Eisner Award Winner Jen Bartel Reveals Why She Stopped Illustrating Covers For Marvel Comics

Eisner Award Winner Jen Bartel Reveals Why She Stopped Illustrating Covers For Marvel Comics

Jen Bartel is an Eisner Award-winning cover artist but recently stopped illustrating her eye-catching covers for Marvel Comics' She-Hulk. Now, the artist has set the record straight about what happened...

By JoshWilding - Sep 03, 2024 05:09 AM EST
Filed Under: Marvel Comics

Marvel Comics has long come under fire for failing to properly compensate writers and artists. That's why so many of the company's biggest names now produce independent comics despite once being responsible for many of Marvel's most iconic stories. 

Jen Bartel was discovered on social media and later worked for both Marvel and DC, first on promotional tie-ins, and later with jaw-dropping cover art. Perhaps best known for being the main cover artist on Rainbow Rowell's She-Hulk run, Bartel - who was employed as a freelancer - also redesigned Captain Marvel's costume for her comic's relaunch last year. 

She also co-created the Blackbird for Image with Sam Humphries and won two Eisner Awards for her work as a cover artist in 2019 and 2022.

For those of you wondering why she's no longer illustrating covers for Marvel Comics, Bartel set the record straight recently with a series of X posts calling out Marvel Comics' way of doing things. 

It started when the artist took issue with her work being sold as Marvel Snap cards for upwards of $100, something she doesn't see a penny from. Bartel was nominated for two more Eisners for "Best Cover Artist" for her She-Hulk work and, as you might expect, her Marvel Comics departure boiled down to money...or a lack thereof. 

"The very few times I asked for even a small a pay raise over a 4 year period the answer was no," Bartel explained. "What would you do if your employer never gave you even a modest salary bump in nearly half a decade?"

While Bartel faced the expected criticism for signing a contract and knowing what she was getting into, the artist responded to fans, explaining her position and the challenges faced by artists in the comic book industry. 

You can read through her responses below. 

