Marvel's First Family Across Five Films

With the release of  The Fantastic Four: First Steps (now streaming on Disney+) we decided to not only examine that film, but to look back over the previous four films (more on that in a bit) that spotlighted Marvel's first family. So here we go, checking in on the world renown Fantastic Four. 

*****

The Fantastic Four: First Steps

Director: Matt Shakman

Stars: Pedro Pasca, Vanessa Kirby, Ebon Moss-Bachrach, Joseph Quinn, Ralph Ineson

The Fantastic Four—Mavel Comics’ “First Family”—and whose appearance marked the official beginning of the Marvel Universe. Since then, there have been thousands of comicbooks starring the team, hundreds of cartoons, and four (now five) live action FF films, with this last version perhaps the highest concept, and the most thematically faithful to Jack Kirby and Stan Lee’s vision to the characters. And yes, we say that even though there were a number of significant changes made to this current film.

Those changes include, but are not limited to an older (and somewhat more detached) Reed Richards, a retro-throwback to a (very different) 1960s, as well as a female Silver Surfer Shalla-Bal (wife of Norrin Radd, the original Surfer), making this, quite honestly, the very coolest of all the FF films (and yes, there reportedly is a sequel in the works).

Here’s where we are going to take a slightly divergent path, to talk about the first live action film, The Fantastic Four (1994). That film was from legendary “B” film Richard Corman (producer), and director Oley Sassone was fully made but pulled from release at the last minute because it was believed that releasing the small-budget film would ultimately hurt Marvel’s reputation and interfere with production of higher profile films. According to legend, the master reel and any prints were to be burned but eventually bootlegs of the film found their way into comic cons. (Truth to tell, we actually purchased one back in the ‘90s, making it the only bootleg we ever intentionally purchased.) For a time the film could be found on various internet platforms, but a recent search failed to turn up any service carrying it, we did, however pull up a documentary about the film; Doomed: The Untold Story of Roger Corman’s The Fantastic Four.

Speaking as someone who loves comics, movies, and movies about comics (The Halle Berry Catwoman film sucked) The ‘94 FF film not only wasn’t horrible but was actually quite entertaining, and—in retrospect—it certainly wasn’t any worse than the Batman TV show of the ‘60s. At any rate as a way to pay respect to the actors who played the FF in that film—Alex Hyde-White (Reed), Jay Underwood (Johnny), Rebecca Staab (Sue), and Michael Bailey Smith (Ben)—were granted a fleeting cameo in First Steps.

The Next two Fantastic Four Films  Fantastic Four (2005) and Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer (2007) were produced by Twentieth Century Fox and took place on Earth-15866, while the 2015 film (also by Twentieth Century Fox) took place on Earth-15866. According to some fan theories, the ‘94 film is often placed on Earth-828 (the universe of the current Fantastic Four film) due to its classic comic feel, or on Earth-11584, but these are fan creations, not canon. Thus, while the ‘94 film was made by Constantin Film (which has been part of the production of all the previous films) and Marvel, but wasn’t part of the larger Marvel Cinematic Universe or any established comic book continuity.

Both Fantastic Four and Rise of the Silver Surfer have their detractors for what some fans have called lackluster, underperforming and weak writing, as well as poor handling of major villains, and inconsistent special effects. On the other side of the slate, some of the film’s positives include the visual effects and design for the Silver Surfer (played by Doug Jones and voiced by Laurence Fishburne) are consistently praised as the highlight of the sequel. Another positive was the chemistry between the main cast members was found to be enjoyable. The films are often seen as nostalgic by those who grew up with the comic, seen as harmless, fun popcorn movies which don’t take themselves too seriously. Once scene that is highly regarded by all, is the one where Human Torch is chasing the Silver Surfer, and passes through the building.

On the down side, a major disappointment with fans in Rise of the Silver Surfer was the production company choosing to represent Galactus as a giant, swirling purple cosmic cloud. Another was that Dr. Doom’s portrayal was widely criticized as being oversimplified, as an uninventive businessman rather than the complex, powerful monarch from the comics. There were more, but we prefer to remember it as a fun, if somewhat light funnybook film. We’re going to quickly dismiss the 2015 film as a badly miscalculated wrong-headed step. Twentieth Century Fox for reasons that pass understanding, chose to adapt Marvel’s Ultimate Universe for this film. Now while The Ultimate Universe (both incarnations) offer up well-crafted, highly readable, and entertaining stories, putting it out there as a film adaptation just wasn’t going to do it with the fans. Something they should have known in advance.

