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This was not "work for hire".
[By default, a worker owns the copyright to their work. The one exception is "work for hire" where an employee agrees that they are merely a replaceable labourer, following an employer's detailed instructions.]
J David Spurlock
8 June 2016
MARVEL had NO contracts with creators in the 1960s. Marvel may have started occasionally stamping the backs of checks as early as 1969 — with no warning or prior agreement — and after most of the best characters had already been created. The earliest stamped checks known to exist are from 1974 &, not all checks were stamped even then. The text notes the TRANSFER of RIGHTS from the creators to Marvel — NOT “Work For Hire” &, there is no mention of the artist's physical art property, just the transfer of RIGHTS. Marvel did not attempt to force freelancers to agree to be considered as "Work Made For Hire employees" until the copyright law changed in 1978, at which point, many top talents ceased working for Marvel including Jack Kirby, Neal Adams, Jim Steranko,Frank Brunner, Mike Ploog, Don McGregor, etc. Others caved to sign the 1978 papers only under duress because of a sudden lack of work in the industry due to the DC implosion.
Patrick Ford The checks are irrelevant and if anything support the claim that the freelance work was not work for hire. Notice the language. No mention of work for hire (a term which did exist at the time). And the mention of a transfer of rights. If the work being done was work for hire then there were no rights to transfer. The company would have been considered the author to begin with.
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