The New York Times talks with legendary comics writer Joe Simon about the creation of Captain America, the recent Superman ruling and his own copyright dispute with Marvel Comics:
“That’s great,” the bespectacled Mr. Simon said. “Jerry Siegel started it,” he added, referring to the effort by Mr. Siegel’s wife and daughter in 1997 to secure the copyright to Superman. (Under a 1976 law, heirs can recover the rights to their relatives’ creations under certain circumstances. Mr. Siegel died in 1996 without major compensation for his character.) That family’s stand inspired Mr. Simon’s own claim to Captain America in 1999.
“We always felt ‘we wuz robbed,’ as Joe Jacobs, the boxing promoter, used to say,” Mr. Simon said of his dispute over the ownership of Captain America, which he settled out of court with Marvel in 2003. He said his royalties for merchandising and licensing use of the hero now help pay his legal bills from the case.
Simon, 94, also weighs in on the new Captain America: “The new costume, with the pistol and knife, and the old shield design going down to his privates, that’s not Captain America.”
He’ll appear Friday at the “Legends Behind the Comic Books” panel at New York Comic-Con.
April 16th, 2008 at 10:55 am
I give all due respect to Mr. Simon, and I’m glad he was able to get some justice from Marvel in terms of getting his due. He probably deserves more than he’s received, but it’s something.
That said, I can’t disagree more with the “That’s not Captain America” comment. I’m curious to know if he actually reads the books these days, or follows anything happening in the Marvel U. “Cap” is, bar none, the best comic being written today IMO (and I’m saying this as a bigger DC fan than Marvel fan). Brubaker’s certianly done right by Cap, and I think Mr. Simon should be proud of the stance Cap took in Civil War.
As for the gun, etc… Well, no, techincally it’s not Captain America. It’s Bucky, trying his best to replace Steve Rogers and using the tools he feels he needs to do the job. Bucky/Cap isn’t a murderer, as we’ve seen since he donned the costume, and Mr. Simon’s objections are a bit odd since the original Cap WAS known to carry a gun.
If he’s not hot about the new costume… Well, I’ll give him that one. But again, it’s not the real Cap. So I’m OK with it.
April 16th, 2008 at 11:03 am
That is a amazing painting. I might go to NYCC just to check that out.