Understanding Superhero Comic Books by Alex Grand

It reignited a conversation about creator pay, and what obligation companies have to creators who signed contracts years before movies were grossing billions and media conglomerates were building streaming services on the backs of their characters.Ĭreators working at Marvel and DC sign work-for-hire contracts granting the publishers ownership over their characters and storylines. But it was unusual to hear Brubaker and Coates, creators at the height of their careers, speak openly about the issue. Hollywood CEO Pay: Big Checks, Ugly Optics Amid StrikeĬomic book history is full of stories of writers and artists who signed meager deals only to see their creations become icons, dating back to 1938, when Superman creators Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster signed away the character for $130. “I wish that Marvel found better ways to compensate the creators who helped make Black Panther Black Panther,” said Coates. In May, Ta-Nehisi Coates, whose run on Black Panther comics helped the $1.2 billion- grossing Chadwick Boseman film get greenlit, backed Brubaker in an interview with Polygon, noting that he was fortunate not to depend on comics for a living. “I have made more on SAG residuals than I have made on creating the character,” Brubaker told Kevin Smith and Marc Bernardin on the Fatman Beyond podcast, referencing his cameo in Captain America: The Winter Soldier (2014). The comic book writer, who co-created the Winter Soldier character and whose work helped inspire $1 billion grossers like 2016’s Captain America: Civil War, made waves with a widely circulated interview in which he expressed dissatisfaction with his Winter Soldier pay. Yet one person fans were surprised to learn wasn’t watching was Ed Brubaker. Marvel fans were flying high with the release of The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, as the Disney+ series rose to top Nielsen’s closely watched streaming chart with 855 million minutes viewed during the April 12-18 frame.

Understanding Superhero Comic Books by Alex Grand