{"id":15551,"date":"2017-11-16T15:09:44","date_gmt":"2017-11-16T21:09:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/arseniclullabies.com\/wordpress\/?p=15551"},"modified":"2017-11-20T18:12:47","modified_gmt":"2017-11-21T00:12:47","slug":"bootleg-prints-dumb-with-a-capital-d","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/arseniclullabies.com\/wordpress\/?p=15551","title":{"rendered":"Bootleg prints, dumb with a capital “D”"},"content":{"rendered":"

Bootleg prints, dumb with a capital “D”<\/strong><\/p>\n

For those of you who have not been to a comic book convention…I’ll give you a real quick lay of the land of a typical mid-sized con.\u00a0 You got your celebrity guests, some washed up, some still famous, usually against the back wall.\u00a0 You got a few larger publishers with a corner or an island type multi table set up with different pros there over the course of the show.\u00a0 You have a bunch of stores with multiple tables selling old comics or comic related toys and merch, and you have your “artist alley” where THEORETICALLY the comic book professionals and aspiring artists each get a table or two to sell their books and art.\u00a0 Theoretically I said, let me explain what about 40% of the “artist” tables actually are in many shows-<\/p>\n

A giant wall\/display\/backdrop of prints of illustrations for sale of your favorite pop culture characters, Captain America for example.<\/p>\n

\"\" \"\"\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \"\"<\/p>\n

*pics courtesy of Ben Eller*<\/em><\/p>\n

So far so good right? Lot’s of people like Cap.\u00a0 The problem is, Cap is not their\u00a0 intellectual property. He, by law, is owned lock stock and barrel by someone else.\u00a0 and so is every other character on their wall of prints. They were not at any point hired to draw him and thus did not in any way shape or form contribute to his popularity past or present but are reaping the rewards of those who have. They are bootleggers. They are thieves.<\/p>\n

“meh…so what? Disney’s not hurting for money.”<\/p>\n

I’ll explain some of the “so what”, bear with me…<\/p>\n

I used to LOVE being at comic-cons for this reason- It was as level a playing field as you were going to get.\u00a0 If you were a decades established pro, a publisher with generations of name recognition, or a young buck with a brand new idea…you were all in the same building competing for the same passersby and it was your ideas vs everyone else’s…bring…it..on. Loved it!\u00a0 It’s of course less appealing now that name recognition is actually to my advantage, but I still love the level playing field because it keeps me honest.\u00a0 But these bootleggers erode that level playing field because these are not their ideas.\u00a0 These are the ideas of someone else, that they did not earn the right to draw.\u00a0 They are able to make a quick buck because many others have put effort, time, and money into making the characters so beloved that a simple print of their image has value.\u00a0 In truth, they have little effect on me DIRECTLY at this point in my career, but what harms the industry affects all in the industry to some extent. And here comes the harm…<\/p>\n

There is a different type of print seller, pros who have at some point been paid to draw such characters.\u00a0 maybe they were hired to draw Cap or Spidy or whoever. That’s a different story, different companies have different policies on if their illustrators can sell prints or their renditions of the characters they were hired to do.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 So it is a “the chicken or the egg” argument as far as why that print is selling.\u00a0 Is it the character, or the artist’s rendition of the character that in some way helped sustain the characters popularity, that is the reason for someone buying the print.<\/p>\n

The bottom line it that this is a character that they earned the right to draw and contributed to it’s current popularity in some way. Let’s say he or she drew The Back Cat for the last year…keeping that character popular…and he\/she has to sit there and compete with some a-hole moving bootleg prints of the Black Cat that are only moving because the pro worked hard to keep her popular!\u00a0 madness. and to make things worse there is no differentiation between the two of them. The bootlegger sure as f*ck isn’t going to mention he\/she was never actually hired to draw any of those characters.\u00a0 And if the pro mentions it, he\/she comes off as a bully or egomaniac.\u00a0 ( I have no qualms about being refereed to as either…or BEING either for that matter, thus me saying here what others would rather not have to)<\/p>\n

