Go, Read: TCJ On The Recent Marvel/Kirby Decision

Mike Dean wrote an article for The Comics Journal on the recent Kirby/Marvel decision that is now going to appeal. Its best feature is a concise explanation of the standard used for determining whether what Jack Kirby did was work-for-hire, for which I'm personally grateful. Although oddly, I would have to imagine that some of Lee's own writing about that period would provide examples that run counter to this standard, although the most obvious one -- what Lee once wrote about how Dr. Strange was basically Steve Ditko's idea -- would never come to court. It's well-written generally, too, and I think the article places the proper emphasis on how the judge put more stock in Stan Lee's testimony than on constructions of what happened from people that weren't there. I'm not quite sure that I agree with Dean's matter-of-fact conclusions that the judge felt publicity pressures or that the family only sued to settle -- not their matter-of-factness, anyway -- at least without seeing his source work on those two points, but I think those are arguable points for sure and could certainly be true.

And of course, the real tragedy is this all seems so wholly, depressingly unnecessary.
 
posted 6:00 am PST | Permalink
 

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