Kirby’s Kids want Spider-Man too?

It’s been confirmed that Spider-Man is among the 45 characters the heirs of Jack Kirby have sued for. But didn’t Stan Lee and Steve Ditko create Spidey? Maybe not…

CBR’s Robot 6 have confirmed that Kirby’s heirs are looking for a slice of the Spider-pie. But do they have any basis? Now we all know that Stan Lee and Steve Ditko are credited as the co-creators of Spider-Man, but the King was involved in early stages.

Lee initially approached Kirby to help develop the concept and draw the initial story in 1962’s Amazing Fantasy
#15. For one reason or another — Lee has said he didn’t like Kirby’s
muscular, or "too heroic," take on Spider-Man — Ditko was tapped to
draw the story, with Kirby providing the cover.

But some accounts assert that Kirby contributed elements from an
unpublished character called Silver Spider that he developed in the
1950s with longtime collaborator Joe Simon. Others say Silver Spider
became The Fly, a character created by Simon and Kirby for Archie
Comics’ Red Circle imprint.

Still pretty tenuous I must say. This whole Kirby lawsuit has sat ill with me, it seems like kids seeking money for something they had nothing to do with, and this confirms it. It’s widely believed that Jack Kirby had little to do with Spider-Man, and despite this the Kirby heirs are wanting to have stuff involved with the character’s mythos, such as J. Jonah Jameson, the Daily Bugle, Chameleon, the Tinkerer and the Lizard, all of which appeared later on in the series than Amazing Fantasy #15 and it’s very doubtful tha Kirby was involved in that. It’s ridiculous in my opinion, it’s one thing to go after characters he did co-create, but this is rubbish!

Syndicated from The Outhouse – Comic Community Run By Fanboys, For Fanboys
Posted originally: 2009-09-22 11:04:00

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Jay Katz

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