Returning to the current film, for what it’s worth, First Steps is truly a visually stunning reboot of legacy Marvel characters, who hit the screen with strong performances, particularly from Vanessa Kirby (Sue Storm) and Pedro Pascal (Reed Richards). The film itself delivers a stunning retro-futuristic aesthetic, along with impressive visual effects, harkening back to Jack Kirby’s artistic sensibilities, and Stan Lee’s very appealing family dynamics. (Something that the comic itself has long delivered to readers.) The intra-family aspects of the FF have defined the core sensibilities of the greater Marvel Universe since 1961, and this cinematic incarnation only serves to continue that tradition.

In this film, the team once again goes up against one of their most powerful super-powered foes, Galactus (for the second time—this time as an actual “person” rather than the silly amorphous purple cloud used in Rise of the Silver Surfer). Forced to balance their roles as heroes with the strength of their family bond, the Fantastic Four must defend Earth from the ravenous space god Galactus and his enigmatic herald, the Silver Surfer who, in this film, has been cast as a woman. In one of the more controversial moves of the film, Julia Garner was cast as Shalla-Bal Galactus’ Herald. Which, as it turns out, wasn’t that controversial as this is Earth 828 (more on that later) not 616 of the primary MCU.

Here, the FF have been operating for three years (reducing their origin to a quickie couple of minutes of screentime and sparing those of us that know another full film recounting an already known hero’s origin). The team is a well-known and beloved group of heroes (apparently the only ones on this Earth), but all of that abruptly changes with the appearance of the Surfer and her message from the world eater. After their initial confrontation with the Surfer, The Team determines to head out into space to meet Galactus, which doesn’t go quite as planned.

Sue is pregnant and (one of the wackiest sequences of the film) gives birth to Franklin in space while fleeing from the Surfer (yeah, we know how that sounds). Well, Galactus does make it to Earth for a very dramatic showdown in the center of the city with the FF (which turns out pretty much how you expect it). What makes this film stand head and shoulders above all the other FF films is the attention to details, Ben’s Judaism, Reed and Sue’s relationship, Johnny and Ben’s interpersonal hijinks. Herby the robot, (how cool)! Plus, as previously noted, the way-cool retro-futuristic look of Earth 828 all combines to give this film a most amazing look and feel.

There’s one scene I want to call out. It is when the team returns from their encounter with Galactus and they reveal to the citizens of Earth that Whale Galactus wants to consume the energy from Earh itself, he would be willing to instead take Franklin Richards (Reed and Sue’s son) for the planet. A trade that both parents immediately decline. Needless to say, this enrages the population as it means everyone dies. It is at this point that Sue makes an impassioned speech that she is unwilling to sacrifice her son for the world. Which, to anyone raised Christian—is quite literally—contrary to their belief structure.

And then there are the cameos, Hyde-White, Underwood, Staab, and Smith pop up in a quick, blink-and-you’ll miss it moment. In another quickie, we get to see Stan and Jack stand-ins (working at a comicbook publishing company) Maisie Shakman, The Director’s Daughter, Fantastic Four cartoons (in the style of the iconic 1960s Hanna-Barbera series), Red Ghost and His Super Apes, Giganto, Mole Man, and more. Not to mention that there is an end trailer that pre-stages Avengers: Doomsday. Oh yes, the reason The Fantastic Four: First Steps is set on Earth-828 is a direct, meta tribute to Fantastic Four co-creator Jack Kirby, whose birthday is August 28 (8/28 in American date format). The Director, Matt Shakman, confirmed this, stating that it helps explain why the characters weren’t involved in major MCU events like Thanos’s snap, by placing them in a separate, 1960s-inspired timeline, honoring the characters’ origins.

All-in-all, this was an amazing cool film that totally deserves to be watched, and is a fantastic part of the greater MCU which clearly is leading into even cooler films in the MCU.

Captain Spider-Man

Given that today is Punch a Nazi Day…er, Independence Day we decided to pen a tale of two of our favorite iconic heroes; Spider-Man and Captain America.

In the beginning, there was the Hero, and the Hero was with man, and the Hero was man. This is the way it was in the beginning. There is a reason that we worship Heroes. We love and adore them, and we know that as much as we admire them, we will never be them, but still we not only aspire to be like them, we choose to emulate them. Then when they fail, we abandon them to the fates. As it turns out, every generation throws a Hero up the pop charts, only to wait to watch when they inevitably fall.

