SRBissette.com

Cover art: The recent Dark Horse Nexus hardcover reprint, fifth volume… (art © 2007, Steve Rude)

As I noted yesterday, Bob Heer recently wrote me about the upcoming DC/Vertigo Swamp Thing hardcover reprint volume (see yesterday’s post), saying, “It always amazes me how little comic book publishers involve creators in the reprints of their work, to the point that most of them seem to find out about the stuff only after it’s been publically announced, or even after it’s been released. Seems like a backwards way of operating.”

Truth to tell, it’s standard operating procedure in the industry, Bob; with the sole exception of the first Swamp Thing reprint paperbacks back in 1987, when DC had its edition and Warner Books had theirs, both with identical interior contents but different covers (using John Totleben’s sterling paintings in both cases), we’ve never been involved.

At least DC/Vertigo honors their contracts every time they reprint my and our work, without fail. I won’t go into the particulars of the current agreement, except to note by choice we see nothing up front (no advance), everything in royalties, which is how I’ve always wanted it and chose to go on the Swamp Thing reprint volumes since the late 1980s, and DC Comics, Inc. only recently (last year) formalized into our now standard agreement.

…reprinting my only Nexus artwork, this cover to Nexus #29. Nexus is © and TM Mike Baron and Steve Rude, artwork © Stephen R. Bissette, unless the First Comics folks have paperwork proving otherwise.

That’s more than I can say for almost every other reprinting of my work. Dark Horse has habitually reprinted work without payment, reprinted the botched first-ever-DH Godzilla material I had a hand in sans any reprint fee or comp copies, ever, and in a multitude of formats over the years; my early efforts to reconcile this resulted in nothing. Nor did Dave Dorman and I ever see a dime for the various reprintings (save for the paperback edition, first printing) of our work on Aliens: Tribes novella package; again, ongoing attempts to negotiate and reconcile were fruitless. Both were work-for-hire jobs, and despite Mike Richardson’s claims to the contrary, Dark Horse proved to me in spades how thankless work-for-hire terms can be, especially on licensed properties and whatever contract was signed. The proof’s in the pudding, and this pudding has been pretty rank.

I long ago gave up on Dark Horse in this regard, placing them beneath DC Comics in my experience with the US comics industry, despite their fan reputation for “taking care” of creators. They “took care” of me, all right.

More recently, the only two pieces of work I ever did for long-defunct First Comics, Inc. back in the 1980s surfaced in reprint editions, sans notification, payment, or comp copies. One of these, no surprise, was a Dark Horse volume; it’s a single piece of art, my cover painting for Nexus #29, done for Rick Veitch’s guest-penciller issue. Neither Rick nor I was ever notified. [Note: Correction to earlier post: Rick did eventually get a $200 payment out of DH for his story reprint in the $50 hardcover, and one comp copy; "took a while and it ain't much, but at least they ponied up something (along with a comp copy of the book)." That's better than where this was at last time he and I spoke about the situation; this revision is posted after receiving a clarification email from Rick later on 9/30.] I never received a comp copy, payment, or the courtesy of a “thank you.” While I’m generally supportive of the venture, as it seems to have played a part in Mike Baron and Steve Rude having regained rights to their property Nexus, nothing excuses the shoddy treatment of those of us who collaborated once upon a time, however minor the contribution to the larger body of work.

IDW joins the Dark Horse game: Repackaged First Comics material, yielding Munden’s Bar reprint edition, sans anything for the creators; cover © 2007 Skip Williamson, unless that’s been signed away or taken, too.

More recently, IDW’s Munden’s Bar reprint edition in paperback was the same ol’ song: no prior notice, reprinting sans notification/payment/comp copy or copies my sole collaboration with John Ostrander and the late, great Del Close on the second-ever “Munden’s Bar” story, “D.T.s”. It’s a story I’m still proud of; I wish I could endorse and recommend you pick up this book, but it’s my understanding not one of the creators in this volume (save cover artist Skip Williamson) has been paid a nickel.

