In recent months, Disney-owned Marvel Studios has come under fire for failing to pay certain Marvel Comics artists who inspired Marvel Cinematic Universe artwork and marketing materials.
After some Marvel fans took to social media to point out the similarities between the two pieces of artwork last month, and noted that Aja was not credited anywhere in the series credits, the artist himself posted the following to Twitter:
Seriously, this is NUTS. I drew something out of my brain, and now it’s a real thing in a TV show…? Such a surreal feeling… I can’t quite describe it. #MoonKnight #MrKnight
Hello Mr. Knight… Seriously, this is NUTS. I drew something out of my brain, and now it’s a real thing in a TV show…? Such a surreal feeling… I can’t quite describe it.#MoonKnight#MrKnightpic.twitter.com/8KQTCsuZDs
In May of last year, one article shared details about various creators’ fight to receive royalties for years of book sales. Numerous well-known authors formed a task force to attempt to take legal action against The Walt Disney Company, with the aid of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America organization:
…about a dozen authors know they have been denied royalties going back years–but likely others are affected that aren’t aware of what they’re owed. Now, Alan Dean Foster and other authors, including Neil Gaiman, Tess Gerritsen, Mary Robinette Kowal, and Chuck Wendig, have put together a #DisneyMustPay Task Force to fight to have all these authors get paid for their work.
At this time, neither Marvel Studios President Kevin Feige nor any other executives have shared statements regarding Shalvey’s artwork being used as inspiration for Moon Knight.
Moon Knight is a new globetrotting action-adventure series featuring a complex vigilante who suffers from dissociative identity disorder. The multiple identities who live inside him find themselves thrust into a deadly war of the gods against the backdrop of modern and ancient Egypt. Moon Knight is directed by Mohamed Diab and is coming to Disney+ in 2022.
What do you think about comic artists not being paid by Disney and Marvel Studios?
You can stream Scarlett Johansson’s Black Widow and the five series in Marvel’s Phase Four so far — Elizabeth Olsen and Paul Bettany’s WandaVision, Anthony Mackie and Sebastian Stan’s The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, Tom Hiddleston’s Loki, Marvel’s What If…?, and Jeremy Renner’s Hawkeye— on Disney+ anytime.
Comments Off on Marvel Studios Fails to Pay Another Artist, Sparks Serious Controversy
Credit: Marvel Studios
