Marvel Comics Sues Jack Kirby!

Mike Gold

ComicMix's award-winning and spectacularly shy editor-in-chief Mike Gold also performs the weekly two-hour Weird Sounds Inside The Gold Mind ass-kicking rock, blues and blather radio show on The Point, www.getthepointradio.com and on iNetRadio, www.iNetRadio.com (search: Hit Oldies) every Sunday at 7:00 PM Eastern, rebroadcast three times during the week – check www.getthepointradio.com above for times and on-demand streaming information.

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14 Responses

  1. John Judy says:

    The Kirby lawyers better rustle up the ultimate nullifier quick because Galactus and Sons, Attorneys at Law are gonna be knocking soon. Best of luck to the Kirbys.

    • Michael Davis says:

      John,The smart play is not to try and win in court, the play would be to garner public opinion VERY loudly. Rather or not America cares about these 'funny book' superheroes is unsure but, the comic book creative community is not the little bitch we once were. One of the reasons Disney courted Michael Ovitz who left the MEGA POWERFUL C.A.A. talent agency he founded to become President of Disney was because Ovitz's reach into the talent pool in Hollywood was massive. Also, it never looks good for a giant corporation to go after a family. I expect Disney will write a check and be done with this, until I sue them over Mickey Mouse…that was my idea…once…in a dream.

  2. Tony Isabella says:

    This is where I pop in to again remain fans that just because a publisher claims something was work-for-hire doesn't automatically make it so…not even when there's a contract involved.

  3. Delmo Walters Jr. says:

    When did Kirby co-create Spider-Man? Wasn't that Lee & Ditko?

    • mike weber says:

      According to some sources, he had a hand in the design, as well as (as noted) doing the cover for that first story.

      • Mike Gold says:

        Lotsa stories, including one in Joe Simon's book. That's not a Kirby design. It's pretty damn typical Ditko stuff, as properly expanded and mitigated by Lee. We'll probably never know: Stan's memory is for shit, Steve ain't talking (in public), and Jack's at The Source.

  4. Mike Gold says:

    Yeah. Well, I think that's a problem as well. But for the record, it was Jack who drew the cover to Amazing Fantasy 15 after somebody (Stan? Martin Goodman?) rejected Ditko's original version — which has been oft reprinted.

    • Jason M. Bryant says:

      Drawing a cover is about as "work for hire" as it gets. He didn't change the costume or any other signature elements. Even what's happening is pretty much the same, he just framed it better. It's a great cover and better than the original, but nothing that affects who has rights to the character.

  5. Arachnid Adventures says:

    Stan Lee originally assigned Jack Kirby to draw Spider-Man's first appearance in Amazing Fantasy but, when he saw the artwork, didn't like the way Kirby handled it, so he gave it to Ditko to draw instead. As a result, Kirby always claimed to have had a hand in creating Spider-Man, even though his version of the character bore no resemblance to what was eventually unleashed on the world. I think Kirby's version got his powers from a magic ring, wore a cape and carried some form of gun.

  6. bill m says:

    “Sadly, Jack died without proper compensation, credit or recognition for his lasting creative contributions.”

    It’s more than sad. It’s like Gandalf said, “some that live deserve to die and some that die deserve life”

  7. to win a girl back says:

    that is true, some people died and at least they lived a significant life (Creating something that would impact many).

    Will will see what happens between 2014 – 2018 with the copyrights.

  8. jake from Win him back says:

    Over the last 5 decades or so, we have seen a lot of people who were not able to get proper recognition and fame during their time. But come out as success a lot later.

    Our blog, how can i win him back

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  9. ZZ says:

    spider was reworked from 50s story.
    thor done twice within DC books.
    cap pre-dates WWII.
    Stan Lee has added his initials to
    half the artwork at any museum.
    give CASH where credit is due