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:
It’s tiring. I thought the project was cute though derivative, but then I saw the blatant tracing. @HusbandsTweet, TRACING IS NOT OKAY. My character designs are being copped–I can’t do anything about that. But the tracing.
Ugh! This is the first page of my comic! pic.twitter.com/cMt56TYMte
— ☆ Ngozi ☆ (@ngoziu) October 31, 2018
And hey,@boomstudios? Guys! I know y’all love riding trends, but publishing the work of people who don’t put in the work is not a good look. Seriously, guys??@DafnaDOOM @shanito @MiMoccio @arune @WhitLeopard pic.twitter.com/Df7ZLUpilz
— ☆ Ngozi ☆ (@ngoziu) October 31, 2018
Boom! Studios quickly took notice of the situation and promised Ukazu that they would be taking swift action to investigate the claims:
Hi Ngozi,
We just became aware of this project this morning, and we are actively and swiftly investigating the situation. We will have a response shortly. https://t.co/1NqIwlDcDo— BOOM! Studios (@boomstudios) October 31, 2018
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:
Words cannot express how sorry and full of regret I am right now. I am such a huge fan of @ngoziu work in comics and I got too inspired and I see now what I did by drawing from that inspiration was wrong. The Kickstarter is cancelled and I am so sorry for this.
— Husband & Husband (@HusbandsTweet) October 31, 2018
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:
In light of recent circumstances regarding a separate project, BOOM! Studios has decided to no longer move forward with publishing HUSBAND & HUSBAND.
— BOOM! Studios (@boomstudios) October 31, 2018
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.