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Nick Simmons Accused Of Plagiarism For ‘Incarnate’ Comic; Publication Halted
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Bleach Incarnate comparison

Radical Publishing has halted production on its American Manga series Incarnate while they investigate claims of plagiarism against the series’ creator Nick Simmons, son of KISS founder Gene Simmons.

Radical Comics launched the series, which Simmons wrote and penciled, back in August and released three single issues, which were to be sold later this year in a collected volume. Read their full official statement regarding the allegations here below.

Earlier this week, accusations arose against Simmons on the GameFAQ forum stating that his artwork on Incarnate was copied from popular manga titles like Tite Kubo’s Bleach, which has sold over 50 million volumes worldwide. The Bleachness fan site posted side-by-side comparisons of the artwork from both titles to show similarities, and even superimposed the images. There’s also word balloons that show similar dialogue between the new comics.

The image at top is one of the examples from the Bleachness site [note, we do not have either source material to verify the claims]: on the left is a panel from Bleach; the center is a panel from Incarnate; the image on the right is a both of these images superimposed.

Viz Media, which publishes Bleach in North America, said “We’ve got our team on it” regarding the situation, while Radical said that they were “making efforts now to contact the publishers of the works in question in an effort to resolve this matter.”

Kubo sent two tweets after hearing the news which people are translating it to say that a lot of foreign sites contacted him about the Simmons comic, but that Kubo, who does not understand English well, was “…more interested in the fact that Gene Simmons’ son is a mangaka than whether he’s plagiarizing me or not.” (Kubo’s tweets were not in English.)

Other manga titles mentioned in connection with Simmons’ alleged plagiarism are Hellsing, One Piece, and Vampire Hunter D.

Radical’s response in regards to Incarnate

We at Radical Publishing, Inc. and Radical Comics, Inc. are quite concerned to hear the news surrounding Nick Simmons’s Incarnate Comic Book. We are taking this matter seriously and making efforts now to contact the publishers of the works in question in an effort to resolve this matter. We have halted further production and distribution of the “Incarnate” comic book and trade paperback until the matter is resolved to the satisfaction of all parties. Rest assured that Radical is taking swift action regarding this matter and will continue in its efforts to maintain the integrity and protect the intellectual property of artists throughout the world whose creative works are the bedrock of our Company and the comic book industry.

A Facebook page was started called “Calling for legal action against Nick Simmons for plagiarism of other works” where someone claiming to be Simmons responded to the allegations, though there’s no verification on whether the poster was actually Simmons.

It seems highly unlikely under the circumstances that Simmons would risk responding to such serious allegations on a Facebook page. The 21-year-old reality-TV star, who appears along with his famous parents (his mom is actress Shannon Tweed) and younger sister Sophie on the A&E series Gene Simmon’s Family Jewels, has not made any official statements at this time, nor has anyone from the Simmons’ camp. Simmons and his ultra-famous dad made the convention rounds last summer to promote the younger Simmons’ foray into the world of comics.

[Source: Radical Publishing; Topless Robot; Anime News Network; CBR]

13 Comments »

  1. Well, Kiss did use Japanese Kabuki theatrics to create their image. Like father, like son, I guess.

    Comment by MysteryD8 — February 26, 2010 @ 10:37 am

  2. Magma-kun made it into the news! =D

    Comment by Lauren — February 26, 2010 @ 4:28 pm

  3. This is what happens when you piss off the internet.

    Comment by XD — February 27, 2010 @ 2:59 pm

  4. the troll-simmons was funny though but i doubt in reality he’ll respond like that. pity he had to take the shortcut he was actually quite a decent artist.

    Comment by anbuwolf — February 28, 2010 @ 12:47 am

  5. Seriously, I know that Manga is hard to do when you’re at a block (knows from personal experiance) but just changing it slightly does not make it your own. Bleach does not deserve that.

    Comment by renagengichi — February 28, 2010 @ 10:38 pm

  6. Well, Kubo doesn’t seem to mind and as such, I don’t mind. I think it makes him a shitty artist, but none of us were harmed by it and as such, since the person/people who WERE wronged don’t care, then it should simply put an end to the matter and Nick’s comic. No need for legal action and blah blah blah, just discontinue his comic.

    Comment by Dartfin — February 28, 2010 @ 11:08 pm

  7. LOL! I love how celebrity children think they can do whatever they want. I hope this ruins any career he thought he had in manga. After all, anyone dumb enough to try to trace another comic to try and make a profit(or at all, don’t get me wrong.) doesn’t deserve to even read comics.

    Comment by Mimi — March 4, 2010 @ 8:53 am

  8. I doubt that Nick will every respond, let alone care. But I still hope he pays the original artists their dues. Cuz it’s time to flip open that wallet Nickky and watch it slim down.

    Comment by Funky-Munk — March 21, 2010 @ 9:34 pm

  9. …it’s daddy’s money in that fat wallet, not nicks. ;)

    Comment by editor — April 19, 2010 @ 4:30 am

  10. Nick is a great artist. Creating a comic all by himself is an emense amount of pressure and work for a 19 year old boy. I guess he just shouldn’t have published it. I’d still f*ck him. ^^;

    Comment by Loob — May 3, 2010 @ 10:35 am

  11. i like Incarnate comic and i like all the mangas that the artist ripped off from i think the Incarnate should continue as a free doujinshi like a web comic

    Comment by Ura — May 12, 2010 @ 6:39 pm

  12. Sometimes, it’s possible for artists, musicians or writers to subconsciously and unintentionally plagiarize other people’s work.

    I once read somewhere that there are something like only 16 basic plots for a novel or movie, for example. The characters and settings may be somewhat different, but the essential stories remain the same.

    I don’t know if that’s the case here. However, the pictures from Nick’s work and the original anime do look extremely similar. If Nick did intentionally plagiarize, then he should come clean on it, apologize, and pay royalties to Tite Kubo and the company that produces “Bleach.”

    Comment by Brian — October 21, 2010 @ 1:16 am

  13. He really isn’t, he’s mediocre at best, and that’s only by amateur internet art standards. It shows in his work, his strokes and lines are messy and unpracticed, he has poor understanding on anatomy and relies very heavily on tracing to make up for his lack of skills. You might not be able to see it but it’s there.

    Comment by VMD — July 27, 2011 @ 1:12 pm

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