DC Comics pulled several comic book covers by artist Francesco Mattina after allegations that he used artificial intelligence in his artwork.
DC Comics decided to pull all of Mattina’s future covers, including three that were set to be released in September 2024. Most of these covers are now listed as ‘To Be Announced’ (TBA). For example, the cover for ‘Action Comics #1069’ is now credited to a yet-to-be-decided artist.
Mattina’s cover for ‘The Batman: The Brave and the Bold #15’ was replaced by a cover from artist Khary Randolph. Randolph’s cover was meant for a future issue, but it’s now moved up to replace Mattina’s. The future issue Randolph was supposed to work on is also listed as ‘TBA.’
Rich Johnston was the first to notice the change in DC’s solicitations.
Granov Blames Mattina For Stealing Others’ Work
Star comic book artist Adi Granov accused Mattina of using AI and plagiarizing other artists’ work. Granov, known for his work on ‘Iron Man,’ posted on Facebook last week that Mattina used AI to create his covers. Granov pointed out a mistake in Superman’s S symbol on one of Mattina’s covers as evidence of AI use:
I don’t post about artists I dislike, but I neither consider him an artist nor can I hide my dislike for the continued blatant plagiarism. Anyhow, here’s his new cover. Not only is he a hack, but he’s not even good enough to hide the glaring mistake on one of the most iconic symbols in all of pop culture.”
You can see a close-up photo below:
He also accused Mattina of being a ‘serial plagiarist’ who copied other artists’ work, including Granov’s own:
“When image generators first came to prominence the first person who came to mind was the serial plagiarist Francesco Mattina as I thought he’d think all his Christmases have come at once. If you don’t remember, he made a whole career out of photo bashing other people’s art (mine included) into whatever you want to call his ‘work.'”
The news of the allegations spread quickly, and many fans and artists examined Mattina’s other covers. They found more examples that seemed suspicious, like his covers for ‘Superman #18’ and ‘Batman: The Brave and the Bold #17.’
DC Comics didn’t provide any other details about the situation or future plans for AI use in comic book covers.
