Colin Kaepernick’s new company Lumi is being obliterated by comic book pros for utilizing AI. Joe Quesada has launched a new comics company, Amazing Comics. Joyce Brabner, co-star of American Splendor, has died at 72. All on Comic Book Club News for August 5, 2024.
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Episode Transcript:
Colin Kaepernick’s comic company blasted by pros.
Joe Quesada launches new comics company.
Joyce Brabner has died at age 72.
This is Comic Book Club News for August 5, 2024.
Colin Kaepernick’s Comic Book Company Lumi Blasted For Using AI:
They say any press is good press, but the resulting firestorm around Colin Kaepernick’s new company Lumi can’t be good news for the start-up. That’s because Kaepernick’s company is using AI to create comic books and manga, and comic book pros — and fans — just aren’t having it.
The company was first announced on July 24 via a press release and purports to be, “a groundbreaking platform that empowers creators by providing them with the tools needed to independently create, publish, and merchandise their stories both digitally and physically.”
However, the way Lumi plans to transform “any creator into Disney” is by using AI to power the process. And AI, if you didn’t know, is theft. It steals artwork and writing from actual creators, while Lumi is essentially aiming to bypass the process of, you know, creating.
Before the announcement, Kaepernick reportedly toured around to comic book creators to sell them on the idea. Artist Khary Randolph posted as much on Facebook, and said he explained to the former NFL player that using AI for his product would hurt actual creators. Wrote Randolph, “So if anyone is asking whether Colin Kaepernick is aware of the misgivings artists have with AI, please believe that he has been made aware. And I know for a fact that I’m not the only one who did so.”
News more widely got out as Kaepernick toured around the con floor at San Diego Comic-Con, aiming to sell Lumi in Artists Alley. And since then pretty much every artist and writer under the sun has publicly stated outrage about Kaepernick’s plan, suggesting that the $4 million in money the company has raised would be better served giving life-changing $100,000 grants to 40 underserved comics creators, than stealing the work on artists and writers who are just scraping by.
More on this as it develops.
Joe Quesada Teams With Mad Cave And Dupuis To Launch Amazing Comics:
Conversely to our previous story, former Marvel EIC Joe Quesada has launched a new, artist-forward comic book company called Amazing Comics.
Based in Quesada’s home in Idaho, the multi-hyphenate is teaming with Mad Cave Studios and European publisher Dupuis to release what they are calling the first ever truly international comics imprint.
Said Quesada via a press release provided to Comic Book Club: “Amazing Comics has been percolating in my head since 2005. I knew a day would come when I could make it a reality, but when it did, I promised myself not to rush into anything. Be patient and thoughtful, and always remember that I’ve been well served in my 30-plus years in comics by choosing the road less traveled. So here we are. After two years of quietly working, planning, and building something different from the ground up, I couldn’t be happier with my new partnership with Mad Cave Studios and Dupuis.”
The first title from the new imprint is Disciple, co-written by Quesada and Charles Dorfman, with pencils by Quesada. The modern reimagining of Hamlet debuted in part at San Diego Comic-Con, though a public release date is TBD. Tee Bee, or Not Tee Dee. Is that anything?
Anyway, good luck to Quesada. This all sounds… Amazing.
Joyce Brabner, Co-Star Of American Splendor, Dead At 72:
And in some sad news to end today’s report, Joyce Brabner, co-star of Harvey Pekar’s American Splendor, has died at age 72.
The news was reported by The Beat, via The Pekar Project editor Jeff Newelt. Though Brabner had been recovering from cancer, the cause of her death has not yet been reported.
Brabner is perhaps best known for her whirlwind romance with Pekar, and for collaborating with the autobiographical comic book creator on Our Cancer Year, one of their seminal works — as well as being played by Hope Davis in the American Splendor movie.
However, she was an important non-fiction comics creator of her own, collaborating with the likes of Alan Moore, Bill Sienkiewicz, Brian Bolland, and more to tackle topics ranging from the Iran-Contra Affair to AIDS and animal rights. In 2014, she won the Lambda Literary Award for LGBT Graphic Novel for her book Second Avenue Caper.
Our thoughts are with Brabner’s friends and family.
For Comic Book Club News, I’m Alex Zalben. And that’s all the comic news we missed in our week off, right? Cool.
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