Hi John,
Points taken.
I think part of the difference is the 'artist' side of the matter and the fact that one can 'reclaim a copyright' even existing. Toss in not returning artwork and lack of credits - Marvel/Disney just looks like the bad guy in their dealings. Ultimately they want to protect their investment so conceding a credit likely isn't being considered though I bet that's the best that the Kirby's could manage.
-Yoc
But an artist isn't any different, frankly, than the rest of us. My labor doesn't retroactively become more valuable because a former employer or client cashed in on some software I created for him (it has happened, in fact, and I'm thrilled for them, not demanding my cut). The transient that picked your vegetables isn't getting a fat check because corn futures are up and what he's done has proven more valuable to his employer. And a (pardon the expression) real artist doesn't look for a bigger commission when a painting goes for thousands at an auction, many owners later.
And, by the way, Kirby got a hell of a reputation for doing the work he did. That's far, far better than most people get for a lot more effort and a getting a lot more wronged along the way.
Sure, Marvel did bad things. But it's not an aphorism that two wrongs don't make a right. Giving the junior Kirbies a pound of Disney's flesh doesn't help Jack or even show him the least bit of respect. And Jack has been dead for getting close to twenty years, now, and suddenly the kids realize that Dad is owed artwork, long after the statute of limitations expired! Sure, totally believable.
But even accepting all this, it doesn't mean that Kirby thought he was an independent contractor creating things on his own that he then sold to Marvel. (And consider that, if any artist believed these were his work terms, there wouldn't have been a Creator's Rights movement. Image Comics wouldn't have been founded to publish creator-owned properties, because the assumption would have been that's what Marvel was doing.)
To me, nothing is more insulting to a man's legacy than for his children to paint him as an idiot who didn't know what he was doing so that they can make a quick buck off his work. If I have kids and anybody spots them doing it to me, please smack them on my behalf.