2. Venom (Spiderman)
In 1982, a contest held by Marvel Comics asked fans to take a shot at creating a story for an upcoming Spiderman comic.
One fan from Illinois named Randy Schueller went all in on his effort, even designing a new costume for Spidey.
Fast forward a few months and Randy gets a letter in the post from Marvel editor Jim Shooter, who liked his idea and wanted to purchase it for $220. Randy agreed and I guess as a comics fan was over the moon, but he soon realised that it wasn’t his story that Shooter had just paid for but the rights to the new Spiderman costume he had designed.
The costume went on to belong to new Spiderman supervillain Venom, who became one of the most famous comic villains of all time, starring in his own comics and getting his own merchandise made.
If Randy Schueller had been a bit more shrewd, who knows the levels of cash he’d be rolling in right now.
1. The Call Of The Wild
Writer Jack London wrote this story about a dog kidnapped from his suburban California home and made to live in the wilderness in 1903 and was paid $750 for the non-exclusive rights when it was published over four issues of the Saturday Evening Post.
So far so good.
London then sold the FULL RIGHTS to Macmillan Publishers later that year for $2,000 to turn the story into the book. The book was released on July 1st 1903 for $1.50 and sold 10,000 copies on its first day.
The Call of the Wild went on to become an international classic, selling millions overseas and being translated into 48 different languages. It’s still popular today.
100 years later, London’s grandkids and their grandkids would have been rolling in the dough if he had only taken his time and looked at the bigger picture. Fuck!
