swipe (comics)

Artists Jack Kirby, Neal Adams, Hergé, and Jim Lee are common targets of swipes, though even those artists may not be above reproach; Kirby was known to have swiped from Hal Foster early in his career. Similarly, many Golden Age artists kept "swipe files" of material to be copied as needed.{{cite web|last=Best |first=Daniel |url=http://ohdannyboy.blogspot.com/2006/06/rose-by-any-other-name.html |title=A Rose By Any Other Name |work=20th Century Danny Boy |date=June 26, 2006}} Certain contemporary artists have become notorious for their swiping, including Rich Buckler (who favors Neal Adams and Jack Kirby), Rob Liefeld (many artists), Keith Giffen (José Antonio Muñoz), and Roger Cruz (Jim Lee and Joe Madureira).

There is a long tradition in comics of using fine art as "inspiration" as well. Most observers do not consider this as objectionable as swiping from another cartoonist's work.{{Citation needed|date=November 2009}} Examples include Art Spiegelman swiping an image of the Russian artist M. Mazruho's in Maus,"Swipe File", The Comics Journal No. 141 (April 1991), p. 117. Eddie Campbell swiping Diego Velázquez,"Swipe File", The Comics Journal No. 155 (January 1993), p. 8. and Jill Thompson swiping the work of Arthur Rackham."Swipe File", The Comics Journal No. 175 (March 1995), pp. 4–5.

Cartoonists have also swiped images from mass media and commercial art. Examples include Batman creator Bob Kane repeatedly swiping from early 20th-century illustrator Henry Vallely,[http://henryvallely.blogspot.com/2006_05_01_archive.html "Gang Busters! (Secret Origins of Batman Part 1)"], The Vallely Archives (May 25, 2006).Kimball, Kirk. [https://web.archive.org/web/20120621195851/http://www.dialbforblog.com/archives/391/ "Secret Origins of The Batman, Chapter 3: The Haunting of Robert Kane!"] Dial B for Blog (Sept.). Greg Land repeatedly swiping pornography as well as many popular comic book artists,{{cite web | title = Reinventing the pencil: 21 artists who changed mainstream comics (for better or worse) | publisher = Onion AV Club | date = July 20, 2009 | url = https://www.avclub.com/reinventing-the-pencil-21-artists-who-changed-mainstre-1798218160 | access-date = 2009-11-25 }}{{Cite web|url=https://www.dailydot.com/unclick/greg-land-plagiarism-aliens-marvel/|title = Marvel artist Greg Land accused of plagiarism in new 'Aliens' comic|website = The Daily Dot|date = September 2, 2020}} 2000 AD artist Mick Austin swiping an image of Toni Shilleto's from Mayfair: Entertainment for Men,"Swipe File", The Comics Journal No. 143 (July 1991), p. 59: Austin's 2000 AD No. 713 (January 12, 1991) and Shilleto's art from Mayfair (December 1989). Jon J. Muth swiping a 1940s photograph,"Swipe File", The Comics Journal No. 171 (September 1994), p. 5. and David Chelsea swiping from Spanish pornography."Swipe File", The Comics Journal No. 176 (Apr. 1995), pp. 6–8. Sometimes the swiping happens "in reverse", as in the example of an illustration from Organic Gardening magazine swiping the iconic Kirby cover for Fantastic Four #1."Swipe File", The Comics Journal No. 158 (Apr. 1993), p. 9: Organic Gardening, v. 40, No. 4 (Apr. 1993) vs. Fantastic Four No. 1 (1961).

Swiping brings to mind the amusing conundrum of whether an artist can swipe from himself. One example is two almost-identical Peanuts strips by Charles Schulz done almost ten years apart."Swipe File", The Comics Journal No. 184 (February 1996), p. 5: strips of June 11, 1987, and January 20, 1996. Another comic strip-related ethics question was invoked by latter-day Nancy artists Guy & Brad Gilchrist swiping Nancy creator Ernie Bushmiller."Swipe File", The Comics Journal No. 190 (September 1996), pp. 8–9.

Though not technically swiping, some artists have made a career "cloning" other artists. Phil Jimenez has been quite open about his work being modeled on George Pérez's,Simmons, Scott. [http://www.heroesanddragons.com/Archive/Interviews/PhilJimenez/DEFAULT.htm "Phil Jimenez Talks About The Invisibles"], {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090816182213/http://www.heroesanddragons.com/Archive/Interviews/PhilJimenez/DEFAULT.htm |date=August 16, 2009 }} Heroes & Dragons (Feb. 1997). though he has never been accused of directly swiping a Pérez drawing. Bryan Hitch started off as an Alan Davis "clone". Bill Sienkiewicz's early work was blatantly derivative of Neal Adams,Thomas, Michael. [http://www.comicbookresources.com/?page=article&id=38 "Bill Sienkiewicz Interview,"] Comic Book Resources (July 17, 2001): "Studying Neal's work, ... I became obsessed ... and became fixated on it. It was like my intention was to be Neal. ... Neal has been nothing but wonderful and supportive from then till now. I don't think he sees me as a clone anymore." as was Tom Grindberg's, Michael Netzer (Nasser)'s, and Mike Grell's. Industry veteran Dick Giordano maintained that cloning is not only acceptable, but actually preferable, when an artist fills in for a regular artist on a title."Reinventing the Rules," in Eury, Michael. Dick Giordano: Changing Comics, One Day at a Time TwoMorrows Publishing (November 5, 2003), p. 136: {{ISBN|1-893905-27-6}}.