Given the crap treatment thus far, it’s my hope to simply negotiate the right to reprint the material in a future anthology of my own work as a form of compensation. If that comes to pass, I, at least, will see to it Ostrander and Close’s heirs are paid for my respective reprinting, which as far as I know is more than either has received thus far for this volume. Of course, I’ve probably queered that possible deal with this post, but seeing as all I have to show thus far for this transaction is the receipt for the considerable sums spent acquiring all these reprint volumes, I’ve nothing more to lose, really.

Apparently, these volumes are being packaged by a third party representing the First Comics estate, who reportedly indemnify Dark Horse and IDW and whoever else publishes First material against creator’s claims to the material. I established initial contact with the packagers a month or so ago, which has up to now been fruitless: “Gee, this does suck for you” sums up the substance and tenor of the email exchanges. Business as usual in the US comics industry. I’m working on excavating the original First Comics contracts, if they ever existed (First played fast and loose with contracts in the 1980s, which is part of why I did so little work for them), and intend to pursue this to some satisfaction, however meager.

As noted, though, it’s business as usual in the American comics industry.

Bob continued, “I was just looking at the original printing of the Swamp Thing book (which might be the first collected comic book reprint I bought, certainly among the first five), and despite some flaws that cover and design seem much better than what I expect from the new book. Hope they’re keeping the Ramsey Campbell foreward and Alan Moore introduction, with those great spot illustrations (are those Totleben solo?).”

Yes, those were John’s solo creations, and on the rest, I’ve no idea, Bob; again, we’re not consulted on these matters, and haven’t been since that original 1987 Swamp Thing collection. Even back then, save for John’s covers (the one pictured here being the previously unpublished Totleben painting, originally painted for and sold at Mid-Ohio Con to raise donation funds for the American Cancer Society, a story in and of itself), our input was minimal.

Offers to create intermediary pages (to offset the clumsy juxtaposition of pinup art to offset interruptions created by ad pages in the comic book first editions), character design model sheets, etc. were refused by DC even back then, resulting in the ongoing problem in all reprint editions and the occasional need in the early 1990s to field phone calls with artists asking about our anatomical design on Swamp Thing (nobody’s cared since then). I’ll also note, for Totleben fans, if you really want to see the art at it’s best, the original printings on newsprint are still the closest to John’s inks, and all-inclusive of John’s occasional use of overlays and surprints (linework printed in color only) for special effects. It all suffers in every reprint edition, which are shot from photostats which inherently degenerate John’s precision and oft delicate line work.

Pictured here is one of the covers of the UK Titan reprint editions, which featured much better line repro of John’s exquisite inks than any of the DC editions. We’re not sure why, and have never heard an adequate explanation.

For these Titan editions, none of us earned a red cent; they were foreign edition reprints, so no reprint fees or royalties were paid. This was tough especially on UK citizen Alan Moore, to whom they were hardly ‘foreign editions’ and which constantly put Alan in the clumsy position of refusing to sign them at the few remaining British con appearances he made after Titan put them out. That ceased to be a problem when he ceased to make convention appearances.

I, at least, was paid a pittance by Titan for writing two or three introductions for the later volumes, at Titan’s request. At the time, I deliberated over this ethical dilemma until all three partners in the work (Moore, Totleben, and Veitch) said to me, via various phone and face-to-face conversations, “Do it, Steve; at least one of us will be paid something, and the behind-the-scenes stories will be told,” so I wrote ‘em, though it was an uncomfortable gig, writing for reprints of our work we’d never see payment for. I’ll be reprinting those introductions in a future book series of my comics-related writings (the copyrights to those essays remain my property), so that material will at least see print again.

But that’s all water long under the bridge — as I said, DC, at least, has honored and in many ways bettered the original agreements and contracts, and for that I’m forever thankful. We are paid, quarterly, for the ongoing reprint editions of our Swamp Thing work, and also receive quarterly payments for our roles in co-creating John Constantine (which, in the end, has been far more lucrative). Thus, DC/Vertigo is the only extant comics publisher to have honored its respective work-for-hire contracts of yore — but I at least am never notified in advance about anything concerning this body of work.

I hear it through the grapevine, which is appropriate enough in the realm of Swamp Thing.
_______________

Somebody get John McCain a grapevine, please.

