An author-publisher named Clifford Meth is involved in a campaign to convince Marvel Comics, either out of decency or to avoid rotten publicity, to pay royalties to artist Dave Cockrum. Dave and writer Len Wein revamped the old, cancelled X-Men property into the new, wildly profitable X-Men franchise. Now, Dave is ill and unable to work and this article details how Meth and artist Neal Adams are disagreeing on some aspects of the situation — though both agree Dave should receive large checks. (So do I. If I can't get quite as militant about this as they are, it's because I've been through this with too many creators who were in a comparable or worse situation. I may just have exhausted my passion for such crusades.)
The article makes some solid points but when it references Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster, it gets some facts wrong. One is the spelling of "Shuster." Search the Internet for comic websites that pay tribute to the creators of Superman and you'll find an amazing array with one or both names misspelled. Then, Siegel and Shuster did not approach National Periodicals with Superman. They submitted it to a syndicate operation that had a division that also printed comic books. That division showed it to DC Comics (it was not yet National Periodicals) and DC approached Jerry and Joe. This may seem like a minor distinction but in the current legal battle over Superman's copyright, this little detail matters a lot.
Also: The settlement Siegel and Shuster received on their Superboy lawsuit was not huge, even for that period, and it is just plain wrong to say that "neither Siegel nor Shuster were able to get work in the industry again." They both had plenty of work in the years that followed. Siegel wrote at one time or another for almost every comic company that was in business, including a return to DC where he authored some wonderful Superman stories between 1959 and 1965. Shuster got art jobs as long as his eyesight held up, which was sadly not for long. I think what happened to both those men was horrible but they certainly got work in the industry after the lawsuit was settled in '48.
Meth's recounting of Neal Adams' crusade to establish credits and a pension for Siegel and Shuster is correct but incomplete. Neal did wonderful, heroic things but so did other folks. Jerry Robinson, for example, was heavily involved in the final negotiations. (I don't mean to take anything away from Neal. Just trying to set the record straight.)
As for Dave Cockrum's situation…Dave's a helluva great guy and a tremendous talent. His contributions to the X-Men have led to zillions of dollars in toy sales alone, without even getting into comic book sales and movies and DVDs and other sources of income based on his designs. I am skeptical that Marvel will create the precedent of cutting him in, but I'd be delighted to be proven wrong.