\u00a0 Put yourself in that Pro’s shoes. You worked hard, worked your way up the ladder, follow the laws, and you are seated next to a thief\/con man literally making money off of your hard work…AND\u00a0 are at a disadvantage because while you are only selling prints of property you have actually been hired to do at some point, they have no qualms about selling unlicensed work of anything that isn’t nailed down.\u00a0 Eventually, even the most suborn among them will just stop going to cons.\u00a0 Those actual comic book pros will be replaced with…another wall of prints.\u00a0 The “Starbucks” of the comic book industry, in a sense.<\/p>\n

Speaking of pros at tables, there are obviously only so many tables available at any given comic-con and the law of supply and demand takes over eventually.\u00a0 There is no shortage of these people who know they can draw up ( or steal off the internet) images of a bunch of characters they don’t own who are popular enough to have anything with their image on it get bought by someone.\u00a0 This eats up the number of tables in a hurry.\u00a0 Each of those wall-o-prints tables COULD instead be some actual comic book pro, or better yet COULD be some young aspiring comic book maker trying to get his\/her own new ideas off the ground.<\/p>\n

Most pros don’t have to pay for a table at any worthwhile convention, but those young indy types do.\u00a0 and the increased demand means an increase in cost for them.\u00a0 The new talent out there, that this industry sorely needs, is having to miss out on opportunities to get their work seen and reacted to by comic book fans, because they cannot get tables…or if they do manage to get one before the bootleggers scoop them all up, they can’t afford it.\u00a0 Tables in “artist alley” used to be 50-150.00 for medium to larger sized shows.\u00a0 These days they are 300-800.00.\u00a0 That’s not inflation, that is the affect the bootleggers, who have less risk since they are peddling posters of characters that have multi billion dollar movies hits and 50 years of brand recognition, have on the supply and demand.<\/p>\n

I was one of these young aspiring indy types once.\u00a0 The risk is high and recouping costs by selling comic books no one has ever heard of, in the 5.00 range, is\u00a0 tough.\u00a0 It was tough when tables were 50-150.00, it would be like fighting the ocean now.\u00a0 BUT there are young people willing to do that.\u00a0 There are still young creators out there willing to take that risk, to beg borrow or steal the cash and through force of will get enough people interested in their ideas to make a few bucks…if only they could get a table.<\/p>\n

But they can’t…the tables that could be stocked with strange, and wonderful, and rough around the edges, indy comic books, some destined for greatness…are instead simply row after row of illegal prints of pop culture characters.\u00a0 This makes for a far less interesting convention, that serves the interest of far less people, and forwards far less new ideas.<\/p>\n

Wanna be’s and would be up and comers who are drawing characters and making prints (copies) of characters that they do not own the rights to and selling those prints are a problem to the pros, the industry in general, the cons, and to themselves.<\/p>\n

\u00a0If you are one of the people making them you might say to yourself. “Feh! I can make a quick buck this way, and the risk vs reward is pretty far in my favor.”\u00a0 (If you are a con operator you might want to hang around til I’m done with the “artists” and explain YOUR risk vs reward).\u00a0<\/em> If you are and ‘artist” that thinks like an insect, then yes, you can make a quick buck and the worst that happens is they don’t let you back, or kick you out of the current show.\u00a0 If you actually take what you do seriously and would like to eventually be more than a grown adult selling prints over a folding table 6 times a year, than your risk vs reward is a completely different story.<\/p>\n

There have been, for years as I exhibited at these shows, people selling prints they have drawn of other peoples intellectual property…and it could be argued that many of them are\/were actually more talented than me at drawing an image.\u00a0 I can think of such a guy I’ve been at the same shows with for years. and over the years I have gotten work with Mad Magazine, have cartoons appear on Comedy Central, done work for Valiant Comics, Image comics, recently drawn The Tick, and helped on several pitches for Hollywood producers, and he has….drawn more prints…and sold them over a folding table.<\/p>\n

