at that time as a staff writer on some TV show then and use that as leverage.

Edited February 15, 2017 by the blob