The comics industry has left creators to drown, so some are building lifeboats
In a landscape where movies based on comic books rake in billions of dollars, there’s an assumption that anyone in the comic book business is making tons of money. The reality is an entirely different matter: Since its earliest days, the American comics industry has been built on the exploitation of workers.
Some of those stories have become well known. DC Comics bought the rights to Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster’s Superman for $130 in 1938, leading to decades of legal battles. Legends like Jack Kirby and Spider-Man co-creator Steve Ditko struggled until their deaths for credit and appropriate payment for their creations, which built Marvel’s multimedia empire.
In 2023, those fights continue, and not just in superhero comics. The entire industry is undergoing a reckoning, from mainstream publishing to creator-owned spaces. This spring, a conversation that had previously existed only in whisper networks leaped out into the open, after the tragic death of comics creator Ian McGinty at the age of 38. In an obituary soon afterward, McGinty’s family said he died “of natural causes,” but his passing had already sparked a discussion of overwork. Cartoonist Shivana Sookdeo created the #ComicsBrokeMe tag, and thousands of people used it to share their heartbreaking experiences within the industry, such as poor treatment and poverty wages.
you know what, fuck it time to trend <a href=«https://twitter.com/hashtag/ComicsBrokeMe?src=hash&ref_src=» https:>#ComicsBrokeMe
what happened to you in comics, esp if you left it? https://t.co/p9EvvEvxn7
As a member of the comics and publishing community, Sookdeo told Polygon that the volume of responses didn’t surprise her. “I knew it was kind of just under the water like an iceberg. I
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