Welcome to the two-hundred and fiftieth in a series of examinations of comic book legends and whether they are true or false. Click here for an archive of the previous two hundred and forty-nine.

Comic Book Legends Revealed is part of the larger Legends Revealed series, where I look into legends about the worlds of entertainment and sports, which you can check out here, at legendsrevealed.com. I'd especially recommend you check out this installment of Movie Legends Revealed to find out the truth behind the first meeting between screen legends Charlie Chaplin and Douglas Fairbanks! And what kind of "special" effects did James Cameron use to have Linda Hamilton's character meet a duplicate of her in T2?

Let's begin!

COMIC LEGEND: A comic book creative team had to actually sue to get a credit when their comic was adapted for a TV series.

STATUS: True

In 1999, Fox came out with a new television drama called Harsh Realm based on the early 1990s Harris Comics comic book mini-series by writer James Hudnall and artist Andrew Paquette.

The comic book was about a detective in the future who is hired to enter a virtual reality program to find the missing son of a wealthy couple. The virtual reality program is a game where people can die for real, and the missing teen has become a bit of a tyrant in the game.

The TV series was about a soldier (in the general "present") who is sent into a virtual reality program with a team of soldiersto bring back a guy (Terry O'Quinn from Lost fame) who has become a tyrannical General (think Hearts of Darkness) in the game.

Here's a few double-page spreads from the comic (click on them to enlarge)...





Here's a shot from the TV series (plus the DVD cover of the complete series)...





At the end of the opening credits, the show is titled "Created by Chris Carter"....



Harsh Realm was a "creator-owned" series by Hudnall and Paquette, but their rights did not extend to the actual licensing rights (Hudnall certainly has made a note of that, and has made sure to get the licensing rights in the future on creator-owned projects), so Harris Comics had free reign to do what they wanted, licensing-wise.

The only mention of the comic at ALL in the credits was at the end, when Harris Comics got a "Special Thanks."

However, since Hudnall and Paquette still did, you know, CREATE the work, they pushed for a credit.

And come on, while Carter clearly made dramatic changes to the initial comic book premise, the basic idea is still extremely similar (it even kept the darn name the same!!!), so you'd be hard-pressed to say that the TV work was not BASED on the comic.

However, the Writer's Guild of America has a very specific definition of what "Created by" means when it comes to television shows.

From their own guidelines:

The WGA-determined "Created by" credit also determines the writer's eligibility for separated rights in a series. The "Created by" credit on a series is not determined until there is a series order. There are two ways a writer becomes eligible to seek "Created by" credit on an original series:

a. a writer writes a format for the series; or

b. a writer receives "Story by" or "Written by" credit on the pilot episode of the series.

"Separated rights" are very important in the world of television and film, as it provides a great deal of protection for writers and their work when working with studios.

So, as you might imagine, the WGA was a bit more interested in protecting the rights of one of their members (and a famous member, at that) than the rights of two non-member comic book creators, so they argued in court that it was impossible to give them a shared "Created by" credit due to WGA gudelines.

The court felt, though, that since Hudnall and Paquette were not members of the WGA, then they should not be held to the same standards as WGA members, and once you take the WGA out of it, it was misleading to say that Carter was the "creator" when it was clearly based on the comic.

Ultimately, though, the court DID acknowledge that "Created by" was a unique credit in the world of television.

So, in Paquette v. Twentieth Century Fox Film Corp., 54 U.S.P.Q .2d 1286, 2000 U.S.Dist.LEXIS 2134 (S.D.N.Y.2000), the court ruled that Hudnall, Paquette and Harris Comics were to be given an "Inspired by" credit directly following Carter's credit at the beginning of the show (Fox originally offered a credit at the end of the episode).

This was a major ruling, because it determined that the Lanham Act (what you sue under for trademark/copyrights and other stuff, like false advertising) superseded the Writers Guild itself, even when it came to credits.

Sadly, the series was canceled basically right after the ruling (not because of the ruling, though - ratings weren't great), but still, it was an important victory for creator rights!

Thanks to the Entertainment Law Reporter for info on the case! And go check out James Hudnall's web site (here)! He's an interesting guy! And if you ever get the chance to pick up old issues of Harsh Realm, it's well worth your time (I'm actually featuring Harsh Realm for Friday's "Cool Comic" in the Year of Cool Comics).

