Heavy Metal Icon's Son Accused of Plagiarizing Famous Manga
- Thread starter John Funk
- Start date
Idiot, that was the anime, coping the animation and a particular part of a fight scene in the Cowboy Bebop anime that was not in the manga. You think the mangaka has any control of that? Just like how a Bleach filler arc completely rip off an arc right out of Yu Yu Hakusho, you think Kubo had any control over that?Beastialman said:
Also, this guy has heard of Bleach. He's a big manga fan, citing Beserk as his favorite manga, I mean, he has to be at least aware of the Holy Shounen Trinity (the three biggest manga out currently - One Piece, Naruto, and Bleach) in some way. Shit, he ripped off fucking dialogue, for cying out loud. One of his characters is a blond Orihime, nothing about the character design is different.
Agreed. He was laid upon his father's coattails and given an opportunity to do what others can only dream about, and he did so by ripping off people that actually worked and created their own intellectual properties, including apparently artwork, that he just flat-out (as it appears) copied.Byers said:
In his position, it'd been better just to have been a sponge on daddy's fortune for the rest of his life, now he's gone from spoiled celebrity spawn to laughingstock with zero credibility.
I guess to his good fortune he still has daddy's teat to fall back on.
I still love how people on the internet are trying to find ways to defend him.
"basically all fan artists are stealing too when they sell their fan art for profit"
"Everyone in Japan does it"
"All Manga is usually based on someone else's Manga"
So when someone else does something wrong, that makes the wrong this person does less wrong? Two wrongs don't make a right.
And no matter what your feelings are about selling fan art... there is a slippery slope where if it meets certain criteria, it can be legal (IE why Doujinshi exists)... so even if you don't like it... as long as it falls on this side of legal, you can sell fan art...
however, nothing Nick Simmons is doing here is legal. And just because someone else did it, doesn't mean what he did is less wrong.
If someone else goes to the grocery store and steals a candy bar, does that mean you're less wrong for stealing that box of tampons? Its obsurd that people defend him by saying, other people steal art, so what's the big? I mean, come on.
Also, when it comes to fan art, at least you know what you're getting. If someone sells a picture of Ichigo (one they designed, using the character, but creating everything else on their own) you know that it's a character from BLEACH.
what Simmons is doing is tracing scenes from other artists and manga... then calling it his own, duping people into thinking he actually has talent, taking their money on a fraud... and going as far as to tell people on his deviant art page that if they steal his artwork, they'll basically be sued.
"basically all fan artists are stealing too when they sell their fan art for profit"
"Everyone in Japan does it"
"All Manga is usually based on someone else's Manga"
So when someone else does something wrong, that makes the wrong this person does less wrong? Two wrongs don't make a right.
And no matter what your feelings are about selling fan art... there is a slippery slope where if it meets certain criteria, it can be legal (IE why Doujinshi exists)... so even if you don't like it... as long as it falls on this side of legal, you can sell fan art...
however, nothing Nick Simmons is doing here is legal. And just because someone else did it, doesn't mean what he did is less wrong.
If someone else goes to the grocery store and steals a candy bar, does that mean you're less wrong for stealing that box of tampons? Its obsurd that people defend him by saying, other people steal art, so what's the big? I mean, come on.
Also, when it comes to fan art, at least you know what you're getting. If someone sells a picture of Ichigo (one they designed, using the character, but creating everything else on their own) you know that it's a character from BLEACH.
what Simmons is doing is tracing scenes from other artists and manga... then calling it his own, duping people into thinking he actually has talent, taking their money on a fraud... and going as far as to tell people on his deviant art page that if they steal his artwork, they'll basically be sued.
I personally don't care which way the event goes but for the sake of argument if manga artists from japan write say 5k or more panels a year what is the probability that a panel from an english comic book writer would be very similar? Odd's are pretty good from what I see cause you are predisposed to using specific angles for dramatic and social effects.
