A1 Deadline Special’s Kickstarter has announced that four of the comics featured in the project will be replaced following a legal challenge from Tales From the Quarantine publisher Frazier Brown. The four comics in question were originally created during TFTQ’s Kickstarter in 2020, but were left unpublished along with the rest of the book.
Editor and publisher Dave Elliott says, “The creators claim that they retain full copyright in the works they contribute. That belief is disputed by TFTQ’s publisher. In the interest of fairness and respect for all parties, Atomeka (authored by Elliott) is paying these creators to contribute new short works in place of those pages. This campaign includes Tales From the Quarantine. There is no content related to Kickstarter.”
Tales From the Quarantine, an anthology featuring one-page comics from 400 contributors from around the world, all inspired by experiences early in the COVID-19 pandemic, raised £37,185 ($48,434) from 814 backers. After the release failed to materialize, numerous complaints followed, and Brown was found unresponsive by Kickstarter’s safety team, he was restricted from launching any future projects on the site. For more on the backstory, I recommend the entire Bluesky thread by Dan Whitehead, one of the creators affected.
Fraser Campbell, who collaborated with Lucy Sullivan on one of the replaced comics, commented: “While I completely understand and support the decision to remove the strip from A1 Deadline, I take very seriously the scumbags who have tried to steal my work and interfere with my personal business. This will not be forgotten and will not be left unanswered. There are some very interesting thought bubbles in store.”
Complicating matters, Kickstarter’s staff was on strike, which prompted the site’s decision to pull the comic without suing. Whitehead said separately: “If he were to make a copyright claim, false as it may be, the A1 Deadline campaign could be automatically shut down. We don’t want to jeopardize the entire project because of this man’s fragile ego.”
A revival of Elliott and Garry Leitch’s 1989-92 anthology A1 and Brett Ewins and Steve Dillon’s 1988-95 series Deadline (best known for debuting Alan Martin and Jamie Hewlett’s Tank Girl), the 80-page A1 Deadline Special will also feature old and new comics from Martin, Hewlett, Simon Bisley and Alison Sampson. Rufus Dayglo, Shakey Kane, Eric Donovan, and the late Dillon and Ewins. As of this writing, they have raised £23,604 ($30,721), well over their target of £9,000 ($11,713). There’s still a week left until this news ends, so prices are likely to rise further.
Something like this:
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