Yesterday, McCain was scrambling to take full credit (thus aligning himself clearly, once again, with President Bush, whose ‘boy who cried wolf’ alarm over the bill made it increasingly suspect to the American public) for the bailout package deal hours before

that bill failed, thanks primarily to House Republicans (McCain’s fellow party members), McCain came off like a buffoon. He has, of course, immediately tried to pin the blame for the fiscal calamity and the bail-out bill on the Democratic Party doorstep,

but he has only done himself a grave disservice with his grandstanding and showboating over what is and remains an utter clusterfuck of monumental proportions.

Handily, Reaganites like McCain fail to recall the 1987 Stock Market plunge that resulted from Reagan’s failed policies, but let’s not go there today.

McCain is his own worst enemy in this regard: as noted yesterday, this exchange with a Vietnam vet (linked yesterday, but here’s fuller analysis along with the video clip) back in the July, 2008 Denver Colorado ‘town meeting’ opened a familiar can of worms.

McCain invites analysis of his voting record with this part of the testy conversation:

MCCAIN: I’ve received every award from every major veteran’s organization in America. I received every organization in America their awards. … The reason why I have a perfect voting record from organizations like the Veterans of Foreign Wars, the American Legion and all the other veterans service organizations is because of my support of them.

VETERAN: You do not have a perfect voting record by the DAV and the VFW. That’s where these votes were recorded. These votes were proposals by your colleagues in the Senate to increase health care of the VA in 2003, 4, 5, and 6 for troops returning from Iraq and Afghanistan. And you voted against those proposals.

MCCAIN: I’ve been endorsed in every election by every veterans organization that do that, I’ve been supported by them, and I’ve received their highest awards from all of those organizations. So I guess they don’t know something you know.

Well, that’s easily checked, isn’t it?

McCain again proffered this claim during the Friday night debate, so I did a little online research afterwards:

Here’s the 2006 IAVA (Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America) Action Congressional Ratings (the 2008 ratings aren’t yet up, as far as I can find), and Senator John McCain of Arizona gets a ‘D.’ Check it out.

The Disabled American Veterans (DAV) also rates McCain low — click on the ‘Votes’ file on McCain’s profile page opener, here — 11 votes “with us,” 16 votes “Against us,” as they put it. Click on the ‘More Key Votes’ option in blue at the bottom, and check the full record.

As noted by the veteran during the Denver July town meeting exchange, McCain did not support Senator Jim Webb’s (Democrat, Virginia) 21st Century GI Bill, expanding educational benefits for veterans who joined the service after Sept. 11, 2001. In fact, McCain didn’t even vote on it.

(Here’s some of the particulars on that Bill, should you wish to know more, with ample links to sources.)

McCain skipped out on that vote, as he has 60% of the votes this session, making his record tough to trace on some of the issues he so loudly touts as being part of his record.

What I could find were his votes on the following bills:“To create a reserve fund to allow for an increase in Veterans’ medical care by $1.8 billion by eliminating abusive tax loopholes.”

“To increase Veterans medical services funding by $1.5 billion in FY 2007 to be paid for by closing corporate tax loopholes.”

“To provide an additional $430,000,000 for the Department of Veteran Affairs for Medical Services for outpatient care and treatment for veterans.”

And, finally, “To provide, with an offset, $20,000,000 for the Department of Veterans Affairs for Medical Facilities.”

The voting record McCain himself keeps insisting we judge him on hardly supports his ongoing claims to be a friend of our Military Veterans, folks.

As is being argued right now concerning McCain’s showboating (preferable to ’swiftboating’?) amid the current economic debacle and disaster, he isn’t doing himself any favors by insisting we pay attention to his real behavior, his true record.

Then again, what’s this all been about over the past two weeks?

“On Wednesday, September 24, right in the middle of the fight over billions of taxpayer dollars slated to bail out Wall Street, the House of Representatives passed a $612 billion defense authorization bill for 2009 without a murmur of public protest or any meaningful press comment at all.” So much for watching out for our taxpayer dollars, on both sides of the aisle.

We, and our children, and our children’s children, are so screwed…