Week 36 - Semantics

 

Update – Got busy with paid work last week and had to set both writing and yard work aside while I focused on hitting my deadline. That’s done now and I’m back on my own stuff. At least until Monday, when I take the laptop back to the shop. I have one week of warranty time left, so I’m going to let them figure out why my cursor keeps zooming when I don’t want it do. Looks like I’ll be writing longhand next week; any typing will need to be done at the library. Yay for thumb drives! This will also get me out of the house, which always lifts my mood. I knew having home WiFi would end up with me going hermit mode, but at the time—Covid lockdown—I didn’t have much of a choice. Not if I wanted to keep getting paid.

In other news, Hong Kong may be gone, but I’ve still had an uptick in bot traffic, this time from the USA. Well, that’s to be expected. We’re in serious Presidential election season now, and both sides will be phishing for voters. Good luck with that, Rs and Ds alike. Just because I’m registered to a particular party doesn’t mean I’ll vote that way. One year I didn’t like either candidate, so I wrote in the tag team of Jesse Ventura and Hulk Hogan. You can do that when you live in the land of the free and the home of the smartass.

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Here’s something else I won’t be doing. Today I want to talk about something that involves an internet feud between two YouTubers. I will not be mentioning either by name. I did mention one in some earlier blogs because I support him, but I realized that was just clickbaiting to get views of my own, and I’ve since chosen not to do that any more. For today’s topic, we’ll call them Former Comics Pro (FCP) and Successful Newcomer (SN). If you’re into the modern comic book scene, especially the indies, you’ll know who I’m talking about.

Frankly, their identities don’t matter half as much as the situation. As briefly as I can put it, FCP was a talented and popular artist doing work for the big mainstream companies. SN was, and still is, a musician and YouTuber commentator, and also a comic book reader and fan. Both built steadfast followings over the years. FCP burnt some bridges, left mainstream comics and turned indie, crowdfunding his own books. SN, the longtime fan disappointed in the direction mainstream comics was going, decided to do likewise. Except, instead of crowdfunding, he used his own money and started his own company, hiring other disillusioned comics pros to write and draw his creations, with himself as writer/editor in chief.

At first FCP and SN supported each other on their respective YouTube channels. They were in the same business, after all. Then things went sour. SN’s first book came out and did over three million dollars in sales. The second book, for which FCP did a cover, didn’t match that but came dang close. Meanwhile, the crowd funding FCP was getting impatient because the books he’d promised them weren’t coming out. We’re talking years here. I’m a slow writer myself, and given to lengthy creative blocks, so I know how that is. However, when other people’s money is involved, when they’ve ponied up the bucks and no goods are forthcoming, they do tend to get a little irked. SN entering the scene seemingly out of nowhere and having such phenomenal success wouldn’t have helped FCP’s mood any.

Long story short, FCP turned on SN, live on YouTube, and cut contact. He’s since forged a new career devoted to bashing SN in vitriolic YouTube live streams that can run on for hours. For his part, SN has chosen to ignore the whole thing and concentrate on growing his new company. He’s since published five books with a sixth on the way, and established a company magazine. His goal is to have a book out every month. He’s also got a line of clothing, posters and other merchandise, and is hoping to expand into animation if/when finances allow. FCP, who hasn’t released a book in literally years while still accepting money from supporters, decries SN as a grifter.

If you’ve made it down this far, congratulations—we’ve finally reached the point of this entry.

SN is not a grifter. FCP is a grifter. SN is a huckster, and so far a very successful one.

Aren’t they the same? I hear you asking. Nope. A grifter is a swindler, a thief. They promise you the moon, take your money, and leave you with nothing to show for it. A huckster is a salesman. Their job is to hype the hell out of whatever they’re selling. When you give your money to a huckster, you will get a product in return. It may or may not be everything they said it was. That will be up to you and your expectations. You’ll still have something to show for the bucks you forked over. With a grifter, you’re left with empty pockets as well as empty hands.

I’ve tried SN’s books. I can’t say they’ve all been winners. But I like what he’s trying to do. I was a fan of CrossGen when that company existed, and his “universe” is giving me strong CrossGen vibes. Plus, he’s wise enough to hire pros to bring his ideas to life. As for the merch, I can’t vouch for everything, but those shirts are definitely top-notch, cotton and comfy. The important thing is, he delivers. Nothing is advertised or sold that doesn’t already exist. A comic may be teased, but the touting doesn’t start until the book is complete. Shipping begins promptly at the end of the pre-order period, and the product arrives in sturdy, quality packaging (My experiences with my local post office notwithstanding. That’s on them, though. See previous blogs.).

