I'm surprised this hasn't been posted yet:

Source: http://robot6.comicbookresources.com/2010/02/radical-halts-nick-simmons-incarnate-amid-claims-of-plagiarism/

Article
Radical Publishing has stopped production of its comic Incarnate while it investigates growing accusations that creator Nick Simmons plagiarized Bleach and other popular manga series.

The allegations against Simmons, son of KISS frontman and reality-TV star Gene Simmons, emerged at the beginning of the week on the GameFAQ forum before gaining steam Wednesday on fan sites and LiveJournal. The latter link presents perhaps the best visual support for the Bleach claims.

The Wikipedia entry for Nick Simmons now includes a section detailing "Accusations of Plagiarism" that lists eight manga -- the insanely popular Hellsing, One Piece and Vampire Hunter D, among them -- and an amateur artist from DeviantART. There are assertions that, in addition to panel compositions, character designs and poses, Simmons lifted dialogue and "plot segments" from other works. A group calling for legal action against the 21-year-old Simmons has begun on Facebook, where some members have declared today "Bleach Protection Day."

When contacted Wednesday night for comment, Radical Publishing released the following statement: "We at Radical Publishing Inc. and Radical Comics Inc. are quite concerned to hear the news surrounding Nick Simmons’s Incarnate comic book. We are taking this matter seriously and making efforts now to contact the publishers of the works in question in an effort to resolve this matter. We have halted further production and distribution of the Incarnate comic book and trade paperback until the matter is resolved to the satisfaction of all parties. Rest assured that Radical is taking swift action regarding this matter and will continue in its efforts to maintain the integrity and protect the intellectual property of artists throughout the world whose creative works are the bedrock of our company and the comic book industry."

Viz Media, which publishes Bleach in North America, was asked Wednesday via Twitter what was being done about the alleged plagiarism. A company representative responded, "We've got our team on it." Creator Tite Kubo, whose series has sold more than 50 million copies in Japan, also commented on the claims (unfortunately, however, I can't read what he tweeted).

Simmons' Incarnate debuted in August with heavy promotional support from Radical and A&E TV, the network that airs Gene Simmons' Family Jewels. During Comic-Con, the publisher sponsored "an exclusive invitation-only rock concert extravaganza" at the Hard Rock Cafe in San Diego to celebrate the release of the first issue, while A&E filmed footage around the Radical booth for the reality show. The comic is also showcased on the network's Family Jewels webpage and sold through its online store.

The three-issue miniseries centers on predatory, immortal shapeshifters called Revenants and their battle against a shadowy organization that has discovered a way to destroy them. Simmons spoke with Comic Book Resources about Incarnate in June, and he and his father later visited the CBR Yacht at Comic-Con.

And to show the plagiarism in question:



Now, I'm no manga fan myself, but as a comic artist struggling to gain an audience, as I'm sure many on this site are as well, I find it incredibly infuriating that some little pissant can trace over some other person's artwork and have it be sold via a comic publisher just because he has a famous daddy. It's hard enough to make a living this way without an asshole like this getting credit he doesn't deserve. I'm glad his publisher saw through his bullshit and postponed his comic, but really, they shouldn't have published the piece of shit in the first place. I'll take stick figure comics over plagiarized art any day because at least it's honest that they can't draw.

P.S. Before someone tells me that his art is an homage to Bleach, fuck you. There is a world of difference between an homage and flat-out ripping off. "Negligence" is an homage to "Peanuts" in that they are a similar style, but aren't quite the same. This douchebag flat-out traced the characters to make his own. What a entitled little prick.

No, I agree, this kid is a hack through and through. But so is KISS. There I said it. LOL!

The bigger they are though, the harder they fall, and this looks to be an all around embarrassment for a LOT of people involved.

I was looking into this, and the dude has, like 5 assistant artists on this project. Five! You can't have that many people in on this and not have at least one of them express concern about tracing. They had to know. Unless he just puts together rough sketches by himself and mails them out... he's had to have drawn in front of them at least once, right?