By this I mean that as a people, we aspire to work towards a greater good. We want to perceive the world as allegory, with a higher power or powers directing us, or even acting in concert with us. We want to believe that there are those among us who will rise up and lead or protect and rescue us in our hour of need (i.e.: The 7^th Calvary, The Marines, A White Knight, if you will).

It is my contention that there are, and always have been, those who take up the mantle of patrón, those who are willing to put themselves in harm’s way to protect those of us who are weaker. Joseph Campbell talked about the Hero’s Journey; that path that an ordinary individual must take to become the person that are destined to become. I believe in destiny not so much as a force of nature, but more as a character — one of many actors on the scene — than as an immutable path that can never be altered.

So, yes, there are heroes, and yes, sometimes those heroes fail, but that doesn’t not stop us from either believing in them, or continuing to craft stories about them, whether real or fictional.

As for me, I am a member of the cult of Heroes. I am, at my core, a Heroist. That is to say that I, perceive myself to be a founding member of the cult of Heroes, because of this, I find that I must misquote Voltaire and say that I truly believe that if Heroes did not exist, then we would have been required to create them. Obviously, both sides of that last statement are true.

Captain America is one of those heroes. Created by Jack Kirby in 1940, Captain America has grown to become the living embodiment of America. A symbol of how we perceive ourselves. There is this great story about Kirby, when he was working at the Timely/Marvel offices, Jack took a phone call. The voice on the other end said, “There are three of us down here in the lobby. We want to see the guy who does this disgusting comicbook [Captain America] and show him what real Nazis would do to his Captain America.” To the horror of others in the office, Kirby rolled up his sleeves and headed downstairs. However, by the time he arrived in the building’s lobby, the callers were gone.

Cap is a one-of-a-kind hero who understands that he is more than just some guy in a suit who fights crime. He is an icon in that he is the embodiment of the very ideals upon which this country was founded. You want to talk Truth, Justice, and The American Way? Let’s talk about Captain America; a trans-generational hero who will stand his ground and “Do this all day” if need be. He is the guy who rushes into a building with an active shooter when everyone else is running out. A Hero’s hero. A rallying cry to the downtrodden and to those who will sacrifice everything for those without a voice.

And yet, he isn’t the only one.

It has long been my contention that Spider-Man is the Captain America of my generation (I came of age during Stan, Jack, and Steve’s launching of the Marvel Age of comics), and I wish to take a moment or two of your time to expound my theory. Like Steve Rogers before him, Peter Parker was born a skinny lad with a pure heart. As a young man, Steve trended towards the arts, while Peter was intoxicated by science. What links both of them is that each had a strong sense of obligation and duty to others.

While not much is known of Steve’s parents, the little we do know is that Steve was born July 4, 1922, to Sarah and Joseph Rogers, Irish Catholic immigrants. Rogers grew up a frail youth in New York City during the Great Depression. His father passed away when Steve was a child and his mother died from pneumonia when Steve was in his late teens. Other than these few facts — and that he had a strong sense of duty, honor, and humility instilled in him by his parents — precious little else is known about Rogers’ early life. Truth to tell, Steve’s real story began when he was injected with the Super Soldier formula and exposed to Vita rays, becoming Captain America.

Much more is known about Peter Parker’s formative years, he’s the son of Richard and Mary Parker. The Parkers were a pair of S.H.I.E.L.D. agents who died on an assignment while fighting the Red Skull. Peter in turn, was raised by his uncle and aunt, Ben and May Parker. When Peter was 15, he was attending a science exhibit and was bitten by a radioactive spider which gave him his powers. Shortly thereafter his uncle was killed by a burglar that Peter later realized he could have stopped prior to the assault on his uncle, if only he acted. This incident transformed Peter into Spider-Man for real.

Like Steve before him, Peter was also instilled with a strong sense of duty, honor, and humility courtesy of his aunt and uncle. Perhaps the most well-known hero mantra in all of fiction are the words uttered by Peter’s Uncle Ben to him as a youth, “With great power must also come great responsibility.” It was these words that propelled Peter, as Spider-Man to help others in need.

