On February 28, comic book writer Jarred Luján posted a thread on X (formerly Twitter) alleging that independent publisher Scout Comics did not pay him for his comics work and hadn’t been answering communication. This was followed up with another thread by artist Rebecca Good which also expressed frustrating dealings with the publisher. And now, after a wider public outcry, Scout has responded with a statement posted to their social media accounts.
“While Scout has always strived to maintain high levels of service to our teams, recently a creative team expressed their frustration publicly due to having not had a response to their concerns in several months,” the statement, which was provided to Comic Book Club, reads. “This is true. We dropped the ball by failing to respond in a timely manner. We take full responsibility for our lack of response at that time due to internal miscommunication.”
The statement does address the lack of communication. But it doesn’t address payment issues — something that drew the bulk of the ire online. However, in a follow-up to the statement, Scout Comics CEO Brendan Deen told Comic Book Club, “The idea that we don’t pay creators is inaccurate. Any Scout creator who has a question about their royalties is encouraged to reach out to us immediately.”
Deen added: “We actively encourage any and all Scout creators to reach out to me and/or [COO] Lesa [Miller] with any questions or concerns.”
In Lujan’s initial thread, the creator explained that he hadn’t been paid in “over a year,” and that Scout “won’t answer emails. We delivered a completed, profitable book and still got screwed.” He also noted that despite asking to cancel his contract, his emails remained unanswered. In a follow-up, once Scout’s statement was posted, Lujan added another thread pushing back on the statement, noting that he did not consider the problem “internal miscommunication” as the “CEO, COO, Publisher, and President were all in the same email chain across six months.”
Good had also previously expressed frustration with communications, though from a different angle. According to her posts, the book Oswald and the Star Chaser has been on a “printing backlog” since issue #2’s release nine months prior, despite the next three issues being “completely done.” Good further questioned why the unreleased issues couldn’t be sold digitally, since the first two issues are currently available for sale online.
“Ultimately, I have to characterize Scout as disorganized and not doing the most they can for their titles,” Good posted. “They will expect you to do the lion’s share of the marketing, and then hold the rest of your series hostage when your marketing wasn’t good enough.”
While several other creators have come out online since Lujan’s initial posting relating poor experiences with Scout, a source Comic Book Club talked to who has worked with the publisher expressed that nothing had been amiss on their end, and payments had thus far been going smoothly.
Scout Comics is the home to dozens of independently published titles ranging from Action Tank to Zinnober, and everything in between. They also have multiple imprints including Chispa, a collaboration with Mucho Mas Media, and Scoot!, a young reader’s line.
Scout Comics’s statement in full is below:
Dear Comics Community,
Scout started as and remains a company created by and for creators. We love comics. We love reading comics, making comics, and publishing comics for other creators. We love the comics community.
While Scout has always strived to maintain high levels of service to our teams, recently a creative team expressed their frustration publicly due to having not had a response to their concerns in several months. This is true. We dropped the ball by failing to respond in a timely manner. We take full responsibility for our lack of response at that time due to internal miscommunication.
Regardless, we will continue to strive to do better and improve communication with all of our creators. Despite the complaints we have seen online, Scout has had very few creators reach out to us directly with concerns. We have actually had several creators reach out in support, which we appreciate.
As with all businesses, there will be missteps. The most important thing is to learn. At this time, we are openly welcoming any creator with a title at Scout Comics to reach out to our COO Lesa Miller at lesa.miller@scoutcomics.com with any concerns they may have. All concerns will be listened to and all inquiries will be responded to in a timely manner.
As creators ourselves, we understand the issues that have been presented to us. Thank you for your patience and grace while we endeavor to learn from the feedback we are receiving.
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