The reason is this,\u00a0 I (for example), by doing my own work, have shown I can write, illustrate, tell a story, design characters, market a new idea.\u00a0 So If someone needs any of those things, I have shown an ability to do so at a high level.\u00a0 Someone selling prints of other peoples work have shown none of that and shown a lack of respect for the industry as a whole.\u00a0 They are showing no story telling skills, no imagination, and very little drive and less ambition.\u00a0 That’s not the kind of person people with real money to spend on a project are looking to hire.\u00a0 Many projects come with a Non-disclosure agreement, because the people funding projects don’t want anything leaked about them until they are good and ready.\u00a0 How interested do you think they would be to have corporate secrets in the hands of someone who doesn’t even give a crap about simple copyright laws? They aren’t very interested in that.<\/p>\n

The person publishing his\/her own work on the other hand, knows\u00a0 how to keep his mouth shut about something and for how long and the importance of this or he\/she wouldn’t be in business.\u00a0 the person forwarding his\/her own ideas shows an understanding of all the tasks at hand, which is valuable even if they are\u00a0 only to be hired to do one aspect of a project and they as less likely to be a problem to work with, because they understand the bottom line, the end game, and the importance of secrecy.<\/p>\n

The person making bootleg prints has shown no such competence or even a curiosity to learn any skill set beyond drawing someone else’s property looking cool in a single image.<\/p>\n

It comes down to – what are you looking to do with your life\/talent.\u00a0 It’s far tougher at times to get a new idea off the ground, to get people interested…but the upside has no ceiling.<\/p>\n

All you bootleggers out there, take your best profit over the course of a convention season. That is the ceiling of success for you.\u00a0 That is as high as it will get.\u00a0 that’s it.\u00a0 Whether you do this for one year or ten.\u00a0 You will move into middle ageness, into greying hair and not have moved forward one iota.<\/p>\n

If you actually have any talent, which MANY of you do…this is dumb with a capitol “D”.<\/p>\n

But hey, you do what you want, rake in that 20.00 a head with your prints for as long as the cons allow you to set up. I have T.V. show pitch to help produce, for people with a considerably higher budget with a considerably higher audience.<\/p>\n

As for you who are buying such prints, you’re spending what? 20.00-40.00? For a bootleg print of Captain America.\u00a0 Do you realize that at such a con a guy who actually drew Cap for Marvel Comics is probably just a short walk away? and that for the same money you could get a quick sketch from him?\u00a0 I’m not sure what everyone charges for sketches, I tend to be less expensive because…well, I’m just not as detailed with quick sketches as most pros.\u00a0 But I assure you that yo could take that money and walk up to a pro and say “give me whatever size sketch this can buy” and get a pretty cool quick sketch or even detailed sketch depending on his\/her mood and the amount of traffic that day…that’s a piece of ORIGINAL ARTWORK by the actual pro who worked on the book, that no one but you has. OR, even better, you could get a sketch or a book from some young buck who’s trying to bring something new into the industry.<\/p>\n

Let me remind you that just a decade ago you could have gotten such things from the guys making The Walking Dead…somewhere hiding behind a wall of prints you are considering is the next comic that will hit it big.\u00a0 Given all that, I’d say you wasting your money on a bootleg print is dumb with a capital “D”.<\/p>\n

AS FOR YOU CONVENTION OPERATORS.\u00a0 let’s look at your risk vs reward.\u00a0 The reward is that you sold a bunch of tables, maybe these people plug their appearance and you get some free advertising.\u00a0 What does that add up to? a few grand?<\/p>\n

