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I'm almost ready to punch out from work for the Thanksgiving break. But I have to say I'm feeling that the authoritarian, slave master-like mentality of corporate greed and capitalist extremism is seeping not just into social media, but even into art-based websites. And at the center of it all is the recent news of Comic Fury's situation concerning AI art.
Long story short, AI art is now forbidden on CF. The argument is that AI art is "theft" and shows "lack of all effort" as a result of "copying".
As I told Jazz Nevermore, a victim of this new "policy", the argument shouldn't be on AI artists. It should be on people who either don't see the whole picture, or are just looking for a reason to literally start a fight, conflict, flame war, whatever.
First off, as Matt Zimmer stated, everyone on Comic Fury is a hobbyist artist. The whole point of making art online -- in this case, comics -- is taking advantage of a way to share that work without needing a publisher's "blessing" to do so. In comics, we come to CF because we know our works would never be accepted by "big name" publishers who think they always know what sells. All you gotta do is look at the film industry (and to an extent, comics): Hollywood always says they always know "what the people want". Well, I got news for them: people want new, fresh, ORIGINAL MATERIAL. They have been since I can't even remember how long. But Hollywood knows best, right? And what do we get?
Action films with all explosions and no plot. Superhero movies that turn out to be nothing but filler material for "cinematic universes" that literally go to infinity and beyond (pun intended). Reboots of ALREADY rebooted stories with only different colors and costumes. The stuff that sells.
And you know what? That is a steaming load of bullshit.
Nobody's gonna tell me that this rehashed, rebooted stuff is "big bucks". What's so "groundbreaking" about the same story with different dressing? No, this is NOT a valid example of "if it ain't broke, don't fix it." Hollywood's studio CEOs rake in billions from these pieces of "repackaged goods", but the ones doing the actual work -- actors, writers, designers -- get pocket change and no entitlement to basic health insurance. No, really; as the SAG-AFTRA strike kicked off, I remember seeing an actor showing his interviewer his check from his studio publisher. Get this: he showed the check to the camera for all to see... and his check amounted to $0.01. Seriously, the check was for $0.01.
Not to mention "indie works" in any creative field are always judged as inferior because they don't have the prestige of a company that never invests in originality, by publishers who themselves couldn't create a comic even with a team, much less alone. The term "established publisher" is, and always will be, a bald-faced lie.
This mentality about "stealing" -- especially in the area of art -- fails in Comic Fury's situation on two fronts: first, as I said, CFers are all hobbyists. Hardly any of us are making a living off of our work there. Hell, many of us charge absolutely nothing, it's all free for reading, viewing, whatever. It reminds me of the whole file-sharing Napster/Kazaa/Limewire conundrum. The record industry was suing people by the hundreds on the allegations of theft. But some replied, "Really? We're the ones stealing? Well what about the record industry's known practices of exploitation? What about music artists making pennies while their CEOs are making millions and living the fine life in their McMansions... all while they know they themselves couldn't carry a tune? Aren't they stealing?"
Why are we all fighting each other over art made through AI, when actual employees in comics are getting blindsided by their management, forced to give blood, sweat, tears, mental health, and sometimes, even their lives -- all so they make lunch money and their publishers make fortunes? If you ask me, cheating people out of paid work that they are HIRED TO DO just so clueless big businessmen who "know what sells" can kick back and relax as the money rolls in is more like stealing than AI art. In fact, I'll go as far as to say this indirectly plays into a divide-and-conquer strategy by these very greedy corporate assholes to turn the attention away from them and towards our fellow man. The result? We're tearing each other to shreds while big business laughs at our naivete.
At this point, I guess I'm starting to sound like a "social justice warrior." Well, I couldn't care less, 'cuz this isn't about politics. Hell to the no there, screw politics. This is about morality, burying hatchets, helping each other out, and trying to make this world a better place, with great legacies... because I'll tell you all now, these corporate autocrats could give a shit about any of this so long as they get their literal "passive income" in the billions.
...and, for the record, nobody's died, taken their billions, and came back with them to say, "See? Even if I die, I can take my money with me to the afterlife!" No. No, no, no. This ain't Egypt, with kings in tombs taking riches to the afterlife. This is real life. Enough with this pervasive capitalist extremism; it literally kills its very builders.
