Seven Seas agrees to recognize employee union

United Workers of Seven Seas successfully unionize after Seven Seas decides ‘to waive the right to an election in favor of voluntary recognition of the union.’

Manga publisher Seven Seas has agreed to recognize a proposed union for its employees. Both Seven Seas and United Workers of Seven Seas shared the news on social media.

Employees at Seven Seas revealed they were attempting to unionize back in May. Seven Seas initially rejected the idea, which would have required a union vote amongst its affected employees, but last week they had a change of heart.

Here’s the statement from Seven Seas:

Continue reading “Seven Seas agrees to recognize employee union”

Quick Hits | AWA, GlobalComix partner on ‘Lesser Evils’

Plus: news on United Workers of Seven Seas, censorship attempts in Michigan, FurnaceCon and more.

Brooklyn’s local BKReader spotlights Lesser Evils, a new comic series from AWA Studios that is set in the NY borough. The comic debuted digitally earlier this week on GlobalComix, as part of a “Global First” localization partnership between the online comics platform and AWA. GlobalComix plans to release it in multiple languages, including English, Brazilian Portuguese, Spanish, French, Italian and Hindi.

“It’s not just going digital first, it’s going Global First,” said Christopher Carter, founder and CEO of GlobalComix, in a press release. “We believe that when companies go digital first, they are no longer constrained to the same up-front investment costs of physical market validation, distribution, supply chain, required for localization and global audiences.”

Continue reading “Quick Hits | AWA, GlobalComix partner on ‘Lesser Evils’”

Workers at Seven Seas Entertainment seek to form a union

‘We find ourselves overworked, underpaid, and we do not currently receive the benefits otherwise typical of the publishing industry.’

Following in the footsteps of the staff at Image Comics earlier this year, the workers at Seven Seas Entertainment have launched an effort to form a union, United Workers of Seven Seas, as detailed on a dedicated website they’ve launched.

“Seven Seas Entertainment is the number one independent publisher of manga, danmei, and light novels in the US,” their website reads. “The company has grown exponentially since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. But with rapid growth comes growing pains, and we, the workers of Seven Seas, have been shouldering much of that pain. We find ourselves overworked, underpaid, and we do not currently receive the benefits otherwise typical of the publishing industry.”

Continue reading “Workers at Seven Seas Entertainment seek to form a union”

Comics Lowdown | Waid/Meyer lawsuit settled

Plus: Court rules Dr. Seuss/Star Trek mash-up book not protected by fair use, ‘Batman’ #1 auction and more!

Legal: Comics creator Richard Meyer has dropped his lawsuit against Mark Waid, according to Waid’s legal defense GoFundMe page. The suit began in 2018 after Meyer announced that Antarctic Press would publish his comic Jawbreaker. The publisher reversed that decision after a phone call from Waid, however, and Meyer successfully crowdfunded the comic instead. He also sued Waid for “tortious interference with contract and defamation.”

Continue reading “Comics Lowdown | Waid/Meyer lawsuit settled”