Dear God, I got through maybe two to three comparison shots and I had to stop, it was so embarrassing I cringed. I'm surprised Nick even showed up on the facebook page,if I was him I would probably off myself from the embarrassment

You know who else gets possessed and channels things they have never seen before when they start drawing?

http://heroeswiki.com/Isaac_Mendez

That last quote. Please tell me you made that up. Please. Please don't tell me he actually said that.

That is amazing. Oh VIZ, please, please drop the hammer.

Nick's NOT A PLAGIRIST! You're blowing this out of proportion! Does anyone at TR know who his parents are?

Wow. "My dad's gonna be so mad, you guys don't even know." Whenever I "borrow" somebody's work for my own nefarious purposes on my blog or in my art, I bash the reader over the head with the fact that I'm basically stealing, and then apologize to the artist who I'm stealing from.

Never had any complaints. Of course, I'm not publishing any work in a real comic or book, either.

I might have to write Nick off on this one. He's funny on the show, but apparantly a jackass in real life.

"looks like that bleach magma". Tell me that's [sic]! Jesus H., what a douche canoe.

Nick also went on to state that he doesn't read "magma" or watch anime, since "cartoons are for kids".

This is extra funny seeing that he has stated in an interview that his favorite comic is Berserk by Kentaro Miura, he also lists two additional mangakas as his favorite artists on his dA page.

Epic Fail has gotten a new face, and it's not a pretty one.

This comedy gold. This guy is so disconnected from real life, that it wouldn't even be funny, except, it's totally funny. :D

Expect him to post here very soon, demanding to know "WHOSE RESPONSIBLE THIS?!?"

The guy claiming to be Nick Simmons on Face Book is probably a fake, although the rest is much too true.

From the school of "I WILL SUE YOU IN INTERNET COURT WHOSE RESPONSIBLE THIS" we now give you the douchebag son of the douchebag KISS lead singer. This is amazing.

"I never even heard of Bleach!" Dude. I'm a manga virgin and don't have any manga-reading friends, and even I know what fucking Bleach is.

I think his sister is hot. That is all.

I agree that the comments are probably from a fake account, but that doesn't make them any less hilarious to read.

Yeah, a world of difference since it's colored and reads left->right instead of left

The line about his being in color and the other being in black and white, and reading left to right vs. right to left reminds me of Vanilla Ice. Back when "Ice Ice Baby" came out a lot of people were up in arms that he sampled "Under Pressure" by Queen and Bowie. And I remember him in an interview saying that his baseline was different because instead of going "dun dun dun dun dun" it actually went "dun dun-dun-dun dun dun dun" and the extra notes made all the difference.

Nick Simmons: Douchemaster Extraordinaire

It is possible to unintentionally plagiarize something by reading/seeing something and then copying it without realizing it. Anyone who tries to write songs will tell you this. But man... those overlays are too close to be unintentional and when someone realizes they have plagiarized something, the reaction is usually the opposite, because bullying gets you no where and doesn't change the law.

Theif or not.... I'll always love KISS. but then again this has nothing to do with KISS, and I've never heard of Bleach so I guess I don't care. Yeay me!

Hahahahahahahahahahahaha! Vague similarities? Wow. This is classic!

Wow i'd be a little more forgiving if he actually had some talent and just took inspiriation from certain shots but my god... THIS GUY SUCKS! He's taking good artwork and making it look like... this... ATROCITY! For shame Gene Simmons for producing this cretin! And for shame on whatever piece of shit comic publisher who is letting this get to print! The mind boggles.

AHAHA, funny stuff, but is there really any cause against Simmons? There's a pretty famous, mainstream comic artist who does image rips all the time. Wish I could think of his name right now.

Well, it would be libel, not slander, since it is in a written form. That being said, defamation is nearly impossible to prosecute, especially against so many individuals.

Luckily for internet trolls everywhere, the law protects individuals against defamation suits if something is stated as opinion, or if the information debated in the best interest of the overall community.

I agree that there is no way the guy on Facebook is really him - his publicist would kill him if it was.

Blatantly copying someone else's book would sure save me a lot of time on my own comic books!

I bet Rob Liefeld believes him. Maybe they should start their own douche bag club dedicated to their homages of other peoples art.

I guess I don't see what the big deal is.

First of all, while I'm hardly a gigantic comics/manga fan (or any kind of fan at all) I found pretty much all the images from both comics to be highly derivative; every one of them gave me a feeling of deja vu, like I'd seen it a thousand times already from what comics/anime I have seen. You could probably play the "they copied from this" with images from any number of sources. Some of the alleged resemblances on that page are pretty generic; blond anime chicks crying--- I could probably find a Sailor Moon image that I could say bleach copied from.

That aside, I'm not even sure if that is plagiarism. There are differences here; at worst he modified his stuff enough to avoid copyright infringement (I would think). When I was a kid, I tried to write a book that was essentially identical to this book I really liked. Like, I went page by page copying events, but putting it into my own words. Derivative? Yes. Plagiarism? Probably not.