We have long contended that the only real difference between Peter and Steve is that Steve had the unique and dubious advantage of having been wrapped in the flag and trained by the military. Peter, for his part had to figure out his powers on his own. It was then Peter’s ill fortune to inadvertently run afoul of Daily Bugle publisher, J. Jonah Jameson (when Spidey rescued Jameson’s son, astronaut John Jameson on an ill-fated space mission). It was this selfless act that caused the self-aggrandizing Jameson Sr. to decide that Spidey was a show-boating glory hound taking fame away from “real” heroes like his son John.

Had it not been for Jameson’s massive ego, and over-blown sense of self-importance Spider-Man wouldn’t have had to wait so long for acceptance and credibility among the general populace (heroes like Cap, Daredevil, and others tended to believe in his heroic nature from the start). Still, one can only wonder (and we have) how different would Peter’s life have been if he too had had the advantage of a military experience. Well (without going into too many specifics) consider the following, if Peter had acquired military training, coming to the attention of Col. Fury, who had just been installed as the head of S.H.I.E.L.D. recruits Peter as both a scientist and super-agent. Then when Steve steps down as Cap

(In Captain America #153 (1972) Steve Englehart determined to close the gap on the 1950s reboot of Cap as a commie smasher (something that Stan eradicated with Cap coming out of the ice direct from WWII into the then present in Avengers #4. This led to Steve’s disillusionment of maintaining the role of America’s hero, causing him to step down as Cap and taking up the role of Nomad. Steve eventually took up the role of Cap in Captain America #184).

During this interim period, Fury taps Peter to become the new Captain America. Having already established his Spider-Man persona, Peter determines to maintain a bit of his own history even as he steps into his new role as America’s Captain, and adapts the stars and stripes of Cap’s Iconic costume to his own Spider-sensibilities. Needless to say, when Steve determines to take up the shield once more, Peter becomes, well, Captain Spider-Man.

To be sure, as a life-long Spidey fan, I have thought long and hard about this particular incarnation of my webbed hero, but clearly I’m not the only one who has considered this version of Spidey-Cap, as the accompanying photo and article of an actual cosplay costume indicates.

The Stan and Jack Movie

This was just too much fun not to (re)post:

This summer when the movie houses are filled with people going to see The Avengers, there’s going to be a secret history to that team that no Marvel movie will ever show: the story about Stan Lee and Jack Kirby. Although Stan Lee makes jovial appearances in nearly all of the Marvel movies to date and into the foreseeable future, the true story behind the creation of the Marvel heroes is a story arguably more fascinating than the comic stories themselves. The idea of a movie about comic creators might seem boring to some, but just thing how Mad Men made the advertising business so appealing and what a period piece about comic creators would be like.

You can find the rest of this original post here

Occupy Marvel

Jack Kirby either created or co-created much of Marvel, there is no doubt about this. There is also no doubt that his art set the house style for decades. Marvel has gotten filthy rich off the back of Jack and other artists and  writers over the years. It is time that they acknowledge this debt.

There are some calling for a boycott of Marvel of this summer’s Avengers movie. Writer/artist, and educator Steve Bissette feels that we should petition Marvel to give credit and royalties to Jack Kirby and his family. Others suggest that you don’t necessarily boycott Marvel films, but give a buck to the Jack Kirby Museum whenever you go see a film with Kirby characters in it.

We feel that whatever option you choose, you stand up to the corporate slugs at Marvel and demand that they give proper honor and respect to one of the men that not only helped found this entire industry, but who gave so much of his life to the company itself.

Additional thoughts on Thor (the movie)

Yep, I saw the film (last night — suffer, Droogs!) and I posted my review of it already, and yes, I seriously dug the film. It really is quite good, and that is more than just a relief, it is wicked cool.

And, yeah, I really did have quite a bit of fun with my review, but there are still some observations that I want to make about it. First up (and to be totally honest), I was a tad leery about this film, I mean, it is about a guy prancing around in armor and a winged helmet swing a big hammer. Truthfully, it could have gone very bad, very quickly.  What kept the film from becoming a one-off, bad parody of what comicbook films could (should) be, was director Kenneth Branagh, who Ironically, enough acted in (and directed) Shakespearian films is now the driving force behind the only comicbook character who speaks in Shakespearean-style Pentameter.

More than that, though, it is clear that there is an obvious respect for the source material. Which is to say it is not treated with the same kind of disdain that Joel Schumacher had for Batman during his tenure over that film franchise. Then, of course there is the care that Marvel Studios has taken to interweave the storyline from the current slate of films as they each pay homage to the previous ones as well as help set up the story (and interest) for the next ones.

