Yeah, this'll probably get deleted but why did Platinum lock the account to the artist of Hero By Night? People have said because his contract is over, but is that really true. If it is, why Platinum? That was an awesome comic.

It's no evil scary story :)
DJ wasn't happy about the current pay arrangements; Plat was taking a while to come through with what they owed him for his current work, so he decided to quit.


Meanwhile, the story and work is owned by Plat because that's the deal DJ signed up for in the beginning. So no more story unless there's a new artist/author, or the old one comes back to work :)

I think he's talking about him getting locked out of his DD account.

DJ
I noticed I�ve been locked out of the Drunk Duck account to update Hero By Night or do anything over there (check pageviews).

I can see why he'd not be able to update/change HBN anymore. Can he still post on here like a regular DD member?

Raccoo
Can he still post on here like a regular DD member?

Of course he can :)

He's not banned or frozen or anything. He just doesn't currently have access to that comic. As to why, well, I spose that's between DJ and Plat ;)

Probably because they would prefer he or anyone else not change anything in the archives, have things get messed up until the deal was resolved or because somebody got upset about it and decided to do something childish. Either way is possible and I wouldn't put it past anyone on Earth to take one or the other route. I'd probably lock the comic to ensure nobody on either side got pissy and started deleting pages at random myself.

It's because it's not his comic to change or deal with. It's owned by Platinum, and all the information contained within is no longer his property.

ozoneocean
So no more story unless there's a new artist/author, or the old one comes back to work :)

I'm a little surprised they haven't tried this yet. Hero By Night is generally considered one of the best superhero comics out there these days. If Platinum got another temporary author, they could continue the series and get quite a few sales off of the comic in the long run.

Yeah, you'd get people who flat-out refuse to read the comic because it's not DJ Coffman's work, but other fans would still read it simply becuase they enjoy reading Hero By Night. Then Platinum get their sales, DJ gets his money and everyone's happy until the next conflict. Of course, that's only assuming that things go well.

Yes, he doesn't own the comic, but Plat and him can always come to another arrangement.

I think Plat was careless in its dealings with him. And DJ was... Brash? Foolish? an idio...
Himself :)

But there's always hope.

ozoneocean
Yes, he doesn't own the comic, but Plat and him can always come to another arrangement.

I think Plat was careless in its dealings with him. And DJ was... Brash? Foolish? an idio...
Himself :)

But there's always hope.

You have such a way with words. How utterly professional of you.

EDIT: I kid, I kid. Seriously though I never really read the comic or payed attention to the guy. I always found it to be a green lantern/batman rip off with X-men villains littered throughout. But that's just if we're being perfectly honest.

That still doesn't mean he deserves to lose his rights though. He wasn't being brash or foolish though, Ozone, and you know that just as well as anyone else. He got where he was off the Comic Book Challenge. If entering a contest is being brash, well the by all means, DJ is everything you said and more. Frankly while he may be ill-tempered and quick to lash out, I like to give him more credit than you think he deserves.

lefarce
That still doesn't mean he deserves to lose his rights though

I don't think you get the whole picture.

The thing is that in winning that contest, the prze is that you have a paying gig producing a comic for a publishing company. You sell your idea to them for that gig, that's how it works. If he wanted to retain the rights he wouldn't have entered the contest. ;)

----------
*The contract that was part of the competition expired quite a while ago. DJ got his full prize. :)
*He since signed a new contract with Plat to produce the comic.
*Then in recent months when Plat didn't have money for the publishing projects, DJ got tired of doing doing work and NOT being paid for it, so he decided to quit, as was his right.

-During that quitting process though, they were still doing deals for rights and continued production... But Plat wasn't as smart as it should have been and DJ reacted badly, as he does -being the outspoken person that he is. :)




And that last part is what I was talking about, assuming you and everyone else here knew the rest.

Now that I think about it, how many people actually looked at the contest and thought "Yeah, I'd be cool with them owning it" or did they just see "We will publish your comic" and stop reading right there, too busy getting their stuff together to make their submission.

