Does this image look familiar to you? Has it showed up in your RSS reader, or favorite blog? I’ve noticed it’s been floating around quite a bit the last few days, despite it being created nearly a month ago. That’s fine with me. Sometimes it takes a bit for great stuff like this to trickle down from its source. One thing I cannot abide by is that this image, nearly every time I’ve seen it in the last week has gone uncredited, or even worse, featured as someone else’s work. I’m here to set things straight.
This admittedly hilarious image is by Kerry Callen. As well as being the creator of the great Halo & Sprocket, Kerry has a personal blog where he shows off some truly inspired stuff that invariably makes its way around the blogosphere, be it Captain America eating his old shield, reinterpreting classic comic covers, or attempting to change his dog’s name. Now, I knew where the above mini comic came from because Kerry’s blog is in my RSS reader, so I saw it a while ago. If I hadn’t and I did end up seeing it at these “other places” (not naming names), I too would be unaware of its origin. This is why it’s important to give credit where it is due when posting cool stuff like this. For one, it gets the original artist more hits and potential feedback, which in turn will make them want to produce more content for their fans. Secondly, when you don’t disseminate information properly, it becomes exponentially harder to track down the source after the fact.
Forgive my ranting, because I am sure its possible to accidentally forget to give credit. What is unacceptable is when people try to pass images off as their own. Take again the above comic. At a casual glance, it looks like it could be from anywhere, the art style is very reminiscent of the Golden Age Superman style, but you don’t need a discerning eye to see that this is a case where the artist signs their work.
So, what I am trying to say is, if you see some cool original content on the internet, go ahead and share it! Just remember that someone made it, they deserve the credit, not your tumblr.