Marvel Sends Mike Kaluta And Elaine Lee Cease And Desist Over Creator Owned Comic (UPDATE)

[Rich Johnston]

Steve Bissette posted on Facebook, about a certain book called Starstruck...

Look, I TOLD everyone once the Marvel vs. Friedrich judgment was cast, we'd be seeing Marvel/Disney going after every creator that emerged in their legal department bullseye. Case in point: Marvel/Disney issued a CEASE & DESIST letter against ELAINE LEE & MIKE KALUTA for their creator-owned, Epic-published STARSTRUCK.

Elaine Lee wrote, this morning: "Look, I'll say it now. Kaluta and I, just week before last, received a letter from a Marvel/Disney attorney, challenging our rights to Starstruck, a project that was briefly with Marvel/Epic, supposedly their creator-owned imprint, almost three decades ago. Since then, we've been published by Dark Horse and IDW. This has sent us rummaging through 30-year-old documents, looking for proof that we own what we own. We've found several letters that back up our claim that the rights were returned to us, and things seem to have quieted down, but we are still looking for more "just in case." You don't screw around with The Mouse.

I'm currently doing an interview for a new book on women in geeky professions. They asked me to give advice to young women starting out. My advice is do your own thing. Keep the rights to your work. If you sell your work, make sure you get Hollywood money, not comic book money."

Got that? Marvel/Disney, attacking the creators of the only creator-ownership line they'd launched, post COMIX BOOK.

The Marvel/Disney legal machine is capable of ANYTHING in the name of "we own it ALL."

Now, the odds are that this is a clerical error on Marvel/Disney's part, and hopefully there will be an apology on the way. The Epic imprint offered a very attractive creator owned contract, which saw work such as The One, Groo The Wanderer and Marshal Law switch publishers with ease. Let's hope those creators aren't similarly targeted...

UPDATE: Elaine Lee writes in the comments below; Just to make sure that things don't veer into the realm of "truthiness," Michael Kaluta and I received a letter that challenged our ownership of Starstruck and used the words, "please stop all sales and other related activities." Through our lawyer, we provided two letters from Marvel's former publisher, Mike Hobson, that backed our ownership of Starstruck. Things seem to have calmed down now. The situation seems to have been resolved. (I'm overusing the word "seems," so as not to jinx myself. Knock wood.) It was scary. At first, we weren't sure we could find the 3-decades-old documents we needed. (From way back in the pre-digtal days, youngsters. We're talking paper here. Dusty, old, yellow paper.) But there is no lawsuit. We think it may either have been about Disney's teen movie of a couple of years back, also called Starstruck. They may have found uswhile looking for people infringing on their property. Or they may have been simply trying to figure out what they still owned. But it was a frightening way to do it. So, this may have been an aberration, or other Epic creators may hear from them. Who knows? But creators may want to scare up that old paperwork. It can't hurt and might save you several days of abject fear.

[downlikecharlie]

Well, that sucks.

[Fysh]

Now, the odds are that this is a clerical error on Marvel/Disney's part, and hopefully there will be an apology on the way.

I wouldn't go betting on that. I've heard tales through friends who work in illustration and animation that Disney will, as part of their interview/recruiting process, try and lay claim to the material in your portfolio on the basis that showing it to them constituted giving them the rights (and I think that a clause stating as much was non-optionally part of any contracts they were offered). And that's before we talk about "we own the stuff you create in your spare time" type clauses that apparently float around there as well...

[Acrid_Gunsmoke]

I always knew that stupid mouse on the steamboat was a jerk...

[Greymattersplat]

The Epic imprint offered a very attractive creator owned contract, which saw work such as The One, Groo The Wanderer and Marshal Law switch publishers with ease. Let's hope those creators aren't similarly targeted...

However, if you wanna see the internet actually attempt to rise up against Disney, let them try send one of those to Sergio...

[devious1]

However, if you wanna see the internet actually attempt to rise up against Disney, let them try send one of those to Sergio...

Wow.... I'd like to see them try that

[not him - HIM]

Wotta revoltin' development!

Let's hope it was a clerical error, for a whole heap of people's sakes.

[zehgnomo]

I've heard tales through friends who work in illustration and animation that Disney will, as part of their interview/recruiting process, try and lay claim to the material in your portfolio on the basis that showing it to them constituted giving them the rights...

These tactics are surprisingly common, not only at the mouse. Sony did it recently:

Drawn - Does Sony Pictures own your art portfolio?

This is an issue every visual media artist should be aware of before flashing their portfolios around.

[Maybeland]

It's nice reminder that Marvel is run by the same corporate vampires that DC is

[die-yng]

Not. Really. Surprising.

Only thing that surprises me is that this seems to be the first attempt.

I'm really sooo glad that the mouse owns Marvel and Star Wars now.