Are comic book companies more forgiving on their employees than say AAA game developers?

Okay sir

Compared to a lot of other creative professions yes, but nobody gets in to comics these days because it's a stable career path with lots of potential for growth, they do it because they want to make comics. Also the majority of comics creators are contract freelancers now, not in-house employees, and that changes the dynamic. Creators are frequently working multiple projects with different companies and if you've got a good fanbase or can consistently meet your deadlines you can leverage better contracts. But ultimately comics pays like shit because comics don't make very much money anymore.
At most game studios you're a clock puncher and while it's more consistent pay and benefits you ultimately are very disposable because there's an army of recent Full Sail grads who are willing to take your place for less pay. I lived in Seattle for about 12 years and made a lot of friends that worked for game studios and it was common procedure after a game launched for most of the grunt workers to get laid off and replaced with cheaper people for the next project.

If you are stuck on licensed shit from smaller publishers aren't you easily replaceable?

>if you've got a good fanbase or can consistently meet your deadlines you can leverage better contracts
At that point why not pitch your own IP lol

This is what user actually believes

What about claims like this?
desuarchive.org/co/thread/114288774/#114293712

>If you are stuck on licensed shit from smaller publishers aren't you easily replaceable?
Not as easily as a code drone because there's not as many people willing to take your place. There really aren't very many young talents trying to break in to comics these days, and there's a lot more self-publishing going on.
>At that point why not pitch your own IP
Because the big two don't want to publish original IPs. You take your original IPs to smaller publishers and do work for the big two to raise your profile.

By self-publishing you mean stuff like Oni Press, Webtoon, Patreon?

Or just buying a domain and hosting your own webcomic online. The internet means you don't necessarily need a publisher to get your content into readers' eyeballs so you have more creative control.

>"employees"
That would imply they get benefits. They're "freelancers" who just happen to get the same commission every month.

>Game studios have a bit of a different labor pool. Aside from the lead devs/designers there's armies of easily replaced grunt employees working on each game and plenty of people eager to get in to the business.
I think they're mostly artists or writers. People who do the actual coding must be almost irreplaceable until the game is released. It's almost impossible to look for a stretch of code while also trying to complete the code with the original intention. Unless it's a very simple game where you add a new object similar to the rest without messing with the gameplay

Yes and no.
If you never make connections or make any name for yourself, you're expendable. However, since it's a small passion field, that's damn near impossible unless you really suck AND are a pain in the ass.

But what about getting $€£¥?

I ask this because I mostly follow franchises with autistic fanbases and despite how much attention the artists/writers many seem to be stuck doing licensed shit for smaller publishers.

Do they have to file their own taxes?

>until the game is released
See
That's exactly what they do, after the game is released they fire 80% of the staff and hire on newer, cheaper people. They keep a core of senior staff but everyone else is gone after the game launches. I could always tell what phase of a project my friends were in by how often I saw them at the bar. As soon as I saw them there more than twice a week I knew the game would be available soon and they had just gotten handed a pink slip.

Merch sales, book deals, etc. The gist of it is that the comics industry isn't really employee based anymore. The only clock-punching employees they have are the office workers, the creators are all contract freelancers.

Yes, they file as 1099 contractors not W2 employees.

Come on, that's probably only a small percentage and most artists won't take that risk without a safety net.

IDW writers were never reprimanded for killing 90% of sales and Hasbro's planned cinematic universe.

What?

No, it's fact. The vast majority of comics creators are not employees they're contractors. And comics companies don't want them to be employees because they can't afford to run bullpens of in-house staffers anymore. It's literally not an option to be an employee anymore.

Circles are circles are circles.
If you spend a decade writing nothing but Sonic the Hedgehog and don't make friends who can hook you up outside of it...

I was referring to striking on your own.
You guessed a franchise I was referring to.

In these times, I really wouldn't expect too much more. Do you honestly think it's possible to start in one job and be there for the rest of your life?
I'm not saying it's really bad. You get lazy if you feel safe enough that you won't be kicked out.
The goal is to be good and famous enough to be picked for the next project. Wherever it is.

That guy is specifically still there because he's absolutely failed to make an impression outside of that franchise, failed to accrue many connections during his career, and didn't get far with the few chances he was given. He's also not terribly sociable outside of his clique. Most of the Sonic artists are in a similar situation where they don't mingle with people outside of that sphere as much as they probably should and don't have much to offer to comics that aren't specifically Sonic. This is ignoring that things like superheroes and edgy indie books have their own spheres that none of these guys cracked into.

People like Tyson Hesse and Ben Bates took their chances and jumped ship from doing any regular work on Sonic comics specifically because of this kind of thing: doing it long term without actively working on something else is a career dead end. Ben jumped mostly to animation, Tyson networked in Cali with his wife for a variety of gigs and ended up being smart and leveraging his Sonic experience to work on animation, which then lent itself to a cascade effect where he's now *THE* guy for consulting on outside Sonic projects like the movies and ads in addition to his commission/animation work.

Oh, well it's still true. A lot of younger creators are choosing to strike out on their own first and side-step conventional publishing. Yeah it's risky and yes a lot of them fail but it's easier than trying to get a contract with one of the bigger publishers who are only interested in big names or grinding away on licensed properties at little publishers that could go bankrupt at any second.
There are no safety nets for comics creators anymore. You're out there on your as a freelance contractor. Like I said, people don't go in to comics because it's a stable and lucrative career path.

This. You're way better off creating your own comic while you have a real job to back you up these days. You get to learn a shitload about the craft, have content for your portfolio, and build up a bit of a reputation to leverage your way into the industry rather than sucking dick until someone gives you a shot.

Random fun fact most Sonic fans think that Tyson Hesse cannot write despite having a mildly successful graphic novel series because anything an artist does that isn't Sonic doesn't exist.