IDW v BOOM! Studios v Dark Horse

Who treats licensed characters with the most respect? For me, it's BOOM.

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Boom is the closest thing you can get to a sweatshop. They run the worst rates in the industry, at least among actual companies.

You're pretty much contributing to the devaluation of writers and artists when you buy from them.

Idw by far treats their lisceneses like shit mostly from recent trend they’ve been having dark horse hasn’t really dome anything bad with the liscenses their losing and even published some great content Boom has really good books like the robocop and the King Kong and planet of the apes books

Not BOOM, thats for sure.

IDW really depends on the title.

Dark Horse has/had theirs for decades, so they must have been doing something right.

I can't help it. Their Kaboom imprint handles Nick & Cartoon Network stories really well. And their Power Rangers book is cool, as well as creator-owned stuff like Mech Cadet Yu. IDW is close for me, but their best comic (TMNT) doesn't even have consistently good art man.

>BOOM is good with kids comics (their Disney & Pixar books were really enjoyable)
>IDW is good with properties from the 80s (Ghostbusters, TMNT, Back to the Future)
>Dark Horse is good with Alien and Predator

Agreed with Dark Horse. Fits their name! They are good at handling darker franchises.

>Alien and Predator
Which Disney owns now. Tick tock, Dark Horse.

From another point of view you could say BOOM provides work for newcomers who otherwise couldn't break into the industry.

If they take Aliens and Predator away from Dark Horse, they won't even have anything left.

Hellboy? They could revive The Mask, I guess...

>Buffy
>Hellboy
>The Mask
>Sin City
>Avatar The Last Airbender
>Timecop
>Usagi Yojimbo
>Umbrella Academy
>Duckman

>Buffy

Fox again.

Yeah, I guess I wasn't counting Hellboy because he feels more like a creator-owned franchise by Mike Mignola rather than a licensed property. But even then, you could argue that Mike Mignola decided that the Hellboy story is already finished with Hellboy in Hell. There's just little extra minis come out within the universe now. That's not enough to carry Dark Horse.

Except they're the newbie trap. They constantly chew up and spit out newbies who don't get that working for sub-minimum wage isn't a "stepping stone."

Seriously, don't fall for that bullshit. NOBODY deserves under $70 a fucking page. It's robbery.

What is the source on this? Any interesting interviews with creators pissed about pay?

fairpagerates.com/year-in-review-2015-survey-results/
fairpagerates.com/year-in-review-2016-survey-results/

Boom gets the most complaints out of anybody by a fucking mile, even more than Archie. Oni Press is even worse about taking advantage of kids, but Boom's still pretty bad.

To be fair, Boom Studios has tons of series drawn more simple and cartoony. You can't compare that work rate to other publishers who are doing more detailed pencils that take way more hours. They probably get complaints because these small webcomic newbs think their big shots when they aren't.

>"Simplistic/Cartoony" art should not make the same pay grade.

Christ, next you'll tell me Jim Lee is the best artist in comics.

I actually prefer Simplistic/Cartoony styles. I'm just saying that the hours spent on a Jim Lee type of style takes more hours than a Darwyn Cooke type style. Darwyn Cooke probably wont miss deadlines because he can finish his pages in less hours.

I feel like you have to not be an artist to honestly believe this.

It's much easier to shit out a whole bunch of lines in stiff poses than to do a simple but dynamic art style. Plenty of "cartoony" comics artists are shitty tumblr kids, you're not wrong, but 90's style Crosshatching Madness is neither more time intensive nor more difficult and trying to scale the pay grade based on that is absurd.

Oh stop. If cartoony styles were paid the same, Jim Lee and Todd McFarlane would throw their shit in the trash and collect quicker paychecks by drawing Bugs Bunny cpmics.

>Bad comic artists (but decent pinup artists) who go for the highest profit yield per hour invested wouldn't do the easy but profitable thing if it wasn't the most easy but profitable thing anymore.

I don't even agree with the logic that cartooning is somehow easier, but that arugment's fucking retarded. Do you actually draw? Do you know a damn thing about drawing comics? Do you understand how much harder it is to actually get Bugs Bunny on model and moving in dynamic ways than it is to draw a static ass full page splash of Spawn that doesn't even have to be consistent with the rest of the issue?

The two Power Ranger books, against all odds, are some of the best licensed books that Boom has been putting out recently IMHO. It goes to show that you don't need to make something grimdark and Warhammer-esque to be a good reboot of a classic franchise.

