Talk about anything you want, so long as it's about comics!
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solarno Posts: 166
1/16/2019
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Like many on CPG, lately I've been enamored with the cover art of Francesco Mattina. Heck, Ron recently did two blog posts with check lists of his current work. Today I read this week old story on Bleeding Cool about his supposed straight-up stealing of other artists work to create his own.
Some of the examples shown are dubious. Others are pretty damning. While I think there is no denying that Mattina's finished works are beautiful and striking in their own right regardless of origin, these claims do somewhat dampen my excitement about his art. As a musician I am constantly looking to other musicians for inspiration, because frankly, original ideas don't always flow freely. When I release new music I like to give credit for that inspiration when I consciously know its there. If I am so inspired that I basically copy a song and make my own cover version I need to go a step further and register it and pay royalties for my recording. If i don't, in the eyes of copyright law I am stealing. Over the past few decades it has become fairly well defined when a musical artist must pay royalties, when they should at least give credit, and when it just doesn't matter.
The world of comic-book and pop-culture art seems much more wild, wild west. Go to most any con and you'll likely find any number artists selling work that is obviously based on other people's creations. It may be in the form of original takes on other peoples characters (chibi-style superheroes). Mash-ups combining multiple fandoms (Star Trek and Star Wars characters together). I've even seen a lot of new semi-custom toys and action figures being sold that are based on old properties from the 70's and 80's. A lot of this is being done under the guise of fair-use laws, which is a pretty grey area but one that seems to be allowed for the time being.
Circling back to Mattina, where do any of you feel his work falls? Is he being inspired by others, paying homage to others, or just ripping them off? Maybe it's a little of all three? Last February Ron posted an article on known cover swipes of Action Comics #1. Were folks up in arms that all that work was ripped off? Or how about when a comic book artist uses a classic painting, say American Gothic by Grant Wood or Nighthawks by Edward Hopper, as the basis of their cover art.
Me personally? I feel it's a combination of all three. My eyes tell me that Mattina has at times crossed a line of creating something too similar to the original. It's also likely that you can also go to the original art he supposedly copied and find even older work by someone else that is very similar.
Cheers!
Jim
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Ronbatman Administrator Posts: 2530
1/17/2019
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First of all, thank you for throwing this out here, it's a great topic.
After I posted those two Mattina checklists I heard about this controversy. To me, the venomized covers are supposed to be the same art with Venom-like qualities added. Some of the other things seems more dubious. Usually you will see the new artist name and then "after Kirby" when they use some other artists work. That's honest and easily acknowledges someone.
Conventions are the wild west. You'll see all kinds of things that are all shades of grey. (Not that shades of grey)
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+1
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stevegreer1 Posts: 41
1/17/2019
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The Separated at Birth article you linked was an interesting read. I have honestly never heard of Mattina before now. But it is reminiscent of Greg Land and his blatant use of other people's art/photos. I think even the infamous Rob Liefeld was called out for copying other artist's work. My opinion, it would seem the Venomized covers are more of an homage to the original covers. All the same, it definitely looks like he copied the original works and then added in his own details. I think even homage covers should be more inspired by the original instead of blatantly copied. But the Punisher and Batman? Wow! So obviously copied. The same with the Judge Dredd.
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solarno Posts: 166
1/17/2019
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I also find it interesting that the main cover for Batman Who Laughs #2 by Jock has Batman in a nearly identical pose to the Mattina variant cover. Should Walter O'Neal also go after Jock? Such a grey area.
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