firby (04/29/83)
As far as I can remember, Gerber's dispute with Marvel was not creative,
but monetary. While Gerber did indeed "create" Howard, with Val
Mayerik(sp?), he did so whi~le working under the infamous work for
hire
contract. This meant that he had no further claim on the character,
since it became sole property of Marvel. The real trouble started
when Howardmania began, and the duck was merchandised.
Gerber wasn't pleased that he wasn't getting any
of the merchandising buckf marvel was raking in. I think he did
get a piece of the campaign buttons to keep him quiet.
The last straw came when there was talk about a movie, for which
Gerber would get nothing. Although he had left the company before
this due to personality conflicts, he still decided to suefor the
rights to the character, and F.O.O.G. was started to support the
legal costs.
In the meantime, Howard was slowly beeing
driven into the ground by Mantlo, the end coming with that nuclear
power fiasco in the b+w magizine. There has been some talk
about reviving the character, but nothing can be done while Howard
is in litigation.
So there you have it. I hope that will end the discussion
on the poor fowl, and maybe get into some interesting stuff
about creators' rights.
I'm really glad to see that this group finally got started.
I think I'm going to have fun here.
joanne
P.S.
Please excuse the bizarre format and excentric spelling. I really
do know better, but I'm writing this from home on a tempermental
VIC, and a phone line that has the hiccups. Sorry.
P.S.S.
I'm going to be moving to New Haven, Conn. soon, and I'd like to
know if there is a comic shop there. I sure hope so.
joanne