I have to agree with Erik in that the line-per-line definition might be too restrictive, in that if exculpates too many people. That's like saying that swiping is tracing.

My reasoning is that swiping through tracing accesses both the artist's composition AND the artist's special effects. For example, tracing a Kirby Machine Man means you get the dynamics of the Kirby figure PLUS the Kirby metal texturing squiggles.

Swiping through reproduction of composition alone is another thing. For example, Alex Ross painted a faithful reproduction of a Jack Kirby Captain America WWII action scene. This could by no means be called tracing since we have paints vs inks. The technique of feathering which gives the illusion of shading despite only two tones, is replaced by actual shading with pigment gradations.

A swipe is essentially about using another artist's composition without credit. A line-per-line swipe might be better termed a "rip-off" ... which incidently is a term I came across far more often in the early days of by fanhood than "swipe". The "Swipe" term almost sanitizes what is essentially plagiarism.

Yeah, but I think intent still works especially in Rob's case.  Once or twice, hell, even three, four, or, five times using very recognizable covers to do one of your own like the New Mutants cover you mention is homage if you stop there.  Copying panels, pages, and any old cover in order to complete a book is a swipe.  Especially if you do it all the time.  Actions speak louder than words.

WO

I'm unclear about one Rob Liefeld thing: did he or did he not credit the source material?

In theory, I could do a whole FF comic book by tracing a bazillion panels from Essentials 1-6, crediting every panel to Lee+Kirby+Inkers.

The merit of my effort would be more in the area of perseverance and devastated eyesight. Would that make me a swiper or a plagiarist?

Factor in whether I would make money on it or do it for free.

"If a swipe is (as I understand it from John's post--and granted I may be
getting it mixed up) a line for line duplicate of another artist's drawing--
thaen very few artists swipe. Rich Buckler and whoever drew that Jonah
Hex story and a couple more--and that's it. "

Erik, that was not the definition JB gave. Look:

"Swiping is copying, sometimes line for line, so a Joe Staffhack Captain America becomes a Bill Payer Captain America. Sometimes it's copying a pose, with attendant anatomical details, so Staffhack's Cap becomes Payer's Green Lantern."

He says "sometimes" line for line. Meaning that if it is a line-by-line copy it's a swipe, but even if it isn't it's still possibly a swipe as when it's a detailed copy of a pose. The same goes for composition. It's a much wider definition than what you interpret him as giving.

Look, lets' say that :
first, you can copy a page layout or panel sequence.
Then other compositional aspects of the page.
then composition of the panel.
Then exact (or near exact) poses.
Then anatomical detail.
Then a line-by-line copy of any given element.

The more points you have on the list, the more obvious the swipe. If we measure it by degrees like that we can say that the lower the "score" the more likely it's just "inspired by", "unintentional copying of artwork the artist has encountered in the past", "independent creation of a similar product" or "only a limited number of ways of drawing this" etc.

And the less prominent the "swipe" the less serious it is. As you say, the important thing is to find a common terminology.

Oops. I missed the "sometimes", too. Apologies to JB for misreading his as an overly restrictive definition.

It is worth noting, nonetheless, that artists contribute both compositions and texturing. When Nelson redrew JB on Action he kept the story breakdown (which is an artistic contribution in itself) and of the composition but obliterated the texturing. The final result ended up looking like Byrne breakdowns instead of Byrne pencils -- which irritated me since I'd forked over my money for Byrne pencils.

In this regard, Nelson did not swipe nor did he ripoff. It could be argued, however, that he rode on Byrne's coat tails to showcase his own artistics stylings.

QUOTE: Alan Davis had a panel in Captain Britain that was a direct swipe of JB from X-men 140 with Wolverine and Davis turned it into Brian Braddock.

Do you remember the issues and panels in question, Eric?  I'm curious to have a look at that.