As for FCP, I’m not all that familiar with his artwork, although he was apparently popular during his mainstream days. Some fans may not like his writing; others seem to be okay with it. Or would be, if he ever got off YouTube long enough to actually finish any of the books he’s trying to sell. His full-time job these days appears to be a purveyor of drama. His attacks on others bring in viewers, and the viewers provide him with donations. In that regard, he’s a successful huckster, selling his POV. But unless and until he starts producing comic books, getting them out to the printer and delivering them to his paying customers, he might as well admit he’s just a grifter.

Which is why I’m following SN. And taking notes.

Yes, his marketing strategies can be classified as over the top, perhaps even melodramatic. “Selling igloos to Eskimos” is one way people used to phrase it. SN is a master at building interest in and hawking his various wares. He has to be. This is his company, his livelihood. You better believe he’s going to bust his ass selling his product to that fan base he’s built up. Not to mention he’ll make sure there’s a product ready to go before he starts making promises. Before I even think about trying his techniques, I’d better have a finished product ready, and it better be as good as I can make it. Nobody wants to be labeled a grifter, especially if that rep is deserved.

My first act, once I’m ready, will be to write another blog about SN, but this time use his name and add it to my labels. This is deliberate clickbaiting. Hopefully people will click on the link and be diverted here, where I can direct them to those books listed over there on the side. Those are books I’ve already written and that do exist. The links will take you to the publisher’s website. Call it passive hucksterism, if you will.

That’s only some of my published output, though. I should have a separate page with all my available books on it. God, I suck at this. No wonder I’m not successful. Note to self: revamp blog page. And write more. See y’all next week.

 

Week 26 - (no subject)

 

Update – Not really much to talk about this go-round, either here or in the actual blog portion. I’m all caught up on the paid work and have off until Monday (July 8). I fell off on the actual writing again while I dealt with the paid stuff but will get back to typing tomorrow. I took Sunday off and spent the afternoon at my local comic book store, hanging out and keeping the clerk company (he’s an old acquaintance). We had a blast chatting with the customers about upcoming movies and classic trivia. For the record, my favorite Batman is Kevin Conroy, who provided the Caped Crusader’s voice on Batman: The Animated Series, which I mentioned last week. After Conroy passed, Mark Hamill announced he was retiring as the voice of the Joker because it wouldn’t be the same without his longtime castmate. So ends an era. My favorite Bruce Wayne—not Batman—is Ben Affleck. He’s got those classic chiseled features artists have been using for Wayne for decades. I mean, c’mon—did anybody really accept Michael Keaton as millionaire playboy Bruce Wayne? But once he put the costume on—dayum. Keaton was the best part of the recent Flash movie. I’m still imprinted on Christopher Reeve as Clark Kent/Superman, but I accept Gal Gadot as Wonder Woman. She looks like a woman who could beat the snot out of Supes. Female actors weren’t really allowed to be buff back when Lynda Carter had the role.

I made up a list of possible projects I can work on while I type/rewrite the detective story. So of course one not on the list is what decided to nudge me. I’ve found my loose scenes and I’m going to read over them and see if anything sparks. If not, I’ve got plenty of others to fiddle around with. Somehow, someway, something is going to get written by the end of July.

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I haven’t been reading much lately. Frankly, not for months. My paid job makes it harder, since all I do for that is read. Then I get to the end of the day and the last thing I want to do is stare at even more words. Add in depression and the game addiction and reading for fun kind of fell by the wayside. No wonder I haven’t been able to write. One of the best motivators/idea generators a writer can have is to read a truly horrendous, boring, badly-written book, the type that begs you to throw it across the room. (I recommend you only do this with printed books. Kindles cost money.) Now that I’m working on staying positive and rediscovering my joy in writing—and especially now that I have some time off between paid assignments—I’m going to find a good book and get back into the reading at bedtime habit. This should also help me sleep better at night. That and not eating sugary foods after 6 pm.

