Boom! Cancels Webcomic Collection Due to Plagarism

A few days ago, Boom! Studios announced that they would be publishing a collection next May of the webcomic Husband and Husband, a (not very visually exciting) strip about two guys together that’s been running since 2015.

However, creators Jonathan and Aaron Ferrara launched this month a kickstarter for another comic project called Spellbound. They funded their goal of $10,00 in under a week, but there’s a snag.

If you think those characters look familiar, you have likely seen the immensely popular Check, Please! by Ngozi Ukazu (just released in print by First Second).

Ukazu wasn’t happy, saying, “It has come to my attention that @HusbandsTweet is tracing Check, Please! They have a funded Kickstarter (now at $14,000), and basically do not care about the optics of white men profiting off of the ideas and work of black women.”

It has come to my attention that @HusbandsTweet is tracing Check, Please! They have a funded @kickstarter (now at $14,000), and basically do not care about the optics of white men profiting off of the ideas and work of black women. pic.twitter.com/2m7ACvv1nM

— ☆ Ngozi ☆ (@ngoziu) October 31, 2018

The Kickstarter has now been canceled, with an apology, “I got too inspired and I see now what I did by drawing from that inspiration was wrong.”

Words cannot express how sorry and full of regret I am right now. I am such a huge fan of @ngoziu work in comics and I got too inspired and I see now what I did by drawing from that inspiration was wrong. The Kickstarter is cancelled and I am so sorry for this.

— Husband & Husband (@HusbandsTweet) October 31, 2018

Boom! has announced that the publication of Husband and Husband has been cancelled. Good for them.

Didn’t we learn eight years ago from Gene Simmons’ son that you shouldn’t copy other people’s art, and you really shouldn’t rip off the popular stuff?