Posted in: Comics, DC Comics | Tagged: black adam, captain marvel, neil gaiman, Paul Levitz, sandman, shazam

Paul Levitz & Neil Gaiman Talk Creator Credits In Black Adam & Sandman

Published Wed, 26 Oct 2022 08:57:11 -0500

Yesterday, we looked at former DC Comics Publisher and President, and current board member of Boom Studios, Paul Levitz' account of being the one at DC Comics who arranged the purchase of Shazam, Captain Marvel, and Black Adam, that eventually led to the film out this weekend. Which has the following "special thanks" credits at the end acknowledging comic book creators whose work was referenced in some way in the movie.

We might go into those in detail at some point, but one clear absence was that of E. Nelson Bridwell, who reintroduced Black Adam to DC Comics continuity after thirty years without publication, though artist Kurt Shaffenberger was credited.

Thanks To E Nelson Bridwell For Black Adam

Paul Levitz began a post on Facebook. "Got a couple of contacts asking why E. Nelson Bridwell wasn't included in the 'special thanks' section of BLACK ADAM. Please understand that: (1) I haven't had anything to do with that process in years, and (2) all forms of non-contractual recognition of comics creators are fairly idiosyncratic.

"Back before movie studios were willing to add the 'special thanks' acknowledgments (which are charming but may or may not indicate any kind of financial benefit to the named folks or their heirs), at DC we used to review the scripts (the finished film rarely being available to us) and try to identify whose work had been incorporated, and if it seemed appropriate, attach a value to it. That required a deep knowledge of comics, boundless curiosity and willingness to question others, and a lot of effort to try to come up with equitable (or reasonably equitable) answers."

"Among others, I worked hard at it–but while I occasionally found things others missed (eliminating Patsy and Hedy from Sam Hamm's script for BATMAN; sorry, Sam, my fault), my own knowledge faltered many times and had to be supplemented by others, including the talent themselves. And establishing bonus amounts (since these were non-contractual so without formulas) was very arbitrary no matter how much we wanted to be fair. One of my happiest moments was when Neal Adams (historically possibly the most vociferous critic of how comics talent were compensated) actually thought his payment for BATMAN BEGINS' use of Ra's Al Ghul was fair and put it up on his website proudly. And a few times, making such payments was impossible because of legal situations…or our concern about triggering legal situations."

Thanks to Paul Levitz too

Paul Levitz was credited with this kind of thing, a lot, making payments from DC's coffers not because they were legally obliged to but because it was right, and kept creators happy, something that continued after he was deposed, to some degree at least. Famously, Jim Starlin was paid more for a tiny character who might have been the KGBeast in one of the Christopher Nolan Batman films, than for the use of Thanos, Gamora, Drax The Destroyer, Shang-Chi, Captain Marvel, and the Infinity Gauntlet in all the Marvel movies combined, to date.

He continues "All that said, I'm baffled by why I'm in the list for BLACK ADAM (for buying out Fawcett's rights to the Shazam property? Executives don't usually get on those lists for deals and that was long before staffers could be listed as Executive Producers at WB) and Nelson isn't, who wrote some defining stories of the character and established the eqyptian pantheon used in the film. Knowing some of the folks who do the research for these, I think it's an honest ommission. And knowing Nelson, I think he'd be more tickled to see his acronym of gods used than he would the credit."

"Overall, I'm very proud of how DC handled these matters in the absence of either an industry tradition of decency or the existence of a guild to negotiate fair standards with during the time Jenette and I were managing the company. Far from perfect, but always with an intent to be fair."

Marvel EVP Tom Brevoort added "I haven't seen the film, but I would guess that you were included in the special thanks section for something Justice Society-related. And yes, a great shame about Nelson's omission."

And thanks to Neil Gaiman while we're at it

Sandman co-creator Neil Gaiman talked about the creator credits list he was involved with, adding; "On the Netflix Sandman, I fought hard to get "Thanks to", then fought hard to get a "thanks to" at the end of each episode, and not a momentary list of seventy names at the end of the last episode, then, having won both of those battles, I had to look at the lists that lawyers (DCs? Warners?) had compiled and fix them as best I could. They had used Wikipedia and the Web as their resources to research the creators of the characters we had used, and they were flawed tools. I corrected a lot, and double-checked everyone. But it was not an easy process and if I hadn't wanted to take it on as a god-given mission then it wouldn't have been done, and people would be puzzling about why credits were missing for Sandman, or why the wrong people appeared to have been thanked."

Paul Levitz replied " These things are always obscure, and the only witnesses are often dead or compromised. On my little contribution to Sandman, a reasonable soul might wonder if the original artist should be Ricardo Villamonte (whose art graces a page that serves as an ad/promotion just before GHOST CASTLE debuts) or Nestor Redondo (who draw the first published image of Lucien in GHOST CASTLE), but would be unlikely to know that Joe Orlando designed the character for them both. Your efforts were exhaustive and exhausting, and folks doing it for a living often don't share the passion or your ability to reach out to the survivors who know truths, or at least their perceptions of them. As you know, I admire what you did on behalf of myself and several friends no longer with us to speak for themselves."

Now, onto why David Lloyd hasn't been mentioned in Pennyworth yet… or for that matter, Don Cameron, Victor McLeod, Leslie Swabacker, and Harry Fraser.

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