Kirby Family Moves Ahead With Disney/Marvel Lawsuit
The signs were all there, and now, they have rung true. Last week the family of noted artist Jack Kirby officially filed a lawsuit against Marvel Comics and the Walt Disney Company to have the copyrights to those characters terminated and reverted back to the family members, who claim, in the actual lawsuit papers, that Kirby’s work, which included iconic characters such as The Fantastic Four, The X-Men, The Avengers and Spider-Man, was done on a freelance basis, and that Marvel used Kirby on a work-for-hire basis, therefore his family is entitled to a share of the profits from those works and the copyright. Read more
Daredevil Goes Back to Basics For Film Reboot
Marvel’s been in the business of relaunching, rebooting and retooling lately, and all that activity hasn’t just been limited to their comic book franchises! The biggest news recently has been the collapse of the Spider-Man film franchise, with plans for a fourth installment of the Sam Raimi directed series now gone in favor of a reboot that will take Peter Parker back to his high school origins. Now it seems that another Marvel character is getting an overhaul. ”The man without fear” himself, Daredevil, is going back to the drawing board, and a screenwriter and producer are already on board! Read more
Marvel Cancels S.W.O.R.D Series
The rumors of an untimely demise may have been untrue for Mark Twain, but the same can’t be said for Marvel’s struggling series S.W.O.R.D., a spin-off of the hit series Astonishing X-Men. S.W.O.R.D. stands for Sentient World Observation and Response Department, and while the group played an interesting role during the Secret Invasion storyline with its work against the Skrull threat, it appears that the perceived popularity of the characters and the series did not translate into enough sales power to justify a series of its own. The fifth and final issue will ship in March. Read more
Marvel Heats up Fight with Kirby Family, Seeks to Retain Copyrights
Iconic artist Jack Kirby certainly contributed to some of the most famous battles, scenes and story arcs in comic book history through his storytelling and distinct artwork, but perhaps even he couldn’t imagine the epic battle that’s about to be waged between members of his estate and Marvel Comics! Several months ago, the members of Jack Kirby’s estate served Marvel with notices of copyright termination, stating their intent to reclaim the rights to characters such as The Fantastic Four, The Hulk, Spider-Man and The Avengers. Current law permits creators to seek to reclaim rights to their work after a period of waiting over several years. Read more
Disney and Marvel: Acquisition Complete!
New Year’s Eve 2009 didn’t just bring many promises for personal resolutions for 2010, it also brought the official sale of one of the biggest houses of creative and entertainment property to fruition. The Walt Disney Co. officially completed its $4.24 billion dollar acquisition of Marvel Entertainment Inc. on Thursday. With that, the mouse and company are now home to thousands of fictional characters that have proved popular and indelible in the public consciousness for several decades. Read more
Comic Book Previews for November 25th, 2009
Happy Thanksgiving! It’s a few days until pumpkin pie, stuffing and of course, turkey goodness descend upon the nation, so why not make a trip to your local comic book shop to stock up on reading for the food coma that will set in after the meal? Looking at what DC has in store this week, it appears that it’s justice for all! Justice League of America #39 gets things rolling, as the Blackest Night comes home to roost, with major villains such as Dr. Light back to “life” in this issue. Justice League: Cry for Justice #5 continues the story of a random assortment of heroes seeking true justice, even as villain Prometheus appears to be in custody! The dynamic writing duo of Bill Willingham and Matthew Sturges bring the dramatic, current arc of the JSA to a close with Justice Society of America #33 hits stores, finally revealing the traitor behind the recent attacks on and destruction of this super team! Read more
Comic Book Previews for October 28th, 2009
Happy early Halloween, comic book readers! Which super hero, villain, character will you be this year? How much did you spend on your costume? Hopefully not too much, as there’s comic book reading to be done! So sit down with that bowl of candy (or apples if you’re that house on the street) that was meant for the kids and dig right in, as there are TONS of books on the way this week! Marvel kicks things off with a double shot of The List, with both Wolverine and The Punisher getting one-shots in the style of the previous Dark Reign: The List one-shots. What will be the fate of Frank Castle’s run as the one-man army against crime? Can Wolverine stop Osborn’s plans for the Weapon Plus program? Read and find out! Read more
Comic Book Previews for October 21st, 2009
Another week, another Wednesday, and more comics! James Robinson and Mark Bagley officially begin their take on DC’s premiere super hero team when Justice League of America #38 hits comic book stores this week. It’s the beginning of a new era when a villain from the past returns to wreak havoc on a team that has been hit hard recently by personnel changes and plenty of tragedy! Speaking of the past, Azrael #1 debuts, with the character starring in his own solo series following a two-part story in recent Batman and Detective Comics annuals! Fabian Nicieza will be handling the stories and Ramon Bachs will take care of the artistic duties in this book featuring another of Gotham’s costumed figures! Read more
Comic Book Previews for October 14th, 2009
Well avid readers, we’re freshly back from our trip to the Baltimore Comic-Con this past weekend, and boy are our pens tired! Expect to see some great reports, pictures and interviews over the next week from the show, but first, of course, our comic book previews of hot books coming out this Wednesday!
Marvel brings us some items from the somthing old and something new categories this week, as Web of Spider-Man returns with issue one! Kaine the spider-clone retuns in this issue, as well as a feature with Spider-Girl herself! The something new this week comes with the return of Magneto, which will kick off a new story arc in Uncanny X-Men # 516, as the Nation X story begins! Speaking of mutants, Deadpool hits us with Deadpool #900. Boy, doesn’t the time…fly? Does it matter what issue this is numbered? It’s 104 pages of everything but the kitchen sink humor, action and a live chicken even! Read more
Comic Book Previews for October 7th, 2009
Before you punch your ticket to Baltimore, Maryland for this weekend’s Baltimore Comic-Con, be sure to stock up on plenty of reading material for your plane, train or automobile travel! You certainly won’t lack for pages and pages of action this week, and DC kicks things off with an explosion of Bat-titles! Kicking this off is the first issue of new limited series Batman: Unseen, which promises us a new supervillain to add to Batman’s formidable rogues’ gallery. Batman Annual #27 and Batman and Robin #5 also drop into stores this Wednesday, and fans should look for a new printing of the landmark graphic novel Batman: The Killing Joke, the book that redefined former Batgirl Barbara Gordon’s role in the DCU. Read more