COMIC LEGEND: Rick Veitch developed Paul Jenkins' Sentry concept with Jenkins all the way until Marvel decided to buy it.

STATUS: True

With the rumors of the Sentry's demise floating all around, I thought it would be nice to look back at the origins of the character, more specifically, the somewhat "secret" origins of the character.

Now, let's get it straight right from the bat that Paul Jenkins came up with the idea of the Sentry. He created the concept and the character.

However, interestingly enough, there was another fellow heavily involved in the development of Jenkins' concept that has not gotten much credit over the years (basically NO credit, really), and that is the great Rick Veitch.

It was Veitch that Jenkins went to with his basic concept of a guy who was over-the-hill and struggling with addiction, and trying to somehow work that into a superhero concept (a superhero addicted to his powers), perhaps by looking at a history spanning the current history of comics.

After they discussed it some more, Jenkins suggested the idea of the guy working as a guardian of sorts, eventually choosing the name The Centurion, then boiling that down to The Sentry.

Their next big revelation (which Veitch remembers as being his idea) was that Sentry was a "forgotten" hero. He has been part of the Marvel Universe all along, but was forgotten until now (due to some major problem wiping his existence from the memories of everyone).

So Veitch developed depictions of Sentry from different eras....







(Aren't those awesome depictions of each era? Spot on!)

They also came up with the idea of pitching the character as being created by two old comic book artists, anagrams of their names - Chick Rivet and Juan Pinkles.

So Jenkins went off to New York to do the final pitch, and when next he contacted Veitch, he told him that after pitching it to Quesada, he felt that it would be a perfect project for Jenkins to do with Jae Lee, who Jenkins had recently done a great Inhumans mini-series with...



Jenkins agreed, and so Veitch was out of the project (and now the fake artist was "Artie Rosen" and the story was that Stan Lee wrote it with the artist Rosen).

And the rest is, you know, history...



But be sure to include Veitch's name when you talk about the Sentry's history!

And be sure to check out his web site for MORE info about his time on the Sentry, including his sketches for the 1980s and 1990s Sentry! They're awesome!

COMIC LEGEND: Venom made an early appearance during an Amazing Spider-Man tie-in with Avengers: Under Siege.

STATUS: False

Reader Derek wrote in with this one the other day:

I was reading the 40 Years of Spider-Man DVD and there's a weird bit in an issue of Amazing Spider-Man that tied in with the Masters of Evil story in Avengers at the time. There is this shadowy figure who never showed up again. You did an old comic book urban legends column about how they changed Venom from what he was going to be and I thought maybe that was an early appearance of Venom? but I haven't seen that confirmed anywhere - what do you think?

Wow, Derek, I have to tell you, this question really threw me for a minute, because I'll be damned, it really does seem to fit as an early Venom appearance!

You see, back in late 1986, early appearances of the character who later became Venom started to pop up in Web of Spider-Man.

Web of Spider-Man #18 is a notable instance of that...



Well, just a couple of months later, in the pages of Amazing Spider-Man #283 (by Tom DeFalco and Ron Frenz)...



two members of the Masters of Evil (Absorbing Man and Titania) are picking up a new member for their group at the airport before Spider-man spoils their pick-up attempt.



And there, on the next page...



Wow, dark figure with big sharp teeth!!

The figure appears later on, as well...

So it sure seems to fit, especially since the plot was never addressed otherwise in Amazing Spider-Man.

However, that was not Venom.

That was a DIFFERENT brand-new Spider-Man villain Tom DeFalco and Ron Frenz were going to introduce, but they ended up leaving the book before they got the chance.

Instead, the character debuted in their run on Thor!

The character?

The Mongoose!!!



The issue even says that he was in Amazing #283.

So, sorry, Derek, that's not him!

But you had me thinking you were on to something for awhile there, so that's something!

Okay, that's it for this week!

Thanks to the Grand Comics Database for this week's covers! And thanks to Brandon Hanvey for the Comic Book Legends Revealed logo!

Feel free (heck, I implore you!) to write in with your suggestions for future installments! My e-mail address is cronb01@aol.com.

As you likely know by now, last April my book finally came out!

Here is the cover by artist Mickey Duzyj. I think he did a very nice job (click to enlarge)...



If you'd like to order it, you can use the following code if you'd like to send me a bit of a referral fee...

Was Superman a Spy?: And Other Comic Book Legends Revealed

See you all next week!