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Don Rosa: Why I Quit
- RexRollman 14y agoThis article is a good example of why I don't buy non-creator owned comics (aside from the fact that I view Marvel and DC comics from 1990-on to be pure shit). I know most comic fans don't give a shit but I do.
- senorcastro 14y ago9 volumes!
- kkowalczyk 14y agoIt seems it all boils down to this: he didn't make as much money as he wanted. I don't want to trivialize the issue: making money is not easy, but the guy over-plays the victim card. He seems to be a successful artist. He quits and it's all a fault of other people, who don't pay him as much as he deserves. Again, not to trivialize the issue, but an artist with a lot of fans should be able to find a way to make money. Did he try to follow the steps of many cartoonists that make decent money doing daily cartoons on the web, like theotmealguy? Did he try to create anything outside of work-for-hire arrangement that he entered (willingly, as a consenting adult) into with Disney? No evidence of that. According to him, it's just the system conspires against poor artist. According to me, he's just a lousy businessman who lacks awareness of his own shortcomings and oblivious to many ways he could have made money with his art. Instead he chose a safe route of employment and as an adult he should understand that it also usually comes with limited upside. If he wanted a bigger upside, he should have taken more risks.
- woodchuck64 14y ago> Instead he chose a safe route of employment and as an adult he should understand that it also usually comes with limited upside. Did you even read the article? He turned down a lucrative career in a family-owned construction company to do this. He quit largely because a detached retina makes it impossible for him to draw. He's been doing this for at least 20 years; The Oatmeal has only been in it for 3. Have some perspective and modicum of respect.
- zeitg3ist 14y agoI don't think you read his article very well. He doesn't give a shit about making money. He's just pointing out that in the Disney comic system there are no royalties and artists get exploited.
- pmelendez 14y agoI don't think this is particular to the Disney comic. How many game developers are being paid proportionally with sales? Usually sales and marketing people are the ones with those benefits, not the content generators. On a flip side, is not like they invest any money on the final product as they are generally being paid as a regular job.
- pandaman 14y agoBefore 7th generation pretty much everyone paid royalties in the games. I believe one of the major reasons the industry is in shambles now is that, with the advance of the 7th generation, 3d parties moved to cut off royalties either by acquiring studios or by rigging contracts. Still, 3d party owned studios working on profitable titles are paying bonuses that are proportional to sales more or less. For example, check out Activision vs. Infinity Ward GMs lawsuit.
- chipsy 14y agoI think that with respect to game royalties, that ship set sail a long time ago. Publishers in the earliest generations would often give creators huge royalties, and it's just been on a gradual decline since then. The topsy-turvy situation the industry is in now, though, has countless factors - it's going to be discussed for years to come, and the signs of disruption are appearing on all fronts.
- pimeys 14y agoHow many game developers do everything in the game and then get their game marketed in his/her own name. Then people would buy a lot of copies because of the name and the original author will not get anything. You have to remember, selling a duck comic carrying the names of Carl Barks and Don Rosa is a very big business here in Europe. The comic's don't sell because of Disney, because of the ducks themselves. People adore those two gentleman. And they don't get anything out of it.
- msandford 14y agoPeople seem to have this idea that the world should be "heads I win, tails you lose" in their own favor. I can't say that I blame them, it's incredibly depressing to see a company get rich off of your work. But it fails to take into account that a person might create absolutely nothing of value while they draw a paycheck/salary and in that case it's the company that loses, not them. That's how things go in engineering, though, you generally don't get employed unless you're willing to sign over whatever IP you are going to generate at the job (and sometimes even off-the-clock ideas too).
- mech4bg 14y agoThe bit he was actually focusing on seemed to me to be that they started using his name to sell the books. If _the artist_ is the product being sold, don't you think the right thing to do would have been to work out a new agreement? I thought it was incredibly well written and quite forgiving of him.
- zeitg3ist 14y agoI grew up reading Don's comics, and my D.U.C.K. book is so worn that it doesn't have a cover anymore. Hell, in my old room I still have his (wonderfully and finely detailed, as usual) Duck genealogical tree poster. Despite all this, I knew nothing about the man himself, which - judging from this heartfelt article - is as good and intelligent as his comics. It's sad to see he stopped writing, mostly because there's no one there to fill his gap -- and it's a huge gap, as huge as those left by Floyd Gottfredson and Carl Barks.
