User:Ntnon/Kirby2

T2

Marvel art-return controversy

From the earliest days of comic book production, original artwork was typically not returned to its creator(s), instead it was widely stored and regularly destroyed by publishers who retained all rights to the work, and did not see a need to even retain the originals, let alone return it. Over time, some pages were gifted by publishers both to some artists making specific requests, and as prizes to readers.

As protests grew about the treatment of original artwork, even as individual artists began to rise above the anonymity of the comics shops, publishers "ceased to butcher artists' pages, but hoarded them instead in warehouses." In 1973, publisher DC Comics, taking its example from "all other magazines and periodical literature" acknowledged that "ownership of the page, the actual object, belongs unequivocally to the artist." This shift was followed by other companies, including the newly formed Atlas/Seaboard Comics which, in 1974, also began routinely returning new original artwork. Marvel Comics began returning new original art in 1976, requiring artists to sign a four-line rights-release) affirming that they made no claim to own the work or profit from it. DC became the first company to contractually affirm freelancers' right to the return and ownership of artwork, as well as offering compensation for any artwork lost while in the company's possession.

When the U.S. Copyright Act of 1976 (which came into effect on January 1, 1978), codified "that freelancers could now claim copyrights on anything created before that year" unless they had previously signed a work-for-hire agreement, comics contracts became much more explicit, as not all previous work had been explicitly stated to be work-for-hire. Marvel's brief waiver was replaced by a one-page form in 1979, which writer-artist Frank Miller described as requiring the artist to "paradoxically... declare their physical artwork Marvel's property before Marvel will return it... surrender[ing] to Marvel every conceivable right to the artwork that could ever possibly exist." Many other companies placed such rights-releases on payment checks, literally withholding payment from creators until they renounced all claims on the copyright of their artwork.

Kirby's newly-created Marvel artwork, beginning with his mid-1970s return to the company, was, like that of other artists, routinely returned upon receipt of the four-line waiver. However, Marvel did not offer Kirby a freelancer contract until August 1984, which placed his work before that time, in light of the 1976 copyright act, in a state of copyright-limbo. Under continued pressure from Kirby's lawyers to return any of his artwork still held by the company, Marvel ultimately agreed, sending Kirby received a four-page agreement exclusive to him. This document offered "a gift" of only the "physical custody" of a short list of just 88 pages of original art - out of the (estimated) more than 8,000 Kirby had produced between 1960 and 1970.

While the one-page form offered to other freelancers confirmed their ownership of their physical artwork, Kirby's form provided "nothing more than the right to store the art on behalf of Marvel. Though it would be in his possession, there was nothing that Kirby would be allowed to do with it", as the form specified that the artwork could not be sold or otherwise commercially exploited; could not be publicly displayed without Marvel's written permission; and must be always accessible to Marvel to copy. Further, it forbid Kirby to claim any other of his thousands of unreturned pages in Marvel's possession, or to "contest or dispute, or assist others in contesting or disputing, Marvel's complete, exclusive, complete and unrestricted ownership of the copyright in the Artwork."

The Kirbys attempted to negotiate with Marvel editor-in-chief Jim Shooter, who responded on January 25, 1985 with a letter reiterating Marvel's demand that Kirby sign the complete agreement as written. The issue became public that summer within fanzines and the pro-zine/magazine The Comics Journal #100 (July, 1985), which launched a nearly year-long editorial crusade advocating the full-ownership return of Kirby's art. Together with discussion at comic-book fan convention panels; a pro-Kirby petition signed by approximately 150 industry professionals and published in The Comics Journal #105 (Feb. 1986); and, in that same issue, a November 19, 1985, open letter to Marvel from DC publisher Jenette Kahn and editors Dick Giordano and Paul Levitz castigating Marvel, "Shooter and Marvel found themselves in the middle of the worst public relations disaster in the company's history".

Marvel increased the number of pages it offered to return, first to 800, then 1700, and the four-page agreement became three agreements, with modifications. On June 16, 1987, Kirby signed the agreed document and renounced any copyright claims in exchange for return of his artwork. Marvel refused to pay the $800 insurance cost of shipping "what the company says remained of Kirby's drawings — about one-sixth of his work", which arrived the last week of June and consisted of "300 [pre-superhero] monster pages, 300 Westerns, two dozen covers, some Fantastic Four, no X-Men, and just a handful of Hulk and Sgt. Fury pages".