In this film there are references to Tony Stark, SHIELD, Bruce Banner, and a future Avenger (no, not Cap). There is also the dynamic between Thor and Loki (which is different, than the comic), and it plays out better here. There is homage to the material created by Stan, Jack, and Larry Leiber (as well as the requisite cameo by Stan). We get to see more of SHIELD Agent Coulson, and (interestingly enough), the “human” form of Loki is portrayed akin to the Ultimate Universe version of Loki, which just add to the overall coolness of the film.

Yeah, Marvel has it way out in front of DC on creating a cohesive mythos for the film adaptations of its characters (but Marvel always did have a better grasp on fitting all the pieces of the puzzle together, much like a finely woven tapestry. So, you really owe it to yourself to check out Thor this weekend (oh, and by-the-by, I may be a (mostly reformed) former Marvel Zombie, I never really was a big Thor fan (even though I did contribute to the indexing of Thor’s comics for The Official Index to the Marvel Universe (vol. 2).

Anyway, in case I haven’t said it yet (or said it enough), Thor really rocks, and you should totally check it out.

First, kill all the lawyers...

Yep, Shakespeare got it right after all (as if there was any doubt). I know that this is “old” news, but is is still worth repeating here.

Marvel is suing the family of the late artist Jack Kirby in a bid to retain copyright to some of the company's best-loved comic book characters.

Legal action, filed in New York, sought to invalidate 45 notices sent by his heirs, claiming rights to characters would revert to Kirby's estate in 2014.

Marvel maintains Kirby's illustrations, published between 1958-1963, were "for hire" making the heirs' claims invalid.

 Needless to say, Kirby's family has vowed to “vigorously defend” their (totally legitimate) case.

You can read the rest of this BBC article here.

Before I was “famous”

As I toil away on the Captain America entries for Volume #2 of The Official Index to the Marvel Universe (or Avengers, Thor & Captain America: Official Index To The Marvel Universe — as Vol 2 is officially called), I suddenly recalled that I had a letter of mine published in Captain America issue # 208.

That issue was cited in an on-line essay (interestingly enough) entitled NOTES ON THE GILL-MAN OF THE UPPER AMAZON,which talks about some lizard creature that apparently wandered through that particular issue of Cap.

The quote from below is from the article cited.

1976- While in a running battle with South American prison warden Hector "the Swine" Santiago, Steve Rogers, aka Captain America, runs afoul of the Gill-Man. The amphibious being eventually slays Santiago and his guards. ("The River of Death!" by Jack Kirby, Captain America #208, April, 1977.) In an attempt to make the Gill-Man look like a "new" monster, Kirby draws him with bulbous eyes and bright red scales. [The Marvel Universe is not the same as the Wold-Newton Universe, so presumably a mainstream Marvel title like Cap should be excluded. However, artist/writer Kirby has known Cap/Rogers since 1941, and in the Newtoniverse Cap sometimes opens his files to comic book legend Kirby. In fact, a letter from Robert Sodaro in this very issue states: "Since Jack started writing for Marvel again, the plotlines of CAPTAIN AMERICA. . . have had little if anything to do with the rest of the Marvel Universe."]

The body of letter itself appears here:


It is really just one of numerous LOCs I got into print during those days, and well, I just thought I’d share.

Lawyer-Man to the rescue!

The next big superhero fight won’t be some massive inter-company event, nor will it take place on the silver screen in 3D, but instead it will occur in the courtrooms as the lawyer who once made the low-budget film Zombie High has a new calling as an intellectual property litigator while he now battles a real-life corporate Goliath in the form of the Walt Disney company on the behalf of the heirs of comic book artist and legend, Jack Kirby.

Yep, that’s right, Marc Toberoff is attempting to secure the rights for the heirs of artist Jack Kirby — who have sued Marvel Entertainment and its new owner the Disney Co. — as part of an effort to reclaim ownership of the characters he created and/or co-created.

Toberoff claims Kirby created his characters on a freelance basis, rather than as works for hire, and he may reclaim their ownership under a provision of the copyright law that gives authors or their heirs such rights after a given number of years.

The law creates a 56-year threshold for ending older copyrights and a shorter period for newer works, according to the Times.

