See this is what narks me off, What if I like a story but I don't like swipes? I like New Avengers but having to buy a comic full of swipes really annoys me.

If I did stuff at my work and passed it off as my own I wouldn't last long in my job. I wouldn't be defended by other people either.

If you don't know how to draw a character, don't sign up for the character's book. If you do sign up for the book, use referance material to learn how to draw the character (Costrume design etc). and then draw in your own style.

I would maybe give an artist an issue to find their feet but I would rather see hiccups or errors than the blatant stuff we've seen from the 90's. And thinking about it, that could be the problem - no one stopped it then (I know there were instances before then but that was when it became ridiculous), those artists are now in the position where they make decisions (Heck, they even encouraged things during the whole image 'fraw exactly like me' era) and the whole moral rot of 'well it's not really theft is it' is well and truely established as being allowed.

Sack them, sack them all.

I think this whole swiping mentality simply reinforces my tremendous respect for the talented dudes (like JB <g>) who don't resort to it, because they don't need to.

The swipers come across looking like hacks, a label it'll be always tough to shake off.