They couldn't have had any particular artist in mind, could they?

Over on 'Lying in the Gutters' at Newsarama, Rich Johnston reveals Marvel's 'Original Artwork Policy.'

From the letter,

There is a fine line between homage and a rip-off -- Make sure you are firmly on the side of using your own creative elements. A simple rule of thumb is to consider whether someone looking at your drawing and the reference material will think that one is a derivative of the other. If so, you have gone too far and taken too much.

Congrats to his swipe file if this is indeed the result.

For me at least, it had gone beyond wondering why a certain artist could justify what he was doing to why on earth Marvel seemed content to let it go on. Yes, he sells buckets of comics but a company as anal about it's property as Marvel should be showing a bit of respect for the property of others, shouldn't it?

Hopefully this means a little less pornface in the future.