The Phantom Menace
May 8, 2008 by The Fortress Keeper
The most recent edition of Back Issue features a great interview with Hulk artist Herb Trimpe, who offers a revealing anecdote on how the business of creating funny books isn’t really all that fun …
Funny you should mention the Phantom Eagle - as I understand it, he has recently been revived in a one-shot deal at Marvel! Can You believe that? I make no comment whatsoever about that, only to say that Gary Friedrich created the concept and I designed the character, but there was no mention of that on the site that interviewed a member of the new “creative team.” They even presented a full-color drawing that I had originally done of the character with no credit given.
Of course, nobody in the world gives a sh*t. Not even me, actually, as it is not what you would call a high-profile event. But it does give a good idea of the harshness of corporate reality and how easily nice people can get sucked into it.
Now, a reasonable person could ask what Marvel has to lose by simply giving credit where credit is due to past creators. Not much regarding Phantom Eagle, perhaps, but quite a bit could be at stake if - say - Steve Ditko or another high-profile writer and/or artist started making noise.
Thus the whole conceit of corporate authorship: the big whigs - to loosely quote Mel Brooks - have to keep their phony-baloney jobs.
Comics fans - primarily those who want to enjoy the adventures of their favorite characters without feeling guilty - maintain the issue of creators’ rights isn’t a clear-cut issue. Artists and writers, such readers claim, knew exactly what they were getting into when they signed up with Marvel or DC.
That sentiment is arguable, but the Keeper can’t help but feel angry after reading quotes like Trimpe’s or - for that matter - hearing that an esteemed artist like Ernie Colon had to work as security guard to earn some dough in his ’70s.
Don’t the people who brought so much enjoyment to readers - and money to corporate entities - deserve better?
“Artists and writers, such readers claim, knew exactly what they were getting into when they signed up with Marvel or DC.”
They did, Rick…and if they didn’t, they should have. I get tired of this fairy tale that all creators were these innocent babes in the woods lured by Evil Corporate Masterminds into Work-For-Hire agreements. Frankly, the whining and victimology is getting pretty old.
The Ernie Colon thing has been bothering me too. A lot, actually.
Mark - My name’s not “Rick.” Don’t know where you got the impression it was.
That aside, I do respect your views. But, I have to disagree pretty strongly here.
The point is, there weren’t a lot of alternatives out there for creators. It was basically work-for-hire in the industry or don’t work at all.
Comic book artists and writers in the 40s-70s didn’t have a cool cachet to draw upon for jobs, say, in the commercial sector or television or films like many do today.
In fact, after the whole crusade against comics in the 50s most creators were considered pond scum by “polite society.” For much of his career, Jack Kirby churned out pages just to keep food on the table. Never mind the fact that it turned out to be brilliant - he was supporting a family.
When writers like Gardner Fox and Arnold Drake petitioned for some sort of retirement plan at DC - and let’s note, these were the guys who basically created the silver-age DC that Grant Morrison and Geoff Johns constantly reference - they were given a pat on the head and gradually replaced by young fans like Marv Wolfman who were willing to work for peanuts.
And creators who truly weren’t “babes in the woods,” like Joe Simon and Jack Kirby signed contracts that stipulated proper compensation for Captain America, and Martin Goodman still reneged on the deal and faked circulation numbers to ensure he didn’t have to pay up.
Sorry, but my sympathies always go toward the workers in these situations. At the last paper I worked at, several stories I conceived of and guided to completion brought the company awards and notoriety. I didn’t expect extra compensation because, hey, it was my job. But that didn’t stop the publisher from eliminating my position because he wanted to find employees who worked more cheaply.
Was I living in a fairy tale for expecting some loyalty for the effort I put into my work? Should we really be so cynical about life for expecting some sort of fair treatment??
I don’t think so. We don’t know what sort of promises are made to creators, but we do know what sort of track record both DC and Marvel have on the matter.
Anyway, I appreciate your honesty in the matter.
RAB - Yeah, it’s so depressing. I just loved the guy’s work on Amethyst and on a lot of obscure Atlas Comics from the ’70s and often wondered what happened to him.
I guess his work on the 9/11 comic raised his profile again so there’s kind of a happy ending. Still, given how newspapers and freelance journalists are faring these days, I can’t help but wonder if there’s a security job looming in my “golden years” as well.
