Supreme Court Decision To Hear Jack Kirby Case Against Marvel Coming Soon

Glenn Hauman

Glenn is VP of Production at ComicMix. He has written Star Trek and X-Men stories and worked for DC Comics, Simon & Schuster, Random House, arrogant/MGMS and Apple Comics. He's also what happens when a Young Turk of publishing gets old.

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2 Responses

  1. Steve Chaput says:

    This is the type of thing a Bob Ingersoll or someone else better versed in all things legal should reply to, but I just think it demonstrates the heavy-handed nature of the big publishers. The lawyers for Marvel Mouse and DC, who are Legion, drag these things out year after year in hopes to beat the heirs into frustration. I for one would love to see both companies stripped of their rights to the characters and watch them scramble. In Marvel’s case I’d like to see the company come up with anything untouched by Kirby to publish or put up on the screen. I know the fanboys will scream at this, if it happened, but let’s see what happens.

  2. If the SCOTUS decides to take this case, it will almost instantly no longer just be about Jack. It will turn into a case about the work-for-hire agreement in its entirety, which ultimately means it will be about how comics are done in this country.

    It will almost certainly affect DC’s ongoing litigation with the families Siegel and Schuster. If only as precedent, it will either put weight behind DC’s side, or spark a whole new barrage of cases from many other creators who will go after their creations.

    If it happens, look for DC (and possibly Image and Dark Horse at minimum) to provide support, if only in the form of expert testimony, to the marvel side of the case.

    I don’t know how they’ll decide, but in honesty, I think they’ll pass. Too many questions of copyright in there, and too many questions in the one case.