>Co-creator of Marvels and Kingdom Come, Alex Ross, appeared on John Sientres' essential podcast Word Balloon in a video interview. In which he stated his displeasure that he is no longer getting paid for designs and character concepts he and Mark Waid created for Kingdom Come and other ideas they've used on the CW TV shows based on DC Comics titles. He states;
>"Well, the thing is they were borrowing my Superman costume but it was only to get (Brandon Routh) in, as his version of Superman and the truth of the matter was they must not have been able or willing to do a deal based upon the production he was part of with Brian Singer. Presumably that they didn't want to have to pay out to them."
>"So instead I got screwed. They didn't pay me or Mark (Waid) … I don't see any money for the Wonder Woman movie using my armour or… I designed Batwoman for heaven sakes, and she's got a whole damn show."
>"But you know these are some the issues that I have not working with Warner Bros. anymore. You know they can recycle my content and they used to pay. And I'm not kidding, they paid a year ago for different things that were kind of "discretionary bonuses" is how they called it. Where they give you a gift of money, so that you're not out there effectively complaining like I'm doing right now. I got taken advantage of."
>"Basically, in a buildup of a lot of projects over time, particularly peeking last year with the Crisis thing, there was a lot of stuff of mine that was getting (on TV) physically. And of course, the interpretation Mark and I did of the broken Batman we now saw portrayed by Kevin Conroy… and every fan knows where that was coming from. But we got no love from the corporation, and I have to feel, it probably revolves around the new ownership. Has probably cut the budget of any kind of discretionary money given, so it's a really rotten thing."
>"The last thing I ever got paid for was for another Kingdom Come character, the youngest daughter for Black Lightning is on his TV show and she originates from Kingdom Come. So I believe Mark and I both got paid the same few hundred dollars for her being part of that show. It's something, and that's kind of all you're looking for, a token of acknowledgement. That they know this is how this thing arrived here. but now that's being cut to shreds because you know the mass number of these things they are making, you have to assume the new broom is sweeping clean."
Also: fuck the suits. Buy indie comics or whatever pays the people who deserve to be paid. I am encouraging everyone reading this to do so.
Ian Harris
I hope Alex Ross never works for DC again, they have become worse penny pinchers than Ike.
Jose James
>Alex Ross co-created Batwoman? If I remember correctly, he originally designed it to be Babs after a dip in the Lazarus Pit to make her walk again. That particular concept didn't pan out, but they adapted it for Kate.
Michael Stewart
He got jacked to play Superman again. And then they fired him from a show he was the best part of because he cost too much.
Jacob Torres
What kind of royalty contracts did he sign? I know Chuck Dixon is still making money off Bane?
He designed the costume as art of a pitch to get Babs healed and make her into Batwoman. They liked the costume, but healing Babs was a no because everybody was happy with her as oracle and she was the DCU's most prominent example of disabled representation.
Logan Sanders
I mean yeah! Welcome to the big two!! They screwed over Jack Kirby who the fuck are you
Camden Butler
How recently has he said that? Cause this sounds like it’s a new thing, like the past few years.
David Thomas
Creating anything new for corporate just seems like a terrible idea especially if you don’t own the rights to it.
Wyatt Carter
These people really should check their contracts. It's certainly possible At&T is trying to weasel out of paying royalties, similar to how Disney is with Alan Dean Foster and Splinter of the Mind's Eye. He's not letting them get away with it though and taking them to court.
Jordan Long
>I know Chuck Dixon is still making money off Bane?
Chuck Dixon actually created Bane, most of this is about character redesigns.
Oliver Gomez
You just gotta go in knowing that. Ive heard lots of comics creators talk about having ideas they’re good with giving to a company and ideas they’re saving for themselves.
I mean that’s a whole separate issue. When Len Wein and Romita and et al came up with Wolverine he was just a guy for the Hulk to fight
Anthony Jenkins
I just came by to say I love this Superman super suit.
Owen Sanders
He and the wife should produce something together for them to star in. Maybe a mini series. They're talented and have got good screen chemistry together. I hope they're well.
Daniel Foster
Not that long ago (since he's referring to the CW's COIE crossover).
What happened was that after Paul Levitz left, WB and AT&T were constantly trying to find ways to avoid paying creators royalties.
Jackson Lee
Yeah I knew Levitz was the main reason creators were getting some kind of money but I don’t know when in the chain of successors it broke down entirely
It was after he left. Once Levitz left, the payments to people for using particular designs in other media just stopped, but they were still willing to pay royalties for character creation. They were still trying to find ways to get out of doing it though, like when Gerry Conway was talking about how no one was getting paid for the usage of Killer Frost because WB was trying to do some kinds of legal technicalities or something. That was around the time she showed up in the Flash TV show, I think.
Xavier Morgan
Alex Ross is rightfully pissed the guy is an artistic genius
fuck dc and that starfire book
Joshua Reed
You get so caught up in wanting to work in the industry that you forget your on worth
Joshua Ortiz
>I hope Alex Ross never works for DC again, they have become worse penny pinchers than Ike.
There used to be, when Paul Levitz was running DC (which would've been around I think the 80s to 2009). He did like a courtesy payment every time a design got used outside of comics.
Parker Turner
When it comes to film shit, DC pays like 10 times more for concepts and shit than Marvel do, usually. It's weird.
Ross is a retard who thinks doing costume redesigns is the same as actually creating characters. Should you probably get royalties for it? Yea, but to be more up and arms than Starlin was about getting shafted on Thanos royalties is embarrassing.
Wyatt Peterson
It's the same fucking costume. Slightly tweaking an old design is not creation, you whining cunt. Create something new instead of working on some tired old IP of you want rights.
