A Letter from Lois Lane to Warner Bros.

[Kingofthehill78]

Originally Posted by Crossbonez74

Ryu,

why do you dislike Bob Kane? Just curious.

This is why....

http://www.dialbforblog.com/archives/391/

And after you read that there's this...


It gets worse.

Have you ever read the book 'Men of Tomorrow' by Gerard Jones?

It mentions how Bob Kane, following his retirement from comics, claimed he'd become a fine artist, and displayed a series of clown paintings he'd executed.

Then, later, word gets around the DC offices about how he was being sued by a woman who'd done some anonymous paintings for him to resell, and never been compensated -- the clowns.

[Spideristic]

Always knew Bob Kane got some of his "inspiration" for Batman from Lee Falk's The Phantom. But looking at all those artwork copied from Henry Vallely's books is beyond embarrassing.

[Kingofthehill78]

Originally Posted by Spideristic

Always knew Bob Kane got some of his "inspiration" for Batman from Lee Falk's The Phantom. But looking at all those artwork copied from Henry Vallely's books is beyond embarrassing.

..... Bob Kane =

[protector2814]

Originally Posted by Kingofthehill78

This is why....
http://www.dialbforblog.com/archives/391/
And after you read that there's this...
It gets worse.
Have you ever read the book 'Men of Tomorrow' by Gerard Jones?
It mentions how Bob Kane, following his retirement from comics, claimed he'd become a fine artist, and displayed a series of clown paintings he'd executed.
Then, later, word gets around the DC offices about how he was being sued by a woman who'd done some anonymous paintings for him to resell, and never been compensated -- the clowns.

I had no idea!. That article was incredible & The Shadow speach at the end was great. Question...why didn't Bill Finger shout his role as major, major Batman player from the rooftops?

[punisher129]

Two great articles! Thanks for posting


---PUNISHER KILLS THE MARVEL UNIVERSE---

[Crossbonez74]

Originally Posted by Kingofthehill78

This is why....

http://www.dialbforblog.com/archives/391/

And after you read that there's this...


It gets worse.

Have you ever read the book 'Men of Tomorrow' by Gerard Jones?

It mentions how Bob Kane, following his retirement from comics, claimed he'd become a fine artist, and displayed a series of clown paintings he'd executed.

Then, later, word gets around the DC offices about how he was being sued by a woman who'd done some anonymous paintings for him to resell, and never been compensated -- the clowns.

Wow, Bob Kane is kind of a lowlife.

[armitage]

Interesting read..thanks for posting.
I knew Finger never got the credit he deserved and that the elements of Batman were "borrowed" but I didn't know he flat out copied art Liefield style.

[Jesse321]

Everyone is seeming to forget that Marvel tried to pull the same crap with Stan Lee ... STAN LEE ... who created (or co-created) not 1 flagship character, but DOZENS of them.

This is what corporations have done for ages, they take money and/or seize property, ideas or concepts. None of this is new news, this has been going on for years.

Unfortunately, the days where business transactions were made and sealed with a handshake and a glass of Scotch are long gone ... now a days contracts and lawyers rule the roast.

Look what happened to the 3 Stooges, Laurel and Hardy, Bela Lugosi, Lon Chaney and countless other actors/artists who worked on spec, most of them died paupers, because residuals were a concept wasn't even thought about in those days, because no one could have guessed that television (much less reruns) would become the thriving business that they are today. You don't think that studios are still raking in money hand over fist on the works of these talented people?

Any of you have ever watched the old "Carol Burnett Show" and wonder why they haven't released the whole series on DVD collected sets ... I'll tell you ... because during that time, even the orchestra was under contract, and they can't find most of those people anymore, most of them could be dead for all anyone knows, and they have to be paid residuals, even though it wasn't always original music they were playing.

Things changed from the 40's to the 70's and the 80's, and my heart goes out to Mrs. Siegal, because this is a battle that will still take years to resolve, and unfortunately for her, WB's (DC's parent company) has BILLIONS of dollars and truckloads of lawyers on their side ... they can just keep this fight going for years and years.

[nexus]

Time Warner should be ashamed of themselves. Ownership rights could and should have been resolved amicably long ago. However, my guess is DC/TW didn't want someone like FOX, Disney or SONY swooping in and setting off a bidding war, which certainly could have happened. But TW should have just taken the hit when they had a decent relationship with the family, because they could have locked up rights for 50-100 years. The problem is that this tactic is ultimately going to backfire on them. They've probably POed the family so much that when rights do revert, and they will, they'll pull Superman from TW entirely--which would send huge shockwaves through the entire DCU.

[Primal]

Originally Posted by Bullseye

It is sad how DC have treated their people.

Originally Posted by Crossbonez74

This is truly sad how DC treated these gentlemen and their families. Why did Siegal and Shuster get treated like this?

Because at the time they agreed to be "treated like this" when they sold the rights to the character to DC. You also have to realize that merchandising/residual contracts in comics & other media at the time were hardly (if at all) thought about in those days. Regardless, they were paid very well for their work at the time.

At the very least it wouldve been a great gesture for DC to have given them more (though they were not obligated to) when the character exploded. After 1999 however, DC/WB shouldve ponied up the profits the Siegels were owed.

Here's some great quick answers on the legal details of the case...
http://goodcomics.comicbookresources...copyright-faq/