Pop artist Roy Lichtenstein made a splash in the 1960s with his "appropriations" based on the work of Kirby, Russ Heath, Tony Abruzzo, Irv Novick, John Romita Sr., and Jerry Grandenetti, who rarely received any credit. Jack Cowart, executive director of the Lichtenstein Foundation, contests the notion that Lichtenstein was a copyist, saying: "Roy's work was a wonderment of the graphic formulae and the codification of sentiment that had been worked out by others. The panels were changed in scale, color, treatment, and in their implications. There is no exact copy."{{cite web | last = Beam | first = Alex | title = Lichtenstein: creator or copycat? | work = Editorial | publisher = Boston.com | date = October 18, 2006 | url = http://www.boston.com/news/globe/living/articles/2006/10/18/lichtenstein_creator_or_copycat/ | format = Web | access-date = 2007-07-16 }} Comics industry figures don't have such a sanguine attitude about Lichtenstein's swipes.

Similarly, Canadian artist Kevin Mutch once drew an entire comic book entirely based on swipes. Mutch's 1993 comic Captain Adam was a "narrative collage" of images and texts from over fifty separate Silver Age and Bronze Age comics, randomly put together to form an original story.

Comics pastiches are blatant uses of swipes, cloning, and appropriation, usually using the same characters as the original source. French-Canadian cartoonist Yves Rodier is known for his many Adventures of Tintin pastiches, as is the anonymously written comic book The Adventures of Tintin: Breaking Free. In his Masterpiece Comics series, American cartoonist R. Sikoryak cleverly mixes exact cloning of famous cartoonists' styles with classic literary texts, creating unique comics "mash-ups". Alan Moore and Rick Veitch's 1963 series is another example of pastiche in comics form, as are the many take-offs of the Charles Atlas ads found in old comic books.

In comics, it is understood that the difference between a swipe and an "homage" is generally whether the source is directly acknowledged — as opposed to being exposed by a third party. Throughout the history of the medium, artists have engaged in homages – most often of well-known cover images like Action Comics No. 1, Detective Comics No. 27, Amazing Fantasy No. 15, and Fantastic Four No. 1. (John Byrne is particularly fond of doing homages to the latter, having produced at least seven versions to date.)Amazing Heroes No. 1 (June 1981), What If No. 36 (December 1982), Fantastic Four No. 264 (March 1984), Marvel Age No. 14 (May 1984), Avengers West Coast No. 54 (January 1990), Danger Unlimited No. 4 (May 1994), and X-Men: The Hidden Years No. 20 (July 2001) Some observers find homages as objectionable as swiping.

From 1991 until at least 1997, the industry magazine The Comics Journal kept a "Swipe File" which documented perceived swipes in the comics field,{{Volume needed|c=y|date=November 2010}} a tradition that continues on the TCJ website.{{Citation needed|date=October 2010}}

• Comic strip switcheroo
• Comics vocabulary
• List of Tintin parodies and pastiches
• Bricolage
• Doujinshi
• Fan fiction
• Homage
• Parody
• Pastiche
• Remix culture

{{Reflist|30em}}

• Erik Larsen's "One Fan's Opinion" columns at Comic Book Resources on swiping: [http://www.comicbookresources.com/?page=article&id=15087 #15 (November 17, 2005)] and [http://www.comicbookresources.com/?page=article&id=15100 #17 (December 1, 2005)]
• Best, Daniel. [http://ohdannyboy.blogspot.com/2006/06/rose-by-any-other-name.html "A Rose by Any Other Name,"] 20th Century Danny Boy (June 26, 2006) — on the distinction between swipes and homages

• [http://www.tcj.com/messboard/viewtopic.php?t=67&start=160&postdays=0&postorder=asc&highlight= Comics Journal message board "The Swipe File"] (currently offline; [http://63.247.139.165/~deppey/messboard/viewtopic.php?t=67&sid=06c3a03ab01481e579a06fd5e2bca909 mirror])
• [http://www.podgallery.com/index.cfm/hurl/action=subcats/msgid=1039 Kevin Mutch's Captain Adam, including images and information on all its original sources]

{{Appropriation in the Arts}}

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Category:Comics terminology

Category:Comics involved in plagiarism controversies