As someone whose been taught by some respected comic artists, I can admit that tracing happens, even from good artists. Usually this is kept to a minimum; maybe you have a really tricky pose and you can't quite get it right. I know quite a few well known artists tend to trace backgrounds. Still, it's not something you do as the basis for your entire work. You can get away with maybe one obvious trace per year, but that is it.

Inkmonkey
As someone whose been taught by some respected comic artists, I can admit that tracing happens, even from good artists. Usually this is kept to a minimum; maybe you have a really tricky pose and you can't quite get it right. I know quite a few well known artists tend to trace backgrounds. Still, it's not something you do as the basis for your entire work. You can get away with maybe one obvious trace per year, but that is it.

And therein lies the rub. If it can be established that this is common practice, much of the legal case goes out the door, unless tracing is used in an overabundance. Also, it looks like that example was probably hand-copied and not traced. The original has the head thrown a bit further back, the area between the nose and top lip is different, the mouths are slightly different, etc. I'm not sure how that would affect the legality, though.

Proving he plagiarized "plot segments" could be a bit trickier. Lots of stories in particular genres have a lot of similar stories and character types. I'm not familiar with either Bleach or Revenants, so I'm not sure what segments are being talked about, but if it's a very general or widely used plot type, this would be a hard point to prosecute. Lifted dialogue would be easy to show, which could lend some weight to the plot segments argument.

Seems that half of comics/manga related internet is in an uproar about that. I've seen threads and articles at Penciljack, CBR, BleedingCool and a bunch of places I don't normally frequent but popped up in search results or were linked from elsewhere.

Oh, speaking of search results, if you type Nick Simmons into Google, the first search suggestion offered by it will be "Nick Simmons Plagiarism", heh. The news are spreading fast.

Best comparison here:

http://community.livejournal.com/bleachness/446299.html
TONS of examples of swiped poses, scenes, character designs etc. Probably around 30 or so, mostly referring to Bleach.

And from another forum:


Look how wonky is this guy's left arm... where on the originalk it is covered by word balloon and cut off!




Now, I'm not really familiar with Bleach (I don't like to be sucked into these endless titles, who knows if I'll live long enough before they finish, haha... it's enough I got caught in Berserk and Claymore) but I see very strong Hellsing vibes there (certain character designs the "eyes popping all over the body" bits and so on) so who knows if there aren't swipes from that one either.

The botched arm above (and look at the posted by Elektro, how it also omits the arm that's not drawn in the original by putting there a bunch of panels) I'm starting to believe that the entire thing could be drawn looking at other comics for visual reference, and in some cases, outright tracing them.

That's not very cool :/

Wow, this is spreading fast! I just barely read about this on that Livejournal community last night.

I used to love Bleach (until it started turning into DBZ, but I won't get into that). And as an artist struggling to get my name out there, this pisses me off like no other. This is something that I would expect to see on dA, not from a professional publishing company.

And regarding to what Inkmonkey said: 5 ASSISTANT ARTISTS!? Seriously? The art is barely good for one person to do, but five people working on it? Wow. That's just mind blowing. And you would think that at least someone would notice? Or maybe none of them know nothing of Japanese comics...

Heck, the only time I trace is when I don't know how to draw a hand in a certain pose. Even then, I take pictures of my own hands instead of looking on the internets.

Let's just hope that daddy's money/fame won't get him out of trouble.

Freegurt
And regarding to what Inkmonkey said: 5 ASSISTANT ARTISTS!? Seriously? The art is barely good for one person to do, but five people working on it? Wow. That's just mind blowing. And you would think that at least someone would notice? Or maybe none of them know nothing of Japanese comics...

I about fell out of my chair when I read that. What the hell is an assistant artist (mush less 5 of them) for in this case?! He's not painting the Sistine Chapel! And I doubt this punk is flipping burgers and then heading home to draw in the wee hours of the night.

