From Mark Evanier's online blog:
https://www.newsfromme.com/?s=jack+kirbyWednesday, August 28, 2019 at 12:33 AM.
Had he not left us when he did, Jack Kirby would be celebrating his 102nd birthday today. He also would be celebrating that he is increasingly getting the kind of recognition that was frustratingly denied him during his lifetime. Oh, a lot of people — darn near everyone in the comic book industry, near as I can tell — knew that he
was more than a great artist; that he was also a writer and a creator and that so many brilliant ideas during the years he worked in comics sprang from his brilliant mind.
They all knew that but it was rarely said aloud by certain parties when it might have led to better contacts and compensation for Jack…and seeing his authorship and co-authorship properly acknowledged while he and his life-partner Roz were around to see it. I would also like it if Jack had lived to see his work — especially his
"Fourth World" books for DC (New Gods, Forever People, Mister Miracle, some of Jimmy Olsen) — reprinted and reprinted and reprinted and reprinted constantly, often in high-ticket hardcovers, to fill a demand for work which, at the time it first came out, was dismissed by some as a failure.
Make no mistake about this: Jack knew it would happen. He didn't know when but he knew it would happen. With each passing year, I more appreciate his brilliance, his prescience and his basic decency as human being. I also more appreciate his work but I think that's true of most of us who read it. I don't need to tell anyone
how good the stories and drawings he put on paper were. That, you can see for yourself. Just trust me on this: If you liked the work, you would have loved the man who did it. Perhaps you already do.
As I write this, Disney theme parks are festooned with the name of Kirby. Yes, of course, they're promoting a product — the upcoming film of The Eternals, based on a Kirby creation. Like it or not, that's how you get hailed in the world today…by association with something that is very, very popular and therefore very, very lucrative.
Disney is also hailing him as a creator or co-creator of most of the Marvel Super-Heroes.
I understand there are those who think it is not enough. I also understand that there are those who think Disney is blurring the history a bit to make it seem like these were Disney creations, not Disney purchases. All I can say is that I believe Jack was severely wronged by folks who owned these characters in the past. They denied
him the two things that mattered to him: Proper credit and meaningful compensation for the Kirby family. He has them now. I'm happy and I don't know anyone who actually knew Jack who is not delighted with how things have turned out.
We all have a great deal of trouble talking about what's come to pass without using phrases like "Oh, if only he were here to see it." But like I said, he knew. I don't know how he know but he knew. Happy birthday, Jack. I will never stop thanking you…for all you did for me and for all you did for everyone.
For all the "recognition" given Kirby, I still doubt Marvel, DC, or Disney are adequately compensating Kirby for the level of profit gained from his work.
I recall Dave Stevens said of the
Rocketeer movie that he was compensated "in the low six figures" for his licensed characters. Probably in the neighborhood of $200,000. For his one creation.
How much more does Kirby (or his surviving family) deserve for the dozens of profitable characters Kirby has given to the comics publishing field, and to films, tv series, animated series, and licensed toys and so forth?
I would consider the scales reasonably balanced if Marvel and DC at least gave the Kirby family 1 or 2% of every comic book, collected paperback or collected hardcover those 2 companies constantly put back in print of Kirby's stories. But I doubt his family get any part of that.
It would be great if Disney gave a generous compensation to the Kirby estate for an
Eternals movie, and it guilted and generated public pressure on Marvel and DC to likewise follow with (finally) appropriate compensation to the Kirby family proportionate to the Marvel/DC profit from Kirby's work.
There are two people in comics I think deserve compensation like no others.
One is Jack Kirby.
The other is Neal Adams.
But in the case of Adams, he did less than 200 comics in his most influential period, and he has been generously compensated. Whereas Kirby, despite his unequalled contribution, has not. Again, not even getting into movies and other character licensing, just a tiny percentage of book printing of Jack Kirby's comics alone would be a
significant windfall for the Kirby family. But even from the stories themselves in print, I don't see evidence that the Kirby family receives a dime from even those books.
There is what is legal, and there is what is fair. This is how the industry treats its most prolific and iconic creator.