Keep, I’m with you on this one. Legal niceties aside, there are graceful and graceless ways to move through the universe, and lord knows, there hasn’t been a lot of grace in the comics industry.
Thanks Walaka. Always good to hear from you.
The circulation was printed right inside the comic, if the artists cared to look for it.
They HAD to know their percentage of the pie was miniscule, and should have found other work if they thought they were being ripped off.
There is no law that says if you are Jack Kirby and you are an exceptional comic book creator that you HAD to do comics and nothing else to put food on the table. Plenty of people have changed careers when they could no longer make a living doing their current job.
Reference horse & buggy manufacturers and typewriter salesmen.
Chris - I recommend reading David Hajdu’s Ten Cent Plague for a pretty interesting look at how many options were really out there for comic book writers and artists after Wertham.
I’m afraid, in my well-intentioned furor, that I did misstate the facts concerning Simon & Kirby. I believe their deal with Timely included a cut based on sales figures, which are much easier to disguise. They did find out that Goodman was ripping them off and signed on with DC.
(Not that Goodman was the only publisher who engaged in these practices. The fine folks at National did much the same to Superman’s creators and, heck, Victor Fox was notorious for bouncing checks.)
Unlike other creators of the era, Joe Simon was pretty shrewd in regards to business. Unfortunately, after the bottom dropped out Simon & Kirby were forced to split because work was so scarce. Hence, Kirby’s tenure at Marvel.
As a person who’s changing careers myself, I can only say its easier said than done - especially in a poor economy. To be honest, I’m always a bit surprised by the number of people who jump to a corporation’s defense over the right of the individual.
Let’s be honest, it’s not like any corporation is really looking out for you …
Come on, Mark, how can you say that with a straight face after that one Siegel thread on Blogorama? Do we really need to hear more of how “artists make their own bed, they should be happy to lie in it”, when it’s manifestly obvious that the same moral doesn’t apply to those who profit by their efforts?
And seriously, is now the time to rally around this principle?
No offence intended, but I really must point out that there are in fact loads of Evil Corporate Masterminds out there, constantly using big fake promises to lure naive artists astray. Hell, we practically have a literary subgenre about this. The Keeper argues it all much more neatly and reasonably than I do, but…
Again, intending no offence, but frankly what I think is really getting old is fan eagerness to gloss over the injustices of their favourite comics companies, by saying the artists all should’ve known better, should’ve stood up for themselves…perhaps should’ve done anything, short of organize?
Well, the old DC staff did try to organize to an extent. I wonder how fandom would have looked upon them had they succeeded in their efforts?
i remember watching that Stalking Steve Ditko thing recently on the BBC, where stan lee dismisses the idea of co-creatorship for spiderman with steve ditko by defining “creator” as the one who “had the idea,” which seemed just a wee bit harsh to me. i suppose that’s easy for stan to say, given that he’s done pretty well out of marvel, all things being equal ( which they are invariably not ).
the point was raised, however, that, supposing you start acknowledging creatorship, where do you stop? does that mean, in, say, the spider-man case, you have to then start giving printed credit dues to john romita, gil kane, roy thomas, ross andru, todd mcfarlane, et al? or, say, with batman, you have to start saying “created by bob kane, bill finger, jerry robinson, dick sprang, denny o’neill, neal adams, marshall rogers, yadda yadda?” it’s a sticky old wicket, to be sure.
i’ve noticed, recently, that virgin comics’ revamp of dan dare carries no mention at all of frank hampson, which seems a bit odd when you consider the importance virgin puts on the creators of their strips ( john woo’s this, nick cage’s that, deepak chopra’s whatever. . . ).
it IS unfair, of course it is, and, yes, it DOES seem a little grunt-like for creators to start shouting their mouthes off about it well after the fact - “they knew what they were getting into” and all that - and, yeah, there’s no legal obligation on the part of the various publishers to give credit where credit’s due, but i whole-heartedly believe there IS a MORAL obligation which is being swept under the carpet.
What I would really like to see is an effort by the Big Two to actually take care of their people. The story throughout the industry’s history is to use people and discard when you’re through with them.
If you were the guy at 3M, say, who invented post-it notes you wouldn’t really receive public credit but at least there’s a job with health, retirement and vacation benefits. Maybe even a system for rewarding good work.
If that existed in the comics industry, we’d have less stories of creators forced to work as security guards when they’re 70.