“Truth hurts,” reads the duvet of challenge No. 4 of Marvel‘s 2023 Loki comic run. The book’s cowl artist, Dustin Nguyen, had some hurtful truths directed on the comedian writer in a profanity-laced submit shared to social media, wherein the Eisner Award-winning artist and co-creator of Image’s Descender introduced he has severed ties at Marvel Comics with a plea for elevated compensation and royalty funds for creators.
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“Everyone I’m NOT working with @marvel can [expletive] themselves,” Nguyen wrote in a message shared by way of Instagram Stories. “I’ve asked nicely for the past 15 years on behalf of every artist. Stop f—ing creators over, you’re not getting another cover from me until then.”
After condemning what he known as “minimum wage bullsh-t,” Nguyen added that making $6.25 an hour at his outdated quick meals job was “still better than spilling my heart and love on a Spider-Man cover gig” and getting between 5 and 10 free copies within the mail.
Nguyen’s most up-to-date work for Marvel features a Symbiote Spider-Man variant cowl for October’s Spider-Man: Black Suit & Blood #3, the anthology sequence that included the five-page “Dysmorphia” story written and illustrated by Nguyen in challenge No. 1, and a team-up variant cowl for the upcoming Doom’s Division #3 that includes the mutant Karma and Gun-R II of Tiger Division. At Marvel, Nguyen has additionally created covers for Jonathan Hickman and Valerio Schiti’s G.O.D.S., Peach Momoko’s Ultimate X-Men, and the Alien: Black, White & Blood anthology.
“My editors @marvel f—ing kill and I LOVE THEM,” Nguyen added. “I will fight tooth and nail for them, but it will probably be against Marvel itself which we’ll all lose.”
Nguyen elaborated on his determination to chop ties with one of many Big Two comedian publishers in a subsequent submit shared to his greater than 125,000 Instagram followers.
“[Marvel] has been undercutting creators from the start, unless you’re getting [$6,000 – $7,000 a cover — then god bless. I hope you’re getting a piece of the MCU and after sales,” he wrote. “Between them and [DC Comics], they are the ONLY one that DOESN’T pay a royalty for overseas sales. America is the originator of superhero comics … they’re not paying creators a piece? Come on. F— this f—ing shit. Also, merch? Lunch boxes and tees — good luck.”
Nguyen — whose lengthy listing of credit at DC Comics consists of the epilogue of Scott Snyder and Jim Lee’s Superman Unchained, the Paul Dini-penned Batman: Heart of Hush, Robin & Batman, and Batman: Li’l Gotham — went on to ignore what he known as warnings to not cross Marvel as a result of “they’re a major player, the only two in the mainstream.”
“F— them,” Nguyen wrote. “Like I give a flying f—. F— @marvel comics, f— anyone that I’m NOT directly working with. I LOVE my marvel editors because they get you your books out to you on time. The direct staff has no control, they don’t juggle the stupid f—ing numbers.”
“You’re an artist. You draw sh-t. You wanna get paid for sh-t. now. In the future. Forever,” he continued. “You draw now and in the future. In countries everywhere including the one you don’t live in. F— this current Marvel contract. I’m too small in the tier and can’t negotiate a better one for you. Those in control, those whose work pull, please work for the rest of us.” Nguyen famous that DC “isn’t far” from Marvel as a result of, like Disney-owned Marvel Comics, DC is a division of Warner Bros. Discovery.
“But when I ask for things, DC works with me,” Nguyen mentioned, including that he’s requested for a $75 per-page elevate up to now 15 years, equating royalties to creating “15 cents after [the publishers] made your thousands. So what am I treading carefully for again?”
Deadpool co-creator Rob Liefeld additionally introduced his exit from Marvel in latest weeks, a break up stemming from what he known as mistreatment from the Kevin Feige-led Marvel Studios on the July premiere of Deadpool & Wolverine. (Liefeld’s public criticisms of each Feige and Marvel coincided with the discharge of his last Deadpool comedian.)
In 2017, Thanos co-creator Jim Starlin said he acquired a “very big check” from DC for the Okay.G. Beast’s comparatively minor function in 2016’s Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, “Much bigger than anything I’ve gotten for Thanos, Gamora and Drax showing up in any of the various Marvel [Guardians of the Galaxy and Avengers] movies they appeared in, combined.”
And in 2021, Ed Brubaker, who resurrected Bucky Barnes because the brainwashed Winter Soldier within the comics storyline that impressed 2014’s Captain America: The Winter Soldier film, called out Marvel throughout a podcast look following the airing of the Disney+ sequence The Falcon and the Winter Soldier. “I have made more on SAG residuals [from my cameo in The Winter Soldier] than I have made on creating the character,” Brubaker mentioned on Kevin Smith and Marc Bernardin’s Fatman Beyond podcast.
At least in Starlin’s case, the legendary comics creator mentioned in 2021 that he renegotiated a wealthy take care of Marvel following the blockbuster field workplace performances of 2018’s Avengers: Infinity War and 2019’s Avengers: Endgame.
“The cliche is that the squeaky wheel gets the grease,” Starlin mentioned on the time. “The way these agreements are written up, Disney can be more generous if they want. It is written right there that they can change the terms to make it better.”
