‘Husband & Husband’ Dropped by Boom! Studios Amid Evidence of Plagiarism

An anticipated upcoming release from Boom! Studios has been cancelled due to evidence of blatant plagiarism.

Last month, Boom! Studios announced that it had partnered with creators Jason and Aaron Ferrara to print their popular webcomic, Husband & Husband, in trade paper back format. The webcomic, started in 2015, is a ‘slice-of-life’ style webcomic that lightheartedly explores the relationship and daily lives of its creators. Husband & Husband had previously been printed thanks to a series of successful Kickstarter campaigns, and the deal with Boom! Studios ensured that the webcomic would reach more audiences and produce a higher quality hard copy edition.

However, a serious accusation of plagiarism was made shortly after this announcement. Ngozi Ukazu, creator of the popular hockey webcomic Check, Please! accused the Husband & Husband team of tracing her artwork for their newly announced Kickstarter, Spellbound:

Boom! Studios quickly took notice of the situation and promised Ukazu that they would be taking swift action to investigate the claims:

Shortly after Boom!’s response, one of the Ferrara’s (most likely Aaron, the artist for the couple’s projects) took to the Husband & Husband Twitter account to accept responsibility, but also explain himself in light of these accusations:

Following the Ferrara’s self-cancellation of their Spellbound! project, Boom! announced that due to the apparent tracing of Ukazu’s original artwork, they would no longer be publishing Husband & Husband:

It is unknown if the Ferrara’s will find another publisher for Husband & Husband, or if they will attempt to return to the drawing board with Spellbound!.

Plagarism is always unacceptable, and it is reassuring to creators that a major publisher would so quickly respond to such serious accusations and take measures to investigate and respond accordingly. Boom! Studios has shown that it truly cares about protecting artists of every caliber.

In light of these events, consider supporting Ukazu’s original work by checking out Check, Please!. The first collected print edition, [easyazon_link identifier=”1250177952″ locale=”US” tag=”boundingintocomics-20″]Check, Please!: #Hockey[/easyazon_link] is available for purchase now.

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