A Dashing Jazz Age Jewel Thief
➕ A Southern Noir procedural and an '80s-set tween horror comedy
Welcome to The Optionist. As always, thanks for reading along.
I've been fascinated by the drama over who should get credit for creating Wolverine, the superstar Marvel character played by Hugh Jackman. Even the timing of the “he said/she said” battle is interesting since the forthcoming Deadpool sequel, Deadpool & Wolverine, is set to hit theaters this summer.
A little backstory: Wolverine first appeared in the summer of 1974 in the last panel of The Incredible Hulk #180 (and then more centrally in #181). But the character with the retractable adamantium claws really took off the following year when he was made a part of the new team of X-Men in Giant-Size X-Men #1. Since then, he's arguably been Marvel's most popular superhero (or, at worst, second to Spider-Man).
It’s long been accepted that writer Len Wein created the character and wrote Giant-Size X-Men #1, while Marvel art director John Romita Sr. designed his look and penciler Herb Trimpe drew him in his initial Hulk appearance. But it's Chris Claremont who wrote the regular X-Men series that did a lot to create the character we know today.
Recently, it was reported that former Marvel Comics editor-in-chief Roy Thomas would be listed as a co-creator of the character in the Deadpool & Wolverine credits. Thomas, who in many ways is the third most-important person during Marvel's early days after Stan Lee and Jack Kirby, joined the company in 1965, wrote many of the classic Avengers stories that informed the subsequent movies, invented tons of characters (including the Vision) and succeeded Lee as EIC from 1972-74. Thomas' argument is that he came up with the name and the idea of making him Canadian and then told Wein to go off and develop the character.
Needless to say, comics fans take claims like this very seriously — and there's been a lot of pushback. Some say that what Thomas did is technically not “creating.” Others have argued that editors don't usually share in a creator credit because, well, that's their job — to suggest ideas and to help shape the story. Folks have also complained that Thomas was simply waiting to push the idea until Wein and others passed away so fewer people could object. (For his part, Thomas says he’s been telling the same story for decades; the only difference now is he's formally getting credit.) Meanwhile, Wein's widow, Christine Valada, has been vocal about her unhappiness, saying what Thomas is doing is akin to the "stolen valor" of one soldier taking credit for another’s heroism.
Here's a good rundown of the credit dispute and the dueling responses from Thomas and Valada. (Full disclosure: I worked on a book about Marvel with Thomas and know him a little in addition to being a fan of his work, but this sounds pretty shady.)
One reason why the claws are coming out is due to the success of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Comic book writers and artists who lived in relative anonymity for years want part of the glory. There's also the prospect of receiving some money — these artists look enviously at the huge payouts given to the estates of Lee and Kirby and wonder where their cut is. Also, many older creators didn't make that much dough during their careers and are now struggling financially. (Note: Thomas insists that he's not getting any extra money from Marvel for the credit change.) I've long wished that Disney had created a fund for older creators to get a piece of the pie rather than the ad hoc system currently in place.
Another reason why this story has resonated so strongly among Marvel fans is that it comes as they've been reckoning with Lee's legacy. Lee basically took credit for everything . . . and a lot of it wasn't always accurate. Critics have been trying to debunk the prevailing myth of Lee as the creator of the Marvel Universe. Thomas' move smacks of Lee's credit hogging (it doesn't help that Thomas is considered a Lee acolyte). Who created what in the Marvel Universe — or how much they contributed — has long been the subject of contentious debate. At the time, no one really cared, and the money wasn't very big. Plus, people allowed Lee to self-mythologize because it was good PR and helped sell comics. But now some residual fame and money have people scrambling to stake their claims.
On one hand, this is just a fun, soapy drama. But stepping back — and this is why I think this story should be of interest to Optionist readers — it’s another example (along with the copyright expirations of Mickey Mouse, Superman and others) of how our IP structure was designed for an older, individual-creator model and not what we currently have: corporate-owned creations iterating across multiple mediums and decades. Our horse-and-buggy notions about IP aren’t built for the Digital Age.
Does Tom Hanks have to be good at everything? The dude's a brilliant actor, accomplished director and has even written a novel. Now, in all of his spare time, he’s tossing off great book reviews like this one about Olivetti, a kid's book about a sentient typewriter. Hanks’ review enchanted me and got me wondering about the rights to the book, which could make for an appealing animated screen adaptation. Turns out they’re available. They’re repped by Sharlene Martin.
Onto this week’s picks, which feature a nice mix of genres from horror to coming of age to true crime:
A Southern Noir procedural about a new sheriff caught between his job and a debt of honor from his past
A period biopic centered on the most notorious jewel thief of the first half of the 20th century and the tragic romance that doomed him
A horror short story set in the Alaskan wilderness about an Inuit girl and a white hunting party stalked by a monster from indigenous mythology
A coming-of-age horror comedy about the paranormal adventures of six tween paperboys during a single night in 1987
A buzzy true-crime murder drama that’s already attracting attention around town even though the proposal just sold to a publisher
