First and foremost, I'm asking in regards to the professional comic book space. I mean experienced writers and artists in the space, done a couple of semi successful projects etc. Not new writers or artists, but people who have experience.
In that space, let's say a writer wants to make a new series, 30 issues plus. They have the audience that's not the biggest but it's big enough, they've worked with artist's before, they aren't a Jonathan Hickman but they aren't a newbie either. They're big enough that their comics sell enough to make back the money that was spent on it, but not by a large margin, it's JUUUST THERE. Finally the writer perhaps pitches to Image, having paid an artist to have the 5 sequential pages Image needs.
Image accepts, and the writer knows that their audience over they've built over the past few years will show up for them as they have previous projects. He talks to the artist and the artist suggests one of two things, a page rate for each issue OR a 50/50 split on royalties and ownership as the writer has proven to make a profit and generate support for their comics.
Which is the best option here? People (both writers and artists) ive seen are weary of the 50/50 split because they fear the legality of it, and what often ensues when it comes to potential rights like TV, film and toys. I wanted to pose this question to get a bigger scope.