(Although if Trey Moore's Finster origin story from last year's annual doesn't at least get nominated for Best Short Story in the Eisners, I'm going to be really disappointed)

But for the rest of Boom, eh, it depends. I only read MMPR and GGPR, so my knowledge of anything else besides the Cartoon Network comics is limited.

IDW.... is really hit or miss. Jem & the Holograms started out pretty solid, and even with the so-called "Tumblr-y" elements, it managed to work without being preachy or overdoing it in the pandering. And I have a super low threshold for pandering shit, too. But their other books, well... it's hit or miss, depending on your POV. The whole shitshow with Aubrey Stitterson and GI Joe was inexcuable, though: IDW wasn't even going to slap him on the wrist, until Hasbro stepped in and basically told them to cut that shit out.

Dark Horse is pretty much a joke at this point. Star Wars was pretty much their bread and butter for decades, and after they lost the license... Dark Horse who? I remember they tried to shift their focus away from relying on licensed properties to primarily creator owned comics after that, but that initiative apparently fell apart pretty quickly and now all they have to coast on are Hellboy (which is pretty niche interest to begin with, even with two movies and a reboot on the way) and producing/translating art books for Nintendo video games. Hell, I'd say that the Fire Emblem shit and the Hyrule Historia have done more for them post-Star Wars than Hellboy has.

Take a look at your own thoughts. I told you already, I actually prefer cartoony/simplistic styles. I'm not however going to stick my head in the dirt, and ignore the reality that a detailed house style takes more hours of work than a cool effective cartoony style. I don't see what the big deal is, if you work faster and cartoony, you can get paid slightly less, and do your pages in less hours.

Look at this example. You expect the right to get paid the same as the left? Right is the type of art you get from Boom Studios all the freaking time.

I expect the one on the right to be paid a decent wage, and the fact that it's simple and cartoony does not dismiss that. Ivan Reis is famous so he can probably ask for more, but if they were both starting out the gate? I'd absolutely pay them the same page rate. If they're good enough to hire and use in the book, they're good enough to get paid.

Dark Horse Nintendo Comics when?

>ignore the reality that a detailed house style takes more hours of work than a cool effective cartoony style
Christ, how could I be so blind?
Drawing stiff sameface is just automatically harder than drawing simple expressionism! I was wrong all along!

Seriously, fuck off. There's lazy bastards and hard working motherfuckers on every side of these things. Neither path is inherently easier, but there are ways to cheat both (and honestly, Jim Leeing your shit up is a better way to get results people will be pleased with than half assing your simplistic caricatures; people are WAY more critical of caricature). Implying style should be a deciding factor in pay rate is goddamn nonsense, and I hope to god you're not a fucking artist.

It all depends on Nintendo's willingness to license out their properties to other companies, given past efforts have ranged from sub-par (Kirby anime, Animal Crossing movie) to terrible (F-Zero anime, the DIC cartoons of the 90's), to flat-out abysmal (SMB: The Movie). They're starting to lighten up on this front, if the rumors of Illumination making an animated Super Mario movie hold any weight.

I think a while back, one of the guys behind the Sonic comics at Archie tried to pitch a Super Mario comic to Nintendo, but they shot it down faster than you can say 'Mama mia'. Not sure why, though, but I'd imagine the Ken Penders-Archie flap helped do that in.

At most, we'd probably see Dark Horse translate/publish stuff like 'Super Mario-kun' and reissue the Nintendo Power comics that Benimaru Itoh did in the 90's (Super Metroid and Star Fox).

Comics are a very niche market, it's honestly surprising that Sega's still doing it.

Alien comics are the best. Dark Horse. I love how it's mostly a string of minis instead of ongoings.

bump

When I saw the thread title start with "IDW v ____", I thought for a second that the IDW Sonic comic already had a lawsuit against it before the first issue could come out.

the one of the left is of higher quality. how the fuck is this even up for debate?

also how the fuck is aquaman not an eco-terrorist with poison ivy and swamp thing?

Disney doesn't own them yet.

What about Dynamite?

Are you absolutely sure that nobody deserves under $70 a page? Think long and hard before you open this spoiler.

I'm not even sure I'd hang that on the fridge if the artist were my kid.

Fuck off. Its clear no one values the stick figure drawings you make. Just because even Boom wont hire doesnt mean you get to blogpost here.

