[...] the program in 2008 with Manga Pilots, which caused a lot of outrage (and leading to my list of Tokyopop’s biggest mistakes). At Robot6, Brigid Alverson surveys the current rights situation. She takes a balanced [...]

[...] Ray Manga, Johanna Draper Carlson from Comics Worth Reading documented and commented on the changes at TokyoPop) and this has left room for some very new publishers to step forward with small, carefully [...]

[...] that’s not his major point. He sums up the many mistakes Tokyopop has made, from their bad contracts to the abrupt reorganization and layoffs, as a way of pointing out the misguided focus many comic [...]

[...] currently in place. (A program which Johanna Draper Carlson of Comics Worth Reading has covered and criticized before [be sure to check out the comments of those articles on Johanna's site for more interesting [...]

Brad wrote:
“Moral rights are not ‘work for hire’, nor do they constitute giving up all copyright in your work. What they are is an aspect of EU law which is completely incompatable with North American copyright law.”

That reminds me, what about Tokyopop Germany? Tokyopop did release Erica Sakurazawa’s The Aromatic Bitters vol. 2 and Angel Town (which seems to be a sequel to Angel and Angel Nest) in German. Are the OGL contracts better than the OEL contracts too?

[...] on Tokyopop’s “Pilot” contract for prospective cartoonists.  Also, here is a list of offenses the company’s made over the past two [...]

[...] why a lot of people don’t like Tokyopop, and suggests a solution. (Found via the comments on this post at Comics Worth [...]

Moral rights are not “work for hire”, nor do they constitute giving up all copyright in your work. What they are is an aspect of EU law which is completely incompatable with North American copyright law.

I go into some of why this is actually a good contract for creators over at my site (click my name, I think) – and that the best way to get TokyoPop to change (given they have an abysmal record working with young talent) would be to take advantage of the program… and then walk away without signing an acquisition deal.

Anyway, I’m glad this contract stuff has been outed, because I was going to send a pitch to Tokyopop, in an effort to get the kind of sales that I was told I need to get book publishers to notice me, etc. Obviously I won’t be doing that anymore. It’s kind of sad. I can count the number of comic publishers I want to work with on one hand. Which has several fingers missing.

Ignore Nat. He’s just trying to get into fights with people by insinuating things about them. I’m learning with guys like him, it’s best to just walk away and let them revel in their little internet wins.

although there was never an official “quit” (i think it was more me being “fired” than me quitting) on my part, i have to say, as crummy as my experience was with TP, if they would greenlight The Abandoned 2 and 3, i’d definitely do it. i just want to do the dumb story, i don’t want it to be stuck in Tokyopop Limbo for eternity. the trilogy would’ve been awesome. :(

anyway, on topic, their Manga Pilot contract is indeed iffy. even though i personally wouldn’t sign off on it, i don’t think i condone everyone telling new creators “don’t sign with TP!”, because i think it all depends on the individual creator’s goals and priorities, providing they’re informed. maybe they’ll end up regretting it, maybe they won’t. maybe they don’t care about signing away their comics or whatever, it’s a case-by-case thing. it’s cool to break down the contract for informational purposes, but it seems presumptuous to me to assume that all creators involved in this don’t know what they’re getting into or that they all would mind.

That’s not to say that Tokyopop isn’t having problems (or that they are, I don’t claim to know their internal figures), nor that there aren’t some crappy forms of silliness in this pactract (there are).

(By the way, the ad banner that’s popping up for me with this page is a Tokyopop ad. It has pictures of several things they publish, but no mention of creators… nor of titles. I don’t think that’s so bad on a come-hither link ad.)

Riot, too true. If you’re doing work for little or no pay in order to gain attention or build a reputation, you have to work with people that are willing to give you the full credit you deserve.

“And, speaking of your credit, customarily we give you credit for your work as the writer and/or artist of the Manga Pilot. However, we may have to shorten or leave out your credit when the space available or the conventions of a format won’t permit it or if it would have to be too small to read (for example, when the Manga Pilot is viewed on mobile phones). You’re OK with this.”

This sounds like a loophole through which TP can jump whenever it wants to stick the creator’s work somewhere but doesn’t want to include the creator’s name. Flash videos and cellphone manga first, but what next? It wouldn’t surprise me if in the future they were making excuses that the “conventions of a format” mean that they can’t include the creator’s name in an ad for their Pilot in the back of one of TP’s manga oops darn sorry. Giving up your snooty French rights for the faint hope that somewill spot your work and take interest (at $20 a page) isn’t worth it. Every way you look at this, its still a scam.

[...] decision, and still end up dissatisfied by circumstances you couldn’t predict or control. (Johanna Draper Carlson does a fine job of pinpointing some of the conflicts that have arisen for [...]