In at least some versions of the character Ghost Rider the innocent can’t be burned by his “hellfire” power”, while the guilty will experience pain. His “Penance Stare” shows its victim all the evil they have committed and takes them down by their own conscience. Perhaps Marvel needs a taste of that. Let me introduce you to Gary Friedrich.
Image via Wikipedia
Friedrich created the character of Ghost Rider along with Roy Thomas and Mike Ploog. (He also worked on his cowboy namesake many moons prior.) The concept basically (for my non-comic fans who didn’t see the movie) is that Johnny Blaze was tricked by the devil into becoming Hell’s bounty hunter in exchange for curing his father, who died of something else later anyway. (Because, you know, he’s the devil!)
Recently, with the movie success (although I couldn’t tell you why) of the movie, Friedrich decided he wanted to see if he could get some kind of royalties for his part in the character’s creation. It didn’t go well.
Now granted I haven’t followed the case, and I wouldn’t even have heard about it if not the for the event I’m about to rant about. However, I would think that like most writers and artists he worked for hire, although as a freelancer. That means any character he created for a Marvel comic would become Marvel property. I’m not going support what Friedrich did, since it appears he’s trying to cash in on Ghost Rider’s success. Heck, I don’t even blame him considering that success, the actions of the Seigel, Shuster, and Kirby estates, and the fact that he apparently can use the money. Also, let’s face it, Marvel owes guys like Friedrich, Len Wein (creator of my least favorite Marvel hero and their biggest not-Spider-Man cash cow Wolverine), and others for their success and only Stan Lee has figured out how to profit and become a household name instead of just a comic store one. I’m going to neither praise nor slam the man’s attempt to at least be recognized for his contribution to Marvel. Nor will I jump on Marvel’s case for defending what they consider their property.
I will however come down on Marvel and Disney for they WAY they have responded.
Friedrich has no money. Being acknowledged as Ghost Rider’s creator could have led to pre-movie interviews, maybe gaming magazines would want to talk to him with the character now appearing in the Marvel Vs. Capcom franchise, and of course they’d want him at cons where he could do drawings on commission or sign autographs (hopefully for free–charging for an autograph isn’t the same as charging for actual work) and get some money back in this economy.
Marvel, on the other hand, has other ideas. Instead they want to PAY 17,000 for the commissions he has made, to never do an interview as Ghost Rider’s creator, and the judge has agreed to both. Remember, the guy is broke and now not only has Marvel demanded he can’t make any profit from this but that he must PAY THEM for what he’s already done.
If it wasn’t for Friedrich Marvel wouldn’t have a potential movie franchise. I’m not saying that Marvel wasn’t in their legal rights to maintain control of the character or even to fight for royalties. They own the character, that’s how it goes when you work for a company like Marvel or DC. The same is true for most movie and video game studios and producers. Unless you go independent any character you make for company X becomes the property of company X. That is what they hired you to do and that is your job, to create for “them”.
However, for Marvel to essentially ban Friedrich from doing interviews and other promotion, which you have to remember is also promotion MARVEL doesn’t have to pay for, much like when Stan Lee talks about Spider-Man or Iron Man, was bad enough. To demand restitution for commissioned art and other appearances from a broke man who made you rich is just morally wrong. You don’t have to kiss his backside (heck, I wouldn’t even demand DC do that to the Superman creators, and they may not exist without him or Batman–Bob Kane was a lot smarter about his contract) but you DO owe him something from a moral position. Let him promote himself as Ghost Rider’s creator. Let him be interviewed to promote your movie for you like Stan Lee does without you having to pay cent1 for it! You owe him that at least, Marvel/Disney. It would be like denying the Disney family or Walt himself for creating Mickey Mouse. (I wouldn’t be surprised if the current powers-that-be wouldn’t be against that.)
This is also bad from a business perspective, in light of the continuing Siegel/Shuster and Kirby lawsuits. (I wouldn’t be surprised if Marvel isn’t still upset about the Kirby lawsuits, despite winning, and are just looking to stop any more. Brutally so.) Think about it. Today’s up-and-coming comic creators hearing Len Wein’s story about struggling to survive despite creating Wolverine, or Dwayne McDuffie, who got screwed over six ways from Saturday for one character they apparently didn’t know how to use propery. They see the constant struggles by estates to gain recognition for their father’s and spouse’s works. Older creators struggling to eek out a living despite creating multimillion dollar-earning properties. And the nail in the coffin is how Marvel/Disney is being this cold to yet another creator. What reason would you have for ever working for Marvel or DC Comics?
If you create something good for them, it’s not going to benefit you in any way like it would if you brought your ideas to Dark Horse or Image comics, or even just started a webcomic and hoped word of mouth would bring enough people that Dark Horse or IDW would want to collect it, or at least enough that you would make a livable profit through self-publishing either on your own or through Indy Planet or Wowio. (I don’t know what ComiXology’s policy is on smaller producers that Diamond wouldn’t bother with.) Why work for a company you KNOW is going to screw you over even when they’re in the right?
This is a horrible travesty on Marvel’s part, but one we see far too often to some of their most important creators of yesteryear. Their properties, in fact their entire company, wouldn’t exist without these people and while you shouldn’t give them the moon (they signed the work-for-hire agreement after all) they have a moral obligation to these people and should allow them the opportunity to get SOMETHING out of their success. Or at least they shouldn’t be punished the way Friedrich is.
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