Marvel’s Marvelman...?
Above: Marvel’s Marvelman by Joe Quesada.
Marvel has swooped in and bought the rights to Marvelman? They own the property? This is a sudden shock. What rights does Marvel think it has to the character? I’m sure we’ll be hearing from Neil Gaiman and Todd McFarlane to see how they fit into all of this. I’m not sure I like the idea (if this ends up being the case) that Marvelman becomes part of the work-made-for-hire monster of Marvel Entertainment.
Marvel reports:
The biggest news of Comic Con International in San Diego was revealed moments ago and jaws are still on the floor-the world-renowned super hero MARVELMAN is now part of the Marvel Comics family! Marvel Comics has purchased the rights to MARVELMAN from creator Mick Anglo and his representatives, finding a home for one of the most sought after heroes in graphic fiction!
More on the Neil Gaiman versus Todd McFarlane feud.
Update: The InterWeb is all-abuzz about this topic.
Mr. Steve Bissette shares his insights, and gives an excellent history on the Marvelman/Miracleman ownership and feud with his "Thoughts on Marvelman: Making Sense of Marvel, Emotiv, Mick Anglo and Marvelman/Miracleman":
Freelancer and Creator Rights activist Al Nickerson has expressed his own misgivings, given Marvel’s poor track record with creator rights — but again, I note that Neil and Bucky have been quietly working with Marvel Comics since the founding of Marvels and Miracles LLC, which was announced six years ago.
Neil Gaiman does some Twitting on the matter:
they bought them from Mick Anglo's representatives. Todd mcfarlane could still sue everyone but I hope he won't.
Bleeding Cool has a bunch of insights and info, as well, with "Marvel To Publish Mick Anglo’s Marvelman - And They Own It":
But recently Emotiv Records in Glasgow, headed by Jon Campbell, claimed that they were now representing Mick Anglo’s interests in the character and some big people got involved. This is worthy of a piece in itself but figures started to include budgets for a movie, as well as all sorts of accoutrements. And then nothing. Silence. Until yesterday afternoon when I started to hear that Marvel had been contacting everyone assosciated with Marvelman. The deal has been done. Marvel have paid a considerable sum to the agents of Mick Anglo to secure the property once and for all. They are ready and confident to beat off any legal challenge from another party.
Labels: Comics, Creator's Rights, Neil Gaiman vs. Todd McFarlane
posted by AlNickerson at
12:18 AM
4 Comments:
As someone who hasn't had the pleasure of reading Marvel / Miracle man, I'm excited that the character is going to come out of "Legal Limbo". I heard the Creator of MM was excited about it & as long as he agree's to the terms I see it as ok. Now they just have to put together a good creative team.
Hey, Jesus!
As creator of Marvelman, Mick Anglo can do whatever he wants with whatever rights that he has to Marvelman. The problem is finding out what rights Anglo had to the character? What rights do Alan Moore, Alan Davis, and Todd McFarlane have? More importantly, what rights does Marvel THINK they now have to Marvelman? Can Marvel reprint past Marvelman stories?
My main concern is "Why Marvel?" Marvel has a horrible history when it comes to Creator’s Rights, and now, from what Marvel says, they own Marvelman. Could Mick Anglo have worked out a deal with Marvel to publish their Marvelman as a creator-owned project? Or why not take Marvelman to a creator friendly publisher?
We still don’t know all the details. But, I see ownership to Marvelman getting really nasty really soon.
Here’s what Todd MacFarlane's pal, Erik Larsen, had to say about Marvel's Marvelman: "I don't recall Moore being bitter about Eclipse--Moore wrote Miracleman for Eclipse. The thing is that Eclipse owned part of the property and that was sold to Todd McFarlane--so things are likely to get messy."
I think I heard on G4 that they're were going to Re-Print the Old issues Of Marvelman, If i'm not mistaken.
Could Marvel reprint Marvelman’s earliest comics? Maybe Marvel can reboot the character? I think these two options are Marvel’s best chances of not getting sued by anyone else. It’s all dependent on what rights Mick Anglo had retained of Marvelman, and what sort of deal(s) Marvel works out with any other creators involved in Marvelman/Miracleman.
This topic has gotten a bit heated over at the Image message board and at Bleeding Cool. It looks like most creators involved in Marvelman/Miracleman are taking a wait-and-see attitude. Wait-and-see what Marvel actually produces. Wait-and-see how Todd McFarlane responds. It’ll be interesting to see how other Marvelman/Miracleman creators react to all of this. Will Neil Gaiman and John Totleben work on Marvel’s Marvelman? What about Alan Davis? Will Todd McFarlane sue Marvel? This whole mess isn’t over yet.
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