Friday, April 07, 2006

SUPERBOY REVERTS TO SIEGEL FAMILY

Okay. I wasn't going to post on this until I understood what was going on a little better. Jim and I have been kicking this around a bit today, and while I shared my concerns over the suit, I confessed that I had very little understanding of what was going on.

Jerry Siegel, co-creator of Superman with Joe Shuster, has passed. However, his widow and daughter have just secured rights to "Superboy" about 60 years after the character was first conceived and millions made from the idea.

My confusion came from my misunderstanding of Siegel's role at National Comics in the 1940's (taken from having misread Les Daniel's Superman: The Complete History).

Leave it to The Beat to clear things up in a way I can understand. Read here.

I'm a little concerned for the Superman franchise, but I see this as a win-win for for DC and the Siegels if everyone can just play ball nicely. The fact that Siegel was NOT work for hire at the time of his concept of Superboy came to print means that my concern about individual law suits chipping away at DC until it's no longer a viable company is probably not a huge issue. Hopefully the Siegels can come to see their legal adversaries as their publishing friends and wish to maintain the Superman legacy so everyone can make some dough.

That, and as of IC #6, this may all be a moot for a while, anyway.

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