In any case, we've got this weird cultural obsession with originality--- which oddly enough is why we're so busy remaking old properties instead of making new, but quite similar, stories (at least in movies). If Shakespeare were writing today, he would either be the king of remakes, or he would get run out of town for "plagiarism"--- only two or three of his plays weren't bald lifts from pre-existing material. He didn't give a shit about originality, and so gave us some of the greatest original work ever. The question with Incarnate is, originality of the art aside, is it telling a story worth reading? I have no idea either way. If he is telling a story worth reading, then god bless him in his thievery--- it's for a good cause.

Hopefully that made a bit of sense.

Easily worthy of a WHOSE RESPONSIBLE THIS.

i doubt that it's the real nick posting responses (god i hope it's not him. nobody can be that big a tool, right? not even the spawn of gene simmons, right? please?), but regardless that's just fucking awful. did he just get a pencils set and a pad of tracing paper for his birthday and decide to make a comic?!?

i've got this great idea for a book about an alien from the planet krypton who comes to earth as a baby. as a child his parents are gunned down in front of him and he makes a vow to avenge them and begins training. when he's sixteen he's bitten by a radioactive spider and gain all of it's strengths. after graduating college and becoming a blind lawyer he uses all of the resources of his weapons manufacturing company to build a suit of armour to escape his terrorist captors and becomes the greatest superhero the world has ever know: mickey mouse!

anyone interested? peter kriss, i'm looking at you.

The best part is his idiotic defense:
My book is in color and the other is not. My book reads left to right... the other reads right to left

Of course they will be opposite on reading them because Bleach! is Manga from Japan and his shitty imitation is produced in the US.

By the way, Gene Simmons is a bassist, not a guitarist. He's still a douchebag, of course, and his son's an even bigger one, but I just wanted to correct that error.

Look. Me and the McDonald's people got this little misunderstanding. See, they're McDonald's. I'm McDowell's. They got the Golden Arches, mine is the Golden Arcs. They got the Big Mac, I got the Big Mick. We both got two all-beef patties, special sauce, lettuce, cheese, pickles and onions, but their buns have sesame seeds. My buns have no seeds.

Anyone else notice that his wild bleating about getting everyone's facebook accounts suspended seems oddly similar to one certain Brickhousebunny?

WHOSE RESPONSIBLE THIS

I think I'll do a little plagiarizing of my own:

AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!

WHOSE RESPONSIBLE THIS indeed.

I think we just found out who Brickhousebunny really is.

Everyone here is in trouble now, I just sent a message to my dad's lawyers and if this site doesn't delete all traces of this story or if anyone here doesn't get rid of this little joke they've made out of this story in three days, everyone here will be just like I've warned everyone else here like before, don't bother trying to lie to courts to save your own skins because the law is on my side and there's nothing you can do about it, they've already found out who Rob Bricken is and they're on my side as we speak, they agreed in three days time everyone here will be sued if the big boss behind all this doesn't get rid of all traces of this little joke they've posted, this is your last warning, I've warned you all but you didn't listen, deleting any evidance won't do you any good either, I've shown every piece of evidance to dad's lawyers and it's all over for everyone here and Rob Bricken, if everyone here doesn't follow the warning and get rid of this in three days, than judgement day will come for everyone here and Rob Bricken, even if you had nothing to do with it, I don't care and the judges agree with me, you have three days and if this isn't gone when I get back, the lawyers will sue everyone here, even making all the bad comments won't do you any good. You all have three days or else.

I would bet it is Nick on FB only because he is an arrogant douche like his Dad. He wouldn't listen to his publicist if his name was being shit on he is too the awesome for that.
His Dad would try and sue a bunch of faceless people on the internet too because he's a flaming bag of pretenious douche, they have no souls or understanding of how the real world works they have too much money for the conventional rules to apply.

I hope it's Nick on Facebook. It would just take the funny to the next level.

If you go to the FB group, it looks like the guy posting those things was actually a troll, not the real Nick Simmons.

The blatant plagiarism is sickening, though.

Gene Simmons is no douchebag! That is blasphemy. If his kid copied from the other book like it appears, then he is the douche. Thank you.

I remember Littlekuriboh posted a link to a TV show about the Simmons family, where Nick's friend had a Yu-Gi-Oh Abridged T-Shirt and Nick quoted Yu-Gi-Oh the Abridged Series.. So I know he watches anime based parodies.. How does one learn to draw in an anime/manga style if they don't like it anyway?

I also chronically wet my bed.

He's just digging himself into a big hole.

http://www.encyclopediadramatica.com/File:Nickislying3.png

I can't wait to here Nick's side of the story in his upcoming interview on Fresh Air.

It's one thing when a "professional artist" pulls out the old light box and just traces his way to his deadlines, somehow because this involves a quasi-celeb it feels 1000x worse.

I'd be surprised if Nick even did the rip off drawings. He's probably outsourced all his work Pat Lee style.

Hey guys! I got this awesome new idea for a website! Its called "Shirtless Android" and its gonna be great! We're gonna talk about lotsa cool dorky stuff AND its gonna read from bottom to top! Cmon yous! Wooooohoooooo hOOhh!!!!!

Daddy!?!?! Daddy they dont like my ideas. Waaaaah. *farts*

He... does know that Facebook isn't Sly Stallone/Judge Dread right?

"Stop making fun of me! I am the LAW! You say mean word-things hurt feelings shoot shoot monkey shoot."

