The McEloys responded to growing concerns on Twitter this week on how artists contributing to the best selling The Adventure Zone graphic novels.
Artists raised concerns that $100 payment for an illustration that appears in such a successful book was inadequate and that it was wrong to insist on a multi-year exclusivity clause.
It seems that the McElroys agreed. On Monday, they said that they had only become aware of the contract terms that their publisher, First Second, had insisted on.
In a Tweet, The Adventure Zone podcast said that they would pay the artists involved an additional $500 for each illustration used in past books and have asked First Second to change those conditions.
Then the apology came. The McElroys didn’t write those contracts or come up with those terms, but they took ownership for not knowing about it.
First Second quickly conceded, tweeting a statement to explain their point of view.
Today we were made aware of the terms of contracts between artists who have been featured in The Adventure Zone graphic novels and our publisher, First Second. These artists were not adequately paid for their work, and their art was put under excessively long exclusivity clauses. We are asking our publisher to lift the exclusivity terms, effective immediately, and to significantly increase the payments to artists featured in future books. We will also be compensating artists from past books an additional $500, out of pocket. We apologize for not being aware of this situation earlier, and we are urging First Second to implement these changes as soon as possible.”
The Adventure Zone has become very successful after the three brothers Griffin, Justin and Travis, played through the Starter Kit for the 5th edition of Dungeons & Dragons with their dad Clint in a podcast.
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