Multiple Mark Millar books are getting collected. Marvel Comics celebrates the MCU with new art variants. Jen Bartel takes to social media to discuss how artists don’t get paid for variants.
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Episode Transcript:
Multiple Mark Millar books are getting collected.
Marvel Comics celebrates the MCU with new variant covers.
Artists don’t get paid for Marvel Snap.
This is Comic Book Club News for August 30, 2024.
Mark Millar Books Getting Collected:
Your Millarbrary is about to grow a whole lot larger. Which is a library, but all the books are by Mark Millar. That’s because both DC Comics and Dark Horse Comics have announced new collections of the writer’s works.
From Dark Horse, the new home of Millarworld, comes Jupiter’s Legacy Library Edition Volume 1 and Chrononauts Library Edition. The first collects Jupiter’s Legacy Volume 1 and 2, Millar’s riff on superheroes meets celebrities, which was adapted into a not-very-good Netflix series. It includes art by Wilfredo Torres and Chris Sprouse, and only the covers are by Frank Quitely, despite me Mandela-effecting him into being the main artist for the series. This will hit bookstores on March 11, 2025, and comic shops on March 12, 2025. The 312-page book will cost $49.99 and is the first of three volumes.
Chrononauts Library Edition will collect the first two volumes of that series and is about time-traveling adventurers. It features art by Sean Gordon Murphy and Eric Canete. That will hit bookstores on May 13, 2025, and comic shops on May 14, 2025. Despite being significantly shorter at 256 pages, the book will also cost $49.99.
Last but not least, DC Comics will be collecting Millar and Phil Hester’s run on Swamp Thing, per ICv2. The omnibus will run 898 pages and collects Millar’s first American comic book work, along with some behind-the-scenes art. It will hit stores on January 14, 2025, for $125.
Marvel Comics Celebrates The MCU With New Variant Covers:
Marvel Comics is celebrating the Marvel Cinematic Universe this September, with a series of Marvel Studios Variant Covers. The new pieces come straight from the forthcoming art book, Marvel Studios: The Art of Ryan Meinerding, which will hit stores on October 1.
Meinerding is Marvel Studios’ Head of Visual Development and per a press release provided by Marvel, the book “covers the breadth of Meinerding’s work on the Marvel Cinematic Universe with illustrations, sketches, character designs, insights, and much more. The variant covers pull from Meinerding’s long career with Marvel Studios, stretching all the way back to the early days of Iron Man (2008).”
The first eight covers will debut throughout September, with more to come, and feature everything from the Avengers assembling, to Spidey swinging, to that one picture of Thanos pulling a face like he just got kicked in the nuts. That one will be on Avengers Annual #1 if you’re curious.
Jen Bartel Details How Artists Don’t Get Paid For Marvel Snap:
Artist Jen Bartel has taken to social media to reveal how artists don’t get paid for things like their art being used in the mobile game Marvel Snap… And fans are pretty shocked.
Bartel, who has worked on everything from She-Hulk to Captain Marvel, responded to a fan lauding the variant cards currently offered in the mobile game. To which Bartel responded on X, formerly Twitter, “Wish I actually got paid for these lol.”
Continuing to respond to surprised fans, Bartel explained that it “feels bad” but is “actually perfectly legal bc we *have* to sign over all rights on any licensed art we make for mega corps who own these characters, but it’s definitely not *ethical* to shaft artists like this. Some companies (like Mondo, rip) paid us for usage even if they didn’t *have* to.”
Bartel added, “Imagine if the artists who actually made the art they make millions of dollars off of even got to see a fraction of a percentage of that. A cover I might have been paid $800 for will go on to make them 100x that amount and they will never send me an additional dime.”
And furthermore Bartel explained that’s mostly why she’s dropped out of working for DC and Marvel. “No one wants to speak up about this bc artists are afraid of being blacklisted but tbh these types of policies are the main reason why I stopped taking as much licensed work from these companies—just felt too bad to keep getting exploited over and over and over again.”
So, think about that the next time you purchase a variant in Marvel Snap, or really anything licensed with an artist’s artwork. Perhaps it’s best to buy directly from them, instead.
Comic Book Club News Outro:
For Comic Book Club News, I’m Alex Zalben. And I actually don’t have a Millarbrary, because I read most of his books in the Millathroom.
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.
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