I would agree that it’s incredibly hard for something to be “100% original”, however you want to define original. Artists and writers are influenced by other works they liked, and there are only so many poses you can draw and evil laughs you can imitate.

But in that side-by-side example, Nick’s work looks like he laid a piece of paper over the “Bleach” panel and traced it and added a couple of different flourishes. In other words, it looks like what we did when we were 10, and desperately wanted to be an awesome artist like that but our drawing skills hadn’t progressed beyond stick figures, so we traced professional artists’ illustrations and colored them in and called it “our” art. Which is, frankly, a far sadder thing to think about him, than to think that he’s just a stealing douchebag.

Well at least I know where that picture of a white hair kenpatchi was from, has been bugging me since the first time I saw it.

Uh...those aren't really big differences as he's trying to make them seem.

Kubo needs to go lawkai.

"Flaming bag of pretentious douche" made me LOL.

Wow.

I jerked off to his mom in "A Woman Scorned" so many times it's not funny.

Now times that by a million or four.

This kid has a right to be messed up.

Gene isnt a douche, he keeps his kids in line better then crazy old Ozzy. Hes a whore for money but his son is definitely a douche.
How could he be doin a manga comic an never have heard of Bleach? I hate manga except for Streetfighter an Akira and even Ive heard of Bleach. But I do have to say one thing. All Manga LOOKS the Same! Thats how its so easy for people to draw. Its the lazy mans way of drawing.
I think Im goin to join that Facebook page because Nick thinks he can sue people

Couple of things:

1. I fully expect to see Hitler ranting about this (pro and con!) by the middle of next week.

2. What if, just work with me a moment, what if, TECHNICALLY, Nick Simmons is being truthful and he DIDN'T copy the panels from Bleach...because someone else is 'ghosting' the art and he's just putting his name on it?

It's all just sad.

How could he Not have read "Magma" his comics ARE Magna

You should use this picture an put Whos responsible This?

He said on the facebook page, that he doesnt know why hes bein persecuted no trial or jury "Story of my life" Ive watched Family jewels an hes a prissy whiny bitch.
even at college when the guys he was stayin with were excited to have genes son there an he acted like he was royalty an got his dad to rescue him

So many comments. I didn't read them all, so I apologize if this has already been said... I'll bet there won't be any real statements from Nick Simmons (or anyone else in the family) until after there's an episode of "Family Jewels" about it.

When I saw the first pic, my first thoughts were, give the guy a break...similar poses can happen and maybe it's even an homage. But then I saw the next pic...and the next one...and the next one...and...well. Ya.
Then I read his responses and it utterly removed whatever shred of sympathy I may have had. Especially since he made it a point to make sure it was known it was his daddy that he consulted to ship in the lawyers.

was tryin to say they look the same... because all manga is the SAME
alot of those pictures on facebook are completely different. when he carbon copies an exact pose THATS plagarism

Gene plays bass. Ace Frehley was the guitarist. Geez. You call yourself a nerd.

Honestly, I could care less about him ripping off Bleach (especially since Kubo seems to find it hilarious), but the son of a bitch apparently also traced Crocodile and stealing from Oda is going too far.

That's horrible.

Someone willingly had sex with Gene Simmons and gave birth to his child?

it should be noted when this story first broke that Nick might have borrowed some from Vampire hunter d also not just Bleach for as much as Nick if it is him on face book says he was homaging the panels in question . could be he might have been getting most of his influence from the sources he is suppose to have stolen from . for RAdical comics will find the truth of the matter. after all Nick seems to be have been found guilty already without having a fair right to defend his actions before gene winds up sueing to help his son.

According to the link to Bleachness above, the publishers announced just today that they are suspending production while they check this out...ouch.

Hey thanks for spreading the news! I was worried that TR wouldn't blog about this, especially after the recent Bleach Top Ten list seemed... unpopular. At least in some of the comments.

But plagiarism is plagiarism, and one doesn't need to be a Bleach fan, or even a manga fan, to get riled up by this douchebaggery.

"Evening Owl and New York City, Ph.D."

Finally! We have names for Earth-Two Watchmen!

WOW... Just wow. Search for images of this piece of shit rip-off of a comic and tell me he doesn't also steal panels from Helsing.

Wow, Topless Robot, full of trollbait.

What would you expect from a son of a psycho, hell spawn, deamon like Gene? Are we surprised?

His old man's stuff was derivative and shallow, Nick's just taking the next logical step by stealing others' material outright!

Seriously, this guy should pay up or get jail time. Never heard of bleach? It's right there, Nick, under your bed, next to your porn manga!

I can only shake my head.

Some of the possible examples of plagiarism were a little far-fetched and the similarity was loose at best. Other possible examples however were eerily similar. Similar enough to justify legal action? Unlikely.

Also, please change this post to say Gene Simmons plays bass. Just...please.

This is appalling! What an unoriginal douche! He clearly knows nothing about comic art if the best he can come up with is "DUR MY COMIC READS THIS WAY AND IS IN COLOR"

Okay, dumbass. But your characters, the events going on, the panels, panel placement, balloon placement, etc etc etc nearly everything else is identical! What a pillock!!

1 image: "Okay, it's similar; big deal."

2-5 images: "Well, he was clearly inspired by Bleach...but that's not necessarily the same as plagiarizing it..."

6+ images: "Damn thieving bastard!"