Long story short, AI art is now forbidden on CF. The argument is that AI art is "theft" and shows "lack of all effort" as a result of "copying".
As I told Jazz Nevermore, a victim of this new "policy", the argument shouldn't be on AI artists. It should be on people who either don't see the whole picture, or are just looking for a reason to literally start a fight, conflict, flame war, whatever.
First off, as Matt Zimmer stated, everyone on Comic Fury is a hobbyist artist. The whole point of making art online -- in this case, comics -- is taking advantage of a way to share that work without needing a publisher's "blessing" to do so. In comics, we come to CF because we know our works would never be accepted by "big name" publishers who think they always know what sells. All you gotta do is look at the film industry (and to an extent, comics): Hollywood always says they always know "what the people want". Well, I got news for them: people want new, fresh, ORIGINAL MATERIAL. They have been since I can't even remember how long. But Hollywood knows best, right? And what do we get?
Action films with all explosions and no plot. Superhero movies that turn out to be nothing but filler material for "cinematic universes" that literally go to infinity and beyond (pun intended). Reboots of ALREADY rebooted stories with only different colors and costumes. The stuff that sells.
And you know what? That is a steaming load of bullshit.
Nobody's gonna tell me that this rehashed, rebooted stuff is "big bucks". What's so "groundbreaking" about the same story with different dressing? No, this is NOT a valid example of "if it ain't broke, don't fix it." Hollywood's studio CEOs rake in billions from these pieces of "repackaged goods", but the ones doing the actual work -- actors, writers, designers -- get pocket change and no entitlement to basic health insurance. No, really; as the SAG-AFTRA strike kicked off, I remember seeing an actor showing his interviewer his check from his studio publisher. Get this: he showed the check to the camera for all to see... and his check amounted to $0.01. Seriously, the check was for $0.01.
Not to mention "indie works" in any creative field are always judged as inferior because they don't have the prestige of a company that never invests in originality, by publishers who themselves couldn't create a comic even with a team, much less alone. The term "established publisher" is, and always will be, a bald-faced lie.
This mentality about "stealing" -- especially in the area of art -- fails in Comic Fury's situation on two fronts: first, as I said, CFers are all hobbyists. Hardly any of us are making a living off of our work there. Hell, many of us charge absolutely nothing, it's all free for reading, viewing, whatever. It reminds me of the whole file-sharing Napster/Kazaa/Limewire conundrum. The record industry was suing people by the hundreds on the allegations of theft. But some replied, "Really? We're the ones stealing? Well what about the record industry's known practices of exploitation? What about music artists making pennies while their CEOs are making millions and living the fine life in their McMansions... all while they know they themselves couldn't carry a tune? Aren't they stealing?"
Why are we all fighting each other over art made through AI, when actual employees in comics are getting blindsided by their management, forced to give blood, sweat, tears, mental health, and sometimes, even their lives -- all so they make lunch money and their publishers make fortunes? If you ask me, cheating people out of paid work that they are HIRED TO DO just so clueless big businessmen who "know what sells" can kick back and relax as the money rolls in is more like stealing than AI art. In fact, I'll go as far as to say this indirectly plays into a divide-and-conquer strategy by these very greedy corporate assholes to turn the attention away from them and towards our fellow man. The result? We're tearing each other to shreds while big business laughs at our naivete.
At this point, I guess I'm starting to sound like a "social justice warrior." Well, I couldn't care less, 'cuz this isn't about politics. Hell to the no there, screw politics. This is about morality, burying hatchets, helping each other out, and trying to make this world a better place, with great legacies... because I'll tell you all now, these corporate autocrats could give a shit about any of this so long as they get their literal "passive income" in the billions.
...and, for the record, nobody's died, taken their billions, and came back with them to say, "See? Even if I die, I can take my money with me to the afterlife!" No. No, no, no. This ain't Egypt, with kings in tombs taking riches to the afterlife. This is real life. Enough with this pervasive capitalist extremism; it literally kills its very builders.