Toberoff’s suit claims the heirs should profit from new works involving Kirby's material, including movies such as X-Men Origins: Wolverine. Marvel has licensed rights to many of the characters to rival studios, further complicating the suit, the Times says

Taking the coward's way out

Several years ago (early-to mid ‘90s) So youngster got his hands on a Marvel trading card for the Red Skull that identified him as a Nazi. Well being a bright and curious lad, he asked his father what a Nazi was. Well, surprised and shocked the father took exception to Marvel having the audacity of using something so innocuous as a trading card and supervillain to teach his precious, and innocent youngster about the worst villains from the 20^th Century (especially something that he would eventually learn about in history class), and complained to Marvel.

Well, as you can imagine, Marvel chose to — instead of standing on principal and who the character had been for half a century — chose instead to whimper and cower in the corner. They issued an edict that — moving forward — The Red Skull would simply be referred to as a really bad man, and any trace of his former atrocities would simply be wiped from his history.

Well, move forward 20 years and, yep, it is happening once again, and (interestingly enough) once again in the pages of Captain America:

In issue No. 602 of Captain America, the hero and his ally the Falcon find themselves at a rally where protesters hold signs that read “Tea Bag the Libs Before They Tea Bag You!” and “Stop the Socialists!” Captain America remarks that the assembly appears to be an “anti-tax thing,” and the Falcon, who is black, says he probably would not fit in with “a bunch of angry white folks.”

The sequence incited complaints from Tea Party officials who say it is an unfair criticism of their movement. In an interview with FoxNews.com, Michael Johns, a board member of the Nationwide Tea Party Coalition, called the characters’ apparent jabs “juvenile,” adding: “The Tea Party movement has been very reflective of broad concerns of all Americans. Membership is across ethnic, religious and even political lines.”

Some irate Cap fans have pointed out that during his heyday, Cap’s comic upset members of the German American Bund (in 1941). At that time everyone from publisher Martin Godman (who was usually given to flight rather than fighting when profits were involved), to NYC Mayor Fiorello LaGuardia encouraged creators Joe Simon & Jack Kirby to stand their ground and not compromise.

Unfortunately, these days the company has chosen to swallow its corporate and creative pride over what amounts to a single throwaway panel that (save for the accurate spelling of all the words on the various protest signs) accurately depicts the sentiments and slogans of the Tea Baggers.

One can only hope that Stephen Colbert (to whom Joe Quesada himself once Captain America’s fallen shield), will become aware of this, and lampoon it for the idiocy that it is. Go get ‘em Stephen!

Another county heard from

PVP, the long-running, hysterical, online comic that stands at the forefront of what an excellent online comic should be, recently had this observation of Kirby’s claim of ownership over certain Marvel characters.

Who, who, created the book of Marvel

Yeah, Yeah, we all know the answer to that, but in the midst of the Disney buyout of The (former) house of ideas, the question of the hour is no longer who created what, but who’s heirs will reap the rewards for that which what was created.

Confused? You shouldn’t be.

As any funnybook fan should know, Stan has always partly credited Jack Kirby with the creation of Spider-Man. He has even said that Jack was originally was supposed to have been the original artist on the character, but Stan really didn’t like the over-muscled character that Jack made Peter. Stan wanted Peter to not look like the typical hero, so he turned the character designs over to Sturdy Steve Ditko. Well, Jack’s heirs have heard and, well, added a claim on Spidey to their copyright infringement suit claim.

Yep, that’s right, folks, Kirby’s heirs are claiming the rights to Spidey himself, the cornerstone character and Iconic logo to the entirety of the Marvel Universe.

It's been confirmed that that Jack Kirby's heirs are, indeed, including Spider-Man and supporting characters in their list of Marvel characters that they want the rights to. The only problem with that? Well, Kirby didn't really create the character.

According to The Hollywood Reporter:

The reasons Kirby didn't end up drawing the book [Spider-Man] are lost in the mists of comic history, with some claiming Lee didn't like Kirby's more muscular depiction and others believing Lee was just too busy. (Kirby did end up drawing the cover to Spider-Man's first appearance, "Amazing Fantasy" #15.)

According to several accounts, Kirby, with his Captain America co-creator Joe Simon, did create a character called the Silver Spider, whose alter ego was an orphaned boy living with two elderly people, and that character was morphed into Spider-Man. Other accounts have the Silver Spider becoming the Fly for another comic company.

