Marvel Called Out For Changing Artist's Work Without Approval
Artist Greg Smallwood took to Twitter to call out Marvel for changing his art without permission in a recent Elektra anthology book.
Artist Greg Smallwood has called out Marvel Comics for attempting to "fix" a handful of panels that recently appeared in Elektra: Black, White & Blood #2 without his approval. On Tuesday, Smallwood shared his original art from the series versus what ended up in that comic itself. According to Smallwood, his art was originally flagged to be fixed so that they would be "within tolerance for best representation of Asian characters." However, Marvel didn't use his edits and printed art changes made by their bullpen.
Greg Smallwood is an artist and writer best known for working on Moon Knight with Jeff Lemire and Brian Wood, and for his current Human Target series with Tom King. Smallwood has also provided covers for Marvel, DC Comics, and Star Wars. In the new anthology series, Elektra: Black, White and Blood, Smallwood provided a story starring the character. The book also featured contributions from Al Ewing, Peter David, Rod Reis, and Greg Land. However, Smallwood's portion of the book featured edits by Marvel Comics, which the talented creator didn't approve.
On Twitter, artist Greg Smallwood called out Marvel for trying to "fix" his story in Elektra: Black, White & Blood #2. He shared side-by-side panels featuring his original art and the changes the Marvel bullpen made. Smallwood said Marvel flagged his work to redraw panels so they would be within "tolerance for best representation of Asian characters." Smallwood made those changes, but Marvel didn't use his work.
Smallwood told Marvel he couldn't make the changes since he was working on a new issue of Human Target and was expecting a child soon after the request was made. He told the publisher they could scrap the story if there were sensitivity concerns. However, after being told it would be redrawn by the Marvel bullpen, Smallwood dropped everything he was working on and provided edits... which were never used.
It seems the art change was a miscommunication, as Marvel editor Devin Lewis tweeted they will be using his re-edits in future printings and collections of the issue.
Honestly, Smallwood has a right to be frustrated and call out Marvel as the edits from the beginning were unnecessary, but what was changed ultimately made his art look lifeless and creepy. What was Marvel really trying to fix here? The re-edit looks botched. A number of artists, including Mitch Gerads and Erica Henderson, tweeted their frustration about the edits.
Now, Marvel owns the IP artist work on, so making changes is a fairly standard process. However, how this was handled is a big problem. Greg Smallwood relented and made the changes requested and Marvel still didn't use them - as something he didn't even draw was added to his art, making it look significantly worse.It's not a good look for Marvel Comics and hopefully, they avoid similar situations in the future, otherwise, they will get called out again.