Ugh, I'm trying to not get so worked up about this, but man, stuff like this makes me just angry beyond belief. I don't blame him for having money and the ability to produce his own comic, but the fact remains it SHOULD BE HIS OWN ART. Too much evidence has arisen to the contrary now.

It's just moronic that he even thought that he could pull this off. But I guarantee that his assistant artists will take the fall, not him. Someone's already trying to do damage control, you can bank that.


And for that matter, correct me if I'm wrong, but these Revenant(s) according to the description on the Family Jewels site reminds me a LOT of the Revenant bloodline clan from Vampire: World of Darkness now that I'm thinking about it. Even down to the bony apendage like art and weird anatomy... maybe my mind is foggy about this, but THAT strikes a note with me on this.

Haha, anyone remember Todd Goldman? It's delightful how these things pop up every year. I for one, can't wait to be good enough for some privileged jack@$$ to rip me off for big money! It's hilarious how these folks think they can get away with it. People got eyes y'know! But crap like this is happening all the time. I was sifting trough a D&D monster manual and noticed that like half of the creatures were traces off Brian Froud's fairy art. Greg Land traces other artists as well as porn!
I love the Bleach author's response to this, that he's more fascinated with the fact that Gene Simmon's kid is a "manga-ka" than the fact that he ripped him off! I never could get into Bleach, but I gotta respect the guy for that comment. lol!

Yeah, and unfortunately Goldman got away with it for the most part. Sure it messed up his reputation for a bit, but he's back at it, every bit as strong as before and not all that many people seem to remember the whole fiasco.

Truth is, this kid will get away with it the way hundreds of other artists have in the past. Hell, you want a good example of an artist who not only gets away with it, but even gets applauded and made famous for it, you have no further to look than Shepard Fairey. He's notorious for using images from old propaganda that are in public domain, copying them, Fairey-izing them, and then copyrighting it as his own work. He did it with the Hope poster on top of it, and the public let him slide because they liked the poster. Same thing will happen here because the kid's got money enough to get out of it, and because not many people outside the comics and manga communities give a shit. Heck, what do you want to bet half the comics community itself doesn't care?

*secretly traces Amelius's pages... ~shifty eyes~

Wow, this is shocking, but as I have learned in the pat from Deviant Art and such places, most companies etc do not care about visual plagiarism or out and out tracing. They care about the press but they could honestly give a crap less that art was stolen and will more than often write it off somehow or make the accuser look like an idiot. Case in Point Lion King/Kimba the white Lion. Granted they are both takes on King Lear, but the similarities between the two are too much to be coincidence. Ah, well Cest La Vie

Druchii
And for that matter, correct me if I'm wrong, but these Revenant(s) according to the description on the Family Jewels site reminds me a LOT of the Revenant bloodline clan from Vampire: World of Darkness now that I'm thinking about it. Even down to the bony apendage like art and weird anatomy... maybe my mind is foggy about this, but THAT strikes a note with me on this.

If I do recall correctly, (as I just grabbed my Guide to the Sabbat book) the Revenants were created by the Tzmisce lines as super strong ghouls/ Self-Sustaining sub- vampire etc. You can read about them here http://whitewolf.wikia.com/wiki/Revenant_(VTM) if you are so inclined and thusly make your own decisions. Now as a side note, Ghouls in the word of Darkness do take on their vampire founding clan's features and mannerisms a bit. In addition, the Tzmisce are like people who like to get many crazy body modifications.

As a writer, not an artist, I'm especially interested in the alleged theft of plot elements. That one is going to be very tricky to prove (especially if the "inspiration" comes from more than one source) since so many stories "borrow" heavily from what's gone before. How many times have you read a comic (or watched a movie) and cringed at how many times you've seen an identical plot in other comics/movies? What is "Leverage" if not a direct copy of shows like "The A-Team" and "Mission Impossible"?