What am I going on about? How many people actually entered the contest knowing that they would be selling their ideas to Platinum, and how many entered thinking that "Publish" meant that they would keep all their ideas, and Platinum were just printing the comicbook?

That could be a little what some of this is about. No one actually realised that they'd have to give up their rights to the comicbook and that's why they're attacking PS. They think PS has stolen Hero By Night, rather than it being legally sold to them and DJ Coffman having absolutely no right to the comic, other than he was hired to make the series.

Aussie_kid
Now that I think about it, how many people actually looked at the contest and thought "Yeah, I'd be cool with them owning it" or did they just see "We will publish your comic" and stop reading right there, too busy getting their stuff together to make their submission.

What am I going on about? How many people actually entered the contest knowing that they would be selling their ideas to Platinum, and how many entered thinking that "Publish" meant that they would keep all their ideas, and Platinum were just printing the comicbook?

That could be a little what some of this is about. No one actually realised that they'd have to give up their rights to the comicbook and that's why they're attacking PS. They think PS has stolen Hero By Night, rather than it being legally sold to them and DJ Coffman having absolutely no right to the comic, other than he was hired to make the series.

And how many people look at the glass half empty rather than half-full? :/


These comics pitched are usually webcomics, something people were going to make for FREE on the web. You probably wouldn't have even known about HbN if Platinum wasn't promoting it, pushing merchandise, and actually giving DJ money in the first place to create a webcomic.

And if it's really that amazing and he deserves all this credit and more, he should go to Marvel or DC and create comics for them.

Skull has some sage words there :)

Aussie- it's nothing at all to do with that. There's no slight of hand or trickery involved, DJ would have been well aware of the situation at every stage. He is amazingly adept at making money from comics, reading contracts and knowing where he stands, that's one of his biggest strengths. He's about as far away from some wide eyed noob neophyte as you could possibly get.

-Besides, as I say, he already worked OUT the first contract and signed a whole new one. ;)

Aussie_kid
Now that I think about it, how many people actually looked at the contest and thought "Yeah, I'd be cool with them owning it" or did they just see "We will publish your comic" and stop reading right there, too busy getting their stuff together to make their submission.

What am I going on about? How many people actually entered the contest knowing that they would be selling their ideas to Platinum, and how many entered thinking that "Publish" meant that they would keep all their ideas, and Platinum were just printing the comicbook?

Even if they entered into the contest, not realizing they loose the rights to the comic, if they get into the top 50 they are sent a contract that they must sign in order to compete further, and it will tell them they lose the rights. Hopefully by that point everyone understands.

That could be a little what some of this is about. No one actually realised that they'd have to give up their rights to the comicbook and that's why they're attacking PS. They think PS has stolen Hero By Night, rather than it being legally sold to them and DJ Coffman having absolutely no right to the comic, other than he was hired to make the series.

Anyone who thinks PS stole HBN's rights, please read DJ's blog (here's the link ).
I'm going to side with the TRUTH here even though it's not what the haters or drama queens out there would like me to say- I don't have a problem with Comic Book Challenge at all. In fact, even my recent kerfluffle with Platinum had nothing to do with my actual Comic Book Challenge contract.

When I read the contest rules they made the conditions clear.

That's why I didn't enter the contest. I didn't have a throw away story I was okay with letting them have.

I hope DJ will come back to webcomics though. A new story perhaps. I'm sure with his talent he can make a popular new webcomic that can pay for itself.

JillyFoo
I'm sure with his talent he can make a popular new webcomic that can pay for itself.

Try and stop him :)

I think he's already doing it.

ozoneocean

JillyFoo
I'm sure with his talent he can make a popular new webcomic that can pay for itself.

Try and stop him :)

I think he's already doing it.

Yeah, pretty sure somewhere on his website, it talks about some Flobots thing.
I have no idea what it's about or whatever.
But sounds pretty nifty.

Selling your rights isn't for everyone, it really depends on your style.

Me I'm a man with a million ideas so, honestly selling one for a good deal doesn't bother me in the least. Oh sure I still want to have control & make all the money like everyone else does, but that isn't in the cards for most people until they are sufficently established to have strong position to negotiate from or self publish.