- danielweber 14y agoI've got my old Duck comics in a box with all my Richie Richs, and the old classic Duck stories are really something even today.
- pimeys 14y agoI also own every duck book he ever released. I grew up with his and Carl Barks' comics. I still enjoy them. Btw, Don Rosa and Carl Barks are almost like national heroes in Finland where I grew up. When Carl Barks visited the country, there were people on the streets celebrating. Don Rosa's visits are also a big thing.
- pimeys 14y agoHere's a video from 1994 when Carl Barks had his first visit in Helsinki. The streets were full of people celebrating. He was kind of a rock star in the country. http://yle.fi/elavaarkisto/artikkelit/carl_barks_suomessa_14320.html#media=14325 http://yle.fi/elavaarkisto/artikkelit/carl_barks_suomessa_14...
- adrianonantua 14y agoThis guy's history speaks volumes about success and being good at something. People who want to get into Software business because of money and people who want to learn how to play the guitar because of popularity have one thing in common: they only envision the outcome. They daydream of sitting on a load of cash or being surrounded by friends (and girls) when playing a tune. People who get really successful at something enjoy the freaking process. Most of the times (if not all) they don't even realize they are heading for success: they are too busy enjoying the improvement of their craft.
- praptak 14y ago"But it’s an unfortunate fact that there have never been, and I ultimately realized there never will be, any royalties paid to the people who write or draw or otherwise create all the Disney comics you’ve ever read." Please remember the above quote next time you hear some corporate puppet bring up the "starving artist" argument in a copyright policy debate.
- jamesaguilar 14y agoI don't understand what about it I should remember. Could you elaborate? I'm also not familiar with any general class of arguments called the "starving artist" argument. What are they and what do corporate puppets hope to prove using them?
- drcube 14y agoThe arguments against the evils of sharing copyrighted works with your friends online. The arguments for ridiculous "life of the author plus a century" copyright terms. Disney is a huge purveyor of these bogus arguments, all while stiffing the content creators who work for them.
- jamesaguilar 14y agoOh. But Disney comics is the only case where no royalties are ever paid, at least according to Don in this article. I don't think he'd want us using those words as a blanket permission to pirate copyrighted works.
- drcube 14y agoNo, but it highlights the hypocrisy of the largest anti-sharing organization. Movie studios and record labels are also generally lousy to the talent they make their money off of. Treating creators like shit while outwardly pretending to care about them to advance your business interests makes your whole side look bad.
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- thurn 14y agoI might not understand the complaint here. I don't get paid royalties on the software I write either, because my employer owns the copyright to my work. That licensing arrangement suits both of us because I would like to collect a salary without assuming the risk that my work won't be profitable. It's not an exploitive relationship.
- cgh 14y agoWork-for-hire is actually the norm in the mainstream comics world (DC, Marvel). Creator-owned comics do exist and there's a pretty big label that does nothing but (Image), but as you say there's considerable risk involved.
- danielweber 14y agoI'm pretty sure there are royalties for DC & Marvel artists these days, going back to the big squall in the 1980's. (For when their work is recreated, not their characters. They give the characters over 100%.) This doesn't mean that Disney should or should not follow that practice.
- cgh 14y agoNo, DC and Marvel are work for hire. You are allowed to keep original artwork to sell later if you want.
- danielweber 14y agoIf by "work for hire" you mean the company owns the work, I agree completely. But they also, by contract, give royalties when issues (including reprints) sell over a certain amount. (You could also say that their base pay for the work assumes a certain number of sales.)
- ctide 14y agoIf that works for you, that's great! Many software developers around these parts (myself included) want equity in the companies we work for. Equity is just our industry's form of royalties. Make awesome software that people love? Greater valuation of your equity!
- lifeguard 14y agoTL;DR: Disney sucks to work with.
- LefterisJP 14y agoWow I never expected to see an article about Don Rosa in HN. This is a really sad turn of events which I was not aware of. I grew up with Carl Barks's and Don Rosa's comics and thoroughly enjoyed each one of their stories, was inspired and moved by them. He leaves some pretty big shoes to be filled. Thank you Don, for everything you have done and for being with me through all my childhood( and beyond) through your stories
- afterburner 14y agobtw, advice to anyone who experiences it, if you think your retina is detaching, SEEK MEDICAL ATTENTION IMMEDIATELY. (If that wasn't obvious from the article.)
- Evbn 14y ago> Most Americans retire after 30 – 35 years.