A Buck for Jack

Our New God. (Image via Wikipedia)

 

 

by Mike Hansen

Kurt Busiek tweeted this link today – Nat Gertler of About Comics (founder of 24 Hour Comics Day) has started a reasonable donation campaign asking that people who go see Marvel movies (for which Jack Kirby‘s estate receives nothing) donate one dollar per film; the money will go to the Jack Kirby Museum. Lots more info in the link.

Jack Kirby’s heirs have received nothing for the millions of reprints of Kirby’s work. Kirby’s creativity and creations are responsible for the vast majority of work that Marvel has published over its long history, yet he benefited least from its success (relatively speaking). While DC has given creator credits and royalties for the majority of its work, Marvel continues to be very profitable without paying the Kirby estate royalties. (In fact, most early Marvel work and foreign licensing results in no royalties being paid out.)

Gertler’s motives are honorable and sound; he wants to celebrate Kirby:

This isn’t a campaign against Marvel, who has published decades of entertaining comics, nor against their corporate parent Disney, who have brought out some of the finest films in history, nor against any of Jack’s collaborators who shared in bringing these creations to life, nor against the copyright laws, nor against anything. This is a campaign for Jack, and for rewarding those who create great things.

But I’m personally bothered by Marvel’s continued unwillingness to do the right and moral thing. There are a lot of things to like about Marvel, but they’re all the result of the hard work and talent of its creators and staff, not its executives and their quarterly-report concerns. I’d like to see the right people being rewarded for the company’s success, and Gertler’s idea is a nice volunteer effort to do the right thing for the person most responsible for Marvel’s continued existence.

If you want to show that you value Kirby, you can also pick up Dynamite Entertainment‘s Kirby: Genesis series by Marvels creators Kurt Busiek and Alex Ross. It’s good stuff.

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