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The internet and a few law suits have been talking about the biography comics from Blue Water Productions featuring lady GaGa and teen pop star/annoying trending topic, Justin Bieber. Annoying as those two can be, is Blue Water really out of line? Not only in a legal sense but as a comic book publisher? Could we be at risk for another blood in the ink gimmick like Marvel’s KISS comics of the late 70’s? Blue Water seems confident this is not the case. A cease and desist order was sent to them by GaGa and Bieber but an unworried Blue Water spoke to MTV News: “We are 100% within our First Amendment rights,” Davis told MTV News. “We knew our rights on this before we jumped into the biography world. These are 100% biographies on their lives.” The “biography world isn’t new by any means. In the early 90’s Revolutionary Comics produces a series called Rock n’ Roll comics telling the stories of big bands like Guns and Roses and Led Zeppelin. The New Kids on the Block shared similar feelings to GaGa and Bieber resulting in lawsuits. The first amendment won in court and unauthorized biographies comic or not go on. Blue Water Productions purchased the rights to reprint Rock N’ Roll comics recently and is continuing with it’s very popular biography comics and long with original content comics.
The biographies making news are the two in litigation but the list of celebrities Blue Water has covered is interesting. Governor Schwarzenegger, Kristen Stewart, the last five U.S. Presidents, the current President’s Dog, even a Women in Media featuring Oprah and Ellen. While none of this is traditional super hero comics I think the non fiction comic book could be very interesting. I would love to see an artist’s take on the schizophrenia of mathematician and Nobel Laureate in Economics John Forbes Nash, Jr. of even American theoretical physicist and “father of the atomic bomb” J. Robert Oppenheimer. Not only could graphic novels be interesting presentations for biographical stories. Classic literature, general history, just about all teaching could benefit. Educationworld.com calls comics “an effective tool for engaging students.” and the New York City Comic Book Museum offers a complete English curriculum built around comics. Marvel has supported this idea of education and comics with it’s Marvel Illustrated line of comics feature classics like Pride and Prejudice, the Illiad, Treasure Island, and more. They even offer downloadable teachers guides.
It isn’t clear if Blue Water is aiming at taking comics to further into the world of non fiction or just cashing in on popular names in the media. There is room for both. With Blue Water comics reporting high sales non fiction comics could prove lucrative enough and valuable enough in education to spark other publishers to jump in. If nothing else there should always be room for any company producing a comic about Betty White.
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