I'm shopping around Cwen's Quest right now to a few people & honestly if I had to sell the rights to get what I wanted out the deal I'd be ready to do that provided I liked the contract.

They way I see it if selling one series lets me work on 2 or three other ideas that might not otherwise see the light of day then that can be a good thing as long as you negotiate for what you want out of the deal.

I think that is the critical part about dealing companies, making you sure you a very legally clear on what you want & expect from the other party in exchange for what you are agreeing to give them.

I sold my half of the Night School rights to PS when the approached Amy about doing a series. To me it was a good deal. NS was at that point just collecting dust in a folder I had in my file drawer so holding onto those rights we not doing me any good. Now as to how good of a deal I managed to negotiate, well time will tell but let me just put it this way if a few years from now I see kids walking down the street wearing NS T-shirts I'll be a very happy writer. If just get the chance to proffessionally write for a new series after Night School well then I'll be happy enough.

Really the thing I think most people over look is that success (even if it isn't get rich quick sort of success) can gets you out of waiting in submission lines with your script in one hand and your prayer beads or good luck charm in the other and into offices where you actually get a chance to pitch yourself and your idea which is what you want if your looking to work proffessionally for the long haul.

I don't know all the details with what happened with DJ but I know he walked away from HBN to get offers to do things like the cover art for Hulk 100. I know for a fact that while DJ was successful before HBN he wasn't getting calls from Marvel comic until after Hero By Night.

ozoneocean
Skull has some sage words there :)

Aussie- it's nothing at all to do with that. There's no slight of hand or trickery involved, DJ would have been well aware of the situation at every stage. He is amazingly adept at making money from comics, reading contracts and knowing where he stands, that's one of his biggest strengths. He's about as far away from some wide eyed noob neophyte as you could possibly get.

-Besides, as I say, he already worked OUT the first contract and signed a whole new one. ;)

That wasn't what I was getting at. I'm not saying Platinum stole anything. I'm saying that there are people out there who don't read the contract fully. Just give them a summary of the god stuff and slide in a paragraph that you own their immortal soul and they'll never know until you tell them, because they were too focussed on their prize that they were supposedly getting. I think some of the people complaining are these types and are complaining because if they were in the same situation, they would have only found out about selling the comic when they tried to back out and Platinum pointed out the fact that they no longer owned their submission. It's a blow to their egos and so they are lashing out

That's all I was saying, just to clear things up.

Fair enough, that would be a bad scenario if it could ever happen, but the fact about who owns the rights is extremely pivotal in this case. Anyone at all, no matter how lazy about reading contracts they normally are will be made aware of that fact on the point of signing. It's just that important. ;)

It's a pretty standard contract in most ways really: When you're being paid by someone to produce work, whatever you produce in the course of that work is owned by the people employing you.

Contracts giving you creative rights would mean less direct pay unless you had a lot of power to swing things...

ozoneocean
It's a pretty standard contract in most ways really: When you're being paid by someone to produce work, whatever you produce in the course of that work is owned by the people employing you.

But its your work, i thought they pay you for the work, but the rights are to you?

That's not how copyright works. ;)
Unless you specifically set up a work contract to state that you retain rights to stuff you come up with in the course of your job, it's owned by your employer.

That doesn't have much to do with the comic book challenge thing, I don't know the specifics of the deal there, but it's true as a matter of course in every job; from admin work in a school to software engineering to cartooning to newspaper reporting to working in a bank, whatever.

If you are freelancing then maybe, but it depends on your contract.

If you are directly employed in ANY field not just comics, then you are being paid to come up with ideas for the company so no you won't own them.

IE: If you worked for a software company and made a program to make your job easier typically the company would own the rights to the program you wrote since your wrote it at work, for work, using work resources & because they paid you for the time it took you to do it.

My uncle is an inventor and turned down a high paying job with a company just so that anything new he patents is his rather then the companies.

Someone
What Happened to Hero By Night

"warriors of the night" took over.

Seriously? Who is Warriors of Night?

Evil Emperor Nick
Seriously? Who is Warriors of Night?