Regardless, the Spider-Man copyright termination notice filed last week by Kirby¹s four children lists Amazing Fantasy #15 as a work that belongs to Kirby. But included on the list of possible characters and story elements that should be recaptured by Kirby¹s heirs are Aunt May, Uncle Ben, J. Jonah Jameson, Flash Thompson and the Daily Bugle, as well as villains the Chameleon, the Vulture, the Tinkerer and the Lizard. Many of those characters were not originally published until 9 to 12 months after Spider-Man's first appearance and are considered to be Lee-Ditko creations.

Anyways, Kirby’s heirs claim is based on Kirby's rejected work - which didn't resemble the character as he eventually appeared, other than the name - and a claim Kirby made in a 1982 interview with Spirit creator Will Eisner, where he stated “Spider-Man was discussed between Joe [Simon] and myself. Spider-Man was not a product of Marvel.”

Still, some of this information is a tad misleading, as the Kirby/Simon “Spider-Man” never actually saw print, but instead became the 1959 character The Fly, which was a reworking of a previous Joe Simon character (co-created with artist CC Beck) called the Silver Spider. Simon has gone on record having suggested that the discussion of a character called “Spider-Man” — or actually “Spiderman,” according to an unused logo from that time — led to Kirby suggesting the name to Stan several years later when he worked for Marvel.

According to the comicbook historian, Al Nickerson, as recently as early 2009, Lisa Kirby (Jack’s daughter) rejected the idea that her father was involved with the creation of Spider-Man.

“I had asked Lisa Kirby (daughter of Jack and Roslyn Kirby) about her father's connection to the creation of Spider-Man. Lisa told me: "Neither one of my parents ever mentioned that my father created him, in fact I have heard my mother correcting people if they alluded to that fact.”

So what does this all mean? Who knows, other than the fact that the end of this story is nowheres in sight.

Kirby heirs vow to reclaim copyrights from Marvel and Disney

The Spirit of Jack is still with us all!

Heirs to the comic-book artist Jack Kirby, who has been credited as the co-creator of characters and stories behind Marvel mainstays like the “X-Men” and “Fantastic Four,” among many others, last week sent 45 notices of copyright termination to Marvel, Disney, Sony Pictures, Universal Pictures, 20th Century Fox, Paramount Pictures and others who have been making films and other forms of entertainment based on the characters.

The legal notices expressed an intent to regain copyrights to some creations as early as 2014, according to a statement from Toberoff & Associates, a Los Angeles firm that helped win a court ruling last year returning a share of the copyright in Superman to heirs of the character’s co-creator, Jerome Siegel.

Reached by telephone on Sunday, Mr. Toberoff declined to elaborate on the statement. A spokeswoman for Marvel had no immediate comment. Disney said in a statement, “The notices involved are an attempt to terminate rights seven to 10 years from now, and involve claims that were fully considered in the acquisition.” Fox, Sony, Paramount and Universal had no comment.

Its Funny until someone makes a deal with the Devil (Then it’s Friggin’ Hillarious!)

By now you’ve all heard about Marvel’s deal with the Devil Disney Company (Yes, Virginia, that’s 4-billion-with-a-B-billion dollars!

Well, the entire industry has been buzzing with the news all day, and well, some folks have been having a bit of fun with the concept of a Disney-owned Marvel by producing some images that mash-up characters from both companies. As can be expected, many are very funny, and I wanted to share them with you here:

I’d thought that I’d share some of that silliness with you. The first two images were sent to me, while the last three are all mine.





(Whups, almost forgot this one.)





Yeah, that last image is an update of something I did earlier today, I added the Daily Bugle that Spidey is holding in his hand.

More as it happens.

***** THIS JUST IN! *****

I just saw more Marvel/Disney images over here that I wanted to share, and Craig Yo posted this Image that Jack Kirby did several years ago for a book that Craig was publishing at the time. I wanted to include Jack’s image, but I’ll let Craig tell you more about the book itself over at his blog.



If anyone finds more Disney/Marvel images, feel free to add the links. This is getting fun!

It’s time to Price your comics!

I’m the features editor and one of the "unnamed" authors of Comics Values Annual, our 2009 edition just hit the stands and I received my copies the other day. I’ve been doing this for some 15 or 17 years and I (as you can imagine) enjoy it very much.