Here’s the risk. Repercussions from the companies that own the characters.\u00a0 Think some giant company like Disney isn’t going to bother?\u00a0 Google NFL crack down on the name “Super Bowl”. The NFL years ago decided to take it’s army of lawyers, that where being paid on retainer for just sitting around, and set them lose on ANY copy right infringement they could find.\u00a0 Bars, grocery stores using the name for a sale on party subs in their deli, charity events raffling off tickets…AN-E-ONE using ANY NFL licensed image, or name was tracked down by the attorneys and shut down.<\/p>\n

hell, they even found and went afters some church with 200 parishioners in bumblef8ck Washington somewhere.<\/p>\n

http:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/wp-dyn\/content\/article\/2008\/01\/31\/AR2008013103958.html<\/p>\n

If you are selling booths to bootleggers, you are on borrowed time.\u00a0 Any day now some accountant could notice the staggering amount of revenue comic book conventions make and notice all the bootleg prints being sold and decide they need to get their beak wet or shut it down. \u00a0 It is far more efficient to go after YOU than to run after the 40 individual bootleggers at your show.<\/p>\n

I’m not a high priced lawyer, but just off the top of my head, I’d say “You promoted these people, they promoted your show, thus a percentage of your ticket sales came directly from the use of OUR intellectual property and so you own us $$$$.\u00a0 Our high priced team of attorneys, who have specialized in this for decades have a mathematical equation..and it says you own us 60%.\u00a0 What does your local attorney say to that?…it doesn’t matter, we are having him disbarred. he knew ahead of time that these people would be at your show, you paid him with money generated from the show and that makes him an accomplice.”<\/p>\n

AND after that they may say ” did any of the people who came to buy unlicensed prints by a hot dog at the concession stand? because we’ll need to get our cut from that to”\u00a0 The concession stand is owned by the venue which will then say to you ” You and your show can go f8ck itself, you are not allowed back here”.<\/p>\n

And that’s just me, off the top of my head, coming up with ways the companies who own the characters could sue you into the stone age.\u00a0 They probably have WAY better ideas.<\/p>\n

That’s your risk vs reward.\u00a0 Maybe you make a couple grand extra…maybe you lose your show and everything you own.<\/p>\n

Taking a risk like that..dumb with a capital “D”.<\/p>\n

You bootleggers with talent, you convention operators… you need, and the comic book industry needs you to have more foresight than this.<\/p>\n

The comic book industry cannot afford to be stagnant.\u00a0 These movies, t.v. shows, whatever is popular now…does not promise you a tomorrow.\u00a0 There seems to be nothing but comic book super hero movies being put out now, but back decades ago it seemed like there was nothing but cowboy movies being put out…you follow me? You better be making new characters, new stories, promoting those things. You better have booths at your show with new things so that next year…when whatever is hot now has become stale, people still have a reason to go to your show.\u00a0 Getting the next issue of some comic book that they read and liked last year, and meeting the person who made it and being able to talk about the story with him\/her is a far more reliable reason than the possibility they have any more room on their wall for some bootleg print .<\/p>\n

____________________________________________<\/em><\/p>\n

When Douglas is not here, he and his work can be found at www.arseniclullaby.com<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

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Bootleg prints, dumb with a capital “D” For those of you who have not been to a comic book convention…I’ll give you a real quick lay of the land of a typical mid-sized con.\u00a0 You got your celebrity guests, some washed up, some still famous, usually against the back wall.\u00a0\u2026 Continue reading<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_hide_featured_image":false,"_jetpack_featured_image_duplicate_dismissed":0,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[6,7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-15551","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-where-to-see-us-and-what-ahppened-when-you-did","category-thoughts-complaints-and-mocking-the-industry-that-is-comic-book-publishing"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack-related-posts":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p2ee9g-42P","jetpack_featured_media_url":"","post_mailing_queue_ids":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/arseniclullabies.com\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15551","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/arseniclullabies.com\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/arseniclullabies.com\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/arseniclullabies.com\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/arseniclullabies.com\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=15551"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/arseniclullabies.com\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15551\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/arseniclullabies.com\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=15551"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/arseniclullabies.com\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=15551"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/arseniclullabies.com\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=15551"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}