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Comic book editor, writer, artist, colourist and comic shop manager Christina Stewart, or Steenz, drew and coloured the graphic novel Archival Quality, published by Oni Press in 2018, writes and draws the daily comic strip Heart of the City, and has worked on comic books including Bountiful Garden, Quincredible, Cash & Carrie and next year’s Side Quest: A Visual History Of Role Playing Games with Samuel Sattin from Imprint.
Oni Press/Lion Forge has been hitting the headlines recently, with former owners James Lucas Jones and Charlie Chu pushed out, and their newly reprinted Gender Queer: A Memoir graphic novel landing them, and its writer/artist Maia Kobabe, with obscenity criminal lawsuits in the state of Virginia.
But Steenz wanted to bring up another issue, regarding Oni Press. They tweeted out “I know a lot of people are cheering on Oni Press to have Maia’s back while GenderQueer is being challenged and now hit with a lawsuit. But if you are an Oni Press creator you NEED to ask for your royalty statements and make sure you’re not missing a dime. Speaking as an Oni creator I can say with confidence that many people are owed money. With the leadership being fired, creators are NOT in a good spot. Please protect yourselves with a paper trail. Haven’t gotten a royalty statement but your books already been published? Don’t wait, email them. Waiting longer than 30 days to get paid? Don’t wait, email them. If your editor or contact person has been fired, dm me and I’ll give you the most updated email contact. We can support Maia and GenderQueer but we can’t look past the fact that Oni Press isn’t paying their royalties.”
Comic creator Matthew Erman responded “Pay your creators. Luckily I never had to invoice them because I got paid by @oheysteenz when they were my editor at Lion Forge but I’ve heard stories. If your business is dying, don’t hold up my or other’s ability to make a living in this already impossibly difficult industry.”
Oni Press representatives were approached for comment earlier today, but we didn’t hear anything back.
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