Jack Kirby was never a rich man. In one interview before his death in 1994, The King reminisced on his poor childhood spent on the Lower East Side where his mother treated him to a vacation that consisted of two weeks on the fire escape outside their apartment. Despite being the co-creator of many of Marvel's heaviest hitters - including the X-Men, Hulk, Captain America, and Fantastic Four - he never became fabulously wealthy, instead plugging away on work-for-hire pencilling gigs up until he suffered a fatal heart attack at age 76. Where the dream team of Stan and Jack has taken on an almost mythical status, the reality is a lot more bitter than that. Kirby, as with many other freelancers in Marvel's golden age, was treated awfully by the company. He owned none of the rights to the characters he created, and so was party to few (if any) royalties. When he tried to recover some of his original artwork, he was told by Marvel that they had tossed it out, only to later discover that they were selling it on at a huge profit and giving none of the proceeds to him. The freelancers of Marvel are oft-forgotten, especially because the publisher seems so eager to forget them. In all the excitement for the upcoming Guardians of the Galaxy film, they've skipped over the tragic story of Rocket Raccoon creator Bill Mantlo, who was a victim of a hit-and-run in 1992 and has been in institutional care ever since which he can barely afford to pay for. Iconic X-Men artist Dave Cockrum was only just compensated before his death. And there are countless other creators who don't see a dime off of the Marvel movies that take their work as inspiration.
Tom Baker is the Comics Editor at WhatCulture! He's heard all the Doctor Who jokes, but not many about Randall and Hopkirk. He also blogs at http://communibearsilostate.wordpress.com/
