In theUnited States,creator ownership in comics is an arrangement in which thecomic book creator retains full ownership of the material, regardless of whether the work isself-published or published by a corporate publisher.

In some fields ofpublishing, such asfiction writing, creator ownership has historically been standard. In other fields—such as comics,recorded music, ormotion pictures—creator ownership has traditionally been uncommon, with eitherwork for hire or publisher purchase of the material being standard practice.

In 1906,Richard F. Outcault took his creationBuster Brown from theNew York Herald to theNew York American. Outcault had not applied for a copyright to Buster Brown, but asserted a "common-law title"—what comics historianDon Markstein asserted is one of the earliest claims to creators' rights. The court decided theHerald owned theBuster Brown name and title and the copyright on the strips it published, but the characters themselves were too intangible to qualify for copyright or trademark. This freed Outcault to continue the strip in theAmerican as long as he did not use theBuster Brown name.^[a][2]

Creator-owned titles began to appear during the late-1960sunderground comix movement; these themes were exemplified in the formation ofRip Off Press, the United Cartoon Workers of America (UCWA), andCartoonists' Co-Op Press.^{[citation needed]}

Rip Off Press was founded in 1969 by four men—two of whom werecartoonistsGilbert Shelton andJack Jackson, as a sort of cartoonists'cooperative, an alternative publishing venue to burgeoning Bay Area publishers like thePrint Mint,Apex Novelties, andCompany & Sons.^[3]

The United Cartoon Workers of America was an informal union organized in 1970^[4] by cartoonistsRobert Crumb,Justin Green,Bill Griffith, Nancy Griffith,Art Spiegelman,Spain Rodriguez,Roger Brand, andMichele Brand.^[5] Members of the UCWA agreed that all cartoonists would demand the same rate per page of comics, whether they were stars like Crumb or being published for the first time. They also agreed to not work for any publisher who had "cheated" other cartoonists.^[4]Dennis Kitchen'sKitchen Sink Press formed the "Local 2 — Milwaukee" branch of the UCWA, and the UCWA brand appeared on a number of comix from that era.^{[citation needed]}

Cartoonists' Co-Op Press was a 1973–1974self-publishing venture by cartoonists Griffith, Spiegelman,Kim Deitch, Jerry Lane,Jay Lynch,Willy Murphy, andDiane Noomin. Like Rip Off Press, it was founded as an alternative to the existing underground publishers, which were perceived as not being honest with their accounting practices.^[6]

The short-lived genre publisherAtlas/Seaboard Comics, which operated from 1974 to 1975, offered some of the highest rates in the industry, plus return of artwork to artists and author rights to original character creations.^[7]

Up to the mid-1970s, most comic book publishers kept all original pages, in some cases destroying them in lieu of storing them safely.^[8]

By 1974,James Warren'sWarren Publishing began changing the industry'swork-for-hire dynamic by offering higher page-rates thanDC Comics orMarvel Comics, and allowing the artists to retain their original artwork,^[8] giving creators the option to gain extra income by selling the pages to collectors. Nonetheless, Warren Publishing retained all creator's rights. As James Warren once told artistBernie Wrightson:

. . . I don't own the originals but I do own the rights. That means everything. Every printing right imaginable. Do what you want with the originals—put 'em in your closet, hang 'em on your wall, give 'em away, sell 'em, but, if you sell your work and the guy you sell it to sells it to the next guy and he sells it to the next guy and he sells it to the next guy—all the way down the line—and if the 17th guy who buys it, prints it somewhere without my permission, I'm going to hold you responsible.^[8]

By 1975 or 1976, both DC and Marvel also began returning artists' original pages to them.^[8]

During the 1970s, artistNeal Adams was politically active in the industry, and attempted tounionize its creative community. Adams attempted to form theComics Creators Guild, with a contentious meeting in May1978 attended byCary Bates,Howard Chaykin,Chris Claremont,Steve Ditko,Michael Golden,Archie Goodwin,Paul Levitz,Bob McLeod,Frank Miller,Carl Potts,Marshall Rogers,Jim Shooter,Walt Simonson,Jim Starlin,Len Wein, andMarv Wolfman.^[9][10] The effort failed to get off the ground.^{[citation needed]}

In addition, Adams, along with theJoker creatorJerry Robinson,^[11] notably and vocally helped lead the lobbying efforts that resulted inSuperman creatorsJerry Siegel andJoe Shuster receiving decades-overdue credit and some financial remuneration from Superman publisher DC Comics.^[12]

Marvel Comics had a mixed history of responding to the issue of creator's rights. In 1978, Marvel andHoward the Duck writerSteve Gerber clashed over issues of creative control, and Gerber was abruptly removed from the series. This was the first highly publicized creator's rights case in American comics, and attracted support from major industry figures. Gerber subsequently launched a lengthy legal battle for control of Howard the Duck, culminating in a 1981 lawsuit.^[13]

In1980, Marvel created the mature readers anthologyEpic Illustrated, offering its writers and artists ownership rights and royalties in place of the industry-standard work for hire contracts.^[14] The success ofEpic Illustrated led to the 1982 formation of the long-running imprintEpic Comics, which specialized in creator-owned titles.^{[citation needed]}