They're doing a graphic novel for their new IP, Arms.

Hellboy is basically done by now only a few more stories now and I doubt the BPRD stuff is gonna last long

Its easier to draw in detail than it is to draw in a simple style.

Not the user you were arguing with, but you’re opening up a slippery slope here.

If someone is shit at their job, their career shouldn’t progress until they improve -that’s the simple rule of supply and demand.

But should it be policy that they get paid less for the work they actually do? If they’re shit, that’s a reflection on the company that chose to hire them, and it might lose them customers. But I don’t think it should be policy that some poor bastard who is bad at his job should be paid less, especially for something as subjective as art.

If some retarded kid fucks up my order at McDonalds, if he’s shit at the job, then that reflects badly on management for hiring him in the first place and/or not mentoring him to improve. If he’s bad enough, he’ll eventually get fired. He won’t be considered for promotions. As a customer, if he pisses me off -I may never eat there again. But should he be paid less than everyone else for the hours he puts in? I don’t think so.

I worked on BOOM's licensed titles for several years. They were the only place to go if one wanted, as I did, to work on those particular characters.

Thus, anyone who wanted to work with those characters had to shut up and suffer.

We were allowed a fair amount of creative freedom under the circumstances, but we had to watch our hotshot CEO, Ross Richie, out there at conventions actually joking about how he paid us beans.

It's absolutely a sweatshop, but it won't end until the licensors of these properties realize what they're enabling.
That may be never, because Boom does its best to butter them up.

Dark Horse and it isn't even close. No company has even begun to approach the kind of consistent quantity of quality that DH did with their Star Wars line. And no one ever will.

That untalented webcomic maker has too much ego to admit that. Its how he copes with the pain.

Is that you Tyson Hesse? You did a good job on The Amazing World of Gumball Comic. Good luck on IDW Sonic man.

i like idw better, they fuck it up sometimes but usually they are pretty good

Is Tyson confirmed to be back on the comic itself? I heard that due to busy work he is just in cover duty.

At least Yardley and Evan are confirmed back.

this

I take it you haven't seen the latest issue of BPRD: Hell On Earth, then?

Spolier tag share please

its dark horse

...

Aside from Aliens: Dead Orbit (James Stokoe), what alien comic has the best art?

They might do shit with Nintendo since ARMS is getting a comic

How bad is the F-Zero anime?

Hmm...

>Cherry pick a pro using a detailed style vs an amateur trying to emulate a specific cartoon when the statement was about all cartoon art being worth less pay than anything detailed.
>"Hurr how can you even debate that aquaman is so much better!"

I wonder what it's like to be retarded.

That's a last minute fill in.
By someone who's an animator, not a comics artist.
As a favor for the writer.

I don't think Nat's cut out for comics and she has problems as an animator and writer, but I'm so sick of this literal "I need to do this in ten minutes because the actual artist fell through" comic being held up as an example of Marvel's shit standards.

I hate boom because of how they completely avoid the design philosophy of the source material, Rita's monsters share a common theme its easy to follow animal plus warrior clothing.

Worse in terms of both writing and art, although its licensed property management is IDW-tier and its writing talent pool mainly consists of those who wrote both Big Two and creator-owned works (from Image, Aftershock, the publishers listed in the OP, and other mid-tier companies). If you are looking for a decent enough comic, check out John Wick.

The Regular Show boom comics are fucking horrendous and they make everything overtly quirky and namedropping Twitter and internet memes. The art is genuinely off putting and disgusting, too. I regret my purchases of the series.

why does everyone hate IDW now when it comes to licensed comics? TMNT is great, Jem is okay for girls, Ghostbusters is fun, back to the future is good. Is it really just because of the GI joe thing people pretend that the other comics are not great

They were very good to the pulp-era heroes until they made The Shadow an SJW last year.

any other anime 4kids got ahold of withers and dies.
see also Doremi and Tokyo Mew Mew

Pretty awful, even in the original Japanese version. Captain Falcon and the entire main cast are railroaded aside by a donut steel Marty Stu (Ryu Suzaku/Rick Wheeler) and racing is a secondary aspect.

Also, Captain Falcon dies at the end and Marty Stu Ryu/Rick becomes the new Captain Falcon.

It's pretty awful all around and probably the reason why there hasn't been a new F-Zero game since 2004.

