Olivia Cuartero-Briggs On The Latest With AfterShock Comics

Earlier this week, Bleeding Cool ran complaints from comic book creators, reportedly with issues getting paid from AfterShock Comics. Despite repeated attempts to elicit comment from Aftershock Comics, they did not return e-mails. They did reply to Comics Beat and ComicBook to say “Thank you for reaching out. For easy reference, here is our statement on the matter, the company is addressing late payments as outstanding funds owed to the company come in. There are no non-payments. Everyone who is owed money will be paid. We recognize our obligations and consider creator compensation our number one priority. We apologize for this situation and are making our best efforts to rectify it as quickly as possible.”

Olivia Cuartero-Briggs got in touch to tell us her perspective as the writer of Mary Shelley Monster Hunter, Bram Stoker Monster Hunter, and Silver City, both with Aftershock. She tells me “from everything I know personally, and from what I’ve heard from other creators, Aftershock has, indeed, suspended payment to many of its freelance creatives. It sucks, and I have a feeling there are folks out there who are owed a lot more than I am, so I really feel for them. Brian Cunningham has been very candid and transparent with everyone, and it’s much appreciated. Aftershock has its issues for sure, but they put out great books, support weird, diverse creators like myself, and take real, bold chances. This is definitely a scary time for those of us who have books now currently in limbo at Aftershock, but myself and many others are holding out hope that the company pulls through. The last thing our community needs is one less indie publisher.”

From other sources close to the decision-makers, I understand that AfterShock Comics are making payments as they are available, and there are examples of a number of creators getting paid up to date of late, but obviously, they have a fair number to get through. Brian Cunningham was hired as a new Aftershock EIC back in October, after a long period as Senior Story Editor of DC Comics. But the other person hired alongside Brian Cunningham was Chris Ryall, as Publishing Consultant. However, I understand that appointment didn’t actually happen this year as announced, as announced and is unlikely to go forward. We will be checking in with other Sftershock creators to see how the payment schedule plays out.