Publisher Marvel Comics and legendary illustrator Jack Kirby's heirs battled it out in court over copyright claims. The lawsuit threatened to change comics as we know them forever. The fate of beloved children's characters hung in the balance.
Could you imagine Marvel Comics without Iron Man, The Hulk, Spiderman, Thor or the X-Men? Thankfully, neither could a New York Court.
On Thursday, the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Manhattan upheld a previous decision in favor of publisher.
Jack Kirby, like his partner Stan Lee, is one of the most recognizable names behind the page. The legendary artist co-created Captain America and countless other classic characters.
Name any character from Marvel or DC and, most likely, Kirby had a hand in their creation (literally).
Comic books have come a long way from the days of ten cent cover price and with Marvel movies bringing in the big bucks at the box office, one would think the Kirby kids would be raking it in, highly talented hand over fist.
Well, not exactly. Thursday's decision determined that the Disney-owned giant, was the rightful owner of the comics in question.
The decision stated:
"When Kirby sat down to draw, then, it was not in the hope that Marvel or some other publisher might one day be interested enough in them to buy, but with the expectation, established through their ongoing, mutually beneficial relationship, that Marvel would pay him."
Adding:
"Kirby's completed pencil drawings, moreover, were generally not free-standing creative works, marketable to any publisher as a finished or nearly finished product. They build on pre-existing titles and themes that Marvel had expended resources to establish - and in which Marvel held rights - and they required both creative contributions and production work that Marvel supplied. That the works are now valuable is therefore in substantial part a function of Marvel's expenditures over and above the flat rate it paid Kirby for his drawings."
A spokesman for Marvel applauded the move:
"We are gratified by the appellate court's definitive ruling that there is no legitimate basis to terminate our ownership of the copyrights at issue."
Even though the Kirby crew lost the battle, the King of Comics still left them with a legacy to be proud of. Artist Gil Kane had a lot to say about Kirby during the 1985 Dallas Fantasy Fair:
"Jack was the single most influential figure in the turnaround in Marvel's fortunes from the time he rejoined the company...It wasn't merely that Jack conceived most of the characters that are being done, but...Jack's point of view and philosophy of drawing became the governing philosophy of the entire publishing company and, beyond the publishing company, of the entire field...[Marvel took] Jack and use[d] him as a primer. They would get artists ... and they taught them the ABCs, which amounted to learning Jack Kirby...Jack was like the Holy Scripture and they simply had to follow him without deviation. That's what was told to me...It was how they taught everyone to reconcile all those opposing attitudes to one single master point of view"
Jack Kirby passed away in 1994 at the age of 76. Long live the king!
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