Snarked #7; Also, Marvel/DC done fucked up again

[superboyprime]

Four pages from the latest issue of Snarked...







Princess Scarlett offers to turn the boat around for the Walrus.



And in other Roger Langridge news, if some small part of you has still been holding onto to the slimmest of slim hopes that Marvel might one day revive the short-lived Thor, the Mighty Avenger... you can finally give it up. Langridge made public today his decision to no longer do any work for Marvel or DC because of their unethical practices.

He's joining a growing number of creators who've made that decision and can no longer in good conscience work for the Big Two because of their shameful treatment towards past creators and their heirs. "I was writing the last issue of John Carter when the news came that Marvel had won a lawsuit against the heirs of Jack Kirby... Pretty much then I figured I should finish the script I was writing and move on." Wow.

Comments

[lonewolf23k]

I'll admit, I'm starting to have my doubts about the Big Two myself, although in my case it's mostly due to Marvel Event Fatigue and a rabid refusal to accept the DC Reboot.

[riddler13]

The DC what?

It never happened.

[gerardotejada]

He may be referring to the strange hiatus of DC, they havent published anything in almost a year.

[kraesil]

*Sigh*

I don't blame them. Big Two comics these days.. let's just say not very desirable, shall we?

And then they'll probably do something even stupider to try to get sales up ==

[aeka]

Pretty much this. After reading DC's August solicitations, I can't say I'm too excited for what's to come.

Also, if I'm seriously only buying two books a month from DC, something is seriously going wrong here. :/

[gerardotejada]

I dont feel marvel is doing anything wrong, many mistakes are corrected, Pym is back beign a hero, mutants are apearing again after House of M, Avengers are all friends, heros fight the villains instead of themselves. It wont take long before some one remarry Mary Jane and Peter Parker.
In the mean time I got to be bored with the "Events" Marvel gets Its money from (just see the sales charts)

And the ones that handle the legal issues are not the editors, the writers or any one that "works in Marvel", but the lawyers and the suits that get paid working on administration and stuff.

[valtyr]

Avengers are all friends

Steve and Hank threw Wolverine out of a plane. Tony tried to punch out Steve, who threatened to break his nose. Vision told Wanda never to come back.

heros fight the villains instead of themselves

I know you said you were bored of events, but how could you have possibly missed that the current big event is Avengers vs X-Men?

[silverzeo]

It's kinda ironic. Both DC and Marvel's biggest baddies are evil corporate giants, taking advantage of workers and so fort, and now one their writers left because they've been acting like big evil corporate giants...

[greenmask]

All these ship-jumping creators need is costumes.

[leoboiko]

Well, the people who created the stories about big bad corporate giants are the workers struggling under an oppressive corporate giant. It’s not like the shareholders come up with villains (or the big baddies would all be communist hippies…)

[dewinged]

I wonder if this trend will continue with creators, and if anything will result from it.

There's also the way fans/readers are treated by some creators (and I want to add 'and companies' since, as creators on a title, I think they should be considered to be representing the company), which in some cases has come across as outright toxic. (Examples: I've seen some letters pages where a letter that disagreed with something in the comic was responded to in a manner I felt was obnoxious. Also, a certain Spider-Man writer and an editor on comic boards on another website, which has been brought up previously.)

[stolisomancer]

It won't matter until such time as somebody on the current A-list does it. Unless a Bendis, a Hickman, a Brubaker, or a Waid comes forward and says they've decided to quit working for the major publishers entirely due to the Kirby lawsuit and the fallout thereof, nothing will change in a noticeable way.

Current writers in the industry know that if they want to have full control of the characters and plots they've introduced, they have a lot of options. There will never be another Kirby situation.

re-posted w/edit

[cleome45]

...There's also the way fans/readers are treated by some creators (and I want to add 'and companies' since, as creators on a title, I think they should be considered to be representing the company), which in some cases has come across as outright toxic...

Well, I can't speak for everyone. Still, having read either here or on ns_d about Bill Wilmingham's utter contempt for female fans, I'd think several hundred times before plunking down any money for his books. I'm sure they're wonderful stories, but... no.

I'm sure there are others, but he's the first one who came to mind for me.

[bruinsfan]

Who is it that you think of as Marvel's biggest bad guy?

[jlbarnett]

what exactly is being asked for in the Kirby lawsuit?

[jlbarnett]

honestly, I'm mostly on Marvel and DC's sides here. THe fact that they were underpaid really doesn't change the agreements worked out.

[gerardotejada]

They are right acording to the law, not acording to ethics, for so I think you are confusing yourself.

[stolisomancer]

The "growing list" of creators is apparently Langridge and two other guys, none of whom were doing high-profile work for either of the major publishers, along with a whole shitload of bloggers and fans who are firmly on the side of the Kirby family.

Seriously, let's go ahead and look at what happened here. They filed forty-five copyright-termination claims against Marvel and Disney.

The court ruled against them because of a law dating back to 1908.

Was there a fair amount of truly shady bullshit going on with Kirby's work, both before and after his death? Yes. We all know that. But what is my reaction supposed to be to the Kirby family losing this lawsuit? Am I supposed to be upset that a multi-billion-dollar corporation decided to defend themselves against a suit that would've, at bare minimum, cost them eight digits? I'm really not seeing why I'm supposed to be limbering up my pitchfork hand here.

[arbre_rieur]

As Tom Spurgeon pointed out, when the AVENGERS movie came out, Marvel made enough money in four hours to honorably settle their issues with creators for all time. Something to think about.

[eaglet_auditore]

Dammit! The Mighty Avenger was what brought me to Marvel COMICS in the first place! (And the movie brought me to those comics). Why do the nice things I like always have to end before their time?
So, I know why TMA won't be coming back in this case, but I'm still blaming fate.

[eyz]

Thor, the Mighty Avenger was what brought me BACK to Marvel nowadays! X__X
sad news..

[eyz]

They lost Roger Langridge? Now they've done it!!! >__>

(frozen)

[cleome45]

stolisomancer mentions up above that Marvel doesn't have to care about Langridge because he's not an A-lister. But the more I think about it, the more I have to wonder. Marvel's suits really have no damn clue who the next A-listers are going to be. Also, they have no way of measuring how many other potential A-listers stayed far away because of situations like the one with Kirby and his heirs. Or how many in their employ deliberately sat on really good ideas because they didn't want to end up in a situation like Kirby's.

It wouldn't be the first time a corporation's were determined to be penny wise and pound foolish.

[icon_uk]

If he has chosen to take an ethical stand based on his firm beliefs then I applaud his courage, even if I may not automatically agree with it.

There's a minute, cynical bastard, part of me though which does whisper than if I wanted to get out of a contract, taking a "moral high ground" excuse for doing so would allow me to so and look good too.

I stress I have no reason to believe that this is the case in Mr Langridge's instance, but I have seen it happen in other fields....

[cleome45]

It might look good to a few people, but you'd better have a good lawyer solicitor in your corner before you try it. One with twice the patience of a saint, preferably. :p