The Ruination of The Big Two or Why Marvel and DC Comics Suck Part 2

See the sister blog post here to read more ranting 

The Ruination of The Big Two or Why Marvel and DC Comics Suck Part 1

Since I'm being a curmudgeon and negative I posted it on the other site. Click here 

The Creator Problem in Comic Books

By all accounts the Daredevil Netflix Series is well done. I personally have not seen anything more than clips and have read up a little on the series. It seems to be drawing a ton of inspiration from the Frank Miller run on the book, which is the best work ever done on the character. All of this leads up to the question – Who is the creator of Daredevil?

This has been tons of debate regarding who created what and the debate has gotten even more heated over the years. As DC and Marvel comics have ranked in billions of dollars from the movies, cartoons, clothing and the rest the stakes have become enormous. Jack Kirby’s family achieved a settlement reportedly worth in the tens of millions to drop the case and not push it into the Supreme Court. I’m sure this was because Disney was about to shit themselves thinking ownership for hugely profitable creations could be up for grabs. Imagine the court saying the rights for those characters was never perfected.

I personally have always struggled with this issue. I often wonder what the act of creation is. Is the creator just the person with a name and a basic idea or is the creator the one who makes it work. Should the creator participate in the exploitation of the character? If yes to what degree, because the Guardians of the Galaxy was never that cool in comics.

I decided on Daredevil as a character to examine. I believe Daredevil is a little easier to dissect then many other characters. I’m going to ignore the fact that there was a Golden Age hero named Daredevil. A small tangent or question I have is the idea that Marvel has copyrighted a term as a name. It seems like bullshit, but I’m sure Disney would sue my ass if I published a Daredevil comic about a base jumper as copyright infringement. I need to try and avoid all the tangents.

Okay onto Matt (Daredevil) Murdock. Issue number one of Daredevil was illustrated by Bill Everett. Now Stan Lee will tell you DD was all his idea and Bill just was along to help illustrate the book. Bill Everett is also the sole creator of Sub Mariner and was one hell of a golden age creator and a brilliant artist. Bill was sadly an alcoholic and probably fighting depression. He died when he was only 55 years old. The stories about who did what on Daredevil number one as nebulous at best. Considering what Stan called the Marvel method I have to assume Stan gave Bill a rough outline, Kirby may have done some base design work and the rest was probably Bill Everett. The core of Daredevil’s origin could possibly be Bill’s ideas. My guess is not even Bill would remember correctly if alive. All of these books which we now look back on with an almost reverence were being produced by men trying to make a buck and often had no idea what tomorrow may bring. Who remembers business meetings when you are in you 30 or 40 plus years old? The point is that Daredevil was a joint effort from the jump.

Next up is Wally Wood. Sadly Wally was also an alcoholic and suffered from depression. He was also one of the top talents in the field. Wally if he had been in the right place may have been the King, as opposed to Jack Kirby. He is one of the top five artist of all time (in my opinion) and was a creative force. Again since this was the Marvel method a lot of people say Wood did the bulk of the writing with the issues he was involved in. As Wally Wood committed suicide years ago his version of events can no longer be known. I’m sure there are arguments as to who did what. Without a doubt he redesigned DD’s costume with issue #7 and it is the same costume he wears 50 years later. Wally is also credited by some with re-defining DD’s radar sense, which is a key element in allowing a blind man to be a super hero. Heck in issue #10 Wally gets writer credit for the whole issue.

After Wally left the book I would argue the series languished as a low level Marvel book that survived because there was not much else out on the shelfs. Over the years the more I tried to pick up and read any DD issues after Wally left the more I found them to be marginal at best.

At this point it is questionable if any TV, movie company would have picked up this character. There is a good chance that if something other book had caught on DD would have been cancelled. Matt would have been a trivia question. That all changed when Frank Miller took over years later.

Frank changes Daredevil in many ways. He adds back story to Daredevil, giving us Electra. He adds a major villain to story with Bullseye. He adds a nemesis more powerful then Daredevil by stealing Kingpin from Spider-Man. He adds pathos with the story of Matt’s mother. He adds a cool mentor with Stick. Along with David Mazzucchelli he gives us one of the top ten stories of all time with Daredevil Born Again. Frank’s stamp on the character is so strong that essentially ever since Frank left every writer since have all been doing riffs on the character. No one has surpassed what Frank did and it many ways Frank wrote such a definitive version of the character it could have ended with the end of Born Again.

This is the Daredevil that inspired the horrendous DD movie and Electra spin off. The movies had no clue how to do super hero movies at that time. From what I have seen this is the DD that Netflix is using as their template. This is the DD that has everyone wanting to see the show and wanting to know about the character.

So “Who created Daredevil”?

Is it Stan Lee – who stole a name from the Golden Age and spewed out some ideas to Bill Everett?

Is it Jack Kirby who is credited with some basic design work?