Around this same period, however, industry legendJack Kirby, co-creator of many of Marvel's most popular characters, came into dispute with the company over the disappearance of original pages of artwork from some of his most famous and popular titles.^[15] Kirby had quit working for Marvel in 1979, angry over what he perceived as the company's mistreatment of him.^[16] Best-selling creators likeAlan Moore, Frank Miller, and many other stars became vocal advocates for Kirby. Neal Adams also petitioned to havehis Marvel originals returned, and the pair won their battle in 1987, when Marvel returned original artwork to him and Kirby, among others.^[17][18] This decision helped lead to the modern industry's standard practice of returning original artwork to the artist, who can earn additional income from art sales to collectors.^{[citation needed]}

Beginning in the 1980s, several new publishers and imprints went into business, offering comics writers and artists the opportunity to have their work published while retaining the copyrights to the characters and the stories. Publishers likePacific Comics andEclipse Comics were strong promoters of creator-owned superhero properties; their enticement of popular creators (such as Kirby)^[19] to their pages helped push the issue to the fore and put pressure on industry giants Marvel and DC. The alternative and independent publishersFantagraphics andDark Horse Comics entered the field during this period as well. Creator-owned properties allowed series to continue with multiple publishers as circumstances required;Usagi Yojimbo for instance has been published by four succeeding publishing houses.^{[citation needed]}

In the mid-to-late 1980s, creator ownership became acause célèbre among many comics creators, including those working in the dominant genre ofsuperheroes. Creators' repeated clashes with DC Comics,^{[20][21][22][23]}First Comics,^[24] and other publishers led to an industry-wide debate about the issue. In the fall of 1988, DC revised the company's work-for-hire agreements to give more power to individual creators.^[25]

Writer Alan Moore became increasingly concerned at the lack of creator's rights in British comics.^[26] In 1985, he noted that he had stopped working for all British publishers exceptIPC, publishers of2000 AD, "purely for the reason that IPC so far have avoided lying to me, cheating me or generally treating me like crap".^[26] He joined other creators in decrying the wholesale relinquishing of all rights, and in 1986 stopped writing for2000 AD as well.^[27] Moore's outspoken opinions and principles, particularly on the subject of creator's rights and ownership, would see him burn bridges with a number of other publishers over the course of his career.^[28]

In November1988, a number of independent comic book artists and writers drafted theCreator's Bill of Rights, a document designed to protect their rights as creators and aid against their exploitation by corporate work for hire practices. Issues covered by the Bill included giving creators proper credit for their characters and stories, profit-sharing, distribution, fair contracts, licensing, and return of original artwork. Through a series of meetings, a document was finalized at the "Northampton Summit" held inNorthampton, Massachusetts, and signed by all in attendance.Scott McCloud was the principal author of the Bill;^[29] other artists and writers participating in the Bill's creation includedDave Sim,Steve Bissette,Larry Marder,Rick Veitch,Peter Laird, andKevin Eastman. In the end, however, many prominent comic book professionals, including some involved in its drafting, hold that the Creator's Bill of Rights itself had little or no impact on the industry.^{[citation needed]}

In 1990, Creator's Bill of Rights signatory Kevin Eastman founded the creator-friendlyTundra Publishing to embody the ideals of the Bill from a publishers' standpoint. As part of the initial group who "got together to form the" Bill, Eastman felt obligated to expand it beyond theory and into practice, providing a creator-friendly forum for comics creators to work for a publisher while maintaining ownership of their work.^[30] Tundra went bankrupt in 1993.^{[citation needed]}

In 1992, a number of popular Marvel artists formed their own company,Image Comics, which would serve as a prominent example of creator-owned comics publishing. Propelled by star power and upset that they did not own the popular characters they created for Marvel, several illustrators, including theX-Men'sJim Lee,The New Mutants/X-Force'sRob Liefeld, andSpider-Man'sTodd McFarlane formed Image, an umbrella label under which several autonomous, creator-owned companies existed.^[31] Image properties, such asWildC.A.T.s,Gen¹³,Witchblade and especially McFarlane'sSpawn provided brisk competition for long-standing superheroes. Many popular creators followed Image's lead and attempted to use their star power to launch their own series, ones for which they would have licensing rights and editorial control. Chris Claremont, famous for his long run as the writer ofUncanny X-Men, createdSovereign Seven forDC;Joe Madureira, also made popular byUncanny X-Men, launchedBattle Chasers forWildStorm Productions; andKurt Busiek,Alex Ross, andBrent Anderson createdAstro City for Image.^{[citation needed]}

DC'sVertigo imprint, launched in 1993, was the company's first successful attempt to routinely publish creator-owned series (right from its launch withPeter Milligan andDuncan Fegredo'sEnigma). From the start, Vertigo founding editorKaren Berger was committed to creator-owned projects, working on several "[her]self with new writers and artists" as well as established names, with the express intention of "trying to bring new people into the industry, as well as use some of the best creators in comics".^[32] In addition to creator-owned series set in their owncontinuity, such asEnigma andFallen Angel, DC published several creator-owned series, such asSovereign Seven andXero, that were set within theDC Universe.^{[citation needed]}

In 1994, Dark Horse Comics founded theLegend imprint in part to provide star creators like Frank Miller andJohn Byrne an avenue for creator-owned projects.^{[citation needed]}

• Harvey, R. C. (June 9, 2016)."Outcault, Goddard, the Comics, and the Yellow Kid".The Comics Journal.Fantagraphics Books. Archived fromthe original on June 12, 2016. RetrievedJune 12, 2016.
• Winchester, Mark D. (May 1995). "Litigation and Early Comic Strips: The Lawsuits of Outcault, Dirks, and Fisher".Inks.2 (2):16–25.