Both DC and Marvel Comics are cracking down on the ability of comic book artists to sell Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs) of characters owned by each of those two companies.
Comic book artists are claiming that this is depriving them of the ability to make money off of their original artwork like the two companies have always allowed with their physical artwork, except that this is digital work and not physical, during an era where much of the art being made for comics no longer exists as pencils and ink on a page.
NFTs are cryptocurrency where each piece accompanies artwork or a video clip. Therefore, in effect, you are purchasing an original work of art by an artist that is simply a digital artwork rather than a physical drawing. Jose Delbo, the 87-year-old former Wonder Woman and Transformers artist who made waves when he sold a number of NFTs (mostly involving Wonder Woman) for nearly $2 million (well, since we're dealing with cryptocurrency, we should say "the equivalent of nearly $2 million), it described the artwork as, "This is a signed and limited edition digital creation. You're purchasing the full non-commercial rights to this creation. Upon purchase, this creation will be transferred to your digital wallet. If you don't have one, we'll provide one for you. You may download the full-sized creation to display or even print for personal use."
The issue, of course, is that Delbo was doing this with characters who are the intellectual property of big corporations and DC recently sent out an open letter to creative talent revealing the company's position on NFTs, noting, “As DC examines the complexities of the NFT marketplace and we work on a reasonable and fair solution for all parties involved, including fans and collectors, please note that the offering for sale of any digital images featuring DC’s intellectual property with or without NFTs, whether rendered for DC’s publications or rendered outside the scope of one’s contractual engagement with DC, is not permitted." Marvel Comics also released a very similar position. Delbo recently started selling NFTs of an original superhero creation of his, instead.
Superstar artist Mike Deodato had been selling NFTs of his comic book work, as well, like the cover to Amazing Spider-Man Family #2...
He wrote an open letter after the companies started blocking the sales of these NFTs:
The big comic book companies are sending letters to artists asking them not to sell their digital original art because they are copyrighted. They are asking nicely, you would say, so what is the problem? Well, they are also sending DMCA's ( Digital Millennium Copyright Act ) to the platforms to stop them from selling the art.
So, let me get this straight. If you are a traditional comic book artist you can sell your original art on paper. If you are a digital comic book artist you are not allowed to sell your digital original art. In both cases, there is no copyright involved. In both cases.
So WHY digital comic book artists are being deprived of their rights? Isn't a pandemic destroying economies and making people losing their jobs bad enough?
Marvel and DC both note that the tradition of comic book artist being allowed to sell their original pencil and ink art has only existed as a "gift," of sorts, by the companies and not a right. So both companies do not think it is comparable to its current position on NFTs.
Source: Los Angeles Times
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