Ron S2112 wrote:
GammaJosh wrote:

2. Is contacting the family the decent thing to do?  YES!

 
Ridiculous.  Thousands of  biographical works are published every year.  I seriously doubt families of the subjects of every one of these are contacted.  In fact, unless input from family members is relevant to the book in question, I'm guessing that it's not normal practice to involve families.

  
In the tiny little field of comics, where the author and publisher are promoting this book at the same comic-cons where they're practically rubbing elbows with John Buscema's relatives?  Sorry, but it IS the decent thing to do.  It's not like it's a book about the president or Paris Hilton. 

It's not like John Buscema is THAT much of a public figure.  He's notable within the field of comics, and only then within a little sub-cult of people who collect old comics and are interested enough in them to care about the creators.  I'd guess that most of the people I see at my local LCS wouldn't know who he is if I pulled them aside and asked.  His notoriety is such that, honestly, I doubt if his family's feelings on discovering the book were much different than you or I discovering someone had written a book about one of our relatives.

Again, I'm not suggesting that the author was legally required to contact or offer compensation to John Buscema's family.  I'm just saying that there are common standards of decency that I'd like to believe still apply, and you'd think it would have occurred to the author to say something to the family before the book was completed.



Last Edited By: GammaJosh Mar 24 11 12:46 AM. Edited 3 times.