I could overlook any one or two of those, especially the general look of the characters, since the human body has a finite number of variations and coincidence/subconscious memory *does* happen. The sheer number of virtually IDENTICAL characters, poses, and chunks of dialog shoots that theory all to hell.

*Fictional account of Nick Simmons' "creative process" for penning his "original" manga*

"Pheh! Bleach! The fuck is a Bleach! I can make a better manga than this! I got my trace-paper! I got my pencils and crayolas! LET'S DO THIS! LEEEEEROYYYYYYYYYYYY JENKIIIIINS"

*end scene*

Where is the Hitler rant about this? I want it now.

Yeah, it's now being reported that the Nick Simmons on Facebook is a fake, so that's probably the one thing we can't blame on him.

Funny thing, I've been following this story for months, since it first came out. I posted on ANN, CBR, and Bleeding Cool about similarities to Hellsing. Someone commented about the blond character Shinji from Bleach from preview shots online. Then I guess the story gestated and then exploded out of the womb last night. Good for all the Bleach fans that caught it and got specific details. I could only find general comparisons to Hellsing. Though I rather like to think I helped fan the flames of justice. Yes, face the FAN OF JUSTICE! (outrageous)

you know id be willing to ignore this if it was just some small scale DeviantArt grade theft, then we could just leave this to EncyclopediaDramatica as just another load of crap but involving a semi-famous person

but no, what really irks me is that HES SELLING THIS CRAP, shouldnt his dad, being part of an artistic genre, have told him at somepoint about how much of a dick move that theft is?

Eh. Manga tends to run together for me anyway, so one looking like another really isn't anything new for me.

Really, the only bit of note are his responses, much like Todd Goldman did a few years back.

Tracing: it didn't work for Liefeld and it doesn't work for Nick Simmons. No one is fooled. Besides plagiarism, Simmons' crime is underestimating the intelligence and judgment of anyone with a functioning set of eyes and a brain. Does he truly think the comic-reading community is THAT stupid?

Dude, rule #1 of being a liar: DON'T be a liar if you aren't good at it already. By the time you get good at it, everyone already knows you're full of shit. Admit you swiped, apologize, promise you will stop insulting the intelligence of everyone, and maybe you can salvage some sort of life.

Or, you know, convince yourself that you're NOT a thief and then spend the rest of your life hanging around only people who'll you'll never know whether they really believe you or are just playing along. Which is exactly the punishment every plagiarist gets.

actually BOREDLIZZIE , i can answer that .

his music sucks, he is a lousy actor , and considering he is THE SON OF *blah blah blah*
he has to live up to the "legacy" of daddy. have not cared about the GENE tvshow or his son's music career so if i am peeked ill download the music for a laff or listen to when i drink ^__^

the only person who did this well was Miley Cyrus and she is overshadowing daddy.
this loser , is and WILL end up as a bad joke in musical history and a signifigant TYPO in the world of ART .

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Simmons' crime is underestimating the intelligence and judgment of anyone with a functioning set of eyes and a brain. Does he truly think the comic-reading community is THAT stupid?

wow, this is so funny. I'd still do him though. He's hot.

Anyone pontificating like a retard about how this isn't plagiarism is either a tool or doesn't know the definition of plagiarism. Hey toxic or whoever here's a hint: if you copy a goddamn book SCENE FOR SCENE PLOT POINT FOR PLOT POINT but "write it in your own words" IT'S STILL PLAGIARISM. So is this. Fuckin duh.

hmmm his "they're different because" reminds me of when Vanilla Ice was saying that Under Pressure and Ice Ice Baby didn't sound the same because of an Itty Bitty Ting

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KoArTZNA5F8

... damn. I'm an artist who doesn't quite go all foam-at-the-mouth at the thought of being plagerized (mostly 'cause I suck and plagerizing me would be like stealing candy from a baby with H1N1) and this is almost as mind-breaking as Fan Fiction Friday. (depends on the friday)

The one that got me was not the ripping of manga pages (that's bad enough) but the ripping of some kid's fan art. The ripping of a piece of fan art whose anatomy, to put it mildly, sucks monkey balls.

Art style=unappealing. I think that's why I never read Bleach, either.

Oh, well. Greg Land traces porn, and gets paid for it. At least the bleach rip off doesn't have porn face.

wow, this is really sad for him. most people may not know what Bleach is, but they've heard of it. "Who would name a comic after laundry detergent?" umm, it's a subtle reference to when you put bleach on black it turns orange like Ichigo's hair (or at least that's the conclusion i've come to).

never liked his dad, so now i have a reason to not like his son. how can someone be so stupid. now, i have ideas for stories and i'd like my art to look like a certain style but not a rip off-stealing pics of Edward Elric from Full Metal Alchemist for a vampire story of mine.

Alright look everyone, I think we all know what needs to happen here. All the characters from Bleach and Nick Simmons in a FFF to rival the deepest darkest stories of our time. I mean, at least we know he won't plagiarize it...unless it makes money...

I can almost smell the anal ripping...

