Give credit where credit is due

From a creative project perspective (be it a film, a book, a work of art, etc.) the most important thing is having proper credit. This is what makes it easier for creators to get additional work, to use any creative project’s final results as a CV, and for consumers to follow up and find that creator’s other works easily. It can show not only that they were involved, but what they did, and what they are capable of doing.

When making any comic project, it’s important to note what creators did what on a page by page basis.

The other reason we do this

The American comic book industry had some real difficulty over the years giving the creators their due (from important creators like Carl Barks and Bill Finder to lesser known figures there are so many stories of creators who almost went uncredited completely and suffered because of it), so it’s become a very important part of any comic project from a different perspective. It’s part of comic creator ethos and now-a-days, not giving specific credit is considered pretty unethical except in cases where creators intentionally want to remain secret, and even then they usually use a pseudonym.

European creators have used pseudonyms in comics for other reasons, of course – Hergé, Peyo, etc. It’s as important to respect that aspect of things as it is to give credit, of course.

NOTE: Admittedly, the process of giving credit to mangaka assistants in manga is a bit murkier to me (as I do not read Manga in its native language), but as I understand it they are generally credited in some way, though it can be a lot less clear to readers. But there you have a real structure that helps people get work in the industry, and a very large industry. Also, in that case, the assistants are literally there (in theory) to assist one person’s vision working in a technical capacity, and in the case of 48 hour graphic novels, everyone is there working as equal creators. So this is not a good analogue for what we’re doing. Also, manga assistants deserve every bit of credit they can get.

Make it easier to track

So as you finish a page, it’s a really good idea to write up exactly what every creator did on that page so that there is a clear listing that can be put into the final book.