5000+:1
Shakey camera movements were revolutionary at their time but now are just as common as youtube videos. If a japanophile (not even willing to use the proper term because it provides endearment for the receiver in this case) cries in the woods does anyone care?
Personally the only REAL problem is character likeness but then again how many 'gokus or vagetas' does japan have? Oh yea my bad as long as there's a slight difference in stylization a manga artist can basically just draw what they want so why can't he?
Now most Deviant Art is under a creative commons license which is much like saying open source for the technologically affiliated. Jokes on the losers at DA that put up their drawings and believe that nobody's going to take their style and apply it somewhere.
Dialogue is sketchy because honestly who's going to copyright the use of words in sentence form? WAIT someone go out and copyright 'Nig Stole My Bike' NOW! Instant revenue!
Point: NOTHING IS NEW!
He drew it? Good enough for me especially since I'm not buying his comic until I have well every comic from the start of DC and Marvel combined.
5000+:1
Shakey camera movements were revolutionary at their time but now are just as common as youtube videos. If a japanophile (not even willing to use the proper term because it provides endearment for the receiver in this case) cries in the woods does anyone care?
Personally the only REAL problem is character likeness but then again how many 'gokus or vagetas' does japan have? Oh yea my bad as long as there's a slight difference in stylization a manga artist can basically just draw what they want so why can't he?
Now most Deviant Art is under a creative commons license which is much like saying open source for the technologically affiliated. Jokes on the losers at DA that put up their drawings and believe that nobody's going to take their style and apply it somewhere.
Dialogue is sketchy because honestly who's going to copyright the use of words in sentence form? WAIT someone go out and copyright 'Nig Stole My Bike' NOW! Instant revenue!
Point: NOTHING IS NEW!
He drew it? Good enough for me especially since I'm not buying his comic until I have well every comic from the start of DC and Marvel combined.
When an entire page can sometimes look like another person's work, that's no longer concidence. Obviously he made subtle changes here and there do it wasn't a DIRECT trace, there's just too much to suggest that he doesn't know exactly what he's doing. There's a difference between being influenced and just lifting someone else's art style, paneling, and even DIALOGUE. As someone who loves to draw, and read comics, I find this insulting that he couldn't draw his own material in a published work.
Question. Is there a school for comic book artists in the US? Schools of artistic design shun to great extent the use of manga based material in portfolios because it is a simplification of the human form that takes little to no skill to produce in bulk which is exactly what any manga artist does for a living.
Too bad Rumiko couldn't sue herself for ripping off her own old ass series (ranma 1/2) and making a new series (Inuyasha) which portrays the same characters in a different plot.
Personally I just hate how everyone is pulling straws from their hats to find similarities but don't look for blatant differences just because of a prejudice.
Too bad Rumiko couldn't sue herself for ripping off her own old ass series (ranma 1/2) and making a new series (Inuyasha) which portrays the same characters in a different plot.
Personally I just hate how everyone is pulling straws from their hats to find similarities but don't look for blatant differences just because of a prejudice.
You sir (Ma'am?), are my hero.Paksenarrion said:
This is a real shame. I'm holding off my rants until he's made a comment, but I really don't expect much.
Stupid, stupid Gene Simmons' son...
If you look at the actual blog with all the comparisons you'll see it's a lot more than just a bit of 'inspiration'.fenrizz said:
here's the problem Zero.
Are there a lot of Goku looking characters in Japan? some..
Are there a lot of direct traces of Goku from the pages of the creator's manga passed off as original workds of art? no.
The big difference is, Nick didn't just steal the idea... he didn't just get inspired by another work of art... he didn't just copy a look here, or expression there.
HE FREAKIN TRACED IT.
when he first started, I think on his deviant art page this was... he said that he could draw like crap when he first started (I think he used the term: Chicken scratch), and that the publishers has patiences of saints while he worked on it. Miraculously not only did he get good at drawing out of nowhere, he got so good his work is an exact match to other artists works.
