An apology is in order. When I use material on Pedantic Political Ponderings that was written or drawn by someone else, I always endeavor to credit the author or artist. In writing my post on Christmas, I used material that was altered and not properly credited. For doing so, I am deeply sorry.
The cartoon above is the original, which is from a 22 December 2010 post on Calamities of Nature. I had not seen the original until I read the News and Stuff today. First his complaint and then a bit more from me.
I have a quick issue I want to discuss, which I hope you'll take the time to read. About a year ago, this comic of mine was first posted. It's probably one of the best received things I've ever drawn. But its success has also resulted in many people altering it for their own purposes, erasing my URL and replacing it with their own, and ruining what I think was originally a positive statement.
My use of the Peanuts characters, in a comic that I drew and wrote myself, is allowed as a parody. But when people grab my art, change a few words, and label it as their own, it amounts to theft. Of course people are free to make their own parodies, but they should use their own art and writing. I could attempt to police these copies, but ultimately this is impossible to do on the internet, especially once images start spreading on social sites like Facebook. But I believe there is one factor strongly in my favor in this matter: my amazing group of readers. So even if I cannot eliminate these other copies, together we can drown them out by spreading a superior message.
Please help me by sharing this comic anyway you can. Post it to your blog, on Twitter, on Facebook page, or even email it to friends and family. In keeping with the spirit of the season, for every 500 page views the comic gets between now and the end of the year, I will donate $1 to Doctors Without Borders. Thank you for your continued support!First, I enjoy reading Calamities of Nature and do so regularly. The art is good and the humor is clever, both big positives for me.
Second, while I endeavor to credit original work (just look at the links on any post I have ever put up), I am not always knowledgeable of the full history of a work. I am not saying this to weaken my apology. I failed to uncover the original artist which I posted and I remain deeply sorry for that failure.
Third, I do hope that my use of the altered comic was not seen as berating Christmas. That was certainly not my intent.
Fourth, I strongly agree with the middle paragraph. Copyright, including fair use, is an important notion. If you are not familiar with the concept of Fair Use, the link is to a ten minute video that is well worth your time.
Finally, please do visit the original. Not because of the money for charity, but because it is the right thing to do.
7 December 2011, Original Pedantic Political Ponderings post.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CJn_jC4FNDo&feature=colike
ReplyDeleteSee, that's parody. Because it mocks Disney. The use of Charlie Brown, was not parody and would not be protected under such an argument.
Thank you for that link.
Just to clarify, it was Mr. Piro, the artist at Calamities of Nature who followed the Peanuts style, who I was quoting and who said that his use of Peanuts was parody.
ReplyDeleteI think it falls under fair use in that it does not diminish the value of the original Peanuts comics and is being used in an informational, perhaps even educational, setting. Either way, it was an effective means of getting across a message ... so effective that others changed that message and pretended originality. Awkward, and thus the above apology.