What to read? I’m currently reading a magazine interview with Neil Gaiman, which reminded me I’ve never read any of his Sandman work. Some comics fan I am. My local library has a massive graphic novel collection, so I should be able to rectify that easily. If not, I’ll see if any of  Robert Galbraith’s (J. K. Rowling’s pseudonym) Cormoran Strike books are available. I’ve read a couple of those and enjoyed them. Can’t solve the mystery, but I’ve gotten caught up in the not-quite-romance between Strike and his female partner. Or I can catch up on Stephen King’s books. I haven’t read any of his new ones since Covid closed down the library’s used bookstore. That, and King’s gotten boring since he sobered up. The  trouble with library books is that the trend these days is for longer works, 300-500 pages or more, and I’ve only got two weeks. If I decide to switch genres again and need to read current YA books, I’m going to be in deep guano.

If I do get writing something new—and I’d better, that credit card ain’t gonna pay off itself—I’m going to make a semi-change to the schedule and write the new book first thing in the morning, in longhand. That eliminates internet distractions, plus I’m more likely to get up from a notebook to eat than I am from the laptop. My ideal schedule would be to write my stuff in the morning, work on paid stuff in the afternoon, then wind down in the evening and watch TV. Or, better yet, read. Somehow yard work fell off the map. Yeah well. Do that on weekends.

I haven’t had a road trip in a while either. I’ve been too busy and it’s been too damn hot. I’m going to hold off on long trips until later this month, after the car’s inspected and gets a scheduled oil change. Less chance it’ll leave me stranded somewhere miles from home. I may need to wait for September for research trips to Philly. Not as much daylight, but much less humidity. I’m not worried about researching Strasburg, my book’s secondary setting. Strasburg’s about a twenty-minute drive from where I live. I can cruise around there on a Sunday afternoon and get all the info I need.

That’s about all I’ve got in the tank for this week. Enjoy your Fourth of July holiday, try not to blow off any fingers or toes with those illegal fireworks, and I’ll see y’all next week.

To Market, To Market

 

Okay, then. Every other week.

Seriously, time got away from me last week, what with doctor visits interrupting an assignment with a tight deadline and an unforeseen resurgence of my video game addiction. Fortunately this week timing is better; I’ve got the tests/surgery Friday, then the weekend to recover before the next two assignments come in. In between all this I’ve been squeezing in the second draft rewrite of the former side project, which is now the main project. I need another longhand project. Pens and notebooks don’t come with distractions like games and stuff on YouTube.

Oh, and if you’re ever scheduled for day surgery, in which they send you home after you wake up, make damn sure you’ve got a friend or family member to take you home because if you’re still recovering from anesthesia, nobody else wants anything to do with you. Not Uber, not any social service. Nobody wants to be responsible if you have a reaction to the anesthesia on the ride home. The hospital won’t keep you overnight because insurance won’t cover it. I was lucky in that my neighbor next door was willing to transport me. She’s had run-ins with insurance coverage and understands exactly what I’m going through. After this I’ll have to make an effort to clean up my yard, which I pretty much let go this summer due to work and excessive heat, so they don’t have to look at it any more. It’s the least I can do.

* * * *

On to the blog. Writing the book, or books, or series, or anything is only half the battle. Even if you skip agent hunting and traditional publishing and upload the file to Amazon yourself, you still need to market the damn thing. You can’t just release it into the wild and hope enough people buy it to earn you pocket money. That doesn’t work. I tried that once and the poor thing sank without a trace. In six-seven years I doubt if it’s sold even a dozen copies, even after I lowered the price. If I’m going to earn money from this I’ll have to up my game. Writing better books would help, too.

Marketing is part of the reason I’m attempting regular blog posting. I’m not on any other social media, so I’m starting at a disadvantage. A channel on YouTube would help. Pity I’m an introvert. And not photogenic. And don’t have a very good speaking voice. And have no idea what my content would be. I’ve heard writers used to make Facebook pages specifically to hawk their wares, but does anyone even use Facebook any more? This blog is pretty much it. I may need to resort to clickbait entries to try to entice more readers. Maybe it’s time to dust off my theory about the History Channel’s show Ancient Aliens…

Or I can maybe earn some interest by learning from, and riding the coattails of, a highly successful marketer. I mentioned Eric July and his newest endeavor, Rippaverse Comics, a couple of entries ago. His first graphic novel (and related merchandise) netted him $3.7 million in sales. Issue #2 brought in $2.3 million. First issues tend to sell better because of collector interest, but those issue #2 numbers are nothing to sneeze at. He’s got two more books coming out within the next four months, with sales campaigns soon to be scheduled. Anticipation is already riding high, and wagers being laid on how fast the customers can crash the servers, and how long the system will be down. (Demand for Issue #2 knocked the site offline almost immediately; access was touch-and-go on Day 1, and Day 2 they were down for 20 hours. They brought in new hamsters to run on the treadmills, and after that things settled down.)

