No matter how entertaining comic books may be, it is important to remember that these comic book publishers are industries, businesses with people in suits pointing fingers and making claims. Creating a character for a comic book company isn't just a deal, it is law!
When a writer creates a comic book character for a comic book company-like DC Comics or Marvel Comics-the character they create is no longer under their ownership. Comic book companies started establishing this rule back in the 60's and the best example for how this rule works is for the character of Superman. Superman was created by Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster in 1938 and was bought by National Allied Comics, the publisher that would later become DC Comics. Although they could write and draw the early issues, the payment contract only lasted ten years. Siegel and Shuster fought to keep Superman from being taken from them without credit and in 1975 they won a court case against DC Comics and Warner Communication that stated Seigel and Shuster would receive $30,000 every year for the rest of their lives and that any comic book, movie, television show, or video game featuring Superman would credit them with "Created by Jerry Seigel and Joe Shuster". After they both passed, Seigel's family tried to sue for royalties from DC Comics and even attempted to take the rights to "Superboy", but the Seigel estate lost the court case and the Superman rights remained DC Comics, luckily the previous deal to credit the men would be permanent.
I've mentioned her before on The Panel Biter, but the character Angela from the Spawn comics also had a bit of pull at both ends regarding ownership. The Spawn comic book series was originally founded and drawn by Spider-Man and Batman artist Todd McFarlane, who would invite writers in the industry to write his Spawn book. At this point, Image Comics was the publisher for Spawn and what makes that important is that Image wasn't like DC Comics or Marvel Comics, Image writers and artists owned the characters they created and if the characters ever crossed over into each other's books, their creator would be involved in those stories. Anyway, in "Spawn #4" writer Neil Gaiman was brought on and he created a character named Angela. Prominent for many years, McFarlane grew tired of crediting Gaiman and fought for the legal rights to the character, resulting in McFarlane breaking Image's oh-so-iconic rules of content ownership. Gaiman won the case and sold Angela to Marvel Comics just to end the mess. Image Comics continues today and while it is not on the same level of notoriety as DC Comics or Marvel Comics, many aspiring writers and artists still publish their own comics through Image as a safe way to start their careers and/or not worry about the products ownership. Image was most popular during the art-crazed dark ages known as the 90's, a point in comic book history where comics were hitting a low ground. I should really explain to my Dad why Spawn isn't cool, but I'd hate to make him cry.
And then there's Miracleman. Oh, boy was I avoiding ever mentioning this character. See, it all started with Fawcett Comics, most known for their mascot Captain Marvel. DC Comics sued Fawcett for the ownership of Captain Marvel because the character was too obviously a rip-off of Superman. With Captain Marvel being seized, a British publishing company named L. Miller and Son-who had reprinted black and white issues of Captain Marvel/Shazam-hired British writer Mick Anglo to create a character similar to Captain Marvel, and thus Marvelman was born. The character's rights were tossed around by Alan Moore, Neil Gaiman, Todd McFarlane, Eclipse Comics and wound up in the hands of Marvel Comics, additionally in 1985 his name was changed to Miracleman and stories jumped around from being fun Golden Age/Silver Age stories, dark and disturbing 90's stories, to finally being put back in his greatest adventures in the modern age. The constant toss around of this character's rights left him largely ignored when Captain Marvel/Shazam eventually joined the DC Universe.
So really, is this way of business right? Is the creation of Image Comics the solution? Are comic creators entitled to their works? Honestly, I don't see an issue with how comic book companies settle this stuff. While it is sad to think Wolverine's original creator gets no royalties or credit in all the Wolverine media, business is never personal. If you sold your house to a rich business tycoon and he turned it into a KKK Club House, you can yell all you want, but you allowed that to happen. It's true that being offered a deal by DC or Marvel is a comic creator's ticket into the industry, but writers and artists need to understand now more than ever that what they create is credited as a work of the company before themselves. You never see the chef's name next to a meal on a menu, do you? As a fan of comic books and a writer, it shouldn't be a surprise when I say I'd love to be a comic book writer in the future, but even I understand the rules of the business and if losing my chance to join the pantheon of DC or Marvel means keeping my ideas under my control, then I'd say its worth that decision. Obviously it'd be smarter for creators to write or draw preexisting characters before struggling for the rights of their own characters. After all, with the success that Marvel and DC Comics have right now, a lawsuit may seem an impossibility. Especially if She-Hulk is Marvel's attorney! All and all, Image Comics is a clever way to get some footing, its a sacrifice of notoriety for the assurance of control. For all writers and artists, its about choice and some choices have their repercussions, repercussions that cost you sexy angel barbarians. A great cost, indeed. Thanks for reading!
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