Marvel Comics Changes Credits in Wake of Jack Kirby Settlement

Just as Marvel was making a big deal about its film announcements this week with a blow out presentation at the El Capitan theater in Los Angeles, the company quietly slipped another change into its comic books.

The company released new issues of Fantastic Four and X-Men with a credit line that reads “Created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby. The line was not present in the previous issue of both comics (h/t to the watchful spotters at Bleeding Cool who first flagged this). The credit line is likely to appear in other comics Kirby had a hand in creating at Marvel.

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The change comes just a few weeks after Marvel settled with the Jack Kirby estate over the rights to the iconic characters he created with Stan Lee while working at Marvel in the 1960s and 1970s.

Marvel and the Kirby estate issued a joint statement that said, “Marvel and the family of Jack Kirby have amicably resolved their legal disputes, and are looking forward to advancing their shared goal of honoring Mr. Kirby’s significant role in Marvel’s history.”

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Terms of the settlement were not disclosed, though it was widely speculated to include a substantial financial payment and some form of credit.

When asked if the new credit line was related to the settlement, a Marvel spokesman declined to comment.

Compare the most recent issue of Fantastic Four (No. 12 and top) with the previous month’s issue (No. 11 and bottom). The credit line appears at the bottom of the page.  

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