This week’s edition of Rich Johnson’s Lying in the Gutters includes a piece about Warner Bros getting eBay to remove a Batman sketch from auction. Rich brings up some interesting points, especially in light of the recent actions by Marvel and DC Comics against comic book BitTorrent groups.
From Rich Johnson’s column:
Craig Hoffman, Director of Warner Bros Entertainment’s Worldwide Anti-Piracy Corporate Communications told Christian “no one is authorized to manufacture, reproduce, copy, sell and/or offer for sale any products/services which utilize the Batman Property without the express written permission of Warner Bros. The drawing which you have offered for sale has not been authorized by Warner Bros., therefore we suspended your auction. I apologize for the inconvenience of your suspended auction; however, I hope that you understand our position. Further, please be assured that we never attempt to single-out any one, or group of, sellers. In that regard, please feel free to forward any other questionable auctions to our attention and we will be sure to investigate and take appropriate action.”
Every comic book convention I have ever attended has had a plethora of comic book artists doing sketches of comic book characters for money. Some artists charge hundreds of dollars for an inked sketch of a comic book character. I can’t even begin to guess how much revenue comic book artists are able to earn doing sketches at conventions. If the official position of Warner Bros is that no one is authorized to reproduce and offer for sale any product which utilizes a DC Comics intellectual property, I have to believe this will have a monumental impact to the whole comic book convention sketch business.
What would happen if comic book artists couldn’t do commissions at conventions?
Fans would certainly have more money to spend at the convention on comics and other licensed material. It’s hard to spend a lot of money in the dealer room on comics and other licensed material when you are paying an artist in Artist’s Alley $500 for a sketch of Wolverine fighting Wonder Woman.
…lol If a fanboy or girl has 500 to drop on a pro drawing of Wolverine vs Wonder Woman, then he or she ALREADY has bought all the comics that the fan was interested about in the first place XD!!! This from a girl who herself dropped a couple hundred US dollars a month on comics in the 80s and 90s. I have friends who STILL drop 300 to 400 on comics monthly, so if they went to a comic book convention and had no artist alley, what can they get there they can’t get at the local comic book shop? Pretty much nothing, aside from a few panels that are usually jumped to a different room at the last moment and that only half the talent signed up for can find and show up to. Might as well just read the pro’s blogs, eh?
Artist Alley is a convention TRADITION that not only allows up and coming artists to show off their mad skills, but allows for the fan to get something special and personalized just for him or her. Most conventions have sketches going at 10 to 30 bucks a pop, with only those high up NAMES getting a few hundred per picture. Since most talent works for the Big Companies as work for hire, not salaried, certainly not with health or other benefits that they’d go over a long time honored convention stable of Convention Sketches could be the straw that breaks the PAYING fan’s back. After all, the economy is in a downturn and Comic Companies want to take away one of the few remaining fan values there is in supporting their products by turning up at these events? *shakes head* It takes so little these days to push someone over that edge of “worth trekking out to the comic store for my weekly fix” to “aw s***w it, I think I’ll just pay my internet bill instead and watch tv on Hulu”
Mooncatx