Marvel and Disney rights case for Supreme Court to decide says Jack Kirby Estate

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http://www.deadline.com/2014/04/jack-kirby-marvel-disney-lawsuit-supreme-court-captain-america-xmen-stan-lee/

[PoliticAverse]

1. The comments to the article are rather interesting. n/t

[reddread]

2. ah, I just looked. Theyre garbage.

They really dont have the facts straight.
looks like an AOL comment section.
I could dissect the modern fanboy rationale (they have to BELIEVE in what they live for)
or correct their mistakes, addend the relevant facts, but they are not worthy of the effort right now.
People should know, and Joe Simon gave much of the important information out in his Comic Book Makers book.
Kirby and Simon share in the creator's rights, and Marvel screwed Kirby royal over that with dishonest manipulation.
Which was only the beginning to what they did later.
Kirby has rightful claim to at least three quarters of the characters Marvel and now Disney are making perhaps a trillion dollars from.
Including, and most significantly, Spider-Man, a character he had very little connection to, OTHER THAN BRINGING IT TO THEM.
the problem, of course, is underneath those robes are a bunch of Mickey Mouse buttons, Comcast patches and other corporate baggage
that bodes particularly ill for the institution of justice in America.

[exboyfil]

5. In addition to the lasting characters in Marvel

Kirby also created some important characters for DC after he jumped ship (New Gods especially Darkseid, Mister Miracle, Kamandi, and OMAC). My love for comics started with Kamandi in 1974 as a 11 year old. I wish I had been as diligent collecting X-Men at the time - I would be sitting on a bundle now.

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8. Kirby's creativity is pretty hard to deny. DC trashed his efforts prematurely, and came back to feed

at that trough in perpetuity. At least they tried to do Kirby some good while he was still alive.
I still recall picking up GS X-Men at the Albertsons in Reno. damn thing was 50 cents!
didnt follow the book until a few years later. then they executed Jean Grey and I put those books away.

[el_bryanto]

6. Kirby creating Spiderman is strongly disputed

In that his conception was very very different from what actually was produced by Ditko and Lee. See also Bob Kane and Bill Fingers creation of Batman.

But there's no question he helped create the Fantastic Four, most of the Avengers, and the X-Men.

I think Kirby got screwed, as did pretty much everybody who worked for Marvel over the years (long before Disney was on the scene).

Bryant

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7. he brought them the name, the EXACT masthead they used, and the idea

nothing after that matters.
Simon put that out there for people to know, as if to make amends for what happened over Cap in the late 60's.
It was a character they worked on together, and he gave ownership to Kirby in their dissolution as partners.
Kirby brought it to Lee.
Absolute claim to Spider-Man.

[bermudat]

3. The heirs of Johnny Romita and Stan Lee are getting the shaft

I read Marvel Comics in the mid 60's when they were 12cents each. Stan is the man but Jack Kirby made Fantastic Four and Johnny Romita made Spiderman real to me.

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4. say what?

Last edited Thu Apr 3, 2014, 04:40 PM - Edit history (2)

"Lyin" Lee of the "bad memory" will get by fine on the millions he has made. Romita worked as art director, and has no claim to any characters that I know of.
Even though he designed so many. Watch the first appearance of Wolverine (ugh) in the last panel of the last page of Hulk 180 go up for auction in a month. It will bring a record price for a page of comic art.
More than a million dollars?
worth watching.
Romita worked for thieving scumbags, and he knew it.
I am not a huge fan, but I have some really neat stuff of his on the wall in my studio, particularly four pages in something of a quadtych from Spiderman #18 in front of the computer desk.
Most artists of that era would not create a thing for them, knowing they would only be ripped off.