My comic. Click the banner

And this is something I just thought up. If Platinum actually asked you to continue Hero By Night, would you do it?

Well first off let me stress the Platinum hasn't said anything to me about working on any new projects yet, but absolutely. I love writting for comics, there are probably only a handful of titles I turn down the opportunity to write for even with executive meddling factored in. (Like the abysmal hand of Joe Quesada at Marvel.)

I'm a huge fan of Hero By Night and I think it would be an amazing opportunity to be able to take the creative helm there. I'd love the chance. That said it would be VERY daunting challenge to fill DJ's boot. Particularly with all the high praise he has recieved for his work on the series. HBN is clearly rich with possibilites either hinted at such as the suspicious side to some of Doctor Nowhere's actions in the past or clearly laid down such as David Day's son.

All in all while as a creator I'd jump at the chance to do something in the super hero genre though as a reader I'd just like DJ to come back and finish his run on the comic 'cause like everony else I want to know what he was planning. ^_^

I spoke to DJ about HBN and he hinted about some really interesting stuff he had planned for the future issues that now obviously may never come to pass.

Ahhh Aussie Kid why did you have to go say something like that now I'm thinking about all the stuff in HBN and wondering what I could do with it.

Lesbian Pirates was part of the CBC, and even though it didn't win, it was bought by Platinum. I am so very glad they did. The original story I had planned would have sucked. It wasn't even that they told me what to write or what not to write. They just set a couple guidelines (like, "It's six issues" and "Let's not have anything obscene"), which focused the story into a good direction.
And as far as my comics go, they're really nice about the rights. I am free to make and sell whatever merchandise I want pertaining to the comic, and they're going to help me try to get it into some stores, too! They're publishing it, distributing it, promoting it, and, although the contract for six issues is up, I'm free to make more issues if I want, so I'm going to.

Evil Emperor Nick
Well first off let me stress the Platinum hasn't said anything to me about working on any new projects yet, but absolutely. I love writting for comics, there are probably only a handful of titles I turn down the opportunity to write for even with executive meddling factored in. (Like the abysmal hand of Joe Quesada at Marvel.)

I'm a huge fan of Hero By Night and I think it would be an amazing opportunity to be able to take the creative helm there. I'd love the chance. That said it would be VERY daunting challenge to fill DJ's boot. Particularly with all the high praise he has recieved for his work on the series. HBN is clearly rich with possibilites either hinted at such as the suspicious side to some of Doctor Nowhere's actions in the past or clearly laid down such as David Day's son.

All in all while as a creator I'd jump at the chance to do something in the super hero genre though as a reader I'd just like DJ to come back and finish his run on the comic 'cause like everony else I want to know what he was planning. ^_^

I spoke to DJ about HBN and he hinted about some really interesting stuff he had planned for the future issues that now obviously may never come to pass.

Ahhh Aussie Kid why did you have to go say something like that now I'm thinking about all the stuff in HBN and wondering what I could do with it.

Heh, sorry about that. Really I was just thinking about who would try to make sure HBN ended since DJ wasn't at the helm any more and who would jump on board first, to make sure I could answer the question myself safely.

And to that, I say I think I'd just like to do one issue. A one-time villian who would probably never show up again would fight the Hero and then lose. Whether it was canon or not would probably not matter, since it would have barely any effect on the story, unless future writers liked the guy and wanted to bring him back. Really, it's just to get a taste of what it's like to write for HBN and also to see if people like my writing. If they do, then I might come back for more.

Hmm... maybe we should ask Platinum for the chance to have a go. Although they probably already have had lots of emails and PQs with people asking to take over

Megan: Sounds like I should have to negotiate my next contract. ^_^

With all the talk of the Watchmen I wondered what it would be like if they go some big name like Allen Moore to take over HBN...then I remembered Allen Moore's run on Miracleman and quickly stopped wondering.

More seriously though there are not to many big names in the comic industry I'd trust to take over HBN. If I had to pick a big name I'd say Mark Waid. Small press wise Brian Clevinger, particularly after his successful Atomic Robo series might be interesting choice to take the helm.

Really though it is anyone's guess what PS will do next with HBN.