The art work is another matter. With five assistant artists, I'm wondering whether he actually drew any of the book or whether he just provided thumbnail sketches for them to work up. It could be that he drew none of it, but is taking credit in the same way that certain authors use ghost-writers. If that's the case, then it's just about possible to believe that one or more of the assistants are the real plagiarists here.

As for Tite Kubo, given the vast sums he must have already made from "Bleach", he can afford to be magnanimous and stay out of the furore. I'm sure he would be a little more vocal if he was just starting out and still trying to establish "Bleach"!

He probably uses 5 artists so he gets the work done FAST. ;)
That's probably the reason for the tracing/theft as well: they probably have some deadline they have too keep to and the idiots are cutting corners the wrong way.
If you're going to steel work, wouldn't you try and make sure it wasn't from such a well known. mega popular source?
That's the definition of inept.

Anyway, with all the hype surrounding the work and the promotion, it's no wonder the Simmons sprog feels the pressure and it trying to pup out his particular piece of crap as fast as he can.

Ok, I've checked with a friend who actually has the book.

There are three assistants, the main one also listed on the cover (Nam Kim) which makes me believe it's the background artist (since the backgrounds are fairly consistent throughout the book), but there's also an inker and a colorist. And a letterer. So I guess someone counted the inker and the colorist as assistants too?

And generally Radical is known for throwing assistants and additional artists on books whenever necessary, just so that they can have the thing come out somewhat on time.

Mitaukano
If I do recall correctly, (as I just grabbed my Guide to the Sabbat book) the Revenants were created by the Tzmisce lines as super strong ghouls/ Self-Sustaining sub- vampire etc. You can read about them here http://whitewolf.wikia.com/wiki/Revenant_(VTM) if you are so inclined and thusly make your own decisions. Now as a side note, Ghouls in the word of Darkness do take on their vampire founding clan's features and mannerisms a bit. In addition, the Tzmisce are like people who like to get many crazy body modifications.

Thanks Mitaukano! :) I couldn't find my books and didn't think to check a wiki about it. :D

I remember more about that stuff now, (especially the BAD ASS war ghoul, the Vohzd (or something) they used to create, STILL love that illustration to this day.)

This is the second act of plagiarism I've heard about this week.

Yesterday, Twitter was a flutter about Hot Topic stealing from another artist and using the design on a T_Shirt.

Apparently she was able to get them to remove the shirt from the store, but still.

What really gets me upset the most about this story though, is Gene Simmons kid has the means to put out any type of comic that he wants. And he chooses to go with a Bleach ripoff? That my friends is the true crime, the crime of being unoriginal.

Druchii
Thanks Mitaukano! :) I couldn't find my books and didn't think to check a wiki about it. :D

I remember more about that stuff now, (especially the BAD ASS war ghoul, the Vohzd (or something) they used to create, STILL love that illustration to this day.)

I always loved how the artwork in the old World of Darkness ranged from 'awesome', to 'dude isn't that Wolverine and Beast but drawn fuzzier?' Or all the Lestat and Spike clones in the in the later VTM stuff.

zaymac
What really gets me upset the most about this story though, is Gene Simmons kid has the means to put out any type of comic that he wants. And he chooses to go with a Bleach ripoff? That my friends is the true crime, the crime of being unoriginal.

Well it's unfortunate but he might not even think he's doing anything wrong because even though these are rips they are all hand copied or "eyeballed" rips. Probably just thinks his art is "Bleach styled" and the story line and characters "Bleach inspired". Kind of sad but most young new talent think that copying from manga = manga-ka. You'd have to be exceptionally stupid and inexperienced to not be able to figure out that eyeballing some art is stealing. But I frankly don't give a lot of people credit for brains these days. Not defending his royal hackieness but this smacks of just plain stupidity.
As a fun side note when I was in high school I used to practice eyeballing video game concept art all the time. Some college recruiter (for an art school I might add) saw me doing it (with the magazine I was using right next to me and open) and told me I was very talented for doing that freehand and that I had a future in that industry. Go Fig.

