Oh this is too good. I can't believe this isn't on the site yet. I searched for any topics relating to it, but didn't find anything.

Anyway! Nick Simmons, son of KISS musician Gene Simmons (guy with the black and white make-up and the fake tongue), put out a comic called Incarnate. One of those american manga style things. Well, it looks like he was copying panel layouts, character designs, poses, even dialogue from some well known manga titles. Specifically, Tite Kubo's manga Bleach. But other titles being recognized are Hellsing, Vampire Hunter D, One Piece, NANA, and more. I think heard Neil Gaiman's Sandman might be in the mix too, but I'm not sure I can verify that one.

The other manga titles might be up to opinion, but the copying, or "homages" from Bleach (if you want to be kind) are pretty obvious. And despite what you personally think of Bleach, or manga/anime in general, not only is that level of copying is just ridiculous, but to take it from manga that is as popular as Bleach?

So, sources! Here's a LJ page that gives a good summary of what's gone down, a compilation of comparison shots of Simmons "comic" and Bleach (plus more from contributers in the comments section), and more.

http://community.livejournal.com/bleachness/446299.html

And a couple other links for good measure

http://www.comicbookresources.com/?page=article&id=24983
http://anythingkiss.blogspot.com/2010/02/nick-simmons-incarnate-halted-over.html
http://robot6.comicbookresources.com/2010/02/radical-halts-nick-simmons-incarnate-amid-claims-of-plagiarism/
http://www.toplessrobot.com/2010/02/gene_simmons_kid_nick_is_a_comic_creator_a_doucheb.php

(that last one is my favorite)
And if this indeed old news, and I'm just late to the party, my apologies.

He has a comic book?

Why?

Well, there goes his integrity as an artist. Let's see him try to get a job in any related field ever again...

Instead we should have gotten Gene Simmons to record a parody of his own KISS song called "God of Manga" about the life of Osamu Tezuka. Just sayin'.

This is the reason some gamers like myself hate blatant clones. (Not saying I think the man is guilty.)

Edit: Took a look at some of those links and goddamn that is pretty bad. Some Dante's Inferno cloning going on here...Damn.

I don't have much to add other than THAT IS NOT A FAKE TONGUE!

I'm one of those who thinks almost all manga looks the same, but that IS a little much

*ehh... even so, finding it hard to care.*

clearly a plagiarist though.

Okay, I am cool with the idea that not everything can be original any more.

But to be tracing someone else's work and then publishing it as your own? Wow.

It's great he likes Kubo Tite's work (and others... Dante's Inferno, Helsing, White Wolf), but it seems he's thought they were awesome ideas and then decided to remake it all, smashing it all together and then claiming it as his own.

That's the worst part, that he's getting royalties for artwork that isn't totally his.

It's great that he's inspired by them, but to totally rip them off is another thing altogether.

Matt_LRR:

this kind of thing isn't entirely unheard of in anime - particularly shounen anime.
-m

The difference between your example and the current case is that it was simply a set of movements copied in a fight scene. Everything else was different from location to characters and if there was any dialogue that would be different too.

This current case of plagiarism copies every from character looks to dialogue and move sets. Heck even some of the locations look disturbingly similar.

I don't get it, much like the D-gray Man author plagiarizing some one else work , at least in that case there was one stand out design that looked like another . Here I'd say 90% of those compositions and lay outs that have appeared in hundreds of mangas, the only real ones that look similar is the guy laughing.

i laughed so hard it hurts reading his replies to the accusations:

"I have no idea how people are saying my comic looks like that bleach manga. My book is in color and the other is not. My book reads left to right... the other reads right to left."

quote of the day!

EDIT: typos typos typos....

So similar...But I still can't bring myself to care, mainly as I know nothing of Bleach.

The biggest collection of comparisons: http://community.livejournal.com/bleachness/446299.html

It's shameless really how he managed to rip off every mainstream and übher-popular manga in the world

Looks similar I guess... I suppose MW2 and B:BC2 are 'similar' though...

I'd rather not voice a real opinion over this, because sure he may have ripped bleach and some other shit off, but I don't think I have any right to call him out on this, I once designed a comic storyline and was told that it was a complete ripoff of a videogame I had never heard of. So there is a .05% chance he's telling the truth and if he is, he really needs to stop making comics if he accidentally rips off so heavily stuff he's "never heard of before"

I lol'd hard, this has been going on for what? A day now and it's kicked up this big a shit storm, oh I can't wait to see what happens.

There are ripp off's and then there are RIPP OFF'S.

Looks like I need to read Bleach, although this 'Incarnate' looks pretty cool, I have to admit.

Well yes the art does look like a pretty shameless trace, though it's not like he's ripping off entire story lines/arcs right?

I mean the art is only half the product the other is the story if that's at least not glaringly a copy it can't be that bad right?

Edit: after much further research i do say, "holy crap O.o" that's pretty bad

I love his completely level-headed responses to all of the criticisms on the last ToplessRobot link.
_/Sarcasm

Really, if you're getting into an industry of any kind, I believe some thicker skin is in order.

If you're honestly going to face criticism with threatening to suspend somebody's Facebook account, then you're in the wrong business.

What's that? A famous person's offspring with little to no talent stealing/leeching off "regular" people who have it?

Never!

Hardly surprising, name any single one of the multitude of celebrity sprogs who seem to have crawled out of the woodwork over the past few years - they're all at it, and largely get away with it because they're already "famous".

Meh, I say, meh.

Hazy:
I love his completely level-headed responses to all of the criticisms on the last ToplessRobot link.
_/Sarcasm

Really, if you're getting into an industry of any kind, I believe some tougher skin is in order.

Theres a diffrance between thick skin and just admiting when you're busted though.

GeekFury:

Hazy:
I love his completely level-headed responses to all of the criticisms on the last ToplessRobot link.
_/Sarcasm

Really, if you're getting into an industry of any kind, I believe some tougher skin is in order.

Theres a diffrance between thick skin and just admiting when you're busted though.

I agree, but threatening to suspend people's facebook accounts is a childish thing for a writer to do, especially when faced with the speculation that there may be plagerised material evident.

Even if he does keep up this act, he can atleast try to keep a credible persona.

Matt_LRR:

?

this kind of thing isn't entirely unheard of in anime - particularly shounen anime.
-m

Just because the animators decided to copy a few quick cuts of another anime doesn't mean that Naruto is unoriginal. I doubt Kishimoto had anything to do with that. This is on an entirely different field altogether.

But that facebook Nick is an impostor. As far as I know, the guy hasn't released a public statement. I really can't wait for it. I'm also interested in seeing if Daddy's Money can keep a lawsuit at bay. It'd be nice to make an example of him. Plagiarism is plagiarism, whether it's "just" the art, or the whole shebang. Blood, sweat, and tears go into a weekly manga like Bleach. It's one of the dangers of being a professional manga artist, especially in the case of Weekly Shonen Jump; sleep is a luxury. So many have gotten sick and/or injured doing what they love, and it really ticks me off that this guy shamelessly stole so much from them.

Daveman:
tbh, I'm still fairly willing to believe it's coincidence, though it probably isn't.

I as well am trying my hardest to stay neutral on the subject, but to be honest, some of those comparison shots looked like straight carbon copies.