• Welcome! The TrekBBS is the number one place to chat about Star Trek with like-minded fans.
    If you are not already a member then please register an account and join in the discussion!

DC's "Naomi" coming to CW from Ava Duvernay

Byrne's mentioned getting checks for things he doesn't feel he created. :lol: I guess the bean counters like to err on the side of caution.
 
Last edited:
Kai "the spy" said:
I'm sorry, are you from the 1970s? Because, of course comics creators get compensation for their work being adapted into other media. And when a big name writer signs a contract with the biggest competitor to the publisher he worked at for close to two decades, you can be sure that contract had all kinds of benefits.
Click to expand...

And creating Naomi was probably one of the factors in his contract. Her book came out almost immediately after he was hired, and she was introduced across several titles in a prominent role during her first year. I would be surprised if he were not getting compensation for this.
 
To move the discussion away from the Bendis part, another factor is Ava DuVernay herself.
She previously worked on the New Gods movie that's recently been put on ice. For that, she got comics writer Tom King, who'd just done a New Gods-related comic series, to co-write the movie with her, and apparently they worked close and well together.
This would suggest that DuVernay not only respects comics creators, but also values the input they can give her on an adaptation of a comic book. Hiring a writer like Marc Andreyko, who is a trusted friend of Naomi's creator, and an accomplished writer of female DC superheroes himself, would make perfect sense.
 
DC can argue that a character is derivative, but this can be contested. See, the character royalties are part of the contracts, and these contracts are bound by law, so in this case Conway, who even has legal representation through the Screen Writers Guild, could have gone to court over this. My guess is he did, since Killer Frost has since appeared on The Flash, even as a seperate character from Caitlin Snow.

But in general, DC/Warner does pay royalties, actually substantially higher royalties than Marvel. Todd McFarlane has recently revealed that he got higher royalties for the minor character of Artemis Crock on the Stargirl TV show than those he receives from Marvel for Venom, and back in 2017 Jim Starlin noted that he received more compensation for KGBeast's minor role in BvS than he did for all his Marvel characters across the Marvel Studios films (which include Thanos, Gamora and Drax the Destroyer).

So, bottom line, no DC does not have the ability to just decide to pay royalties for a character or not, they at best can try their luck to weasel themselves out of it. And it all comes down to what is in the contracts. And again, a high profile writer like Brian Bendis who has decades of experience working in the business definitely made sure that he receives royalties for his characters, and most likely that he has some say in how his characters are being used in other media.
 
Kai "the spy" said:
My guess is he did, since Killer Frost has since appeared on The Flash, even as a seperate character from Caitlin Snow.
Click to expand...

Just a technicality -- she had dropped the "Killer" and just become Frost by the time she was physically separated from Caitlin. Not sure if that's legally significant.
 
Naomi is a corporate owned character, and other than Stargirl, which Geoff Johns himself set up as a TV show, I don't know of any other cases where the comics writer has been hands on with a show like this. I could see Being getting being brought in as a "creative consultant", but I don't really see him being being hands on in anyway, or having any kind of input on what writers they hire or anything like that.
Now, sure Ava DuVernay could decide to bring someone like Adnreyko, or even Bendis himself, but I doubt involving Bendis is something they have to do.
Kai "the spy" said:
Well, Andreyko has been friends with Brian Bendis since the 1990s. He's worked with him on Torso for Image, and when Bendis took over the Superman titles, Andreyko was given Supergirl. Before the pandemic, Andreyko was set to write a spin-off title for Bendis' Event Leviathan. So, that's the Bendis connection.

Andreyko also has a history of writing comics with strong female leads for DC. The aforementioned Supergirl is one example, others are Manhunter and Wonder Woman '77. He has experience in this field, so he would certainly fit in with Naomi.

And then, the same week that it's announced The CW has given Naomi a series order, Marc Andreyko resigns as a competitor from the Movie Trivia Schmoedown. He was co-champion in the Teams division, with a match in which he'd have to defend the title coming up soon. He's been a competitor for five years, a fan favorite, outspoken about how much he loved the Schmoedown, and he had to pretty much abandon his team mate Jeff Sneider before one of the most important matches. And the reason he gave was a job opportunity.

So, yeah, my guess is that job opportunity is with Naomi. It wouldn't be writing a comic book series, he's written comic books the whole time he was competing in the Schmoedown. So it has to be something bigger.

So, yeah, the timing of the Naomi announcement and Andreyko's Schmoedown resignation, Andreyko's history of writing female superheroes, and him being a guy Bendis calls on as a writer he trusts, that all seems to point to him being part of the show.
Click to expand...
Oh, OK, I didn't realize they were connected that strongly.
 
I don't understand the point of a 'first look' that's just a random clip from the show with absolutely no context behind it.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
If you are not already a member then please register an account and join in the discussion!

Sign up / Register


Back
Top