Well...I have to be honest with you that I don't find him copying stuff that big a deal. I mean you cannot really say that copying character designs, plot points, and frame layouts is wrong, since there are only so many character archetypes, plot points, or even how a fight sequence plays out. What really annoys me is the fact that he is not a very good artist. He doesn't have the skill to pull a well drawn ripoff, and yet he copies the works of an artist who not only draws better than he does, but also has a much much larger reader base. But here we see that his works' getting published for money because, well, his dad's Gene Simmons, while good artists out there with original works can't because they are not "mainstream" enough.

Heh... The douche apparently has a DeviantArt account.

http://letsleepinggodslie.deviantart.com/

Technically, so do I, but that doesn't mean he's not a douche and a plagarist.

You really don´t get it, do you? He´s possessed when he´s drawing those shit comics he draws.

The real shame in all of this is that Nick has potentially exposed a small comics company to liability for any damages Viz and/or Shonen Jump may seek to claim.

Radical mostly prints crap, but having a number of indie publishers keeps the medium vital and Rick Remender's "The Last Days of American Crime" is shaping up to be pretty cool.

參考就參考嗎
又不是什麼大不了的事情
承認不就好了~
這麼愛面子幹什麼勒~

This is mind-boggling!

I cant believe Gene allowed this to happen. He is the copyrights MASTER! He actual has the copyright for the "bag w/ a $ on it".

He also has the famous line "there was a Kiss before KISS, but they didn't copyright it"

Amazing

I don't know whats funnier, and lets be honest here, the blatent plagiarisim, the fact he's saying it's all 100% his own work or the fact this story has been around for what? A day or so? And it's kicked up THIS much of a stink.

Kudos Nick, kudos, you've given me something to laugh my ass off with for today, so much so that I think I will be needing an ass-transplant!

"Hey guys I went to cry to my Daddy and HE SAID I have a case to sue you all! Whhaaaaaa"

I hate that family so much. Waste of air.

That bastard is a huge balloon sack of fart. AND DUDE, WHY WOULD ANYONE READ A SUCKY MANGA LIKE YOURS? AND IF YOU'RE DRAWING MANGA, PLEASE FUCKING RESPECT MANGA. IT'S M-A-N-G-A. MAGMA MY ASS. YOU'RE AN INSULT TO MANGA. PLEASE DO NOT EVER TOUCH IT WITH YOUR DAMNED PLAGIARISING DIRTY HANDS AGAIN. YOU HAVE NO FUCKING TALENT. ADMIT IT. YOUR DRAWING'S ABSOLUTELY NOTHING LIKE KUBO-SENSEI'S. YOU REALISE I CALL KUBO-SENSEI 'SENSEI' AND NOT YOU. BECAUSE YOU ARE A PLAGIARISING SUCKBAG.

ONLY STUPID PEOPLE WILL THINK PEOPLE WILL FALL FOR THESE STUPID EXCUSES. AND WHAT PRESSURE DO YOU HAVE WHEN ALL YOU DO IS COPYING OTHERS' WORK. KUBO-SENSEI'S WORK HAS NO COLOUR BECAUSE HE DOESN'T NEED COLOURS TO BE AWESOME. AND YOURS, EVEN IF YOU GLAM IT UP WITH WHATEVER SHIT YOU HAVE IT'S STILL NOWHERE NEAR KUBO-SENSEI'S STANDARDS.

SERIOUSLY. YOU ARE A DISGRACE TO MANGA. GET YOUR DIRTY HANDS OFF IT NOW.

The "Nick Simmons" poster on Facebook wasn't actually him. It was an anonymous troll.

For anyone who doubts this is plagiarism: http://i536.photobucket.com/albums/ff330/Kylara21/plag/kenpachii.png

Oh God, I lol'd. Kubo Tite is such a good sport about the whole thing, he seems more interested in the fact that Gene Simmon's son copied his work.

It is very obviously plagiarism, the art styles are way too similar to just be "inspired." When the only difference between characters from difference is hair color and a few additional scars, it's blatantly obvious.

I call troll on the Nick Simmons Facebook though. I don't believe for even one second that was the real Nick Simmons. No one would be stupid enough to make the only notable difference being "mine's in color!" and "mine is read from right to left!" Not even Nick Simmons.

This thinks me of Takashima Kazusa vs. Kayono. Kayono is a smut mangaka and Takashima is mainly a yaoi/shounen-ai mangaka.

Kayono had plagiarized Takashima and apparantly some ads (http://kayono_kenshou.at.infoseek.co.jp/kenshougazou.html).

Takashima sued her, as any artist would do. However Kayono has influental parents (I read somewhere they are famous mangaka). Her mother claimed in court that her daughter does not read the boys love genre, so could not copy it. The overall picture was that Kayono's mother did all she could to discredit Takashima's claim.

In a only-in-Japan twist, Takashima was the one who was punished: she was banned from doing her work for 2 years. Takashima was not allowed to continue, finish, or create any manga of any genre. Apparantly Kayono's mother pressured Takashima's publishers. Kayono got away with it, thanks to mommy.

Calvin Klein wanted to sue Kayono as well, for plagiarizing their ads. But apparantly, they never did.

...Wow. Nice, Nick. Why not just go to art school and learn how to do panel composition the right way? It's not like Daddy can't afford it.

This makes me laugh even more because as a typesetter in a translation group, we drop any manga we work on the second it gets licensed for fear of the translating company coming after us--even if we've worked on the series for years. To invite danger like this....oh, my. This is such a beautiful example of human stupidity and arrogance that it ought to be stuffed, mounted, and shown at the Natural History Museum next to the dead tigers.