Is it Bill Everett for perhaps the idea of who Matt is and his origin?

Is it Wally Wood for doing some strong redesign and redefining of the character that made him more viable?

Is it Frank Miller who took what was a somewhat vanilla character and turned him into one of the most exciting and compelling characters in comics?

That for me is the creator problem in comics. Almost every corporate character owes their existence to multiple people. Batman would not have survived for 70 years as the version created by Bill Finger and Bob Kane. Heck it was very earlier on that Jerry Robinson added tons to Batman. O’Neil and Adams added plenty, Steve Englehart and Marshall Rogers, Morrison and Quietly and now Snyder and Capullo have all added to Batman for good and ill. The Fantastic Four, The X-Men, Superman, Green Lantern and the list goes on and on. All owe their existence to a multitude of creators. Each bringing in ideas and elements to the characters.

So again what is creation? Is it the idea, is it the execution or is it the building of the character?

Who deserves the rewards from the financial gain? Long ago the agreements were not rock solid and no one was thinking about the dollars that may come. Heck I think it was never envisioned that the rights for something were to remain in perpetuity with anyone person or company. Still the company is taking the financial risk. I’m guessing no Fantastic Four creator is calling up Fox offering to help pay off that current disaster. When the movie pours in almost every person wants a piece of the pie. I’m glad that the Kirby family finally got rewarded, but I’d like to see that largesse spread around even more. Even if it is nothing more than cutting a bonus check to someone when it make millions of dollars. It feels unfair then Robert Downey Jr. makes $84 million for being Iron Man when the various creators got nothing.

See I always wander off on tangents but the creator issue is fascinating to me and has some many levels.

No answers to my little missive, just questions.

My Open Letter to DC

Dear DC Comics,

The new half page ad in your comics is destroying any enjoyment I was getting out of your books. I have had issues with enjoying the books since the New 52, but this is even worse. I have never enjoyed the ads through out the comics, but have come to accept those. Half page ads are annoying, but often in older books it was at the end of the story or one page full art and one page half ad/art. This two page half ad double page spread absolutely destroys the flow of the story.

I have tried to remain a fan as I enjoyed the characters for decades now, but I think that time has come to end. Even with a better price point that Marvel or most independent comics the story flow is now horrendous. I have tried and cancelled after one issue 8 of the 10 re-launched series.

I have been a long time fan, a comic book retailer in the nineties and ran a blog for awhile (Comics And...). So it is with a heavy heart that I have to say the New 52 and now this recent slate of books and the ad stuff is all becoming too much.

I have dropped Marvel comics (except for the odd collection) and feel like I may drop all DC for now soon. I know as an older fan (59) I'm not the target market but I do think the line needs a course correction and an up and down re-evaluation to build a long term success and not a constant mode of re-launches and gimmicks.

Thanks for your attention.

PS - Please reschedule the Captain Comet Archives - I always wanted to read that material. 

Another Rant On The Other Blog

CLICK IT 

A New Post From Me - That Belongs on the other Blog

Check the link

A Tribute to Trimpe

“Comic Book reading is a solitary activity best shared with others.” – Matthew G. Mann, Sr. (date unknown)

I came up with that statement some time ago to illustrate the truism that the collective relational experience between readers, whether through a blog, podcast, e-mail, or simply chatting at your Local Comic Shop (LCS) is as much a part of the hobby as reading the comic itself and collecting it to be appreciated another day. This idea especially applies when there is a bond between a fan and a comic book creator. That bond is initially established when you first fall in love with an individual’s work and start to follow them as one of your favorites.  Regardless of whether you’re a child or an adult, a connection of some sort is made between you, because every creator puts a bit of themselves into their craft. 

And if you ever get to meet that person one day (and they’re not a jerk), it just enriches the whole experience even more.  Better still is if you develop a person to person relationship with them, rather than just a fan to creator one.  Best of all is if you are blessed to become friends. Now certainly the term “friends”, like “love”, has many layers and degrees, so please do not presume that I am embellishing on any of the friendships I claim to have with any comic book professionals.  I’m just happy for the ones I have no matter the degree.  That’s why when one of them ends abruptly…

You see, my friend, the legendary artist of Marvel’s The Incredible Hulk, Godzilla, and G.I.Joe to name a few, Herb Trimpe, passed away unexpectedly two weeks ago on 2015 April 14.  I just found out yesterday while perusing the www.marvelmasterworks.com website and saw their bulletin about IDW's upcoming Herb Trimpe's Incredible Hulk Artist Edition HC. I'm still reeling from the news. It's been much more on my mind than the protests in Baltimore City that sent me home from work this morning.

I wanted to pay tribute to Herb by recounting my friendship with him, which began in 2007, consisted of only subsequent annual in-person meetings at the Baltimore Comic-Con, and a few e-mails in-between. 

2012 Baltimore Comic-Con