Nerdfighters Gazette

I was browsing The Escapist forum today and came across a thread about Nick Simmons’s Incarnate.

I’ve never heard of the comic before, and I probably wouldn’t even had clicked on the thread if the word plagiarism hadn’t been in it. That’s right. This comic book has charges of plagiarism against it. Panels and character designs from Incarnate look like slightly altered forms from other manga, the main victim so far being Tite Kubo’s Bleach. As both a writer and an artist, I was pretty disgusted by this. Before you read any further, take a glance at the thread I found this on. If you don’t have time to wade through the links and comments posted on that thread, just take a glance at the images below.

There are many more examples like this here.
Now, I’ve never read the comic or even seen it in person, but these image comparisons are stomach turning for me. Some of the characters are basically ripped from Bleach with new hair colors and a scar added here or there. Some poses and even tiny snippets of dialogue seem to be copied as well. Now, I know that things like, “I’m sorry. You shouldn’t hurt anymore. Whine. Moan. Don’t be a hero!” are pretty common in comic books and probably even some poses. But when both similar dialogue and drawings show up in the very same panel, it looks very very fishy.

Some artists purposely draw some characters and panels in a similar style of another artist in homage to that person. That I understand fine and well. I often make some kind of reference to TV, internet memes, novels, video games, or art in my own writing. I had a character read a line or two from Stephen King’s Misery in a novel I’m working on. I did that for two reasons. One: I have the greatest amount of respect for Stephen King, and I probably have more of his novels than any other author’s. I wanted to show that admiration in a simple quotation from one of his books. If I hadn’t put it in the text, it would have been the quote on the page before the novel started. Many authors quote another person’s work before the story begins, and I think it adds to the reading experience. Two: It greatly emphasized how alone the two characters were and added an even deeper feeling of dread since Mr. King’s character was going through a similar kind of helpless and cut off from the world at large kind of situation.

I’ve actually drawn my own character in the style of Tite Kubo for fun once. The sad thing is it looks just like Simmons’s work, and he’s selling it to his benefit while my drawing sits in a folder of old doodles I did during Driver’s Education. We never did anything in that class, so don’t be afraid to share the road with me. I know what I’m doing.

Back to the matter at hand, Incarnate’s publishing company has halted the project while this investigation goes on. I think this will definitely go to court and probably ended with some kind of settlement. Now, reader, tell me what you think. Do you think this is a very serious case of plagiarism or just a few copied bits? Do you think Simmons’s should be paid for his comic? Discuss below.

Until next time, this is Ink signing off.