A few days ago, BOOM! Studios announced it was releasing a collection of Husband and Husband webcomics from Jonathan and Aaron Ferrara. Yesterday, the publisher announced it was canceling the project.
The reason for the cancellation, popped up online shortly after the initial announcement when it was revealed that the duo has been accused of plagiarism on a Kickstarter project they launched last month. Spellbound, the Kickstarter project that was successfully funded at $10,000, had many questioning the art style, which looked very familiar to Ngozi Ukazu’s Check, Please! series.
It has come to my attention that @HusbandsTweet is tracing Check, Please! They have a funded @kickstarter (now at $14,000), and basically do not care about the optics of white men profiting off of the ideas and work of black women. pic.twitter.com/2m7ACvv1nM
— ☆ Ngozi ☆ (@ngoziu) October 31, 2018
It’s tiring. I thought the project was cute though derivative, but then I saw the blatant tracing. @HusbandsTweet, TRACING IS NOT OKAY. My character designs are being copped–I can’t do anything about that. But the tracing.
Ugh! This is the first page of my comic! pic.twitter.com/cMt56TYMte
— ☆ Ngozi ☆ (@ngoziu) October 31, 2018
This not only had Ngozi irate (which is completely understandable, and justified), but also had a lot of fans complaining to BOOM! Studios, prompting this initial reply from Husband and Husband.
Words cannot express how sorry and full of regret I am right now. I am such a huge fan of @ngoziu work in comics and I got too inspired and I see now what I did by drawing from that inspiration was wrong. The Kickstarter is cancelled and I am so sorry for this.
— Husband & Husband (@HusbandsTweet) October 31, 2018
I’ll let you decide if the apology is heartfelt or hollow, but regardless, BOOM! Studios announced yesterday that the Husband and Husband project would not be published after all.
In light of recent circumstances regarding a separate project, BOOM! Studios has decided to no longer move forward with publishing HUSBAND & HUSBAND.
— BOOM! Studios (@boomstudios) October 31, 2018
The question of swiping has been an ongoing one for years, and in some cases, like this one, action is taken. However, other times, the line between swiping, tracing, and homage seem to blur so much that it wraps back around to praise instead of chastisement (Crisis on Infinite Earths #7, anyone?) . I wonder what the Internet’s reaction to this week’s Superman/TopCast Special will be when readers see this panel:
Which looks a lot like a panel from Uncanny X-Men #135.
Bleeding Cool first reported on this unofficial DC/Marvel crossover, but I think this panel will raise all sorts of questions over parody, homage, and plagiarism, in light of the BOOM! Studios decision. Granted, nothing is going to court, no one is being sued for Tortious Interference, and more than likely, this will blow over for most people before the Thanksgiving turkey lands on the table. But quietly, we’ll continue to talk about what is accepted and not accepted when it comes to “paying homage” to others.
What do you think Dear Readers? Is BOOM! Studios taking the appropriate action? Is everyone overreacting? Or, is this just an object lesson that will be repeated again and again and again with no one learning the lessons from history?
