58 replies to this topic

[Codus N]

A published complete rip-off from Bleach...
What do you guys say to this?? I've got a feeling this will backlash against doujinkas.... at least I hope not....

[James S Cassidy]

I don't know. I don't think it is so much copying, but inspiration, but then again what do I know.

It might be. Some scene looks almost copied while others seem only based on others.

To be funny here is a quote by Picasso.

"Good art is copied. Great art is stolen."

[KungFuTruffle]

That is not inspiration. The scenes, the story, the character designs, the dialogue itself, all of it is ripped from Bleach.

[James S Cassidy]

I've never read the book myself so I wouldn't know. If I read the comic then maybe I could say whether he ripped a few pages off or the whole thing.

I mean, the drawings are not exact to the T, but they are close enough that yes it is plagerism.

This reminds me of the time when I had this problem with one of my comics where people thought I ripped off from some sources, but in reality I took inspiration from them. In reality the first base I took from was myself, not from another source. Sure I look at different concepts of what I what I might be going for, but not the same.

It's like my avatar that I drew. Some say I ripped off Leon S Kennedy from RE4, but in reality that is what I look like. I based off my own image not Leon's. As for his eye. Yeah I looked at Kakashi for inspiration, but they are not the same. I also looked at a few other who also have eyes like it and see what other have done to take in inspiration, and to make sure I didn't step on anyone's toes.

Edit:

Yeah it is a complete rip-off. The story is a little different, but the drawings are complete traces.

Edited by James S Cassidy, 25 February 2010 - 09:11 AM.

[Danzo Baka]

OMG... I'm gonna puke... D8

This is SICK!! Totally traces... Complete traces!!

[Vyse]

How come the publisher didn't catch this? Seriously, if I traced Spider-man and called my comic "Arachnid" or some kitten, could I publish Beter Barker's adventures as a super-hero?

[Shadow-kun]

No you couldn't cuz your pockets aren't deep enough. Simple as that.

[Nate River]

I've never read the book myself so I wouldn't know. If I read the comic then maybe I could say whether he ripped a few pages off or the whole thing.

I mean, the drawings are not exact to the T, but they are close enough that yes it is plagerism.

If that's all it was then he'd be fine. Plagrism is unethical and highly frowned upon, but not itself illegal. However, if he is doing so, then there copyright violations for which he can be sued.

That he even ripped off a few pages wouldn't change that. A violation's a violation. The amount would simply be related to elements of proving it and possible punishment. But whether you copy a little or a lot, you've still committed copyright violations.

That you copied a little or alot isn't the issue. That you copied it at all is the problem.

[Paradox Jast]

Well, it seems that Bleach isn't the only thing he's copied. Hellsing and NANA are up there too, as well as a few others I can't remember off the top of my head.

[James S Cassidy]

If that's all it was then he'd be fine. Plagrism is unethical and highly frowned upon, but not itself illegal. However, if he is doing so, then there copyright violations for which he can be sued.

That he even ripped off a few pages wouldn't change that. A violation's a violation. The amount would simply be related to elements of proving it and possible punishment. But whether you copy a little or a lot, you've still committed copyright violations.

That you copied a little or alot isn't the issue. That you copied it at all is the problem.

That depends.

For artist, the copyright law is a little hazy for us. It is hard to know where the line is drawn sometimes. I know myself because I had trouble telling myself.

However, copyright laws are specific. You cannot copy right an "ideal theme," but you can copyright how you show it. By ideal theme I mean, if I would say make a story about space marines then no I would not be in copyright breach. Unoriginal maybe, but fully legal.

He might have changed just enough to get away with it. While he did copy the figure exactly the way it is posed, he changed enough so that it is not even close to the same character.

Even if the law cannot make him accountable for whatever means, we the public know the truth.

I am still trying to figure it all out, but even then it is confusing.

[chouzu_tao]

Dear god! That's terrible. Here's the hard part though, his father is part of KISS which means he has moneyz for lawyers, should this even come to the attention of someone, and secondly, I don't know if there's an established law against tracing the outlines of character actions or poses, certainly there seem to be a few instances of direct copying, but as James said, in the US one can easily get away with this through the simple loop hole of saying it was not the intention of the artist to use specifically that character, but only to base them off that character. Look at South Park's Imagination Land episodes/ movie, they did not pay a single cent for any of those characters because they were a different color scheme with different names, well there's also a the satire loop hole that protects South Park. But if you also look at the comic series 'Planetary' they have a lot of super hero 'cameos' from both DC and Marvel but all of which are changed slightly in color and design. But I am appalled.

Edited by chouzu_tao, 25 February 2010 - 03:15 PM.

[Paradox Jast]

Regardless of what the legal outcome is, he's completely ruined any sort of reputation he had as a comic artist. This is going to hang around his neck like an albatross. He won't be able to sell anything else unless he uses another pen name, and even then, the internet is serious business. All it takes is one person to figure out he's writing under another name and it's all over, yet again.

[Vyse]

He's a great tracer though... I'll give him that much.

[Codus N]

No comments from Kubo...
According to his twitter, he has no comments on it & is leaving the legal process to Shueisha. (that's what I can pretty much draw from it). On off-topic note, if Kubo has a twitter account, how come Kishi doesn't have a computer, let alone a twitter account.

[harry4e]

His poor dad, bet he was so proud his son finally stopped scrounging off him and start earning his own money, and will now have to pay for any legal fee's and compensation Shonon Jump might be requesting...lol

The only difference I see in these is the colouring and that's the work of someone else, so as far as the drawings go they look almost identical to Kubo's in some cases he's just mixed a couple of charactors together to get the look, The Orihime cone looks like Orhime and a little bit of Rukia thrown in.

Oh Well they do say imitation is the highest form of flattery or something like that. Though can't say Simmons is all that clever, if you expect to get away with Plagerism you don't copy from the third most Popular Manga in Japan. What next a Comic about a Ninja who had a great beast sealed in him or maybe a Pirate with powers of stretching?

[Saku-chan]

... That's so bad. It's not even reference shots... it's TRACING.

I started out tracing to get the feel for what Manga was like WHEN I WAS 12, but I never posted any of it or showed it to anyone and I sure as hell did not claim it as my own. Nick Simmons? Big fail.

(Daddy Gene should be disappoint.)

[Miss Soupy]

Oops, didn't know there was a thread about this (made a comment in the bleach thread itself).

Yeah, it's pretty horrible to do, especially since he basically took poses from anyone he liked and added them in as his own. He also blatantly copied dialogue. Seems like he especially likes the sins chapters. I hope his publisher drops him.

[Muffins?]

Regardless of what the legal outcome is, he's completely ruined any sort of reputation he had as a comic artist. This is going to hang around his neck like an albatross. He won't be able to sell anything else unless he uses another pen name, and even then, the internet is serious business. All it takes is one person to figure out he's writing under another name and it's all over, yet again.

Hehe albatross it surprises me I still remember that book! Any ways this makes me LOL you guys can bash Nick Simmons but I think it's far more funny that he copied Bleach, I mean seriously who was genna buy that book anyways?

[Derock]

BIG. FAT. LIAR.

Seriously, the artwork was indeed traced. The facial expressions, how the characters are, most scenes... he must've went on deviantart on whichever artist colored those pages and traced them, if he hadn't ever heard of the series as he "supposed" to.