KidColt wrote:
That's my understanding, and some of you may be able to explain it better, but I thought it was a wonderful gesture by Marvel.
It wasn't really a wonderful gesture.  Dave was very ill and was relying only on his VA benefits for care, and his financial resources were low.  Advocates for Dave (Clifford Meth, Neal Adams, and others I believe) approached Marvel and suggested it might be nice if they help Dave out.  They sort of threatened Marvel a bit, pointing out that it could generate lots of bad publicity for them if the media picked up on the story that "Nightcrawler's creator lies sick and destitute in a VA hospital while X-Men II makes millions."  It was also pointed out to them that Dave had a fairly strong case for suing for copyright of Nightcrawler, since he clearly did not create the character work-for-hire for Marvel (he created it while working for DC and intended to use him in the Legion, and could prove this).  In light of this, Marvel decided that giving Dave a modest pension and medical insurance was a better choice than facing bad publicity and a potential lawsuit.  Most likely Dave agreed to sign away any claim to copyright on Nightcrawler in exchange.  So it wasn't so much a wonderful gesture as a pragmatic one by Marvel.