I wish there was a Moon Knight edit for this.
Marvel’s had some great talent pass through their halls over the years (less-so nowadays, but meh). This means that, as these people have created characters to add to the Marvel mythos, they should be getting paid what they’re due for those massive blockbusters made possible on the back of their work, right?
Well, apparently not so much.
It seems Disney’s not terribly fond of paying these people for those stories and characters that make those films function. While it’s been typical that the comics biz is work-for-hire, more and more of these professionals are taking exception with the large corporations that own the comics companies. Here-to-fore, Disney’s offered a flat $5000 and an invitation to the premiere of the film to the people behind the source material. Which gets less reasonable when the Mouse pockets multiple fat stacks thanks to the global release of these movies.
Notably, Ed Brubaker has talked at length about how he, as well as artist Steve Epting, colorist Frank D’Armata, and letterer Randy Gentile, basically made nothing from Falcon and the Winter Soldier. Which was particularly galling, as they were responsible for creating the books that brought Bucky back as the Winter Soldier. While miffed about not being invited to the premiere of the show, that’s not the primary issue according to Brubaker.
Marvel… typically doesn’t let creators know about the process of bringing these characters to the screen. While the one-off checks and invitations are the more public side of it, they also offer “special character contracts” to certain creators in the event of their work getting an adaptation. But it seems to be only for certain creators, are not offered as a rule (seemingly upon inquiry), and even then, there’s no guarantee they’ll offer it up.
DC, while little better, still has the edge in this regard. Per The Guardian:
For some creators, work they did decades ago is providing vital income now as films bring their comics to a bigger audience; they reason – and the companies seem to agree – it’s only fair to pay them more. DC has a boilerplate internal contract, which the Guardian has seen, which guarantees payments to creators when their characters are used. Marvel’s contracts are similar, according to two sources with knowledge of them, but harder to find; some Marvel creators did not know they existed.
As these major companies mine more and more of the comics backlog for material to adapt, this is certain to become a greater problem. When the passionate people have all gone, you’ll get what you pay for; writers and artists with lesser (or no) talent, creating books that don’t actually sell. Books that are not only outsold by Manga imports, but have usually alienated the sorts of readers that the comics industry had relied on for years, the repeat buyer. And if nobody likes the current books, adapting them is probably not going to yield the same results. Frankly, it’s already been happening. And even pre-COVID, you were seeing comics stores close their doors. Any prospective talent looks at this and decides they might be better off solo.
Source: iO9
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