Needless to say as we were putting the issue to bed in the closing moments of 2008 and the prior to the newness of 2009 was upon us we paused to look around at the world outside the “All in color for a dime” world of superheroes, Sci-Fi adventures, ghouls, vampires, zombies and other monsters that go bump in the night, to see what was happening in the real world around us. Even as our new President–Elect was gathering together his new cabinet about him and before we knew the fullness of the betrayal of the consumer trust by the the corporate robber-barons who inhabited Wall St. and the Fortune 500 boardrooms prepared to down-size us working-class poor into a state of destitution resembling Jack “King” Kirby’s beloved Kamandi’s post-apocalyptic America we couldn’t help but to wonder aloud, what was to become of collecting.

For truly, how can one look at the headlines of the past several months of 2008 and wonder how a person can possibly spin that they are out of work, their hedge fund has collapsed, their 401K is gone, and their sub-prime mortgage is past due even consider buying old comics? Well, the truth of the matter is that often times in the past, whenever the stock market goes down significantly, much of the available investment money goes to collectibles. Still, those of us working diligently at CVA, we still saw a sharp advance in prices on the top comic collectibles. Still, the question of the day was really “Do the owners choose to sell at this time?” Personally, we do think that the new comics in the marketplace will be soft in value for the foreseeable future.

This is why we continue to produce this price guide (well, that and the money we are paid to do so...
mostly for the money
). Anyway that’s the mental state I was in at that time, and now I can see the issue in print. It contains an interview with Marvel Assistant Editor, John Barber (who works on Wolverine’s titles), and we have a beautifully-rendered cover by Mark Sparacio

You can see the cover off to the right, and attached to this post. I strongly urge you to go out and purchase one for yourself. I know I would, but I get mine for free.

For whom the Bell Tolls

Hey, did you folk hear about the suit against DC comics by the heirs of Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster? If not, check this out. A buddy of mine turned me on to it yesterday. Meanwhile a local author named Marc Tyler Nobleman with whom I’ve been chatting recently, has authored a children’s book on these two comicbook creators. He has bloged about this a couple of times (at least once over here).

Personally, I’m looking forward to reading his book, (Boys of Steel: The Creators of Superman), is due out later this year.

Further, you can only wonder how this will shake out for guys like Steve Ditko, the heirs of Jack Kirby, and other comicbook creators who developed now-hot properties under “work for hire” contracts. This looks interesting, to say the least.

It’s Sunday again (Naturally)

Yeah, here it is Sunday again, and I get to read the latest installment of The Amazing Spider-Man via the most generous contributions of The New York Post . Yeah, yeah, I actually have to purchase the paper (for a whopping .75¢ each, no less!) but yeah, I get to read the latest Spidey-Installment in their collectible reprint.

Interestingly enough, while this issue is continued from last week, it is also continued into next week, making it the very first three-parter. I’m not entirely sure how this happened, as the original comic is the same length as the other comics in the series. Near as I can figure, it is because there is a back-up tale with Spidey, and the Human Torch (as rendered by Stan, Jack, and Steve), so I’m figuring that The Post simply chose to split the story up in such a way as to spotlight the back-up story all on its own.

In other news, I was appearing yesterday at A Timeless Journey , in downtown Stamford, CT to sign copies of Psychosis! #1 I think that I did OK, I sold all four copies of the mag that the store had stocked (and added one more for Paul’s rack so he could still have a copy), and a set of three of Agent Unknown, the Renegade Press comic I created and wrote back in the late ’80s. Not a bad day, eh?

Here’s what I love about Sundays

Every Sunday, The NY Post includes another “Collectible Reprint” of an early issue of The Amazing Spider-Man. Each week, the paper issues half an issue reprint of thee classic issues. The story is by Stan “The Man” Lee and drawn by Steve Ditko (interestingly enough both Stan and Jack “King” Kirby have nicknames that have stuck with them until this day, but poor ol’ Steve never did, I wonder why). Ah well, no matter, each and every Sunday I get to read one of these old stories and recall with delight why I began my life-long love-affair with comics back in 1962 or there-abouts.

On Sundays, I run out to grab two copies of The Post (one is for me and one is for my 12-year-old nephew Tony-o, who is also a fan of both comics and Spidey), and then I sit and read the comic. Like I said, I already have the stories (in a couple or three different formats), but it still doesn't stop me form acquiring them in this way-cool new format. That’s it for now, except to say check out this link, it is a wicked-cool co-mingling of Our guy Spidey and the other Marvel heroes and villains, and Charlie Brown (to whom Peter Parker has often been compared) and the rest of the Peanuts gang.

Enjoy!