Cadence Comic Art, a prominent comic book art dealer, is seeing mass exits for unknown reasons. Rob Liefeld retires from drawing Deadpool. Two “foreigners” have been arrested for leaking Manga early. All on Comic Book Club News for February 6, 2024.
SUBSCRIBE ON RSS, APPLE, ANDROID, SPOTIFY, OR THE APP OF YOUR CHOICE. FOLLOW US ON TWITTER, INSTAGRAM, TIKTOK, AND FACEBOOK. SUPPORT OUR SHOWS ON PATREON.
Powered by RedCircle
Episode Transcript:
What is happening with Cadence Comic Art?
Rob Liefeld retires from drawing Deadpool.
Two arrested in early Manga leak.
This is Comic Book Club News for February 6, 2024.
Cadence Comic Art Clients Exit En Masse:
It’s possible that before this week, you had no clue what Cadence Comic Art is. Or, if the name sounded familiar, it was perhaps because you’ve seen one of their booths at a comic convention. However, something is going on behind the scenes, because name comic book artists have been announcing their exit from the art dealer en masse on social.
The posts, which invariably begin with some variation of, “I am no longer represented by Cadence Comic Art,” hit critical mass on Monday, February 5 when multiple artists announced they were no longer with the dealer. However, no explanation has been provided by either the artists involved or Cadence Comic Art itself. Comic Book Club News reached out to Cadence Comic Art but did not receive a response as of this recording.
It also wasn’t immediately apparent what these artists, who depend on selling their original art and commissions for their livelihood, would be doing next. Many, such as Zoe Thorogood, Tula Lotay, Mike Norton, and Luana Vecchio have all offered that sales going forward will be handled on a personal basis, either through their website or in a TBA manner. But given the usually quick-to-gossip comic book industry, the messaging here seems consistent, and generally opaque. Nobody is offering up why this is happening.
If you read between the lines, though, another pattern emerges, as multiple artists note that any unfulfilled orders should be directed towards Cadence Comic Art. The Beat reports multiple instances of customers complaining about unfulfilled orders on their end, as well as a lack of communication from the company. And Bleeding Cool notes that Manager Andrew Christman resigned from the company on January 29, though is still working to get the artists their art back.
Though there’s certainly more to come out from this situation, it is our professional opinion here at the podcast that what is going on is, business-wise, called a “boondoggle.” Though it also might have a bit of the ol’ “hornswoggle.” We’ll update you more on this situation as it develops.
Rob Liefeld Announces He’s Retiring From Drawing Deadpool:
Rob Liefeld, the guy who co-created Deadpool, has retired from drawing Deadpool. He announced as much in a post on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter.
However, true to form, the post was extremely long, which meant that if it passed through your social feed you wouldn’t initially see the bottom of the post, or what we in the business call the “feet” of the post.
Anyway, tortured, hacky Rob Liefeld jokes aside, here are the edited remarks of what the artist had to say:
“I am retiring from Deadpool. It’s official. Yup, after 33 years of not only introducing Deadpool but chronicling many of his most popular adventures it’s time for the Deadpool Daddy to say farewell. One of the fun parts about getting older is you can retire from things, so here I am… In case you are wondering, why now? That’s easy, I’ll be 57 at the end of this and my eyes are still functioning, the work continues to be strong, I want to go out with the best effort I can muster. The hand-eye coordination won’t be there forever.”
As Liefeld notes in the middle, or the “pouch” of his post if you will, he adds that he “worked up one last crazy Deadpool yarn for the fine folks at Marvel and they responded with electric glee and I started producing it last month for release Summer 2024.”
So there you go. You won’t have Liefeld to kick around anymore! At least where Deadpool is concerned. Now if he can just do one last story about Captain America’s distended chest…
Two “Foreigners” Arrested In Early Manga Leak:
Picture this. You’re in Japan. You see copies of your favorite manga on sale early. You take pictures of the manga and post them online. Well, guess what? You’re going to jail, punk!
And that’s exactly what happened to two “foreigners” who allegedly leaked pages of Weekly Shonen Jump and Weekly Shonen Magazine online. As reported by The Beat via Japan’s NHK, leaking pages like this is a violation of copyright law, and therefore punishable by jail time.
According to the report, the two foreigners obtained the copies through a Japanese wholesaler in the country, snapped pictures, and posted them online. Though the duo admitted to taking pictures, they deny leaking the pages. The police confiscated their PCs and mobile phones, as well as arresting them.
In fact, this is part of a larger effort to crack down on manga leaks from the Kumamoto Cybercrime division, which has also been pursuing both physical and digital leaks of the comics. As a result, multiple social accounts and websites that post manga online either early, or the same day, have gone dark so as not to run afoul of the fuzz.
Not that we’re saying police action is good here on the podcast, but stealing is definitely bad. Imagine if leaking American or British comics was treated with the same seriousness. Tell you what: lots of folks would be in a real boondoggle.
For Comic Book Club News, I’m Alex Zalben. And this is the feet of the podcast!
Got tips or stories you’d like us to cover? Email us at comicbookclublive@gmail.com.
For more comic book news, reviews, and interviews, check out comicbookclublive.com.
Listen early and ad-free on Patreon.com/comicbookclub.
