Save Spider-Man

ZatchZ 2019-08-23 22:20:12 UTC #21

Funny, if only Disney didn't extend the time for public domain laws, then Spider-Man would've been in public domain right now, ripe for use by everyone.

So if you think about it, Disney shot themselves in the foot here; twice considering they screwed the deal.

MK_Wizard 2019-08-23 22:21:06 UTC #22

The sad part is that I used to admire Disney. Now... not so much for this reason. Everything they touch, they consume like the symbiote.

ZatchZ 2019-08-23 22:23:04 UTC #23

Symbiotes only choose one host.
Disney is more of like Ego, it just consumes everything, because it thinks it just can.

MK_Wizard 2019-08-23 22:23:59 UTC #24

It's true. Hence why nobody does fairy tale movies anymore.

AceRagz 2019-08-23 22:27:05 UTC #25

The big problem with this is Spider-Man and a lot of the golden age Marvel heroes do not belong to their creators. They had to sign contracts that made any IPs they created for Marvel Publication would be owned by Marvel. There were several underground comic artists that chose the independent publishing route to avoid losing their creations.

skicoak 2019-08-23 22:27:23 UTC #26

Unfortunately, that's what Stan Lee frequently fought against. He was a company man through and through most of his career. He testified on Marvel's behalf in every creator rights case up until Disney eventually declared him an unreliable testimony.

There are horrible things that were done in this vein. He ordered the destruction of original art that was meant to be returned to the artist that were destroyed/ disappeared because notes in the margins could of been used against Marvel in court. See the history of The Silver Surfer for a major example.

MK_Wizard 2019-08-23 22:30:13 UTC #27

That breaks my heart and I hope the man repented.

skicoak 2019-08-23 22:30:29 UTC #28

Not so much, both Ditko and Kirby had to fight for even their deserved co-plotter credits.

bakasama25 2019-08-24 00:20:45 UTC #29

I don't know, I would LOVE to see Disney sanitize and adapt, Bluebeard, Donkeyskin, or Talia, Sun, Moon (the original version of Sleeping Beauty.)

AmazementComics 2019-08-24 00:43:54 UTC #30

Perhaps you may want to look into the official statement by Stan Lee's own daughter. She put Disney on full blast, saying that Disney mistreated Spider-Man that her father would be disappointed with how Disney was acting.

skicoak 2019-08-24 01:11:28 UTC #31

Really doesn't matter what she says he'd do.

Lee has a public record of testifying on Marvel's behalf in numerous creator rights cases such as Kirby's and Gerber's cases. He can't have spent his professional career ensuring Marvel solely owned those IP's then posthumously become a champion of how corporations use characters or creator rights to having a say in the matter.

I mean, seriously, he's the guy who sold off all these film and TV rights and tried to leverage it into a career as an associate producer/consultant. Nothing about this makes him look good except a well manicured public persona.

AceRagz 2019-08-24 01:35:58 UTC #32

The really sad thing of it all is everyone has fought over Spider-Man since the moment the character was proven profitable. And it won't stop now or ever until the rightsl go into public domain. Even if the rights go back to Marvel there will be the Lee family fighting with Disney.

AmazementComics 2019-08-24 01:48:36 UTC #33

Yeah, that's a point to make as well. Guess he liked Spider-Man but not that much if he gave up the franchise.

bakasama25 2019-08-24 03:36:02 UTC #34

The Marvel movie rights are all over the place because of Stan Lee? The rabbit hole seems to go deep with that guy.

skicoak 2019-08-25 18:02:00 UTC #35

He can't be blamed for all of it but he is definitely the guy who walked Marvel's earlier deals into questionable places. There was a rumor that early Spider-Man deals often came with a pitch for Lee to play J. Jonah Jameson (which is backed up by casting in a Corman deal.).