Marvel's 1978 Work For Hire Agreements

You may have seen these documents, or similar ones, elsewhere, but they're worthy of yet another run.  These are the standard forms that Marvel had their creators sign in 1978 in order for them to continue to work for them.  As Neal Adams said at the time, "SIGN THIS DOCUMENT AND YOU’RE SIGNING YOUR LIFE AWAY!"  That didn't stop people from signing though and to understand why people signed is to put yourself back in time to another era.  For the bulk of the people working at Marvel, and DC, were from the Golden Age of comic books.  They'd made good money with steady, solid work, in the 1940s and the early part of the 1950s, only to have the proverbial rug pulled from beneath their feet.  Most wanted to work and, more importantly, they wanted to keep the money coming in.  Depression babies.  They knew what it was like to be poor, so they probably thought that it didn't matter who owned what or what the wording was, if signing the agreement meant more work then so be it.

Both sides were right.  The creators who signed continued to draw a wage, and those who fought for more rights and ownership eventually got what they wanted in the form of creator owned comics and better deals.  It's just that the bulk of those who fought were either financially stable, had contacts elsewhere (advertising and the like) or powerful enough to buck the trend.  It was one thing for Neal Adams to stand his ground, God love him, but it was another for a Jim Mooney or a Mike Esposito to do the same - Jim and Mike didn't have the same clout as Neal.  It was one thing for Neal to tell people to fight, some could and some couldn't.  And for some, such as Mike, they'd been burnt once when they tried a similar thing, to form a union of artists, and as such they were reluctant to back such a move again.  And during all of this the agreements were quietly signed, some with a bit of pressure from editors ("Hey, don't sign, no big deal, we have other artists waiting outside who want the work,") and some because they knew that it was a battle that they couldn't win.

That didn't make it right though, but it doesn't lessen any respect I have for anyone who did, or didn't, sign the agreements.

The Problem With Memory: Mark Evanier

As with all history the reliance on memory often leads to conflict, even with one person's recollections.  Compare these quotes from Mark Evanier, in relation to how Jack Kirby worked with Stan Lee.

Comics Interview #2 - 1983

MARK: I had lunch with Stan Lee a couple weeks ago and we spent hours talking about that. Jack kept tons of Stan's old plot outlines, so I have a pretty good picture of how they worked together.  I have some of Stan's old plots and notes.
DAK: I have, a copy of the plot for FANTASTIC FOUR #1.
MARK: That's great. I have AVENGERS #4.
DAK: It turned up in the office when Roger Stern was cleaning and I xeroxed it. The outline, the bare bones of the story is there. It seems to indicate — whether or not it was done afier a conference with Jack — that Stan did actually give him a plot.
MARK: Stan told me something interesting. There was one point in the SPIDER-MAN books when the credits changed from "Art by Steve Ditko" to "plotted and drawn by Steve Ditko." At that point, Ditko had demanded to receive more than just artist pay and credit. The credits changed, but their method of working didn't change substantially. Stan said that simultaneously he offered the same thing to Kirby — to give him a co-writing credit — and Jack, instead, asked that the credits read "Produced by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby" or some variation of that. If you look at the credits, very rarely after that did it say "Written by Stan Lee." Jack asked to keep it ambiguous and Stan went along with it.

Yet on November 4, 2010, Evanier wrote in his official declaration in the Marvel v Kirby court case:
I want to emphasise that Kirby worked on his own, and supervised himself, and did not create under the direction of supervision of Stan Lee or anyone else at Marvel.

I wonder what made Mark change his mind.  In the same interview Mark also states that he 'wrote' at least 10% of the New Gods saga and two to three issues of Jimmy Olsen that he "...wrote about half of."  This is why the current Marvel v Kirby court case is so problematic - the testimony is conflicting.  Having said that, I do hope that a positive outcome for the Kirby's is reached and soon.

1986: Jack Kirby Meets Stan Lee

Generally when you see a latter day quote from Jack Kirby about Stan Lee they're not that kind or gentle.  At the time when this interview was done Jack was fighting Marvel to get his artwork back (and despite what Jim Shooter might want to say to the contrary, Jack Kirby never brought legal action against Marvel as a bargaining tool - seriously Jim, prove it with some solid evidence and not just your word) and wasn't in any form of a contrite mood towards Marvel or Stan Lee.  With that in mind, the following excerpt from the interview is a bit more revealing than you'd expect and  it does go a long way to dispel the popular myth that Stan and Jack were fighting until the end.  As meetings go this one sounds fairly happy, all things considered.

The interview was done in 1986, the interviewer was Mark Borax.

MARK: Since so much of your work thrives on conflict, do you think that, like John Lennon and Paul McCartney, there was a conflict between you and Stan that lent a kind of dynamic to the work you created together?
JACK: There was never a conflict between me and Stan. I understand Stan very well. There are times when — uh, I feel that he's cheating himself.
MARK: In what way?
JACK: By not — not enjoying life. By not being the guy he really could be. See —I mentioned this yesterday to him. I know his brother Larry has nothin' to prove —he knows who he is. Larry Lieber's a wonderful guy, you could talk to him and you'll both have a great time. Stan is different, in many, many ways. Why, I don't know. I'm not a guy who's gonna stop long enough to define it. There are many ways I feel that Stan is cheating himself, by hiding somewhere. He's hiding. That's the feeling I get.
MARK: You were talking to him about this yesterday, at the convention?
JACK: Yes.
MARK: Was it just the two of you alone?
JACK: It was me, him, and Jim Shooter. I told him that he should be more like Larry and just relax and have a great time.
MARK: What did he say?
JACK: He agreed! We got along amicably.
MARK: That's great!
JACK: Yeah! The only thing is — I'm trying to get my pages back and I can't understand why there's such a struggle. Or why there's a struggle over who did what or who created what. There's no `reason for that, 'cause Stan and I know. Nobody else knows. And if — if Stan would only come out of that hiding place and just tell it to the world, see —everything would go great.
MARK: Jack, even though each of you, in your own hearts, know who did what —
JACK: We know!
MARK: —do you think that time has obscured some of —
JACK: NO! It hasn't obscured it. He knows it, I know it. How we're gonna prove it, I don't know.
MARK: Do you think there'll be a resolution to all this soon?
JACK: I don't think so. I think that people don't change. They can't change. Sometimes, it's too late. And you'll just go on being what you are, and I'll go on being what I am because I'm just like that. It'll be something that, maybe lawyers will resolve for us. Human beings remain human beings. I can predict anything that Stan will do, and, uh —
MARK: He can predict what you'll do?
JACK: Possibly, he can. He knows I'm a right guy, and I'm not gonna hurt him in any way, and vice versa.
MARK: Apart from the working relationship, do you miss the friendship you guys had?
JACK: No., because I make a lot of new friendships all the time. I know I can't change Stan. I say my piece, he says his piece, and I let it go at that.
MARK: You know, the whole world would probably like to see the two of you guys shake hands.
JACK: We did, yesterday! But it resolves nothing. I could shake hands with Stan 'till doomsday and it would mean nothing, see. It would mean nothing — it would mean that the dance went on, that's all. But beyond that the situation's still the same. Somebody else will have to arbitrate. I'll leave it to wiser heads. I don't say I have the wisest head in the world. I'll leave it to people with patience. I'll try to have patience myself in the hopes that something positive will come out of all this. Whatever I want out of this is half-gone already, and whatever's left I'm willing to be conciliatory about.