What. An. Idiot.
My husband has never read Manga or a comic book or anything similar in his LIFE, and he knows what Bleach is.

So since he changes a few details is he safe from being sued? Take a look at the soon-to-be-released movie Repo Men versus the released-a-while-ago Repo! The Genetic Opera. Repo Men's entire concept is lifted from the latter, but they are safe from lawsuit because they didn't take exact copies of material.

Does that same logic apply here, where Nick's big scary dude has different hair, a longer face and a different weapon?

wow, guess you would have fit right in at OTIS Nick.

You can bawww about anime/manga being all the same/too similar to tell "who's copying who" all you want, but the fact of the matter is, each artist has his own style and I don't know about anybody else, but I can recognize mangaka styles.

Case in point, Nick Simmons has blatantly taken from Tite Kubo, and didn't even have the balls to truly put his own spin on it.

For shame.

... but I will admit I am interested in Incarnate's storyline. >.>

A homage is open about what it's inspired by. This mess? Ughhhh....

I don't even really like Bleach, but if you showed me an image of Incarnate's panels, I'd immediately identify it as looking like Bleach. The storyline sounds eerily similar too.

After looking at his dA it looks like his style is like if Bleach raped Code Geass.

Personally I never liked Nick Simmons. Mainly because getting his comic picked up and published almost immediately based solely on the fact that his daddy is a big rock star is a slap in the face to all the artists with tenfold talent in their pinky finger are struggling and busting their asses for years to get published.

The fact that his "artwork" is unashamedly plageurized from other sources without any actual effort to actually draw is even more of a slap in the face.

I at least commend Radical Publishing for suspending the title.

how embarrassing, you actually used quotes from a troll. That wasn't Nick. I'm sure by now his lawyers have advised him not to make any comment until they release an official statement. Whoever the impersonator is, they are having a field day with this, at Nicks expense. Never mind Simmons being sued, I hope he get's the I.P of the wannabe and sues for impersonation, slander and libel and emotional distress. The theft won't go to court, the original artist doesn't even care, if anything I think he is flattered so many Bleach fans care.

It's awesome to see how much support the original artist has gotten over this, but I don't think people are making themselves any better than the accused by flaming, and threatening and name calling someone...get over it what's done is done you can't erase the past

I don't want to nitpick, Nick, but is this really your plan?
Spend your whole life locked inside your lies?
Maybe that's ok for now, but someday you'll be out of friends and lawyers,
And you'll have to tell the truth.
I'm not surprised to see you haven't thought it through enough.
You never had the head for all that bigger picture stuff.
But Nick, that's what I do, and I plan on eating you .. slowly.

Did he really expect to get away with it? How could he? I hope he gets sued. I don't know who's publishing this trash but they have a responsibility to pull this shit off of the shelves immediately. Fucking dickhead! What were you thinking?!

It's not plagiary. It's PLAGIARISM.

畫的還真難看

把劍八畫的很...

Listen everyone... you're all digging your own graves posting on this forum. Facebook is looking into suspending this page and issuing any warnings for slander against me. I can't make this any clearer... I DID NOT STEAL OTHER PEOPLE'S WORK!! I may have appropriated some styles, but I did not steal. My work is full... of homages to everyone in my medium - not theft! You guys are just a bunch of mean spirited mouth-breathers - except all my fans on here who have rightfully supported me. I will ask Facebook not to press any charges against you if you give me a sincere apology here in this thread. Please do so. Facebook keeps all your IP addresses and info... so they will suspend your account if I do not receive proper apologies."

LOL what a whinny baka

"When I channel my energy when drawing my book sometimes I can pull stuff in that I never seen before. It's like i'm possessed when I start thinking and drawing. Perhaps I just got on the same wave length that all artists share."

LOL. What? Are you saying Kubo Tite's energy/spirit possessed you? As well as many other energies/spirits out there whose work you've clearly plagiarized? DA artists and other manga-kas? This is totally LOL-worthy, no matter if it's an impersonator or the real douchebag.

And shame on you - Nicktard. Did you actually think you could get away with this insolence? Have you no respect to the artists/authors, the publishers, and their fans? I hope all the artists sue you for this despicable 'thing' you called your 'own'.

This entry shows how an angry fantard is just... a fantard.

That Nick Simmons on FaceBook was a troll, duh. I thought the people on my country was the dumbest.

Don't get me wrong--I read Bleach, I even like Bleach in spite of all of not-so-interesting story lately. But I'm no fantard.

Wow, just wow.

I can't believe he's actually trying to defend himself against such evidence! And not only that, he's trying to abuse his power to get apologies. The nerve of this guy astounds me.

Someone please get Tite Kubo to sue. PLEASE.

I guess I'm just a bit more tolerant than some people. My feelings are posted at my blog.

Hmm, I don't understand, for some strange reason the characters look EXACTLY THE FUCKING SAME. Someone should inform him that newcomers to either could mistake them for one another(OH NO!).

But taking this seriously, if you look at the parts he didn't trace carefully enough, it looks like he can't even draw as well.

OH! Light bulb! Make them have a sketch off! winner, wins I guess.