Clearly this man knows how to market. How did he do it? What did he do?

First off, Eric July is no newbie. He’s a musician. He and his band have been performing and selling recordings since he was a teen. He started a channel in the early days of YouTube and built a following. He’s been doing commentary on politics, music and comic books for years. His disappointment in the current state of the comic book industry, Marvel and DC’s output in particular, prompted him to start his own company and produce his own line of graphic novels. He kept his viewers apprised of his progress, and waited until he actually had a finished product on the shelves and ready to go before he opened for business. All of this was heavily advertised on his website, through live streams (his own and guesting on others’ channels) and video posts on YouTube and other outlets. Yes, visibility counts.

So does showmanship. July’s a performer, no doubt about that. He’s animated, enthusiastic, engaged. He’s fun to watch. He believes in what he’s doing and he gets others to believe in it too. And it’s working, to the tune of roughly $6 million in total sales so far.

This being the internet, he’s naturally attracted a veritable cult of detractors who are jealous of his phenomenal success, or trying to get attention by attacking him, or just have nothing better to do. He’s even turned their vitriol to his advantage.  Check out this marketing maneuver:

During the campaign for Issue #2, a few of these haters got hold of Issue #1 and posted it in its entirety on the Web so people could read it for free. This is known as “pirating” and violates the terms of service of most legit outlets. It also costs creative folks a lot of money. Mr. July had the pirated copies taken down. His detractors immediately claimed he “couldn’t take criticism.”

Not long after, the ad posted at the top of this entry appeared. For roughly a week, Isom #1 was offered for sale for the discounted price of $12 (original price: $35). A percentage of the proceeds was donated to a charity that provides comic books to children in hospitals. Promo code to cash in on this offer was “Pirate.” Nothing else needed to be said. We all knew what he was referring to.

That’s more than just a marketing ploy. That’s style. That’s how you promote your goods even in the face of adversity. That was a win on several levels. There’s much about business to be learned from this man, and you’d better believe I’m taking notes.

First, though, I’d better make sure I’ve got a quality product. While I’m at it, I need to come up with ways to establish more of a presence on the internet. Too bad I’ve always been anti-social, including anti-social media. That’s something else that’s going to have to change. Back to work…

Your Tax Dollars at Work

This incident happened a while ago, back around January. I’m just now getting around to posting the story. Yes, I still have serious issues with procrastination and work avoidance. I’m working on it.

Anyway. I’ve been a fan of comic books since I learned to read, although I don’t buy any on a regular basis any more. I got older, my tastes changed, comics changed, comics got more and more expensive and I needed the money for groceries. I still keep up with what’s going on with Marvel and DC, and I’ve seen most of the movies from both companies. (On DVD from the library. Movies got too expensive years ago. Not to mention crappy.) Avengers: Endgame seemed like a good stopping point: it was everything the comics I grew up with used to be but aren’t any more. The last movie I saw in a theater was Spider-Man: No Way Home, and that was mostly for the nostalgia factor; Tobey Maguire will always be my movie Spider-Man. The first comic book I’ve bought in years is the topic of this blog.

For the non-fans, a quick catch-up: Marvel and DC aren’t the only two companies, just the biggest. These days Marvel (Spider-Man; the X-Men) is owned by Disney, while Time/Warner owns DC (Batman and Superman). Then we have Image, Dark Horse, IDW and a bunch of other smaller companies floating around the edges. Plus there are independent creators who use crowdfunding platforms like Indigogo to bankroll their publishing efforts. All of these involve physical print endeavors. There may be other creators whose work is solely available on the internet, but I’m not familiar with them.

And now we’ve got Eric July.

