It looks like the results of last month’s settlement in the Jacky Kirby lawsuit against Marvel has yielded swift results: Kirby and Stan Lee are now being given co-credit in books including Fantastic Four, Inhumans and the X-men. And Joe Simon and Jack Kirby are being given co-creator credit on Captain America. Among the books already bearing the new credits: All-New X-Men #33, Fantastic Four #12, Inhuman #7, Wolverine and the X-Men #11 and Death of Wolverine: Deadpool & Captain America #1, which has the Simon & Kirby credit.
Many speculated that the terms of the settlement included not only money but would free the way for Kirby to take his rightful place as the mind behind the visual look of the MCU and the driving force behind many of its greatest storylines and characters. While the FF and the X-Men are being cancelled or downplayed in the comics due to their movies being at other studios, Kirby co-created character such as Cap, Thor, Iron Man, the Hulk, the Black Panther, the Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver (not to mention Groot) are going strong in the MCU, so expect to see more tributes to Kirby as time goes by.
I can’t imagine that there is anyone remotely in the comics business who is not thrilled to see this.
Wolverine created by Len Wein and John Romita, Sr.
Very good. Nice to know his family is getting paid too. Hopefully a lawsuit won’t be needed to secure the same courtesy for Don Heck and Steve Ditko.
Long-overdue, but unfortunately these creator credits aren’t given unless there’s the force of a lawsuit behind them.
Simon and Kirby have been credited for Captain America for a few years now, as a result of Marvel’s settlement with Joe Simon.
“While the FF and the X-Men are being cancelled or downplayed in the comics due to their movies being at other studios”
Every time I see this being bandied about, I think about how incredibly unrealistic (and unproven) this is.
Seeing the “Created by” byline in this week’s books was a pleasant surprise. Hopefully, this can carry over into non-Kirby creations, as well (Spider-Man created by Stan Lee and Steve Ditko, et al).
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