I don't know what to feel about it. We've all seen DC & Marvel - like any major corporation - get very ruthless in defending what they believe to be their property, and some creators bemoan their rights constantly and go as far as quit working for the big two altogether, like Alan Moore. Is it justice? We never know the whole story.
This was special because Superman is a hugely significant property with a long history, unlike cult characters like Miracleman and Angela. He was still going to get published, no matter if he left the DC Universe.
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"I'm not smart so much as I am not dumb." - Harlan Ellison
They don't think they own their property, they usually DO own it. Creatives sell it to them, for a chance of making it big (Plus to pay the bills.)
In a perfect world, creatives would be the primary beneficiaries of their own ideas, but they're not, because they need to eat. (And I'm not lecturing here... This is a fact of life I'm not exactly too happy with, but it is reality..)
__________________ What CDTM believes;
Never let anyone else define you. Don't be a jerk just to be a jerk, but if you are expressing your true inner feelings and beliefs, or at least trying to express that inner child, and everyone gets pissed off about it, never NEVER apologize for it. Let them think what they want, let them define you in their narrow little minds while they suppress every last piece of them just to keep a friend that never liked them for themselves in the first place.
Gender: Male Location: The Fortress of Solitude in Venus
Yep! There is people who is creative and then there is people who knows how to make money.
If the creative person does not want anyone involved in his intellectual property, then the person has to take the long tedious road of trial and error in business.
Marvel recently finished off with Mike Friedrich, saying they owe him nothing more for co-creating Ghost Rider in the 1970's. Other than that, they had to waive off the relatives of Jack Kirby on occasion, and the last decade even had to deal with Stan Lee! ( At the prodding of Howard Stern, he launched what was called 'the nicest lawsuit in the world.') Len Wein, who created Wolverine the 1970's, once said of getting thanked & his hand shook by Hugh Jackman at the X-Men movie premiere - "I'd would've preferred he gave me a cheque." Ouch.
But for the most part, Marvel has handled the creator ownership problem by first creating Epic Comics in the 1980's, then Icon Comics after that. And we know the creators own them, because several properties - Dreadstar, Alien Legion, Marshal Law - have been published by other companies without any lawsuits. That's one thing I've never seen out of DC/Vertigo comics - the freedom to take the property elsewhere, somewhere down the line. DC seems to own it. Has anyone ever seen it happen there?
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"I'm not smart so much as I am not dumb." - Harlan Ellison
Yes, true. And only Todd McFarlane has stayed with the company, with all the other creators - Jim Lee, Rob Liefeld, Erik Larsen, Marc Silvestri - having drifted back to the big two. Ironically, McFarlane found himself playing evil corporation in court, fighting Neil Gaiman over ownership of Angela. (Plus, he was dumb enough to spend millions on Mark McGwire's home run ball from 1998... )
Mike Mignola has true independence, as well. Once he created Hellboy for Dark Horse, he's never had to return to the big two. And there's been two movies, compared to one for McFarlane's Spawn.
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"I'm not smart so much as I am not dumb." - Harlan Ellison
At this point the only way this story would read would be "Family threatens to take back to Superman Franchise....Family mysteriously disappears ...WB has no comment"
__________________ Banned 30 days for the Crime of "ETC"... and when I "ETC" I do it HARD!!!