And speaking of what I was speaking about in the previous item here: In 1970 when Jack Kirby quit Marvel Comics and defected to the enemy — otherwise known as DC Comics — one of the first of many characters he created for his new publisher was Morgan Edge. Mr. Edge was the slimy, mob-connected Chief Exec of the massive entertainment conglomerate that owned, among other things, The Daily Planet and the Galaxy Broadcasting System…those places where Clark Kent worked. And here, I'll quote Wikipedia quoting me about the guy…
Morgan Edge first appeared in Superman's Pal, Jimmy Olsen #133 and was created by Jack Kirby Kirby based his physical appearance on actor Kevin McCarthy, while his personality was inspired by television executive James T. Aubrey. According to Kirby's production assistant Mark Evanier, Kirby "wanted to explore the theme of organized crime gaining a foothold in corporate America — particularly a giant media conglomerate. Given the shady background of the company that acquired Warner Bros. and DC [i.e., Kinney National Company], it was something of an inside joke." However, under prodding from editorial staff who preferred Edge to be an ongoing supporting character rather than a villain who would ultimately have to be brought to justice (and thus written out of the series), the "Morgan Edge" connected to Intergang was revealed to be an imposter.
Actually, I think the editorial folks (and some above them) were just plain uncomfy with connecting a big media conglomerate like theirs to organized crime. That's why they turned the Morgan Edge that Kirby created into that freshest of all plot ideas…an evil twin.
Jack had read much about James Aubrey in the news and it really didn't matter for Jack's purposes if it was true or not. To him, it was just an idea with great story possibilities and he thought that DC had missed out on a lot of them by nicening up Morgan Edge. Aubrey at the time was getting a lot of bad press and alienating a lot of creative talent doing things like…well, for one, cutting 28 minutes out of Blake Edwards' latest movie.
