The Facebook Comic
You don’t publish graphic novels—and allegedly not pay your artists—without making a few enemies.
COMIC BOOK MOGUL Darren Davis swears—swears!—his decision to publish Mark Zuckerberg: Creator of Facebook, the latest title by his Vancouver, Washington–based Bluewater Productions, has nothing to do with the release of the Zuckerberg biopic and box-office hit The Social Network.
“This book has been planned for a while, before the announcement of the film,” Davis said. “And the script was written before any of us saw the film.”
The 48-page comic, like the movie, traces the rise of the 26-year-old father of Facebook and the byzantine legal actions against him.
But at least one comic book aficionado won’t be championing the graphic novel when it comes out on December 22.
Evidently, Darren Davis has something in common with the embattled subject of his latest release. Fantagraphics spokesperson Jacq Cohen says Bluewater “has a reputation for not paying its cartoonists.” Many young writers and illustrators sign the contract, eager to break into the industry, only to discover that payment is elusive.
Indeed, Davis—whose publishing house is known for comic biographies of figures as disparate as FOX News mouth Bill O’Reilly and comedian-cum-senator Al Franken—has been excoriated on industry news sites and blogs for not paying artists.
“Bluewater Comics has an awful contract that creators sign because they’re desperate to ‘break into’ the industry,” wrote one blogger.
But, Davis told us, the flap over nonpayment is the result of a misunderstanding. His contracts state that artists and writers will be paid if and when the book in question turns a profit.
It’s not a business model that works for everyone, he admits. “We’re 100 percent up front about it…. [Contributors] know exactly what they are getting into.”
To which Fantagraphics’ Jacq Cohen responded with little speech bubbles of angst.
“Creating art takes time, and the work put into any comic is valuable,” she said. “A chef at a restaurant wouldn’t work all day making food only to be told by a restaurateur that he or she should feel lucky to even get a chance to cook and then not get paid. Then, why should a comics publisher expect that same from an illustrator or writer?”
Good question. Also, good subject for a comic.
Published: December 2010
Oh how i like this “His contracts state that artists and writers will be paid if and when the book in question turns a profit” part…
Yes i’m an artist who have done pages and pages for BlueWater (you know who i am and i even don’t mention it in my blog) and certainly will never been paid for it. “we never earn enough money with single, just wait the TPB…”. My contract don’t mention any “will be paid when the book turns a profit”, just that i will be paid 60 days after the publication, then it depends of the sales report only.
When i saw that i will never been paid for my work (i even made 20 pages for a second one shot…), i’ve talk about it with some friend who have worked too for BW or who are in the comics buisness too, and this non-paiement problem isn’t a “Chimere” or an isolate one, oh no ! TWhat the fantagraphics guy says about this “bad reputation” is mainly true (Fantagraphics “barely bigger than BW, wel, well, well, of course ;-))))))))) ) and i can certainly find two or three other people who can add their "temoignages”, be sure of this !
Now, it’s me who is ashame of this works, of my stupidity on this affair… Another day, another lesson… Thanks for that !
Talk about bad journalism. I just read this article and thought I should make a couple things clear.
When I was approached about this article, I was told it would be about a Washington based company profile talking about the Facebook comic book. I did the interview and all went well. I got a call weeks later asking me about the “non-payment” issue and told her the story. She was getting 2nd hand information from anonymous postings on blog sites. I was upfront with her and asked her if she spoke to anyone that had a problem with us…she said no. At this point I was confused about the nature of the story.
Since when it is okay to use blog postings as news stories? Is the modern day press slipping? I am totally fine with freedom of speech. If they talked to people that had problems that would be one thing. To just get a quote from another indie publisher who also has negative postings about them to talk about it. I have never spoken to that person ever.
I was given the article in advance and they asked to get images. I told them that this was a different article that I signed on for and was not going to give them the images. That is was full of mis-imformation. The said they would kill the story….but I guess they did not.
Once again, I would be fine with this if they talked to someone that really had a problem with us. We run a fair business and pay people ALL the time. For them to write something like this based on a blog is a joke and “shoddy” journalism. I told her this and told her that I could give her the contacts of people…but she decided to take the tabloid approach. There are a couple of people that do not like me and have felt slighted, I have tried to work things out with these people in private. The interviewer asked me for those name. I decided because I handle my business in private and not on message boards. I did do a couple interviews (which I pointed out to her) that talked about the story in full and she was not bringing any new information to it. This publication needs to do their research and not use blogs as their source.
I brought this up to a friend of mine at the Los Angeles Times and she thought the same as I did and told me to address this.I had respect for this publication and was proud to be in there…. but now it is a shame. I have contacted a couple editors over there and have not gotten a call back.
It is funny how the article changed so much from the one they originally did after I said I would not give them the okay to use our images. Once again, if they did their research and did not regurgitate news from a blog, I would be fine with it. I am accountable for everything that Bluewater does. I will also fight for what I believe, which is that this article is false.
Nice bait and switch guys!
This is outrageous. I wrote the book and was interviewed for this article, yet no quote of mine is included. Instead, you use quotes from someone from a company barely bigger than Bluewater to do a hatchet job. I would go on at length but I’ve just found out by reading this that you wasted my time. It’s a precious commodity and I won’t waste any more of it on you.