All I know is that it's been awhile since Marvel announced they were going to do a new series about Omega the Unknown. At the time, I read an interview in Wizard with Steve Gerber complaining, like he always does, that he totally doesn't approve of it, that it's his character, and if they wanted to do that story, they could just make up a new character; but, they could not use Omega. (I did notice that Steve Garber owns the website,
www.omegatheunknown.com, and that it links to his own website which contains his blog. Of interest from it recently is this, about Foolkiller:
"Yes, I know about it.
It irks me to precisely this extent: I wish Id been given the chance to do the character right, with the right artistic team, and with some real promotion behind the book. (The first issue of the
Foolkiller limited series came out the same month as Todd McFarlanes
Spider-Man #1. Gee, where do you suppose the promotional dollars and critical attention were focused?)
Thats as far as the irk goes, though. Marvel and I have managed to reach an accommodation of sorts on some of these matters.
I do hope the new book results in the reprinting of the limited series which, despite the art problems, remains one of my favorite pieces of work and the earlier Foolkiller material, dating back to the original
Man-Thing story. It would be nice to have that stuff back in print."
I guess he gets peeved about any character that he's done for Marvel. But, they must have paid him off with that one, I guess.)
Here is a mention about Omega the Unknown from another website...although, this was written more than a year ago in 2005:
Steve's statement in an earlier Lying In The Gutters, to the effect that creators should not work on series created by others, without their permission, did lead to the question of how he could have worked on "Defenders" for so long?
Steve answered this question for the column, saying "At that time, Stan Lee was sitting in the publisher's office at Marvel Comics approving every writing assignment. I worked
with Bill Everett briefly on 'Sub-Mariner.' That said, I don't want to imply that I specifically sought out any other creator's approval for anything thirty years ago. At that time, I was as abysmally ignorant of creators' rights issues as anybody else. Because I was working more or less directly with Stan, who co-created virtually all the early Marvel characters, the question just never came up. I doubt I would settle for one co-creator's okay today. "And by the way, I don't deny I made mistakes. The two I most regret are the 'Metal Men' story I wrote for DC while Robert Kanigher was still very much alive and still very active in the industry, and the couple of issues I wrote of 'Mister Miracle.' I found out later that Kanigher was not at all pleased about that story, and I felt badly about it. At least I had the chance to apologize to Jack for the 'Mister Miracle' stuff. (He forgave me, and we later created 'Destroyer Duck' together, which should be some indication of whether he respected my position on creators' rights.) Unfortunately, I never met Kanigher."
The Omega Unknown issue raised recently has raised a number of issues. Despite Steve Gerber declining to comment in any way, it seems clear that no contract was signed or discussed between writers Steve Gerber and Mary Skrenes, and publisher Marvel Comics. The legal case for Marvel being able to publish the new
Omega The Unknown is a challengeable one, though clearly Gerber would have more to gain the more issues have been published.
It appears there are a number of seventies series at Marvel that seem to fall into this gap. Marvel at the time were slower to respond to the legal necessities of work for hire and work made for hire at the time - the standard model was a waiver on the back of cheques, a measure which has been legally challenged in court and some experts deem non-binding - especially as the receiver was legitimately able to cross it out.
Marv Wolfman recently challenged Marvel over the ownership and exploitation of Nova and Blade. These were both properties that Wolfman brought to Marvel, but the combination of differing laws under a bankruptcy court and a difference in judgement over what Wolfman said he knew and what the court expected him to know, especially since he went on to be editor-in-chief, saw Wolfman lose.
Steve Gerber's experience has been different. Howard The Duck, another seventies creation at Marvel, saw the two sides settle in the eighties, although Gerber was bound over to silence. Since then there have been more case studies which provide Gerber stronger ground should be proceed to action over Omega. But what of the likes of Master Of Kung Fu, Man Thing or even Ghost Rider, itself the subject of an upcoming film? The issues are also clouded by collaborative creative efforts, not least by Marvel editorial, as well as loss of paperwork, recollection and standard practices at the time. It would take a number of lawyers to unravel much of this. But unless that's made clear, Marvel's decision to publish "Omega The Unknown" may become one they might regret.
