Oh boy, oh boy.
Both are important, but the nature of the work is completely different, is not the same skillset, not the same labour or manpower.
As well, the industry standard is not based on the value YOU think it has, it's a standard for a reason, based on the opinion of probably both writers and artists, same for editors and all other individuals involved in the industry. It's kind of strange, it almost sounds as if you're a stranger to this world or as if you're not informed how this works... its even something well known internationally.
Honestly, no. Show creators and show runners are the designers of the specific shows and content they create, meanwhile actors, animators and voice actors are the ones that set the physical shape of it and their work takes longer, is the part of the making process that gives its form to the project, not to mention they are also the faces of said project and are the ones likely to draw the audience more than the director or producer.
I have collaborated with a few writers, and I can guarantee while a 26 page script takes time... even the most busy of my writers have delivered a new chapter of that lenght in less than a week, meanwhile references are a one time thing unless we're introducing something new, as well that a stickman figure storyboard can be done in a day or less.
Even I have made recently the script for some of my own personal stuff, a 24 page fancomic on my free time and... I just took an afternoon, from 5pm to 8pm
I'm honestly wondering if you're bluffin or if you're a writer that doesn't properly manage their own time or end up going through rabbit holes of their own narrative, or maybe you're a bit too much of a perfectionist or having a solid vision but that still, if you take "friggen HOURS ON END" for a 26 page script, then that's a red flag for an artist, because between revisions and probably having to deal with your setbacks, they are going to take longer than you even more.
Once you do the script, gathered the reference, info and provide some easy storyboard, let's say of a one-shot. Then you'll be earlier to bed than the artist
You're not going to be sketching, re-adapting the references, re-adapting the storyboard, doing the pages construction, panels, waiting for revisions then corrections, doing the lineart, doing the base colors, doing the shading, doing the lighting, doing the effects, doing the textures, the backgrounds and drawing the characters over and over again.
On top of that, you're not the one that has to solve camera angles, rotation, anatomy, perspective, composition, arrangement, framing, etc, which are stuff far more visible than in writing where you can rely on the reader's imagination to a certian extent, meanwhile we have to rely on the fact that our work is visual and we're the ones that have even more pressure trying to make it right.
Your full effort is not necessary on the same level, time, manpower, etc. than the artist, you can ask to be equals but the different things you do, are simply not equal at all.
Even architects get paid less than construction workers because the nature of their works are different.
It does actually? Or are you trying to blame someone else for something is not our responsability either? You sound like a cashier/janitor complaining that the hairdresser earns more money than them despite they both work on the same establishment, yet the hairdresser is the one standing most of the time, dealing with the clients and doing the vast mayority of the visuals and end result of the service.
It doesn't surprise me you want to be like Stan Lee, you want to claim some equal basis when in fact it is not something possible due to the differences in labor, kinda sounds as some kind of resentment to what happened to you.... despite you willingly chose to be a ghost writer.
If you want to be like Tsugumi Ohba, then just pray someone considers you worthy enough to be paired up with an artist in order to finally get noticed, but that doesn't happen to anyone, to be paired with a good artist you'll have to be already exceptional on your own. As well, anyone that pretends to be a "big family" or "friends" with a coworker or partner is a red flag.
You actually do the moment you aspire to be like someone that caused a lot of damage to artists, those that lose their rights, their prestige, their work, their portfolios, the credit and merit they deserved.
Sadly, that's only on you. Any artist who considers the treatment isn't fair will flee, abandon your side. They can consent to work with you, but as you both work together they'll feel how fair or unfair things actually are, no wonder why several collaborations end nowhere, or why many writers end up with artists disappearing or abandoning the project
Not really mental gymnastics, sems that the one that is a bit too stuck on their own head is you, I have worked with people that did all the same stuff as you, and still I could see when they could chill, relax, go to bed earlier while I had to put on all nighters if I wanted to meet their deadlines or far fetched standards, and the moment I said "Hey I don't feel this is fair, let's review the arrangement once again" they went on and on about all their effort and such, but hey, the one exhausted and that felt exploited was me. But oh well, a lot of writers don't get that they need to compromise in the ways the artist requires, because without artist there is no comic, if you want a comic then understand that in order to be equals you'll need to understand the differences, otherwise simply go on your own and make a novel, if you've been a ghost writer and could make a book but you choose not to, then that's on you limiting your own chances of getting to a bigger audience or an Editorial/Webcomic platform saying "Hey, let's transofrm your novel into a comic, we'll provide you with an artist"
Again, 50/50 is not necessary, once you get the references and character concepts, those aspects are done, solved. Same for the draft of the storyboard. If you want things your way, then understand you're the one doing something out of passion while the other person does it as a compromise especially when there is no payment during the production time. You need something to keep your artist's passion, otherwise they'll have no attachment nor reason to compromise to you anymore, and then they'll go see for something more worthy or that provides a real reward for their labor where they don't feel exploited.
If something is yours, your vision, your comic, your characters, your world, you, you, you you, yet you want it to have a specific shape and in order to do so you need to involve another individual, that individual is the one that allows you to take off.
You can wish all you want for a rocket to fly, but without the people that build it and especially the engine, that rocket is not going anywhere.
Can you make a comic without an artist? If so then you wouldn't be asking for collaborators. You demand an artist, then its logical they'll be the one on the heavier end, especially when they are the face, the visual of the project you want to sell to someone, that responsability lies within them immensily. You could be a nice writer, but most of people open a comic for the first time because the Cover Art or the Panels in the promo Ad caughs their interest, then they check the title, the synopsis and who writes it.
I think you need a dictionary, because it seems as if you don't know what being a ghost writer is.
From Wikipedia:
A ghostwriter is a person hired to write literary or journalistic works, speeches, or other texts that are putatively credited to another person as the author. Celebrities, executives, participants in timely news stories, and political leaders often hire ghostwriters to draft or edit autobiographies, memoirs, magazine articles, or other written material. [...] Sometimes the ghostwriter is acknowledged by the author or publisher for their writing services, euphemistically called a "researcher" or "research assistant", but often the ghostwriter is not credited.
Not everyone is paid the same, even within the artists taking care of the pages, pencilers, inkers and colorist have different payments too besides the writer, editor and other members involved. Is as if you've never been on an actual project or done any editorial work whatsoever... I get your pink filtered idealism but... anyone with a bit of experience would be a bit more realistic than this.
Tiny Edit: Maybe you should read Bakuman
The protagonist duo is of a writer and an artist, guess who ended up hospitalized across the series and who looked miserably exhausted through the entirety of it? Little spoiler, is not the writer.
