Today, D.J. Coffman posted on his blog, in the interest of maintaing a transparency with his readership, that he’s suspended his “Hero by Night” comic series due to non-payment issues with Platinum Studios.

Rich Johnston reports in his Lying in the Gutters column that DJ’s post has encouraged other creators to anonymously come forward about their own non-payment issues with Platinum, some of them owed thousands of dollars for months.

This is a very sad situation for everyone involved. There are many legitimate reasons that Platinum may find themselves in a position where they can’t pay their creators. From reading DJ’s blog post, he seems sympathetic to the company despite these issues and has entered into negotiations with them to regain his rights to the series.

I’m not sure if we touched on this in the book, but I know we’ve discussed it on the podcast. It’s so important that it bears repeating: once you sign away your rights to a second party, that party is really under no obligation to ever return those rights back to you. Even when the situation is out of the control of both parties and everyone has the best of intentions.

Contracts are not enchanted documents that enforce some kind of morality upon all parties involved. They are not magically consumed in brilliant clouds of sparks and dust if either party breaches the terms. A company could go bankrupt and you might still never regain your rights.

Now, it looks like in the case of Hero by Night, we might have a happy ending. I think that Platinum will most likely let DJ continue his series on his own, if for no other reason than to make sure their reputation isn’t irrevocably damaged after being so public with the series and their good intentions. But remember that even after non-payment, Platinum could well be within their legal rights to maintain ownership of DJ’s work.

I am shocked at how many cartoonists I’ve talked to who think that a creator’s rights automatically revert back to the creator if something goes tits up. Unless that’s specified that is NOT the case. And even if that is specified in a contract, those rights can be tied up in negotiations or legal battles for years.

Ownership of your work is the single greatest asset you have as a creator. Never willingly sign that ownership away. I can never say that enough. Write that in a notepad 10 times every day and then show me that notepad at an upcoming convention so I know you’re paying attention.

Think of your creation as a tree that you’ve planted as a seed, that you hope will one day grow tall and bear fruit. That fruit will hopefully feed yourself and your family for years. Would you willingly give away your tree for one season’s harvest of fruit?

Keep your trees, guys. Trust me on this one.