Scandal is gripping the comic art world as popular cover artist Ryan Gonzalez faces accusations that he traced another artist’s original work on the variant cover of the upcoming ULTIMATE SPIDER-MAN #15. The controversy centers on claims that Gonzalez intentionally traced the work of an artist named Nina, who painted the piece as a birthday present for her artist friend Juvie.
This is Gonzalez’s side of the story, which was later cited in X as a response to “backlash and violent reactions.”
According to all involved, efforts were made to resolve the issue peacefully and offline. However, both Nina and Juvie express concerns about the semantics surrounding this situation. Despite Gonzalez’s claims to the contrary, the issue remains important. The main reason for this is that the artist denies tracing and claims that he only references it, which further blurs the lines.
Compare the original and cover artwork below and form your own opinion.
Both Juvie and Nina have made valid points online that this type of behavior should not be tolerated. Professional artists should never copy someone else’s work and claim it as their own, especially to major publishers like Marvel. Calling it out will contribute to the improvement of the entire industry and its value. Nina also went out of her way to share resources for artists looking for reference materials, such as using https://unsplash.com/ for photography and acon3d.com. /en for reference libraries. It is also important to note that all three of these individuals are professional artists who have been published by major companies. So if we were tracking smaller indie creators, we probably wouldn’t have had this kind of traction.
Gonzalez’s artwork has grown in popularity over the past decade, having been published by Marvel, DC, Boom, Archie, and more, and later hit a wide audience when it appeared on variant cards for the video game “Marvel Snap.” The question is now about how long she has been tracing and copying other people’s original artwork. According to Juvie, Gonzalez has also continued to delete other works from his social media since speaking with Nina.
Variant cover of Ultimate Spider-Man #15 by Gonzalez.
Still, regardless of the outcome of this, I and everyone inevitably involved in this reporting must stress to our fans: Don’t be the kind of person who provokes bullying and hatred. That’s it. Be disappointed. Speak out against injustice. But it never leads to intimidation over fandom.
I say this because many people are fans of Liane Gonzalez’s artwork and heritage, especially regarding her Filipino background, and many of her color works have a fairly Filipino color palette. Because it comes from She is really loved over there (I speak as a Filipino myself). Some of you may not know, but our staff has a long history of producing some of the best manga artists in the industry. There is great pride here. And there’s probably a bigger fandom than the average American comic book person realizes.
Solid accountability. We are very sorry. However, Gonzalez must first and foremost address tracing and reference issues.
Something like this:
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