The Big Black Eye

"We at Radical Publishing Inc. and Radical Comics Inc. are quite concerned to hear the news surrounding Nick Simmons’s Incarnate comic book. We are taking this matter seriously and making efforts now to contact the publishers of the works in question in an effort to resolve this matter. We have halted further production and distribution of the Incarnate comic book and trade paperback until the matter is resolved to the satisfaction of all parties. Rest assured that Radical is taking swift action regarding this matter and will continue in its efforts to maintain the integrity and protect the intellectual property of artists throughout the world whose creative works are the bedrock of our company and the comic book industry."

Now this is a damn shame.

Welcome back to the PLANET GRIFFIN WEEKEND EDITION, and after seeing this, I don't know whether to hang my head or bust out laughing (Believe me, I've already done both after reading all of this, but hey...)

For those of you in the dark, the image above is a page from Radical Comics' latest series, INCARNATE, written and illustrated by NICK SIMMONS, son of legendary rocker GENE SIMMONS. The page is overlayed atop TITE KUBO's wildly popular BLEACH manga series from Japan. Now, clearly seeing where I'm going with this, the various communities; from Manga fansites to DeviantArt, are screaming foul at the very fact that Nick not only lifted panels directly from the Bleach creator, but translated dialogue as well!

After sifting through the blogsites like Robot6 and LiveJournal (where I lifted some of these images to illustrate what I'm talking about. Ha), I find it hilarious that he almost pulled it off! Radical loved Nick's pitch (or did they love the name attached to him? Hmmm), and they swooned over his designs , only to blow their tops when the fans revealed to the company that they had been hoodwinked. This is the kind of sad swiping that ultimately hurts ALL of us in the art community, no if's, and's, or but's about it.
In response to the damning evidence, Radical Publishing stopped production of Incarnate pending investigation of the 'accusations' of Nick plagiarizing Kubo's manga series, as well as other manga's like Hellsing, One Piece, and Vampire Hunter D... With Radical and A&E offering heavy promotional support of the series, you can imagine the big black eye the company has received in light of this. Don't get me wrong, 'homage swiping' has been around for decades, but not to the extent where you claim your talents directly off the backs of someone else's hard work... Sorry Nick, but your quick and easy path to the darkside has gotten you in seriously hot water, and now you've got to pay the full price of admission on this one.

Meanwhile, the underground continues to grind on.