The Pedants Are Revolting

[Tarquin Thunderthighs lll]

Yes, I had a Batman and Robin gag sent back just the other day because the characters are copyrighted. I was about to send them another couple which featured Superman and Spiderman, but I've done a little redrawing on each to change them to similar, but not obviously the same, super-heroes (Heroic Man & The Human Spider), and am about to send them off today. I'll let you know if I get away with it... 

Well, I have to report that Heroic Man and The Human Spider made it through the censors, but one of my caricatures did not, on account of copyright issues. It was this one. Thought Mince might enjoy it at least...

[Diamond Lil]

This pedant is confused.  Please explain slowly and clearly.....I thought a caricature was meant to be easily recognisable, albeit with a "twist" in the artist's own style.  I honestly didn't think copyright laws extended that far.  I guess imitation being the sincerest form of flattery doesn't hold up in court!
ps  love the banned result

[Mince]

Thought Mince might enjoy it at least...

It's really good. Do you have a higher resolution version of the above? I dare say you draw for big companies and personal clients, so I was wondering if you already have some kind of procedure in place whereby I could steal the caricature and shamelessly pass it off as my own.

[Tarquin Thunderthighs lll]

This pedant is confused.  Please explain slowly and clearly.....I thought a caricature was meant to be easily recognisable, albeit with a "twist" in the artist's own style.  I honestly didn't think copyright laws extended that far.  I guess imitation being the sincerest form of flattery doesn't hold up in court!
ps  love the banned result

Thank you, Lil.

The likeness to Matt Smith isn't the problem here, I'm afraid. Had I simply drawn a caricature of his face, Cartoonstock would have taken it without hesitation. It's the fact I drew him as Doctor Who, and included the Tardis that did it. Both are copyrighted to the BBC, and therefore not images that can be used without licence for the profitable gain of others. That's fair enough for me. The caricature was originally drawn for a fun competition, and has been used on the cover of an in-house magazine (without payment), so I'm not going to lose any sleep over it. Glad you liked it. 

[Tarquin Thunderthighs lll]

Thought Mince might enjoy it at least...

It's really good. Do you have a higher resolution version of the above? I dare say you draw for big companies and personal clients, so I was wondering if you already have some kind of procedure in place whereby I could steal the caricature and shamelessly pass it off as my own.

Indeed I do, and the system is hot-wired to Scotland Yard. So with that in mind, I shall be mailing you a higher res copy forthwith.

[Bog]

Hello all,

I have been reading the latest and I am agog with the illustrious company I am in the midst of!

I had no idea you were all so talented and professional, you speak of stange things and places, me a mere mortal bloke, can only
dream of.

Love it all.

[Tarquin Thunderthighs lll]

Bog's agog! 

Cheers, Boggy! Hey, we're all the same here - we all use the lavatory. Well, except Malc, that is - he has people who do that for him, and quite right too.

[Malc]

Tarks, I had two sent back just now, one is a Sikh off-licence owner advising a customer that the Jack Daniels is on special (punchline is "INDIAN SPIRIT GUIDE") and the other is a cartoon rendition of Captain Kirk from Star Trek. The Captain Kirk isn't a caricature, it's just a bloke with brown hair wearing a gold t-shirt (no Star Trek Logo) plus the black half-mast pants and boots they all wore on the Enterprise.

Neither one of these breaks any copyright or trademark laws, but it's not a battle worth fighting, I'll just send them back with the "corrections" made, although the Captain Kirk now is un-submittable because the whole premise of the gag is that it's a (perfectly permissible) parody of Star Trek.

This all reminds me of a thread we had on the Wisen at least ten years ago when one member objected to the words "singing doo-wop" as it was an offensive racial slur against Italians.

The cartoonist was incensed that he was being labelled a racist by some idiot who obviously had never heard the term 'doo-wop' as a popular musical genre.  The argument went on for pages.

[Tarquin Thunderthighs lll]

Malc, I can only imagine these rejections and suggested amendments are the result of past bad experiences, as it's certainly not in Cartoonstock's interests to turn away what are otherwise good quality cartoons and potential money-spinners for them as well as us. Perhaps they err on the side of caution, but I think I'd rather trust their judgement on these, rather than get all hot under the collar about it. It's never a reflection on the quality of the cartoon (or at least I've not experienced that one yet if it happens, thankfully), and always a technical or legal point. I still reckon that they probably thought they were doing you a favour in the full stop incident.

As for the "singing-doo-wop" thing, very few things surprise me about the sensibilities of some Wisens (sorry again to those who haven't a clue what we're on about) these days. Pages of arguments are not unusual (especially when you get stuck in  ). Did anyone take the side of minstrel pigeons?

[Bog]

See, I bow down to you all. I will sit back and just enjoy this one. Me, well I am just a fan of real good gags and excellent artwork.

My Mum aways said I laughed at the slightest things. "you would laugh to see a puddin' crawl she would say." Ah the East end!

Did I get he punctuation right?

I had a look at cartoonstock, my goodness gracious me, how am I supposed to do any work now?

Can I have some tips from you guys as to who to look for?

Bog

[The Peepmaster]

Yeah - look for me, Nigel Sutherland; the rest are all mince.

[The Peepmaster]

Tarks, I had two sent back just now, one is a Sikh off-licence owner advising a customer that the Jack Daniels is on special (punchline is "INDIAN SPIRIT GUIDE")

That should be easy to amend. Just have him advising on something like the peatiness of certain whiskies, etc. No product name, but still suits the gag.

[Bog]

Peeps,

I had a long hard look, love them, especially the ecclesiastical ones. reminds me of Hancock. excellent.
I just dont know how you folk do it. Do you all meet at parties and giggle over the odd sauasge roll?
what is the inspiration? I used to be a Larson fan, bought his entire works in Sarasota one year,
giggled for ages, I feel I have grown up...moved on and feeling better for it!

fanx!

[The Peepmaster]

I don't know how I do it myself sometimes, Bog.

I started out on a similar kind of level to most of the other cartoonists on this forum, but over time just kind of naturally rose to the top. Bit like cream, if you get my drift.

Thanks anyway for the kind words. I think I speak on behalf of "the rest" when I say that.

[Roger Kettle]

 Bog, Larson's stuff is brilliant. Not quite as good as Nige's, but brilliant. I loved his work from the moment I saw his unique brand of madness.
We are blessed on this site by having regular contributions from three hugely talented cartoonists---Nige, Tarks and Malc. All three have different styles but I genuinely believe they are among the best in the business.