Like me and a lot of other long-time fans, July had stopped buying books from the Big Two because he wasn’t happy with the direction the companies had taken and the disrespect he felt was being shown his childhood heroes. So he decided to make his own comics. Except he didn’t stop at just that. Instead of going the crowdfunding route, he chose to eliminate all the middlemen and start his own comic book company, creating, writing, printing and distributing graphic novels starring his own creations in his own shared universe. He hired an artist, put the book together, created some merchandise (shirts and posters), promoted all this on his YouTube channel and, in July 2022, opened up shop with a 70+-day sales campaign. The comic was a 90-some page graphic novel on quality paper, priced at $35. July’s stated campaign goal was $100,000 in sales.

By the end of the campaign, he had earned $3.7 million. That’s million with a capital M, folks. Not bad for his first-ever comic book.

There’s more to his story—his second issue’s sales campaign is currently ongoing, and a lot of folks in the industry and on YouTube and Twitter are not at all pleased by his success. But that’s not what this story’s about. This is just the background. We now return to your regularly scheduled blog, already in progress.

I wasn’t part of the initial campaign. I came in when the mudslinging started. It made for entertaining viewing on July’s YouTube channel. I looked into his website and decided $35 was too much for my wallet at that point in time. However, my finances picked up after Christmas, so for my January birthday I decided to treat myself and support a fellow writer and former mainstream comics fan by buying a copy of his book.

This is where I ran afoul of the US Postal Service.

I had no trouble placing my order and paying for my purchase. Mr. July had no trouble accepting my money and shipping me my book. They even sent me an email letting me know the order had been filled, with a tracking number so I could follow its journey. (The new company is in Texas, while I’m in Pennsylvania.) I had fun checking in once or twice a day to see how things were going. Anticipation soared when I saw the book had arrived at the Lancaster distribution center and would probably be delivered at my house the following day.

Here’s where the system broke down.

The next morning I logged on and clicked the tracking info. The book was still in Lancaster. Then it was en route to Ephrata. Then it was in Ephrata. Then communication stopped. There was no information; the book had disappeared. Oh wait, there it was. For reasons known only to the postal gods, my package, which had made it all the way from Texas and safely arrived at the Ephrata Post Office, which is maybe a mile from where I live, had inexplicably been rerouted and delivered to the Christiana Post Office on the other side of the county. Uh, whut?

 Time to take personal action. Armed with my tracking number, I drove over to the PO and asked them what happened. They didn’t know. They had no explanation. The best they could give me was that the package had somehow been mislabeled and sent to Christiana by mistake. How did it get mislabeled? Shrugs all around. It must have had the right label on it to start with or it wouldn’t have been sent to Ephrata. So the mislabeling had to have happened at the Ephrata Post Office. Why and by whom? Again, no concrete answers. It was probably a machine because we all know government employees never make mistakes. All they could do was have it sent back to the Lancaster distribution center and start over. All I could do was go home and wait.

Well, they did get it sorted out by that evening, as I saw on the tracking info. It was returned to the Ephrata PO by morning and I finally got it by noon. The book was in good shape. Nice quality product. The story and art wasn’t bad. Better than I’ve seen from a lot of offers out of the Big Two lately. If Mr. July can keep this up, he’s got a winner on his hands. Can’t say the same for the Post Office.

This may wind up becoming a continued story. Like I said, July’s currently running his second campaign for issue #2. This time I ordered early. He’s going to start shipping orders out at the end of this month, via UPS. UPS has announced it’s going on strike at the start of August. Here we go again. Well, I’ve still got all my old comic books stashed in the closet. At least I’ll have something to read.

 

  

Almost Forgot

You'd think I wouldn't have missed this, especially with Avengers: Endgame breaking box-office records left and right, and Free Comic Book Day happening on May 4, which was also Star Wars Day (May the Fourth be with you!). But His Super Neighbor, J. J. Collins's tribute to comic books and the people who create them, has been picking up excellent reviews over on Goodreads. It's an M/M romance about finding true love right in your backyard. Or front yard, especially if the hot guy across the street is outside mowing his lawn. No actual superfolk, but there's a man who creates magic with a pencil and paper, and true heroics abound. You can find it here at

  https://www.evernightpublishing.com/his-super-neighbor-by-j-j-collins/

Coming Wednesday, May 8: the release of Cock and Bull Story! I'll post an excerpt tomorrow.