If he drew by hand... I guarantee you, even if they looked similar, you wouldn't be able to lay it on top of the other and have it be almost identical with a few minor tweeks. No one can be that exact unless they trace. At least if he had some talent of his own to steal it the proper way, but no... he had to trace.
as for copyrighting sentences... no you can't do that obviously. Here's the problem you seemed to have missed.
Its not that he said something similar that was said in another manga. Hell, that happens all the time.
It's that he said something almost identical to another manga, and it was said by a character that is almost identical to the character who said it in the other manga, in a scene that is almost an exact duplicate of the scene in the other manga.
that's too many coincidences in one scene. So no, you don't have to start copyrighting text used in the manga... but I sure as hell wouldn't use almost the same text if I was already stealing the art from that manga... that's even more stupid than picking a manga known world-wide to trace from.
Are there a lot of Goku looking characters in Japan? some..
Are there a lot of direct traces of Goku from the pages of the creator's manga passed off as original workds of art? no.
The big difference is, Nick didn't just steal the idea... he didn't just get inspired by another work of art... he didn't just copy a look here, or expression there.
HE FREAKIN TRACED IT.
when he first started, I think on his deviant art page this was... he said that he could draw like crap when he first started (I think he used the term: Chicken scratch), and that the publishers has patiences of saints while he worked on it. Miraculously not only did he get good at drawing out of nowhere, he got so good his work is an exact match to other artists works.
If he drew by hand... I guarantee you, even if they looked similar, you wouldn't be able to lay it on top of the other and have it be almost identical with a few minor tweeks. No one can be that exact unless they trace. At least if he had some talent of his own to steal it the proper way, but no... he had to trace.
as for copyrighting sentences... no you can't do that obviously. Here's the problem you seemed to have missed.
Its not that he said something similar that was said in another manga. Hell, that happens all the time.
It's that he said something almost identical to another manga, and it was said by a character that is almost identical to the character who said it in the other manga, in a scene that is almost an exact duplicate of the scene in the other manga.
that's too many coincidences in one scene. So no, you don't have to start copyrighting text used in the manga... but I sure as hell wouldn't use almost the same text if I was already stealing the art from that manga... that's even more stupid than picking a manga known world-wide to trace from.
Who? lol I didn't know Gene Simmon's had even procreated, I just don't pay attention to popular american...reality shows.
Yup. Two kids (Officially), and a girlfriend he's been with for over two decades now.WilliamRLBaker said:
He also wears footie pajamas.
Yay Tv!
That's what he gets from taking business advice from his father.
"We just took glam rock and added lots of blood, if you'd take these Japanese comics and make them make a little more sense you could resell an entire series." Thanks Gene.
"We just took glam rock and added lots of blood, if you'd take these Japanese comics and make them make a little more sense you could resell an entire series." Thanks Gene.
I looked at all the overlays and side by side comparisons and to be honest his drawings are chicken scratch it's just been edited and primed by the publishers which makes it look similar. Even more so because he has a "Kenpachi" clone which is the only realized infringement because the character model. The "Orihime" panels don't match up very well esp since the panels and expressions aren't the same. Some of the angles are actually distinct in the fact that they are portraying a specific scene which like all artists has to be done. Not everyone can be Seth Mcfarlane and get away with having every character's face in 3/4 view with the same backdrops all the time.Mayuchan said:
This guy is going to win the lawsuit if he puts his mind to it because every single piece of evidence everyone "HAS" is circumstantial. Panel Design and Body Positions aren't owned by a single artist and the "multiple coincidences" are just people looking to find similarities.
No matter how many time's I look at the "evidence" there just isn't any "real" arguments that could really hold up in an artistic standing. Juxtaposition of bodies, contrapposto, line, everything has a basic form that has existed for years and none of it should be on a pedestal.
If there was a riding constant that shows his actual plagiarism it's not shown in the rampant fanaticism of the public. With every overlay people find his lawyers will find 5 other overlays for the same thing in another source even if they have to read a library of manga.
I hope that the Japanese artists can look back at this and say look how we have influenced American society. So much influence that a contrapposto stance was taken more seriously than the president. DA fails!