Gene Simmons son, Nick Simmons, accused of plagiarism in his new comic book

[sarahvait]

Oh this is too good. I can't believe this isn't on the site yet. I searched for any topics relating to it, but didn't find anything.

Anyway! Nick Simmons, son of KISS musician Gene Simmons (guy with the black and white make-up and the fake tongue), put out a comic called Incarnate. One of those american manga style things. Well, it looks like he was copying panel layouts, character designs, poses, even dialogue from some well known manga titles. Specifically, Tite Kubo's manga Bleach. But other titles being recognized are Hellsing, Vampire Hunter D, One Piece, NANA, and more. I think heard Neil Gaiman's Sandman might be in the mix too, but I'm not sure I can verify that one.

The other manga titles might be up to opinion, but the copying, or "homages" from Bleach (if you want to be kind) are pretty obvious. And despite what you personally think of Bleach, or manga/anime in general, not only is that level of copying is just ridiculous, but to take it from manga that is as popular as Bleach?

So, sources! Here's a LJ page that gives a good summary of what's gone down, a compilation of comparison shots of Simmons "comic" and Bleach (plus more from contributers in the comments section), and more.

http://community.livejournal.com/bleachness/446299.html

And a couple other links for good measure

http://www.comicbookresources.com/?page=article&id=24983
http://anythingkiss.blogspot.com/2010/02/nick-simmons-incarnate-halted-over.html
http://robot6.comicbookresources.com/2010/02/radical-halts-nick-simmons-incarnate-amid-claims-of-plagiarism/
http://www.toplessrobot.com/2010/02/gene_simmons_kid_nick_is_a_comic_creator_a_doucheb.php

(that last one is my favorite)
And if this indeed old news, and I'm just late to the party, my apologies.

 

[Julianking93]

He has a comic book?

Why?

 

[Matt_LRR]

?

this kind of thing isn't entirely unheard of in anime - particularly shounen anime.
-m

 

[ghstman]

Well, there goes his integrity as an artist. Let's see him try to get a job in any related field ever again...

 

[NewGeekPhilosopher]

Instead we should have gotten Gene Simmons to record a parody of his own KISS song called "God of Manga" about the life of Osamu Tezuka. Just sayin'.

 

[shadow skill]

This is the reason some gamers like myself hate blatant clones. (Not saying I think the man is guilty.)

Edit: Took a look at some of those links and goddamn that is pretty bad. Some Dante's Inferno cloning going on here...Damn.

 

[ace_of_something]

I don't have much to add other than THAT IS NOT A FAKE TONGUE!

 

[Altorin]

I'm one of those who thinks almost all manga looks the same, but that IS a little much

Spoiler: These 3 images really sum up just the Tomfuckery that had to be involved

and an Overlay of the two:

seriously? You color their manga and call it your own?

*ehh... even so, finding it hard to care.*

clearly a plagiarist though.

 

[Zepren]

For start, Gene simmons has a son? Man i'm behind the times.

OT: Plagarism is a common occurence in the modern world. With so many years of creative history, If you write/make anything, your ripping off atleast someone

 

[DigitalSushi]

?

this kind of thing isn't entirely unheard of in anime - particularly shounen anime.
-m

Wow, just wow, thats like a carbon copy!.

At least One Piece is original, I think.

For start, Gene simmons has a son? Man i'm behind the times.

Gene Simmons has several sons and daughters, that he probably doesn't know about, this is Gene Simmons after all. He used groupies in the same fashion as how Ozzy Osbourne used drugs.

 

[snide_cake]

Okay, I am cool with the idea that not everything can be original any more.

But to be tracing someone else's work and then publishing it as your own? Wow.

It's great he likes Kubo Tite's work (and others... Dante's Inferno, Helsing, White Wolf), but it seems he's thought they were awesome ideas and then decided to remake it all, smashing it all together and then claiming it as his own.

That's the worst part, that he's getting royalties for artwork that isn't totally his.

It's great that he's inspired by them, but to totally rip them off is another thing altogether.

 

[Uncreative]

Wow...
I could understand an homage, but...That's a bit much.

Spoiler: Lets save some space here.

?

this kind of thing isn't entirely unheard of in anime - particularly shounen anime.
-m

I'd like to have something to say here, I've been paralyzed by an overload of awesome.
What sort of monster would put both of those fights in the same video?!
Destroy it, before they turn it into a weapon!

 

[jasoncyrus]

this kind of thing isn't entirely unheard of in anime - particularly shounen anime.
-m

The difference between your example and the current case is that it was simply a set of movements copied in a fight scene. Everything else was different from location to characters and if there was any dialogue that would be different too.

This current case of plagiarism copies every from character looks to dialogue and move sets. Heck even some of the locations look disturbingly similar.

 

[kinky257]

I don't get it, much like the D-gray Man author plagiarizing some one else work , at least in that case there was one stand out design that looked like another . Here I'd say 90% of those compositions and lay outs that have appeared in hundreds of mangas, the only real ones that look similar is the guy laughing.

 

[Onyx Oblivion]

So similar...But I still can't bring myself to care, mainly as I know nothing of Bleach.

 

[TriggerHappyAngel]

So similar...But I still can't bring myself to care, mainly as I know nothing of Bleach.

- what he said.

 

[Jolly Madness]

The biggest collection of comparisons: http://community.livejournal.com/bleachness/446299.html

It's shameless really how he managed to rip off every mainstream and übher-popular manga in the world

 

[Liberaliter]

Looks similar I guess... I suppose MW2 and B:BC2 are 'similar' though...

 

[ranasan]

I'd rather not voice a real opinion over this, because sure he may have ripped bleach and some other shit off, but I don't think I have any right to call him out on this, I once designed a comic storyline and was told that it was a complete ripoff of a videogame I had never heard of. So there is a .05% chance he's telling the truth and if he is, he really needs to stop making comics if he accidentally rips off so heavily stuff he's "never heard of before"