Creationism

I wasn’t planning on watching Fox’s new crime show Lucifer. And not because I have any moral objections to the Devil being portrayed in a positive light. Bad guys are usually the most interesting characters in any given fictional story (see: Darth Vader). My problems with the show stemmed from the pilot, where Lucifer confronts a dying shooter who’s just murdered an old friend of his and fails to ask the most obvious question: Who hired you? Yeah, the show would have been over in the first ten minutes, but that’s no excuse for a lapse in common sense. Besides, I prefer the version of Lucifer on Supernatural, where he’s a deliciously over-the-top bad guy. Currently Misha Collins is playing him, doing his best Mark Pellegrino impression, which only adds to the fun. Last week we got both Misha and Mark, playing the same guy. Wins all around.

So I figured I wouldn’t be tuning in to the crime-busting, semi-good guy version of Satan any more, unless I heard the writing got better. Then another week rolled around. I wanted to watch TV and nothing better was on. The writing hadn’t improved by much, but the actor’s cute and he has a British accent. That’s enough to rope in most women, me included. Though I still prefer Supernatural’s Satan. Maybe the networks will do a crossover.

While we’re waiting for that, allow me to clue you in on a little something I noticed about the show’s credits, and who’s getting paid—and who probably isn’t—for this.

Fox’s Lucifer is an adaptation of a DC Comics/Vertigo title. Yep, the Lord of Lies had his own comic book series for a while. He was HQ’d in Vegas in that one, which makes more sense for the Devil than the Los Angeles of the TV show. I didn’t read the comic, so I don’t know who came up with the idea, or who the originating writer and artist were. (Note: It was writer Neil Gaiman who introduced Luci in the Sandman comic. Thank you, Internet!)

Familiar with how comic book creators tend to get the shaft when characters they created get the big-screen (and big-bucks-earning) treatment, I kept a close eye on the opening credits. There’s the usual cluster of producers, the episode writer and the director. And a single “Developed for TV by” credit for somebody. No “Lucifer created by” credit for the original writer and artist. Not even a “Based on the comic created by” or “Inspired by” credits anywhere I could see. Maybe the acknowledgement to the original creators is crammed into the closing credits, which flash by at Warp Factor 12. There’s an eyeblink shot of the DC and Vertigo logos right at the tail end of the closing credits. That’s the only hint you get that the show started life as a comic book.

Something tells me the original writer and artist aren’t getting paid for this. That happens a lot in the industry, especially now that comic book adaptations into movies and TV have turned out to be so lucrative. All those billions of dollars generated by Supes and Bats and Spidey and all their amazing superfriends have to go into somebody’s pocket, and somehow it never seems to be the creators’.

Which could be tricky in Lucifer’s case, seeing as how he was created by God.

Maybe that’s the excuse they’re using. “We can’t pay you for creating the comic because you didn’t create the character.” True. Lucifer previously appeared in another famous book. The Lucifer in the Vertigo comic is too derivative of that character to earn royalties for his creators. (This excuse was actually used in regards to the Barbara Kean character on Gotham. Here’s what Babs’ creator, Alan Brennert, has to say about it.)

So that’s why there are no creator credits on the show. Though a “Lucifer created by God” credit would have been polite.

Which leads to other problems. You get on-screen credit, you’re owed money. That’s why these credits are so important. If God created the show’s lead character, shouldn’t He be getting a cut of the take? Where would you send the royalty checks? The Vatican? Does the Lord have direct deposit? We know for a fact He’s got tons of cloud storage, but what about a bank account? There’s also that Lucifer on Supernatural. Is God double-dipping with his characters?

But aha, say the corporate lawyers. The Bible was produced before copyright laws. The Bible and all its contents are in the public domain. This particular version of Lucifer is copyrighted and the property of Time-Warner. We can do whatever the hell we want with him, pardon the pun, and we don’t owe You a cent.

So God, creator of everything, doesn’t get jack squat. He winds up in a bar on the outskirts of Hollywood, where Alan Brennert buys Him a beer. “Welcome to the world,” says Alan.

Now that’s true evil. You don’t suppose Lucifer is on the board of directors at Time-Warner, do you?

I know for a fact he works for Disney. Everybody works for Disney.

Now the question arises: what happens if Lucifer gets cancelled? Will it trigger the apocalypse? Will the world end? Will Mark Pellegrino and the guy who plays the Devil on Fox have to fight it out? Either way, the writers and artists and deities who created the heroes and anti-heroes we’re watching won’t see so much as a dime. Remember, kiddies, always read a contract all the way through and make sure you understand all the clauses before you sign your rights away. Don’t let this happen to you.