GOD GAVE ROCK AND ROLL TO YOU, GAVE ROCK AND ROLL TO YOU, PUT IT IN THE SOUL OF EVERYONE!

lmao. i just looked at the compairisons. that was paaaaainful. when i first read the story about all this i was so angry i could hardly see then i simmered down and thought"maybe it was coincedence" if your a bleach fan, punch me in the face plz. lol.i hate his lifestyle but this has put the iceing on the M-A-N-G-A cake. but Kubo-kun is being quite the good sport so if hes not mad....i'll cut my anger in half

Soooooooo... Guesses or bet's on if he he shows up at Comic-Con this year?

For the record, and this has probably been said in one of the 200+ comments before, BUT:

The Nick Simmons quotes are a moot point. It was discovered as a troll. The real Nick Simmons has yet to make an official statement on the matter.

Tite Kubo has though via Twitter. He's apparently more concerned that the kid's a manga artist than the fact he's plagiarizing his work. And this is why Tite Kubo's my hero

Honestly, Nick Simmon's style is below average. It sorta looks like a REALLY low budget anie studio threw it together in a month. The lines aren't pretty, the faces bother me, and the colors are average. Over all, he doesn't do a very good job with the style. If you want BEAUTIFUL art, look up some of Kouga Yun's full color peices. Now those are special. Also, if you think about it,

After having read the synopsis, it realy just seems like BLEACH from the Hollow's point of view and thoughts, instead of the soul reapers.

Hunting instead of being hunted?*cough* eating humans, souls, and soul reapers *cough* Creatures have found out way to kill them? *cough* SOUL REAPERS!!!! *cough*

Totally unoriginal. While it is very hard to be original, this is just blatently plariagism.

I'm even really a fan of bleach. I read the manga, it was good, but not great. end of story.

I still have a very high respect for it and te time and patientce it takes to make them.

I am a DIE HARD manga and anime fan. A RENOWNED Japanese artist has taken me on as an apprentice, and I am learning the ways of manga from her. I am also learning japanese (with Rosetta stone) so tat I might travel there and possibly live there one day.

Let me make this clear : you do not screw with manga, mangakas, anime, or anything related to it. RESPECT THE SENSEI.

in short,

Nick Simmons = Karewa baka desu.

Mr. Rob Bricken, you are a very unprofessional person. I do not doubt that Nick may have plagiarized, but to deliver a story by calleg Nick and his famous Dad as a douche bag and a moron proves that you are a bigger one. At least Gene would say "thank you" if you called him an a$$hole. I would hope that you would restrain personal opinion from future reporting.

Thank you,
Gerald

Don't miss out on his comment " If you steal my artwork, you will pay. In cash.
Spank you very much and good night." From his Deviantart site.

haha What a moron. It was obvious someone was going to notice!

I will throw out that these are blatant swipes, but they aren't plagiarism. He is not using exact character designs (all though some are damn close), nor is he presenting them in the same format (color and page design makes a huge difference). Don't get me wrong, he's clearly a douche for this. But as to a potential lawsuit against him or Radical? You will probably have to work hard to prove that one.

WHOSE RESPONSIBLE THIS?!?!

wtf he's still denying it? dude. srsly dude. that sucks.

BWAHAHAHA!
I DARE that punk to press charges.

I imagine it happened like this:

“Hey Dad, I want to make comic books but I can’t draw people very well.”

“Son when I was your age I had the same problem. Just take other peoples stuff and switch it around. Then change the words and make it all louder. Worked for me and now I’m the best in the business.”

“I’m not sure that will work for comics.”

“Sure it will work, just use those books I bought for you on my last Japanese tour. Nobody here has seen them.”

“Thanks Dad, you’re the best.”

Plagiarism, as defined in the 1995 Random House Compact Unabridged Dictionary, is the "use or close imitation of the language and thoughts of another author and the representation of them as one's own original work.

it IS plagiarism,

Manga? Seriously? So how old is this guy drawing these violent comics? If he's over 15 it's time to grow up and focus on big kid things. IMHO.

Nick is a douchebag.. when it's obvious like this .. fucking fess up man.. telling people there's some "mystical" magic drawing reason for the panels being IDENTICAL is the type of idiotic thing that could only be said by a spoiled rich biy whose parents have been providing validation for all his lies growing up by believeing them.. therefore psychologically he REALLY thinks people will believe him

So does this mean I can rip off a KISS riff, then claim I am paying homage even though I have never listened to them?

I don't know what's funnier; Nick got caught plagarizing or you guys used quotes from a troll acount pretending to be Nick.

lmao. Reading through this whole page was quite the treat.
Now, I'm just going to put this out there: Nick Simmons is a babe.
BUT. That doesn't mean anything. Nor does the fact that his dad has oodles of money. Plagiarism is plagiarism, no matter how hilariously badly it is disguised. And as established as Bleach is, I highly doubt anyone needs to worry about him not getting punished for it. Even if by some ridiculous chance does legal action not take place, his name has quite obviously been severely tarnished in a hilariously awkward way.

On the bright side, maybe he'll get lucky and become the next internet meme.

Even if it's not plagiarism per se (and it kinda is), he's still relying too heavily on Kubo's art for his work to have any credibility. Half of the fanart on DA is better than this.

