“Comic Cloning,” Was Rob Liefeld Wrong?

 

In life imitation is often considered the greatest form of flattery. However this is not one of those times; this is not that type of article. Today we will touch on what imitation represented and currently represents for the comic industry. In comics and other art forms imitation is the sign of thief as well as an insult to the name of  the original creator. The style of an artist is to them as unique as a fingerprint and anyone daring to impersonate this is met with brutal retaliation. Think about this for a moment, how would the world react to an artist that imitates the master pieces of such greats as Pablo Picasso or a writer that imitates the emotional literary supremacy of  Hemingway?  I’ll tell you what the world would think, they would think the artist was lame, lacked creativity and at a minimum a major sham.

Comic Cloning, Was Rob Liefeld Wrong?

“Comic Natives”, I beg you please stay with me for a minute; there is a point to be made here. As with traditional art, the artist and writers takes a great deal of pride in their craft and unique styles; comic book artist are no different. They treasure and prize the styles in which they’ve cultivate their talent as well. Follow me, let’s take a trip back in time to one of  the heyday of comics; I’m talking about the those blissful years during the early the1990’s ( a time when artist could draw a line and imitate Jim Lee, J . Scott Campbell or Todd McFarlane and still make money just because the book was in print and the art work looked like Jim Lee’s and the gang’s handy work) when comic book artist were “comic cloning” the styles of other artist like there was no tomorrow.

 For some artist they had no choice, some of the publishing houses required that the art look a certain way, ( at the time many fledglings publishers went with the style that was hot in the market) for the artist imitation/ cloning was a way to break into the industry. For some publishers it was a way to make certain the continued art style of the original artist that drew the book survived. This was often a fail safe practice especially if there was “creative differences” and the artist refused to draw the book or fell behind schedule. Preserving the style of the artist made sense, since the style of the artist becomes a brand the fans know, trust and enjoy.

Think to yourself of a time when your favorite artist or writer left the book; what happened? I’ll tell you; in most cases you quickly lost interest in the book, because it is no longer something you identified with.  With that being said, there have been times when this courtesy was abused almost to the point of being ridiculous and in some cases illegal.  Remember all the Rob Liefeld (Captain America and Agent America) clones? Need I say more? During the Rob Liefeld cloning era it was as if the industry closed its eyes and blindly accepted the practice.  It seemed at the time publishing houses openly  had legal counterfeit artist in their stable as a rule and not the exception. What are your thoughts on Comic Book Cloning; good or Bad for the integrity of the industry?

*I will say that the only time imitation or cloning the style of another artist is acceptable is when  studying the techniques of the masters( or someone you admire); or if you are  a “drool mouth” 5-year-old drawing with color assorted crayons on your mom and dad’s living room wall.