The original monsters, in Zyuranger anyways, were loosely based off of concepts from Greek mythology, actually. Even Goldar, Scorpina, and Finster were based off of mythological creatures (manticore, lamia, and leprechaun/forest fae respectively).

The Sheeple monster in this month's issue of MMPR is probably the closest the comic has come to having a monster that could arguably fit in with the show, if not the Zyu2 footage.

Ehhh, the GI Joe thing is symptomatic of issues plaguing the industry as a whole right now. IIRC, Jeremey Whitley (writer for the Tiny Pastel Horses comic) was a huge asshole almost on part with Stitterson, but it didn't make as huge of an impact as the GI Joe row did.

The Killer Instinct comic is a hot mess, and I say that as someone who likes KI. And the Buckaroo Banzai comic was garbage.

I'd still take the right over the shit comng out of America and Squirrel Girl.

some one spoil this, I am a bit behind, is hellboy coming back from hell?

>Ehhh, the GI Joe thing is symptomatic of issues plaguing the industry as a whole right now. IIRC, Jeremey Whitley (writer for the Tiny Pastel Horses comic) was a huge asshole almost on part with Stitterson, but it didn't make as huge of an impact as the GI Joe row did.
I did not know about that series but thats one reboot of a kid show I never cared for. But still its a few idiots, do not let them spoil the pot when IDW is ding pretty well other wise, its not like other bigger companies where its a majority of the writers being idiots

wow I can not believe I missed it being based on mythology I quickly googled zyurangers and when you see the names it adds up, that makes it even easier for them to think up monsters, they can do all the missed ones like hydra etc. I think its just the team hates how campy the monsters were and are actively avoiding creating similar monsters

Very changling.

What did dark horse do that was so great for star wars anyway?

Pretty much nothing except publish comics during a time when there was nothing going on for Star Wars, outside of the books. Like, before the Special Editions, the Prequels, etc. even vidya like Knights of the Old Republic.

Then Star Wars got superhuge in pop culture after the Special Editions were put out, and the comic license pretty much bankrolled Dark Horse for years after that. Sure, they had Alien and Predator, and even Buffy the Vampire Slayer for other licensed titles, but they were never as well known by normies -or brought in the bucks- the way Star Wars was. Or they were so atrocious, not even the fans liked them (see the Mass Effect tie-ins).

Then they lost the license to Marvel after Disney acquired Lucasfilm, and I think some people from DH admitted this was a huge blow to them.

They tried to focus on creator owned stuff, but Hellboy has been the only thing that's ever had any level of mainstream success (ask a normie about Ghost, and chances are they'll remember the Patrick Swayze movie instead) and that initiative folded quietly. Now they just focus on Hellboy and various manga translations, while what few licenses they have left are kind of forgotten by the average/normie comic buying audience.

You mean besides 90% of what was great about the EU? Gee I dunno, user...

KOTOR, Tales of the Jedi, Republic, Legacy, Crimson Empire, Dark Empire, Agent of the Empire, Dawn of the Jedi, Dark Times, Purge, Shadows of the Empire, Knight Errant, Darth Maul, Boba Fett, Jango Fett, Jedi vs. Sith, Thrawn trilogy, Invasion, Star Wars Tales...

And that's just off the top of my head.

R.I.P. Dark Horse

As a ponyfag I can confidently say not idw.

I'm still kind of mad to be honest. Those comics were the perfect opportunity to get young girls into comics and idw blew it with shitty fanfic tier stories.

I thought joe books did the disney stuff.

I suppose.

>Duckman
There are fucking duckman comics?

I kind of agree.
The writer doesn't deserve much for this page either.

If it takes less time to make it should be worth less pay. That's just common sense.

>Aubrey Stitterson
What did he do?

But it doesn't necessarily take less time. Art isn't on some retarded scale where realism = time invested. And even putting that aside, comics pay by page rates, not hours put in. This isn't fucking McDonalds, it's freelance illustration. If you're good enough to get the job done quicker than everyone else, you get more work.

Kek

>being held up as an example of Marvel's shit standards.
If they has standards they would have delayed the books.

>And the Buckaroo Banzai comic was garbage.
Okay of everything in this thread, including that hellcat page, this might be the one thing that makes me the angriest.

what about archie? they handled sonic perfectly.

>Who treats licensed characters with the most respect?
Anyone but IDW

Not the user you were talking to but holy hell this is a fantastic analogy!
I'm gonna screencap this just so I'll have this to reference.

Their transformers are also great