The troll being trolled. How funny

The 'Nick Simmons" on FB is probably not the real Nick Simmons. He is probably someone who just wants people to rage even more.

I think this is getting blown out of proportion. First off, the Nick Simmons from these posts here is obviously a troll, there are so many reasons why it's not even funny.
Secondly, the REAL Nick Simmons has commented on this issue, stating that he LOVES Bleach, and while he does not feel that he copyrighted it, he feels like he did get inspiration from the art style of certain scenes in Kubo's work.
Believe it or not, a LOT of manga artists do this, and it's fine, and NOT illegal.
Nick did not copy any trademarked characters, catchphrases, logos, or plot line. There is similar dialogue (all works see similarities in dialogue, plots can only vary so much, especially in manga which all essentially have the same plot). ART STYLE IS NOT COPYRIGHTABLE! Otherwise you couldn't for example, paint a picture like Picassa, compose a song that sounds like Rush, et cetera. There IS a limit to human ccreaetivity, and while Nick "copying" Bleach may seem uncreative and foolish, it is not Illegal, judging by these comparisons.
Also, Nicks manga is VERY good, the plot is interesting, the characters are cool, the art especially the color, is great.
And Tite Kubo has also commented on the fact, stating that, essentially, he doesnt care that it looks like Bleach.
Which is a good point, Bleach is so popular, i doubt Nicks manga will take away from its profits, and there are so many fan doujins of Bleach that you would have to sue all of them if art style copying was illegal, honestly people, this is no big deal, and if you are honestly offended by Nicks work, just shut up and move on, its not gonna hurt Bleach, it's not going to hurt you, so move on, everyone is overreacting to this.

plagiarism != big deal

I pitied this S.O.B. until I read the statement saying he's never even heard of Bleach. Now saying that just made him look like not only a dumbass ignorant half assed stupid immature whiny kid, but a cowardly spineless retard who wants to hide behind Facebook to protect his stupid ass.

Gene Simmons plays bass.

I've read through the ENTIRE conversation (and yes, I don't have many friends, so get over it), and I've come to this conclusion: It may not be illiagal, it's still immoral. Would it have killed him to say "I also copied a few panels from a few other manga/anime series." And why didn't he give some sort of credit to the anime/manga artists.The thing that got me agitated the most is that he is also selling that frankenstien of stolen panels and character designs without giving royalties. Nick, if you are reading this, and you haven't played a game of one player game of russian roulet with the gold desert eagle daddy bought you, please, just apologize.

Am I getting this clearly? He copied panels from multiple manga series, never gave them credit, and tried to make money? If you are reading this Nick, and you haven't played one player russian rulett with the golden desert eagle daddy bought you, just apologize.

First time on site, double post, sorry

Yea don't feed the trolls people LOL, this guys' biting and laughing at everything we do. Keep it up Nick, yer a douchebag :P even your average AVATAR drawings on DA suck ass.

Two words: EPIC FAIL!

Please man, this guy doesnt have any respect, Bleach is the second manga ever readed in the hole world, how can he said that, and that stupid cometary, and the worst part of all is that the stupid guy demand appologyse... Some people have take an honest place in the world...

Not because hes the son of Gene Simon he can said that... take a true life man

"• "Listen everyone... you're all digging your own graves posting on this forum. Facebook is looking into suspending this page and issuing any warnings for slander against me. I can't make this any clearer... I DID NOT STEAL OTHER PEOPLE'S WORK!! I may have appropriated some styles, but I did not steal. My work is full... of homages to everyone in my medium - not theft! You guys are just a bunch of mean spirited mouth-breathers - except all my fans on here who have rightfully supported me. I will ask Facebook not to press any charges against you if you give me a sincere apology here in this thread. Please do so. Facebook keeps all your IP addresses and info... so they will suspend your account if I do not receive proper apologies."

• "Okay.. now looking at some of these photo comparisons, I can see why a few people are up-in-arms. I can tell you right now these are all purely coincidences. I never even heard of Bleach! Who would name a comic after laundry detergent? When I channel my energy when drawing my book sometimes I can pull stuff in that I never seen before. It's like i'm possessed when I start thinking and drawing. Perhaps I just got on the same wave length that all artists share. My dad just called and said I have a real case against all this slander. If Facebook doesn't give into my demands soon there's going to be hell to pay. Now, I have to damage control on another site - more people being mislead. Now I have to deal with this and my book's deadline. I'm not sure how I can think and draw under all this pressure."

• "I have no idea how people are saying my comic looks like that bleach magma. My book is in color and the other is not. My book reads left to right... the other reads right to left. Besides some vague similarities, they're nothing alike. I put my heart and soul into my book - great story and awesome characters... yet people are trying to pull me down. And NO... I didn't trace or copy other peoples work. Most of these photos are starting to look like photoshop manipulations to make me look bad. You can't trust everything you see on the Internet."

ANYONE who believes Nick Simmons actually wrote that are complete morons. Clearly some kid just wrote a bunch of ignorant quotes claiming that Nick said it at an attempt to make people hate Nick more.

Do you guys honestly think that was Nick commenting on that page? It's stupid how people are willing to believe anything, as long as it makes the situation more interesting. As if he would call manga "magma."

Man, I'm just surprised the guy can't afford a couple of art classes.
I mean... Come on!