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The makers of comic book heroes for Dennis The Menace to Judge Dredd are united to take on Ai Copycats, still their biggest enemy.
The newly established trade association, Comic Book UK brings together companies such as DC Thomson, which publishes Beano, and 2000ad’s Rebellion Entertainment.
Other members include The Phoenix Comic. PhoenixComic publishes the Bunny vs. Monkey series, the graphic novel company Avery Hill Publishing and Fable, and the digital comics platform.
The group will lobby for government and investors’ perceptions of British comics as a key export industry and develop valuable intellectual property.
As the UK government is considering proposals to ease copyright laws to train AI models, one of the most pressing issues is ensuring the future of the industry.
The UK government is consulting on plans to allow AI companies to train models for commercial purposes of various UK content (from cartoons to music, films and newspapers) unless the company asks for a specific opt-out. The proposal sparked weeks of protests from artists, musicians, filmmakers and media groups.
According to Comic Book UK, the industry produces hundreds of thousands of pages of comic book content each year, and there is an extensive archive of historic content.
The UK publisher is behind some of the most famous comic characters, titled “Hundreds of thousands of readers enjoy it every week, and millions of graphic novels read each year.” These characters are often used in movies, TV shows and video games.
Comic book content is especially valuable for generative AI training, as it is highly visual and narratively driven.
The group warns that exemption proposals are not actually feasible and fail to provide rights holders with appropriate control and a means of seeking rewards for content and IP use in AI training.
He said this would hamper the growth of the comics industry.
Mark Fuller, CEO of British comic book, said, “The comic is one of the crown jewels of the UK’s creative industry and has a huge, undeveloped potential for further growth.”
Fuller also hopes that the comics industry will play a key role in the UK’s industrial strategy for the next decade. Sir Chris Bryant of Creative Industries said: “With an edgy history from Punch to 2000, British comics and comics have entertained millions of worlds as part of their £11 billion publishing sector, gaining its place and undeniable influence among the UK’s finest creative industries.”