Mitaukano
As a fun side note when I was in high school I used to practice eyeballing video game concept art all the time. Some college recruiter (for an art school I might add) saw me doing it (with the magazine I was using right next to me and open) and told me I was very talented for doing that freehand and that I had a future in that industry. Go Fig.

That's called selling. All college recruiters tell you that you've got a lot of talent regardless of whether or not you do. It's how they convince kids to blow 25/30 grand+ on a special art institute degree when they really aren't that talented ( although sometimes they aren't just bullshitting you. ) that could be obtained from a state university for half the price. They do it with school, the military, and any job where the point is to sell you on something. So it's really not at all weird that they'd say that.

And before anyone slams me as a cynic, i myself went to an arts institute because I wanted to go into a specific career-field ( illustration/industrial design) not typically offered by most state schools. But this is the lesson I've learned watching people who come in because they were told they had amazing photography/ drawing/etc. skills and ultimately found themselves unsuited to the field or completely unable to pass muster.

Zaymac
What really gets me upset the most about this story though, is Gene Simmons kid has the means to put out any type of comic that he wants. And he chooses to go with a Bleach ripoff? That my friends is the true crime, the crime of being unoriginal.

Agreed. It's really messed up.

I looked at one of the articles about it and allegedly he was quoted saying this (though there is some speculation that it was from a fake account. Still, it'd be really funny if it really was him.)

Okay.. now looking at some of these photo comparisons, I can see why a few people are up-in-arms. I can tell you right now these are all purely coincidences. I never even heard of Bleach! Who would name a comic after laundry detergent? When I channel my energy when drawing my book sometimes I can pull stuff in that I never seen before. It's like i'm possessed when I start thinking and drawing. Perhaps I just got on the same wave length that all artists share. My dad just called and said I have a real case against all this slander. If Facebook doesn't give into my demands soon there's going to be hell to pay. Now, I have to damage control on another site - more people being mislead. Now I have to deal with this and my book's deadline. I'm not sure how I can think and draw under all this pressure.

(link: http://www.toplessrobot.com/2010/02/gene_simmons_kid_nick_is_a_comic_creator_a_doucheb.php)

I really hope that was a joke. XD

Taht quote is probably a fake. There's a Nick Simmons on Facebook who posted that and also used "magma" instead of manga in another post and it'd be rather strange if he claimed to be ignorant of manga after all the interviews where he said he was inspired by it. It's either someone having fun at his cost or some pissed off Bleach fan trying to ruin his opinion even further.

Of course, it's possible that he has simply lost his mind.

Mitaukano
Case in Point Lion King/Kimba the white Lion. Granted they are both takes on King Lear, but the similarities between the two are too much to be coincidence. Ah, well Cest La Vie

Not to be off-topic, but Lion King is a take on Hamlet. King Lear has the king going insane after wrongly believing the flattery of his two oldest daughters and getting angry with the sincerity of his youngest daughter and thus giving his kingdom to the two daughters who didn't truly love him. It's been years since I've read it, but I'm pretty sure that's Lear in a nutshell. (And for those interested, Christopher Moore did a hilarious retelling of King Lear from the fool's perspective last year in "Fool." )

EssayBee
Not to be off-topic, but Lion King is a take on Hamlet. King Lear has the king going insane after wrongly believing the flattery of his two oldest daughters and getting angry with the sincerity of his youngest daughter and thus giving his kingdom to the two daughters who didn't truly love him. It's been years since I've read it, but I'm pretty sure that's Lear in a nutshell. (And for those interested, Christopher Moore did a hilarious retelling of King Lear from the fool's perspective last year in "Fool." )

Your right I do not know why typed King Lear and not Hamlet King on the brain I guess. I made a Shakespeare Faux pas my English major friends will never talk to me again.

