Over the past several days, much has been written about the plight of creator Gary Friedrich, the man behind the creation of Marvel’s Ghost Rider. There isn’t much more to say about Gary, his attempt to be compensated by Marvel for creating a property that has spawned two profitable feature films, and the resulting $17,000 counter-suit Marvel and the courts dropped on him.
Gary at a Con showing off his creation.
The law is the law and there’s not much sense in rehashing copyright law or work-for-hire. We have seen the screwjobs given to Joe Simon, Jack Kirby, Siegel & Shuster, Jerry Robinson, Bill Finger, Archie Goodwin, Alan Moore. It’s an unfortunate circumstance in the comics business and it seems the new trend is to sue for ownership of characters created decades ago as work-for-hire. (Even Stan Lee Media is currently suing Marvel for the rights to Spider-Man, The X-Men, The Fantastic Four and others.)
We at Fandom Planet are not lawyers. You might be, but statistically speaking, you’re probably not. It is more likely you’re a fan and if you are a fan, this is the part of the article that should be most interesting to you.
The fact of the matter is this: Gary Friedrich is not well. He’s in poor health and he doesn’t see a nickel of any of the revenue generated by merchandise or media featuring Ghost Rider. He’s had to stop selling merchandise featuring Ghost Rider at conventions (which was a source of income for him and his wife) and it’s our opinion that the $17,000 suit is not a result of damages to Marvel but a punitive effort by a corporate giant to stop the little guy from making a buck. Even if it’s a buck the corporate giant squeezed out of the little guy in the first place.
Sad Ghost Rider is sad about lawsuit.
Do we know this to be true? No. How could we? However. damages not withstanding, a suit of this kind against a sick man is in BAD taste. In our humble opinion: Marvel should have, after quietly waving its hand to dismiss his lawsuit, given the man a sizable donation to his health. We’re sure the folks at Marvel might consider that a tacit admission of guilt, but what it WOULD have been was a kind gesture to a very unwell creator that just made them millions of dollars. Or… that remains to be seen.
Friend of the show Steve Niles has orchestrated a relief fund for Gary. We support Steve in his efforts (as does creator rights crusader and comics god Neal Adams). The fandom community has been very generous and it looks like it’s gonna be OK for Gary as far as getting this settlement behind him.
Gary Friedrich we salute you!
Last week, the Ghost Rider feature film opened in the US. We haven’t seen it. We’re not going to see it. We LOVE the Ghost Rider character but we’re not going to see this film in protest of how Marvel’s treated Gary. INSTEAD, we are going to donate the cost of two tickets to Ghost Rider (in our part of Hollywood, according to Fandango.com, that’s $26.00 for two adult tickets to a screening of Ghost Rider 2) to the relief efforts. We encourage you to do the same.
NOTE: Business is business. We get that. We are not claiming to know what happens behind closed doors at Marvel or anywhere else. Still we love Ghost Rider, and we love the man who created him. Fandom Planet feels like money spent to support properties we love should always somehow trickle down to those who made them in the first place. Its a simple, non-judgmental, mantra. We won’t be seeing Ghost Rider 2, but if you want to see the film, toss a few bucks to Gary, its what artists deserve.
For further reading, we submit this article from FORBES: http://www.forbes.com/sites/danielnyegriffiths/2012/02/10/ghost-rider-watchmen-lawsuit/
And this piece from Neal Adams: http://www.bleedingcool.com/2012/02/13/neal-adams-addresses-comics-industry/
To contribute to Gary’s Relief Fund right now through Steve Niles’ amazing efforts, click here: http://www.steveniles.com/gary.html
Consider it penance for seeing the FIRST Ghost Rider movie.
Fandom Planet et al