Comics UK

Just announced at the San Diego Comic Con about an hour ago, Marvel Comics have bought the rights to 1950s British character Marvelman from Mick Anglo:

http://www.comicbookresources.com/?page ... e&id=22206

Lew

On the whole I'm pleased for Mick - though somehow I can't see Alan Moore being very impressed, even if it does mean the whole 'Miracleman' debacle can now be quietly brushed aside...!

- Phil Rushton

It'll be interesting to see what they do with the character. I guess disregarding the 80's/90's run would be logical, but Joe Quesada did mention (somewhat obliquely) the possibility of those stories being reprinted ('bad news for those of us who spent $400 on the trades') so maybe not. They've been angling for this for awhile, I think. I'm pretty sure their Sentry character was originally intended to be Marvelman.

I'll worry when they start angling for the Halfpenny Marvel, and all the characters that that worthy "halfpenny dreadfuller" introduced to the world, that i'll worry!

They probably only bought Marvelman because of his name!

Digifiend wrote: They probably only bought Marvelman because of his name!

I would think that's the case-though I'm more interested to find out if they've 'bought' him at all. It's all still rather murky, it seems to me.

http://marvel.com/news/comicstories.886 ... omics~excl~

It's on the Marvel site too, and they're selling Marvelman t-shirts. Looks true to me.

Digifiend wrote:http://marvel.com/news/comicstories.886 ... omics~excl~

It's on the Marvel site too, and they're selling Marvelman t-shirts. Looks true to me.

Oh, I don't doubt they've bought the character. I'm just far from convinced he was Mick Anglo's to sell in the first place. I doubt the legal issues have been as neatly resolved as Marvel evidently think.

The story is sadly not that cut and dried. Marvel can now do new stories. Neil Gaiman may even be able to finish his work on the book but as yet the MM(80's version) Logo is probably still owned by Todd McFarlane and Alan Moore's work is still a sticky wicket. It should be pointed out that as far as Alan Morre is concerned that as long as Mick gets all the money marvel are welcome to do what they like with the book from now on. My only concern is that I have heard that Mick has already sold the rights to a couple of guys for only £4000. Hopefully that is not for 100% of the rights though.

What I would really love though is for Marvel to issue a two volume oversized hardcover edition of the existing 25 issues. That would be something to put on my Christmas list for sure. Now if only Grant Morrison could sort out his Zenith books I really would be a happy chappy.

presterjohn wrote:The story is sadly not that cut and dried. Marvel can now do new stories. Neil Gaiman may even be able to finish his work on the book but as yet the MM(80's version) Logo is probably still owned by Todd McFarlane and Alan Moore's work is still a sticky wicket.

I don't believe McFarlane owns the logo. The rights were split three ways when Warrior brought the character back, and McFarlane only 'bought' the share which had gone to Eclipse, if indeed it was actually owned by Eclipse by then. I'd imagine Garry Leach still has a claim to the property if he ever decides to do anything about it. He first drew the revised character and logo, after all.

I read this a few days ago so I may have jumbled it in my head a bit but I was pretty sure that what Dez Skinn sold to McFlarlane was the rights (that he did not actually own) to Marvel Man and the design of the updated costume. Not sure how that came about but that is how I remember it.

presterjohn wrote:I read this a few days ago so I may have jumbled it in my head a bit but I was pretty sure that what Dez Skinn sold to McFlarlane was the rights (that he did not actually own) to Marvel Man and the design of the updated costume. Not sure how that came about but that is how I remember it.

Dez didn't sell McFarlane anything. He sold his share of the rights (the remainder being held by the writer and artists) to Eclipse Comics and McFarlane bought Eclipse's properties after the company went out of business. Whether or not the rights to MM were still among those properties is still open to debate, but in any case they would not have constituted full ownership of the rights to the character. Dez's ownership or otherwise in the first place has still yet to be established conclusively either way.