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DC being cheap and wanting art scan for free?
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58 posts in this topic

Hi,

I received a message on CAF regarding my Wonder Woman #4 cover by George Perez.

https://www.comicartfans.com/gallerypiece.asp?piece=1077310

The sender claimed to be working for DC Comics (though he was using an AOL email address). Her asked me whether I would provide a hi-res scan of the artwork for an alleged "George Perez Wonder Woman Absolute Edition".

I replied that I could provide such a scan an upload it for him but that it would be nice if DC would send me a complimentary copy of the book in return.

This is the answer that I received:

<<

As it is a $100 book, and it is one piece of art, I doubt they will.

 
I think the best people ever get paid is $10 a scan, and that's with clean-up work. I know that's the best I've ever been paid.
 
If that is a deal-breaker, then I will let them know.

>>

 

I find this a bit hard to believe and - if true - rather cheap on DC's side. Doing a high quality scan costs about €60,- around here and they don't want to give away a free copy of the book.

I have given other artwork scans for a European reprint book ("Valerian") and I got my free copy and the scanning costs reimbursed and that was a small company and not a branch of Time-Warner.

What do you guys think?

   

 

 

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I think you should watermark your CAF artwork, post haste.

Then decide if you want to participate. It would take a lot of comp copies if they gave one to everyone who loans art so I see the downside.

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Years ago, someone at Marvel asked me for a high-res scan of a Tales to Astonish cover I owned at the time for one of their reprint editions.  I was clearly told that no complimentary copy would be forthcoming, but it didn't really pose much of a problem for me to scan the cover - so I did.

On the other hand, I've contributed scans of Ditko cover art to Craig Yoe and was sent copies of the published books.

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I got the same message about one of my Swamp Thing pieces.  He had a dcentertainment.com address, but otherwise was the same, even the note that it was for a specific volume of the Alan Moore Swamp Thing Absolute Edition.  I wouldn't mind contributing, but it's framed and can't be removed without reframing. 

It's definitely out of the norm not to offer a complimentary copy, but I've always wondered how those artists editions made any money if they gave a free one to anyone who contributed a scan. 

 

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23 minutes ago, bisquitodoom said:

I got the same message about one of my Swamp Thing pieces.  He had a dcentertainment.com address, but otherwise was the same, even the note that it was for a specific volume of the Alan Moore Swamp Thing Absolute Edition.  I wouldn't mind contributing, but it's framed and can't be removed without reframing. 

It's definitely out of the norm not to offer a complimentary copy, but I've always wondered how those artists editions made any money if they gave a free one to anyone who contributed a scan. 

 

The Mazz DD used pre-existing scans; I owned a page at the time and was surprised I never got a call.

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36 minutes ago, SuperBird said:

"The sender claimed to be working for DC Comics (though he was using an AOL email address)"

If this were a real request, it would come from a WarnerMedia.com account. 

Yes. I find this rather strange too. Maybe someone just want to make prints of the cover to sell them.

The sender call himself Andy Mangels.

Does that ring a bell?

 

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5 hours ago, faust1104 said:

Hi,

I received a message on CAF regarding my Wonder Woman #4 cover by George Perez.

https://www.comicartfans.com/gallerypiece.asp?piece=1077310

The sender claimed to be working for DC Comics (though he was using an AOL email address). Her asked me whether I would provide a hi-res scan of the artwork for an alleged "George Perez Wonder Woman Absolute Edition".

I replied that I could provide such a scan an upload it for him but that it would be nice if DC would send me a complimentary copy of the book in return.

This is the answer that I received:

<<

As it is a $100 book, and it is one piece of art, I doubt they will.

 
I think the best people ever get paid is $10 a scan, and that's with clean-up work. I know that's the best I've ever been paid.
 
If that is a deal-breaker, then I will let them know.

>>

 

I find this a bit hard to believe and - if true - rather cheap on DC's side. Doing a high quality scan costs about €60,- around here and they don't want to give away a free copy of the book.

I have given other artwork scans for a European reprint book ("Valerian") and I got my free copy and the scanning costs reimbursed and that was a small company and not a branch of Time-Warner.

What do you guys think?

   

 

 


High quality scans cost 60 Euro where you are?  $70-75 USD to make one high res scan? 

 

If they don't want to give away the book ask them if they will acknowledge your contribution in the acknowledgements. To me that's a nice gesture, better than a couple dollars, if a comp copy of the book isn't on the table. 

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1 hour ago, Will_K said:

Well, technically Time Warner owns DC and AOL.  Was it a corporate AOL e-mail address or the standard aol.com ??

I thought the same but apparently Verizon bought AOL some years back so it’s not part of the ATT  Time Warner package.

I just circled the one part because it made me laugh.

B75AD401-1608-44A6-BDE4-1677B47944F8.jpeg

Edited by Mephisto
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39 minutes ago, Mephisto said:

I thought the same but apparently Verizon bought AOL some years back so it’s not part of the ATT  Time Warner package.

-> Ha-ha <-  My subscription to the Financial Times must've lapsed !!

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9 hours ago, Mephisto said:

I thought the same but apparently Verizon bought AOL some years back so it’s not part of the ATT  Time Warner package.

I just circled the one part because it made me laugh.

B75AD401-1608-44A6-BDE4-1677B47944F8.jpeg

All the companies owned by Warner (as DC is) were switched over to Warner media email accounts this year. 

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I provided around 20 scans to DC for the Doom Patrol Bronze Age Omnibus, including the cover to #1 which cost me nearly $100 to have scanned, and the editor promised me that I'd get my name in the book and a copy of the book, plus $100 and reimbursement for my scans -- and I never received a thing. I did write to DC later and told the editor about the promises and another editor answered the email and said the guy who'd made the promises didn't work there anymore. He did end up sending me a comp copy of the book. They also were going to use a Frank Miller Dark Knight piece of art that I have for an upcoming graphic novel reprint, but I got a note that the new rules are that they don't use art not commissioned by DC.

By the way, they also didn't list my name in the book at all. Not even a thanks, though they did thank another art contributor who'd asked for the same deal that I was promised.

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1 hour ago, Michael Browning said:

...and said the guy who'd made the promises didn't work there anymore.

lol

Sorry, but I could see that coming from a mile away. People suck.

You're probably a nice guy. I'm not. If that was me, I'd never put another penny into any DC product ever again. And I'd send an e-mail every week identifying exactly what items I passed on and how much they added up to because, I mean...how else would they know? ;) 

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