Mitaukano

EssayBee
Not to be off-topic, but Lion King is a take on Hamlet. King Lear has the king going insane after wrongly believing the flattery of his two oldest daughters and getting angry with the sincerity of his youngest daughter and thus giving his kingdom to the two daughters who didn't truly love him. It's been years since I've read it, but I'm pretty sure that's Lear in a nutshell. (And for those interested, Christopher Moore did a hilarious retelling of King Lear from the fool's perspective last year in "Fool." )

Your right I do not know why typed King Lear and not Hamlet King on the brain I guess. I made a Shakespeare Faux pas my English major friends will never talk to me again.

lol!
Well The Lion King is a rip-off of Kimba the While Lion (frame by frame in some parts). So it's Kimba that has the Hamlet influence... Lion King too, but third hand. -_-

ozoneocean
lol!
Well The Lion King is a rip-off of Kimba the While Lion (frame by frame in some parts). So it's Kimba that has the Hamlet influence... Lion King too, but third hand. -_-

I guess that gets to the whole point that sadly in the end if you have enough money and enough clout, even if you do rip-off a famous children’s classic, or a teenage action manga you will either get away with it or people will forget about it in six months to a year.

Aurora Borealis
Taht quote is probably a fake. There's a Nick Simmons on Facebook who posted that and also used "magma" instead of manga in another post and it'd be rather strange if he claimed to be ignorant of manga after all the interviews where he said he was inspired by it. It's either someone having fun at his cost or some pissed off Bleach fan trying to ruin his opinion even further.

Of course, it's possible that he has simply lost his mind.

It's more than likely that Facebook quote is from a troll. He rants about not watching anime, reading manga etc. but in previous interviews has listed manga as a big influence (though, amusingly, he listed a couple of very obscure ones, not the popular ones he blatantly traced from). The other reason I reckon it's a troll is the sheer number of contrived inflammatory statements and cliches (blaming it on dyslexia, saying anime is kids' cartoons etc). There's an awful lot of bile on facebook and the guy's devart page, and while I feel it lacks class, I can't say I really blame them. Okay, so Tite Kubo has a product worth goodness knows how much worldwide, but he worked damn hard, even though that nervous breakdown he had after Zombie Powder, to get where he is. Like Bleach or hate it, that deserves respect. This guy has jumped into publishing with bags of money and a famous dad behind him and 3 assistants to help, and then on top he steals from other artists! It's enough to make any struggling young artist feel sick!

I wish I had a Rock Star dad who would pay to make my comics popular!
Damn...that would be awesome!

You know, I don't see the resemblance at all... look at it! it's totally different, the one is in color and the other isn't.
Nope, they didn't steal a thing.

Oh and I wish I was a rockstar dad!

harkovast
I wish I had a Rock Star dad who would pay to make my comics popular!
Damn...that would be awesome!

Ugh, stupid celeb culture eh? That guy is now the Paris Hilton/Niccolo Riche of comics.

Yeah, there's no way that's an homage to anything. That's blatant trace-and-edit. His 5 assistants were probably just some friends that wanted in on whatever money the hack was bringing in.

From my understanding he didn't have the same assistants on every work. I'm not sure how much it all added up to by the end, though. It might have just been three. Still, it's quite common in Japan for manga artists to have multiple, uncredited assistants on their work (they're often expected to produce their comics weekly, so that's no surprise).

But back to an earlier part of the conversation, it is true that publishers rarely care whether or not you trace for the work you publish; even if you get caught, they rarely get more than a few minutes' flak for it. Of course, this assumes the "minimal tracing" I mentioned earlier: they certainly could get into big trouble with Shueisha for this, seeing just how much and how blatantly Bleach and other comics were stolen from. But anyway, the important thing for most publishers is whether or not the deadline is met. A lot of companies will prefer a sub-par or unimaginative artist who turns in their work on time over a brilliant artist who turns in everything a week late. It all has to do with printing: most publishers don't have their own printing press, and instead rent time on a different company's press. They set aside specific dates for specific titles, and if they have nothing to print they're out hundreds, maybe thousands of dollars.