Neilalien

The Creeper's laughter literally can't be contained: Steve Ditko as Satirist ["Blinded by a desperate desire to help others, Kinder fails to see that a thug named Angel is anything but angelic. And there's another irony in his name: angels fly, but Angel can't. He plummets to his death from a building's flagpole in the final panel, the sacred home of a comic strip's punch line. As he hangs onto the pole, the emotion lines around his head form a mock halo"] [28 Aug 02011]

Stan Lee Media Inc.'s [SLMI] extended slow-motion car crash continues, this time suing for Conan the Barbarian rights, comic and new movie profits [Stan Lee Media owned Conan rights in 02000 but were they transferred improperly during the bankruptcy] [note to many commenters online: this is not Stan Lee doing the suing; Stan Lee has nothing to do with SLMI, a successor company to Stan Lee Media; in fact, SLMI continues to sue Stan Lee over claimed improper transfer of rights to Marvel's legendary characters] [Wikipedia: Stan Lee Media: Lawsuits] [28 Aug 02011]

Sweet Dr. Strange gameplay in the Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3 video game posted to YouTube [more] [more] [more] [update: Marvel very active re: Doc in the game, and overruled game creator decisions; such oversight seen as prelude to Doc movie] [18 Aug 02011]

Jack Kirby heirs lose their historic court case, and copyright claims, against Marvel/Disney [ComicsAlliance: "A New York federal judge ruled [last week] that the heirs of the late Jack Kirby, creator and co-creator of such enduring Marvel Comics superheroes including the Fantastic Four, X-Men, the Hulk and more, have no legal claim to the copyrights of those characters. Judge Colleen McMahon issued a 50-page decision that took pains to make clear that regardless of whether Kirby was the creator or co-creator of the works in question (which he was), she determined his labors were performed as work-for-hire under the provisions of Copyright Act of [0]1909. As such, Marvel and its parent company Disney remain the full owners and in complete control of Kirby's creations"] [full ruling; PDF (scan); PDF (converted text)] [LA Times] [Comics Journal: Win Against Jack Kirby Heirs Not About Fairness] [Comics Reporter: "this case should never have been filed... Marvel should have used a decade's worth of mega-cash to settle honorably with the Kirby family a long, long time ago"] [megacorp beats little guy once again, but work-for-hire facts nearly indisputable; Stan Lee's pro-Marvel deposition damning for heirs' case... and his own soul?] [Bissette: Boycott Marvel] [4 Aug 02011]

Steve Ditko and The Start of Something Strange [lovenote to Doc's origin tale] ["Ditko created a perfect eight-page fable" about "a man making the right choice"] [3 Aug 02011]

Marvel moving forward with Doctor Strange movie; script by Thomas Donnelly and Joshua Oppenheimer (Conan reboot, Cowboys And Aliens) handed in and directors are being approached [2 Aug 02011]

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