So, Marvel’s “Who Won’t Wield the Shield” special actually has several great moments, yet it’s still impossible for me to enjoy without also feeling outraged.

Why?

1) The incessant in-jokes and constant references to Jack Kirby and his indelible, invaluable impact on the character, his storylines and artwork that define Cap to this very day.

That and, of course, the fact that he co-created the character 70 years ago.

And yet these jokes come packaged in a $4.00 comic published by a company that is suing the Kirby estate to prevent them from receiving a penny of the billions that Kirby’s creations have already earned Marvel, and the billions more down the road when the Cap and Avengers movies are released.

Marvel/Disney’s treatment of the people upon whom their empire was built is reminescent of nothing so much as the avarice and power-mad cruelty of their bad guy of the year, Norman Osborn.

2) If I pay $4.00 for a comic satirizing Marvel’s total ass-crap handling of the return of Captain America, which spoiled a series of storylines that represented a substantial investment of both time and money for the readers - it doesn’t really matter how much self-deprecating humor the book contains, the joke is ultimately on me.

I am the world’s biggest Kirby/Fourth World fan (well, second biggest, after Mark Evanier), and I remember the “Goody Rickles” Jimmy Olsen issues fondly (not the originals - I wasn’t born yet, but from the awesome Fourth World Omnibuses). I totally forgot about that “Greatest Climax Ever” blurb! Were those just more innocent times, or do you think Jack snuck that past Editorial on purpose as a gag?

(via ricklesoftheday)

Yup, this is a gen-u-wine Kirby creation, from the dark days of the mid-’50s when the Comics Code Authority deemed everything but superheroes offensive, and publishers believed that superheroes had gone the way of WWII, never to return.

After running out of names like Gorram - the Tree who Was a Guy From Space That Ate an Island, Kirby came up with ol’ Spragg here.

John Byrne was apparently a fan, as he resurrected the old man-mountain (or is it mountain-man?) for his run on She-Hulk in the ’80s.

Where lurks… The Litigators!!!

The New York Times breaks down the details of the Marvel/Disney/Kirby lawsuit wars.

Dark Mickey: I command you to magically sweep Jack Kirby’s legacy under the rug! Then, take the bazillions of dollars we’ve made from his creations, remove the tiny amount alloted to his estate, and place it in those buckets. I’m gonna need that money for my disastrous Spider-Man movie and musical projects. Now go, evil brooms, and do my bidding!

Namor is a dick: Exhibit B

Wotta diplomat! Shoot first, ask questions later - that’s how we kick it in the ATL (Atlantis)!

What’s he gonna do next - buy a comics company, and before the ink is dry sic a bunch of lawyers on the heirs of the greatest creator in history to “take back” rights to characters he had no hand in creating? Now that would be a dick move.