/co/ - Comic writers losing control of their creations

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Comic writers losing control of their creations Anonymous 09/01/2021 (Wed) 02:13:34 No. 17466

How many instances have you seen of writers getting screwed out of how their series/characters/whatever are portrayed and complain about it later? In a recent DC Black Label book (Suicide Squad: Get Joker), they had Wild Dog in that universe be part of the Jan. 6th Capitol Hill ~~tour~~ insurrection as a right wing fanatic, and his original creators Max Allan Collins and Terry Beatty went bitching to BleedingCool about it, and that made me curious about other incidents. Here's the rant: https://archive.is/9NiSS >My first reaction at discovering Wild Dog had been recruited into the Suicide Squad as the leader of the Jan. 6 Insurrection as a defecating Proud Boy-style seditionist was bewildered shock. Basically, "Huh?" That quickly grew to rage, expressed mostly as, "F-ck DC," and "F-ck the writer." I shared these sentiments with Wild Dog's artist/co-creator, Terry Beatty, and he basically tried to calm me down. But, obviously, it gradually worked him into a rabid lather, too. > For me, it's settled into disappointment and disgust. Wild Dog was conceived as a home-grown costumed hero. No cape, no cowl, just what could be put together out of such items as a hockey mask (with its Jason resonance) and body armor and real-world stuff from a hardware store and a home workshop. The usual "what if" all fiction writers operate from – "what if" somebody decided to actually be a costumed hero? > The results were not always beneficial. When Wild Dog found himself confronted by a would-be Bucky to his Captain America, despite our hero's best efforts to discourage the Pup's participation, the child is nearly killed. Terry and I pursued this with Ms. Tree – she was a vigilante, too, but wound up both in jail and in a mental institution. I might add in the Ms. Tree feature, Terry and I explored such then-current (and still current, unfortunately) topics as date rape, abortion clinic bombings, and gay bashing. > Some defenders of what we see as a perverted use of our creation dismiss it on the grounds that Wild Dog is a minor, forgotten character. Well, tell that to DC, who have used the character in at least three other comics, most recently as a cast member of the Cave Carson comic book, and to the CW network, where Wild Dog was a recurring character on Arrow. > Wild Dog debuted in a four-issue mini-series, had a regular slot in Action Weekly, and a "Special" double-length one-shot. In addition Terry is an Eisner-winning Batman artist, and we were Eisner nominees for our Ms. Tree work at DC. I wrote a year of Batman as well as two Batman graphic novels and was the initial writer of the Tim Burton-era Batman newspaper strip. My graphic novel (with Richard Piers Rayner), Road to Perdition, generated an Academy Award-winning film that is often cited as one of the best comic book movies ever made, and the graphic novel itself appears on many "Best of" lists. As recently as 2011 Terry and I did Return to Perdition for DC. > So what? So Terry and I both have long relationships with DC and might have expected better where one of our creations is concerned. Yes, DC owns the rights to the character, but simple courtesy and common decency might suggest going down this path with Wild Dog was ill-advised – and that at least the creators should be warned. After all, invoking the Jan. 6 riot was bound to attract attention and controversy – shock value was the point, after all. > Of course we weren't informed, just as we were not told about Wild Dog being used on the Arrow TV show. We weren't paid for that (one of the few things our contract gave us) until that fact went public. I have worked with many terrific people at DC, but DC itself remains what it's always been – a corporation built on the bones of two Cleveland teenagers. > As for Brian Azzarello, who I have never met, I have to wonder what kind of writer uses the creation of another writer in such a reckless, disrespectful manner. Azzarello is one of a generation of comics writers who owe a certain debt to our Ms. Tree, the first successful crime comic book in decades when it appeared in 1981. Still the longest running private eye comic book of all time (50 issues plus specials), it paved the way for everything that followed. We might have expected better thanks than this. > DC owning Wild Dog doesn't stop it being characterized as my work – the fame of Road to Perdition guarantees I will be mentioned in the context of a character who is tied to a political movement I abhor. But a modicum of consideration from the publisher, and some respect from the writer, is too much to expect from the company and talent who ignore Bill Finger's Batman in favor of Batman fingering Catwoman.

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