If this turns out to be true and Marvel ends up contributing towards the medical costs for Bill Mantlo in light of the usage of his Rocket Raccoon character in the Guardians of The Galaxy movie and subsequent merchandise (Along with Bug, for that matter; Mantlo was the original writer for Marvel’s Micronauts, where the character first appeared), that’d be great news. Surprising, to my cynical soul, but nevertheless really welcome, really good news.
For those unfamiliar with Bill Mantlo, he was a mainstay of Marvel Comics throughout the 1970s and ’80s, working on such big-name titles as Thor, Spectacular Spider-Man and Incredible Hulk in addition to the work on licensed titles that arguably made his name, ROM and Micronauts (both of which he brought to comic life; he also wrote the first couple of issues of Marvel’s Transformers series). He was hit by a car while rollerblading in 1992, and spent several years in a coma afterwards as a result; although he woke from the coma, the brain damage from the accident meant that he’s needed full-time medical care ever since. There have been a number of fan-led fundraisers to help his brother, Michael, with the costs of such care throughout the years, but neither Marvel nor DC (for whom Mantlo scripted Invasion! back in 1989) have made any significant contribution towards financial assistance… until now, perhaps.
The Bleeding Cool source suggests “a five figure sum” is being offered. Maybe Marvel could put out a few Mantlo-centric collected editions (If only they could get the rights to ROM back; I can’t imagine that wouldn’t sell more than a few Essential collections) to work out another way of contributing, even if only in terms of royalty payments.
September 18th, 2012 at 11:25 am
I really hope this is true, and that it’ll mean a lot of money to Mantlo and his care-giving family. The man has been abandoned by the people he made so much money for. I don’t want to hear anything about contracts and corporate responsibility, it’s about the moral obligation they owe him.
September 18th, 2012 at 12:08 pm
I’d like to see the check be a lot bigger than five figures. Marvel has been repackaging Mantlo’s 80′s work at a pretty fast clip lately. Two big TPB’s of Mantlo’s Hulk work along with an HC of his Rocket Raccoon mini.
September 19th, 2012 at 10:43 am
I suspect those reprints are actually part of the reason they are contributing to his bills. As I understand the agreement he was (probably) contracted under, he gets standard payouts for trades and movie use and such. I’m not sure on it, but having read so many feakin’ articles about this stuff over the past 5 years, that’s what my memory tells me.