(Updated Sun. Dec. 7th to correct source of Marc Simont quote)
For the interest of those who read my Emily Strange copyright post, it turns out that the illustrator of the Nate the Great series was -not- aware of the Emily the Strange overlap.
According to Laughing Squid, Marc Simont replies:
“Thank you for your interest in the Emily the Strange caper, which I just learned about a few days ago. Marjorie Sharmat, the author, and I have referred it to the legal department of the publisher. We have not had any contact with Cosmic Debris. Marjorie has the rights to the text and I have the rights to the illustrations. The illustrations are copyrighted in my name.”
Kudos to Chelsea of You Thought We Wouldn’t Notice for writing to Mr. Simont and letting him know.
{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
Hey Inkygirl, great coverage of the Emily story. I just wanted to mention that the quote above (which the LA Times reposted) originally appeared in our Laughing Squid article here. There seemed to be a ton of questions regarding the copyright status of Rosamond, so of course I was thrilled to learn about it directly from Mr. Simont.
On a side note, I’d noticed a ton of discussion on the YTWWN (post as well as others) totally stayed away from actually discussing the similarities between the two panels. Since these commenters must not have been able to see the giant elephant in the room, I figured I’d draw it for them.
Thanks for the clarification, Dr. Popular — I’ll edit my post. And I love your illustration!!