Posted by
OminousCloud in
News Articles March 01, 2010 at 09:38:38 PM
According to the Comic's Worth Reading blog, Nick Simmons creator of Incarnate has issued a statement via a representative in response to the allegations of Plagiarism.
“Like most artists I am inspired by work I admire. There are certain similarities between some of my work and the work of others. This was simply meant as an homage to artists I respect, and I definitely want to apologize to any Manga fans or fellow Manga artists who feel I went too far. My inspirations reflect the fact that certain fundamental imagery is common to all Manga. This is the nature of the medium.
“I am a big fan of Bleach, as well as other Manga titles. And I am certainly sorry if anyone was offended or upset by what they perceive to be the similarity between my work and the work of artists that I admire and who inspire me.”
Source: Comics Worth Reading
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The author of this article would like to take this space to analyse and reflect on the above. (Think of it as an editorial of sorts.)
Taking a closer look at this statement: Simmons has attempted to justify blatant plagiarism as an "homage" to the respective artists. However, it can be inferred that permission for this "homage" was not obtained nor did Simmons' give any prior credit. If these events had taken place, it would have been mentioned with utmost priority in the statement.
While the first section of the statement acknowledges that similarities bewteen his works and others exist, the second section revokes this. "By what they perceive to be the similarity" alludes that the similarities have the possiblity of not existing in the first place and they are purely the subjective perception of the reader.
If these contradictions weren't enough, let's not forget Simmons has attempted to sweep everything under the rug by blaming "the medium".
It should be acknowledged that manga and comics in the same genre will feature a common plot "template". For example, protagonist must save family/village/world from evil boss 1 who then becomes an ally to fight against evil boss 2 and so on.
And while the author of this article also acknowledges that art
style reflects the age of the artist and the period it was created, and asisstants of manga creators tend to have similar styles to their "masters". Simmons is not covered by these situations.
He is responsible for the design of his characters and the composition of the situations they face. Regardless of his influences, he should be able to create original characters, not a collection of Bleach look a likes.