Following the announcement of the DC VeVe license for a new line of Batman Black and White digital statues linked to NFT (Non Fungible Token) authentication, Darwyn Cooke’s widow asked DC not to use images created by her late husband as a basis for art cryptographic NFT. The NFT cryptographic art has been a recent topic of controversy due to the high environmental cost of producing NFTs.
Marsha Cooke, who manages the Cooke estate, previously stated on Twitter that she did not approve the use of her husband’s art for NFT cryptographic art, citing the environmental costs associated with it.
“Come back soon to let me know that I’m not going to participate in NFT cryptographic art, it’s an environmental disaster and you shouldn’t be,” Cooke posted on his previously inactive Twitter account.
“Consider this disclaimer that no Darwyn Cooke artwork that I have control over will be offered as an NFT and any that appear is with the objection of its ownership,” continues its Twitter thread. “I will reconsider this at a point where environmental issues have been addressed.”
Newsarama contacted Cooke regarding the VeVe NFT statue based on Darwyn’s Batman project, following her response to the Newsarama report on VE-VE’s use of Darwyn’s art. Cooke says she asked DC to remove her husband’s name and job from the project.
“I do not support the use of Darwyn’s work on the NFT system based on the environmental impact that these types of transactions have on the planet,” Cooke told Newsarama. “If the NFT system is sustainable, it will exist in the future. I called DC and I’m waiting for a call to discuss how we can remove Darwyn from this project until environmental issues are addressed. I’ve always had a good relationship with DC, so I hope they respect my decision. “
Meanwhile, artist Gary Frank, whose design for Batman: Earth One forms the basis of another more recent NFT art line from VE-VE, also expressed his “bewilderment” by using his design for a digital NFT statue.
“I will repeat what Marsha said,” Frank told Newsarama when contacted for comment. “This is the first time I’ve heard of it. I have no interest – financial or real – in NFTs other than the perplexity at what people can be persuaded to pay.”
The line of four statues (with the remaining two based on the art of DC editor / chief creator Jim Lee and artist Jae Lee) is not the first line of Batman black and white cryptographic NFT digital statues that VeVe launched. This is the fourth wave of Batman Black and White NFT statues curator cryptography, but the first to gain notoriety, due to the recent controversy over the environmental cost of NFTs and the inflated prices paid by collectors of fine art for pieces of encryption. .
VeVe also produced a line of four Harley Quinn digital NFT statues based on the art of Guillem March, Babs Tarr, Terry Dodson and Steve Pugh.
NFTs are essentially non-reproducible digital certificates of ownership that denote the NFT holder as the ‘owner’ of a piece of digital art by linking it to Bitcoin-style blockchains that provide verifiable encryption for NFT-linked digital art. Although an NFT does not prevent the reproduction of the digital work, it denotes a version of the digital art as ‘original’, owned by the NFT holder.
Like bitcoin mining, the production of NFTs requires significant consumption of electricity to power the computers that create the NFT. This led to widespread criticism of the idea of creating NFT art, which dramatically increases the environmental impact of individual digital artists.
Until publication, DC did not respond to Newsarama’s request for comment.
VeVe is a subsidiary of Singapore-based crypto company Ecomi. Not even VeVenor Ecomi was found to comment. The Ecomi website describes the company as the owner of “a one stop shop for digital collectibles through the VeVe app bringing pop culture and entertainment into the 21st century. Ecomi sees digital collectibles as a new asset class that it offers intellectual property owners the opportunity for new revenue streams in the digital landscape. “
Darwyn Cooke, Gary Frank, Jae Lee and Jim Lee designed exclusive Batmans. Newsarama looks at the creators who had the greatest impact on the Cape Crusader more than eight decades.