The Creator's Bill of Rights: Al's Letter to Dave Sim 3 The following letter is one of many that I had written to Dave Sim addressing the continuing discussions of creator's rights. I've decided to post the entire letter. -Al Nickerson
August 11, 2005 Hi Dave, I heard back from Joe Quesada. He told me he’s been too busy, as of yet, to respond to our questions… "Al, just been buried, so it'll take me a bit of time to get to it." I also heard back from Eddie Campbell concerning your thoughts about his kind words towards you… "Thanks for that. Not sure why Dave thinks we weren't on speaking terms...(unless he feels guilty about something...)" Enclosed is an e-mail from Colleen Doran to substantiate (?) some of her points from previous e-mails. I am also including posts from Comocon.com, The Pulse, and the latest letter from Steve Bissette. I very much enjoyed your letter exchange with Erik Larsen. I hope Erik sticks with the talks as long as possible. I also enjoyed Steve Bissette’s latest letter (August 9, 2005, which is enclosed). Steve makes some excellent points. I agree with Steve’s statements concerning Neil Gaiman and his work on Spawn. I cant believe someone like Erik Larsen (who I do think is a nice enough fella) who works on his own creator-owned comic and works for a creator-friendly publisher can’t see that Neil, at the very least, should own the characters that he created for Spawn (there might be some gray area there concerning Medieval Spawn, but Angela and Cogliostro should belong to Neil). I’m just scratching my head on this one. I do like your idea of a template concerning the working conditions for comic book creators and artists. I’m guessing this would all fall under the topic we’ve been discussing concerning ethics in comics. I think it would be a good idea to look at the issues and relationships that have been successful for creators in the past. I also believe that such a template should adhere to all creators especially the Frank Millers, Todd McFarlanes and even the Dave Sims. Mostly because that’s just the right thing to do, but also because if we don’t have "big name" creators following such a template, then who will? Not those who are just starting out in comics. I am looking forward to your revised version of The Cerebus Guide to Self-Publishing. I have two copies of the original issue. The first one got so beat up from my reading it over and over again, I had to purchase a second copy. Please continue your work on a comic’s manifesto. I’m very curious to see what becomes of that. Finally, Devil’s Due Publishing is considering publishing two separate mini-series for Nihilist-Man (or The ARGGH!!! Adventures, depending on what I want to call the series). We’ll see if this goes anywhere. God willing, this will be a good thing. God bless you, Mr. Sim. Forward and onward… Best, Al Nickerson PS: All is the same here… still busy inking.
Next: A Letter from Dave Sim 8 A letter from Dave Sim where Dave addresses Steve Bissette’s previous letter, comments from the Comicon.com forum and The Pulse forum.