Every comic book adaptation lately seems to have some sort of issue surrounding creator’s rights. Gary Friedrich getting curbstomped by Disney. The whole Kirby lawsuit ugliness hauled out for The Avengers. It’s such a cheap slow news story a bunch of clueless journalists supposedly tried to get Steve Ditko on camera to complain about how Spider-Man was half his.
But one story we won’t be reading? Chuck Dixon losing out on DC’s usage of Bane.
“Graham and I both signed participation agreements, which are good in perpetuity. So it’s not up to them whether they take care of us. We’re taken care of. We’ve seen money from Bane all along – the Lego games and the little Bane-shaped piece in the Spaghettios. We always get a piece of what Bane makes. We’ll see money from this movie. They have graphs and charts to figure out how much based on how many lines of dialogue he has and how much he’s in the movie and how much impact he has on the story. We were part of it the last time when Bane was in the last [Joel] Schumacher film really briefly. We participated in that.”
Dixon goes on to note that he gets compensated for his ideas from DC quite a bit for inventions like the Subway Rocket, even if he does have to give them a call to get his check.
We’ve got to ask, though… how much money do you see out of Bane Spaghetti-Os?
image courtesy Warner Brothers
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yes, sometimes taking less money up front in hopes of greater residuals down the road pays off. no morals or ethics, just a negotiation that happened in the past and extant parties honoring the terms of a contract.
dont get me wrong, i find this interesting and am glad it’s being covered here. but was DC being moral here or was dixon just a more savy negotiator? or was he just lucky? ethics in comics, fun stuff!
Actually, Dixon and Nolan got a standard deal for the time, to my knowledge. They weren’t expecting Bane to be in a major Hollywood movie.
I had a roommate who was one like 2 episodes of Beverly Hills 90210 in 1991. He’s still getting checks from it. It’s times like these that I think I really gotta get in the Hollywood biz.
I know a few guys who work in comics and they always know when something they’ve done has been reprinted or hits Comixology because suddenly they start getting royalty checks for small random amounts in the mail.
At least he’s getting what he deserves. Could be like Bill Finger who STILL goes uncredited for his heavy involvement and practically unsung work on the Batman comics. He’s still trying to get credit where credit is so overly due. It’s an issue I’m sure most creators of comic book heroes must endure through.
Wow, his estate is still working on that? Damn. He’s been dead for nearly forty years now.