9 Comic Book Creators Who Were Seriously Screwed

Gerry Conway, however, notes that things have changed at DC since editor Paul Levitz left. DC no longer pays royalties to creators for what they consider a “spin-off character”. This led to a conundrum – Gerry Conway created the original villain Killer Frost, whose civilian name was Crystal Frost. Sterling Gates and Derlis Santacruz have created a new Killer Frost named Caitlin Snow.

Caitlin Snow currently appears on the flash TV show, which would normally mean Gates and co would receive royalties. Except now they don’t, because Caitlin Snow is “derived” from the original Killer Frost. That means Conway, the original creator of Killer Frost, should get the royalties then, right? Except he doesn’t…because he didn’t create Caitlin Snow. So no one will be paid for using Caitlin Snow. Except DC.

As Conway says, “Caitlin Snow was created by Sterling Gates and Derlis Santacruz. Except, according to DC Entertainment, she wasn’t. Because it was “derived” from Killer Frost’s original creation. Which means Al Milgrom and I created it. Except, according to DC Entertainment, we didn’t. Nobody created it. Or rather, no one gets credit and equity from the creator for creating it. And that, my friends, is truly heinous and despicable. DC Entertainment has created a wonderful catch-22 that allows them to trick the creators into using both sides of an argument to serve DC’s interests.

Conway hasn’t been treated well by Marvel either. He co-created the Punisher and didn’t see a dime for the movies the Punisher starred in. He also had to campaign on Twitter to be invited to the premiere of The Amazing Spider-Man 2, who adapted a story he worked on, “The Death of Gwen Stacy.”