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cubrn
cubrn - 9/3/2024, 5:59 AM
Ask any artist dating back to the 1960s as to why they left and this is the answer. The legacy of Stan Lee lives on.
bkmeijer1
bkmeijer1 - 9/3/2024, 6:12 AM
Another comic book artist not getting any form of raise or bonus. It doesn't surprise me anymore, that's s how often it happens. Not even an Eisner Award is enough
BillyBatson1000
BillyBatson1000 - 9/3/2024, 10:06 AM
@bkmeijer1 - Amen.
dagenspear
dagenspear - 9/5/2024, 4:39 PM
@BillyBatson1000 - Only by God's will.
Malatrova15
Malatrova15 - 9/3/2024, 6:28 AM
Seems The stan Lee method still strong after the old boi death .
Such a Lieber
BritishMonkey
BritishMonkey - 9/3/2024, 6:37 AM
It is time to change those terms and that law. It is highly unethical.
Hell, Peter David could've afforded his health care if Marvel ponied up the pennies. Instead he had to go through a [frick]ing crowdfunding for it.
FlixMentallo21
FlixMentallo21 - 9/3/2024, 9:31 AM
@BritishMonkey - Both of the Big Two need reformation, and yes, there need to be better-enforced laws ensuring those reforms are followed to the letter.
BritishMonkey
BritishMonkey - 9/3/2024, 10:06 AM
@FlixMentallo21 - Agreed.
DC pays its creators residuals better than Marvel but yeah there needs a shakeup
JustAWaffle
JustAWaffle - 9/3/2024, 6:55 AM
She should make more over time for her work, but are the sales going up? I think that should play a role.
braunermegda
braunermegda - 9/3/2024, 7:11 AM
Ridiculously insane to think they pay only $800 for a cover. It's so [frick]ed up.
GeneralZod
GeneralZod - 9/3/2024, 9:01 AM
@braunermegda - I look at it a bit differently. $800 alone is low, but there are a couple of dynamics at play: First, the publisher knows there are many other artists waiting in a very long line to get a crack at the cover (a bit of supply-and-demand economics). Second, and more important, the publisher knows that in the comic art market, the original art to the cover (which the artists keep) can reel in several thousand dollars, even tens of thousands, depending on the artist, which goes in the artist's pocket. The publisher effectively gave the artist a platform to make additional, significant money from the cover. And that's just the cover. If they draw the interior, they also keep the original art pages for the interior which they can also sell in the original art market.
Thing94
Thing94 - 9/3/2024, 9:54 AM
@GeneralZod - This is true. Artist's can make some good money with their originals and on the artist alley convention market.
BillyBatson1000
BillyBatson1000 - 9/3/2024, 10:05 AM
@GeneralZod - One of the best developments in comic art was the ability to scan and 'send in' pencil work without touching the original boards. That meant you could hang on to your originals - and you didn't get too upset when they used an unsympathetic inker to finish your pages. Some of the biggest names in comics did not get (all of) their original art back. Jack Kirby for one. At one point, they stacked his art next to a toilet in a shared office block and passing people would 'take' pages to read in the John.
GeneralZod
GeneralZod - 9/3/2024, 12:08 PM
@BillyBatson1000 - That's right. Neal Adams fought pretty hard for the 'right' that artists be allowed to keep their OA pages. Jim Shooter was also a leader on this (nice guy Jim Shooter, BTW). Neal is gone, but he lost a lot of $$$ because he didn't have those OA pages like the artists from the Copper Age and onward.
BillyBatson1000
BillyBatson1000 - 9/3/2024, 12:36 PM
@GeneralZod - Agreed (Some of my 'heroes' right there). And I don't think we'll see their like again (though Jim Shooter continues as consulting editor for a smaller company). He definitely made things better for the creatives/turned Marvel around when they needed him.
GeneralZod
GeneralZod - 9/3/2024, 1:21 PM
@BillyBatson1000 - I was at a Con a few months ago and had the privilege of chatting for a good 15 minutes with Shooter at a bar (after-show). He definitely stays active. He remarked that he was proud about what he and the entire Bullpen were able to do at Marvel from 78 to 87. And he mentioned that one of his priorities when he took over was getting more rights for the artists and writers.
BillyBatson1000
BillyBatson1000 - 9/3/2024, 1:29 PM
@GeneralZod - I can well believe it - Marvel might not even be around (in its current form) if not for the changes he brought in. At the very least, he got the titles out on time.
GeneralZod
GeneralZod - 9/3/2024, 2:05 PM
@BillyBatson1000 - I also mentioned to Shooter that what he did at Marvel spurred the competition -- DC -- to get their act together. He appreciated that.
BillyBatson1000
BillyBatson1000 - 9/3/2024, 2:46 PM
@GeneralZod - That is so cool. And true. It did.
Beer85
Beer85 - 9/3/2024, 7:28 AM
This is one of the reasons a majority of todays comic books are written and drawn by mentally ill people who work for a cheese sandwich. Really sad.
BillyBatson1000
BillyBatson1000 - 9/3/2024, 9:53 AM
@Beer85 - AND there's no cheese in that sandwich!
Toonstrack
Toonstrack - 9/4/2024, 8:18 PM
@Beer85 - you haven't read a comic in five years if you're saying this. Probably longer.
dagenspear
dagenspear - 9/5/2024, 4:37 PM
@Beer85 - LORD willing, insulting isn't right.
xfan320
xfan320 - 9/3/2024, 7:59 AM
This is how AI wins.
Biggums
Biggums - 9/3/2024, 9:14 AM
@xfan320 - ai is the future. Until regulation of course, then that's another issue.
dragon316
dragon316 - 9/3/2024, 8:18 AM
I ask comic artist question this is type answer he gave me for any company except maybe image Stan lee was alive or not that’s how it is for comic artists even for characters they create they no pay if there used cartoons, video games movies action figures dc and marvel does
BillyBatson1000
BillyBatson1000 - 9/3/2024, 9:52 AM
To be fair (I know irony) this is standard practise across ALL the comic majors. It's unsustainable and AI isn't going to fix it. You literally need another job to support you while you're working full time for them. If you're an artist/inker/ colorist/writer and you recognize the burn - my respect!

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xkot
xkot - 9/3/2024, 11:01 AM
Good for Jen Bartel. I'm a retired illustrator. Illustration of any kind has never been particularly lucrative unless you were Maxfield Parrish or Norman Rockwell. You could make a living at it if you were good or fast -- or both, like Alex Ross -- but that's about it. As someone said upthread, it's a buyer's market. There's always someone willing to work for less money for the "exposure." It's a shame that trickle-up economics keeps the talent and IP creators poor and hungry. I hope she can use her fame from doing work for Marvel to build a fanbase that will support her other work. That's about the only thing artists can hope for. As for artists keeping and selling their original comic work, or doing commissions ... that's working harder, not smarter. It's a losing game. You want to be able to create something once, and be able to monetize it. It's what Marvel does. The artists should also be cut in to make something off that kind of repeat commerce. Actors get residuals; artists should as well.
RitoRevolto
RitoRevolto - 9/3/2024, 11:52 AM
Comic book companies do better.

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