I enjoyed reading Joe’s MY LIFE IN COMICS; in fact, I breezed through it in almost one sitting.
If you’re interested in what it was like to be a pioneer comic book creator, look no further. Want to learn more about Joe and Jack Kirby’s partnership? Here’s some prime material.
I especially enjoyed the section where Joe reminisces about a hot fudge sundae he had in Times Square. If only Hugo Weaving knew! Real fun. Read the book!
Thanks, Joe!
Brent Staples, who wrote a wonderful piece in the New York Times in 2007 titled “Jack Kirby, Comic Book Genius, Is Finally Remembered,” has written “Marvel Superheroes and the Fathers of Invention.”
I posted to the Museum’s Discussion group on June 8th:
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Obviously, I am not a lawyer or a copyright expert, but it seems that the case hinges on the legal state of what appeared on the page via a pencil in Kirby’s hand during those years.
It looks to me like the Marvel/Disney argument is a work-for-hire argument – that the rights to whatever Kirby put on paper were owned, at the moment he created it, by Martin Goodman who transferred to Perfect Film, which renamed to Cadence Industries, then… bla bla bla Disney.
And that the Kirby argument is that the rights to whatever Jack Kirby put to paper were owned, at the moment he created it, by Kirby, who then assigned his rights to Goodman… Disney.
This is, as I understand it, the scope of the laws that have been put in place by our US legislators, which allows creators, or their estates, to terminate the assignment of those rights a determined number of years after the works’ creation.
Look again at the back of Dick Ayers’ check from 1974. A scan is attached, hope you can see it. The text that the company stamped on the back is about the signer assigning rights to the work to Magazine Management. That means the creator/signer had rights to the work when they created it. This is important!!!!
Work-for-hire means the creator/signer is an employee who has no rights to the work when they created it. Marvel’s text on the back of the checks after 1976 (Ayers’ 1986 is also attached) does not mention any assignment of rights.
Was Jack was an employee of Goodman’s in the early 1960s? This is why there is all the talk of health insurance, vacation time, supplies, pay for rejected work, in the filings…
I re-recommend “Who owns Light Man?” an informative podcast by real, serious, hardcore US copyright experts/lawyers: http://goo.gl/k11LA
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Neal Kirby wrote a touching Father’s Day tribute to his dad, Jack, on CO2 Comics: http://goo.gl/8VxTn
(I tweeted this a few days ago, but since today is Father’s Day, I think it’s fair to repost.)
We’ll be at the show with a scanner, so bring your Kirby original art! We hope to meet with all kinds of Kirby fans, meet Museum members new and old, offer stickers and postcards for donations, and just talk about Jack all weekend. Be sure to stop by!
Tom Kraft, Museum Trustee and WhatIfKirby.com genius, and I will be attending the Hawthorne High School Comic Convention in Hawthorne, New Jersey this Saturday.
We’ll have a table with a small Kirby display, some membership premiums, and a scanner. At noon, I’ll be talking about “The Jack Kirby Legacy” in a classroom down the hall.
The convention is a fund-raiser for the school’s Cartooning and Art Clubs, and admission is $4.
The Kirby Museum will be at NYC’s MoCCA Festival this weekend – table D8. This year, we’re offering a pair of 11×14 prints called “Psychedelic Fliers.” As with the SPQR portfolio, I’m printing HP Vivera ink on 100% Cotton, 50lb Hahnemuhle Photo Rag paper. A small first edition will be run and offered in an archival print sleeve as a membership premium. (The $ level has yet to be decided.) They’re beautiful!
Yes, we’ll be selling postcards and Kirby books, as well as offering mini-comics, posters, portfolios and prints to our new and renewing members. We’ll have our backpack raffle. Feed the Mother Box and take some Jack Kirby stickers!
Thanks to Lisa Kirby and John Morrow for their help with the “Psychedelic Fliers.”
Kirby Museum members Jason Atomic and Garry Vanderhorne are curating “Hail To the King!” – a Jack Kirby tribute art show at Resistance Gallery at 265 Poyser St. in London, England.
“Hail To The King!” presents pieces by several internationally renowned artists that express how Jack Kirby’s work has influenced them.
The opening this Thursday, 7 April, starts at 7pm and runs through 11pm.
Museum trustee and WhatifKirby.com mastermind Tom Kraft will have his scanner at Nostalgic Investment’s booth 1011.
(Scan above courtesy Hans Kosenkranius of Tri-State Original Art)
Almost 60 pieces were added to the Kirby Museum’s Original Art Digital Archive a few weeks ago at the Comic Art Fest in Secaucus, New Jersey, let’s make the effort in San Francisco a memorable one, too!
In addition to Hans (above), thanks to Mike Burkey of Romitaman Comic Art
Rich Donnelly of Cool Lines Art
Saul of Kirby Art
Bechara Maalouf of Nostalgic Collectables
Will Gabri-El of Will’s Comic Art Page
Anthony Snyder of Anthony’s Collectibles
and art collector Robert Altamura, for their help in Secaucus!
Hard to believe it’s been that long – Go! Read!
This Sunday, 13 March, is the Comic Art Con in Secaucus NJ, hosted by Comic Art Showcase. If you plan to attend and have original Kirby art that you wish to contribute to the Museum’s Original Art Digital Archive – which could also be used in Tom Kraft’s What If Kirby website and John Morrow’s The Jack Kirby Collector magazine – please stop by Nostalgic Investments’ booth to have it scanned and archived.
Here’s a piece we scanned at last September’s Comic Art Con, through the courtesy of Cool Lines Art:
