Marvel sometimes sucks.
So I read something disturbing today. The comic book character Ghost Rider, shown here from the Marvel Comic T Shirts, was created by an artist named Gary Friedrich. When the lame Ghost Rider movie came out he tried to sue, claiming that while he did not have the rights to the Ghost Rider comic book he should have the rights to the movie. He lost, which is what happens when you go against a major corporation in this country.
However, I just found out that he has been supporting himself in retirement by going to comic book conventions and signing autographs as the creator of Ghost Rider, just like any number of other artist do. The thing is, Marvel has sued him for the right to claim he created anything, and want him to pay them the $17,000 he has made over the last couple years. The thing is, they are not denying that he created GR. They just don’t want him telling anyone that he did.
The other part that sucks about this is Marvel is worth billions and probably spends more than $17 grand a day in executive toilet paper. All that and they still want to take money away from a 68 year old retiree? Really? Personally I see this as a sign of the negative influence Disney has had on them. “When you dance with the devil the devil doesn’t change. The devil changes you.” That quote was from 8MM, by the way.
Bottom line, Marvel is showing themselves to be pretty heartless here. I would say don’t go see the new Ghost Rider movie. The first one sucked anyway, and it still stars Nicholas Cage, who for some reason can’t seem to play any role well lately.
Jason.
