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Gaiman v. McFarlane Decision Handed Down
aronc writes "In a case of speedy justice a jury today ruled that Neil Gaiman was in the right on all 9 counts in the case he brought against Todd McFarlane. More details at ComiCon Pulse and ICv2. This case revolved around ownership stakes for Medieval Spawn, Angela, Cagliostro, and further contracts involving the rights to Miracle Man."
Some of the best news I've heard in a long time. This legal wrangling has kept Miracleman out of print for far too long, and it's about time we saw reprints of the earlier trade paperbacks and the continuation of the story.
:)
Perfect timing, of course - just after I spent £28.50 on the second TPB of the series on eBay.
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I think after this, being married to a Penthouse Pet, and his buying of that McGwire homerun ball for a few million dollars more than it was worth Todd McFarlane has officially qualified for an E! True Hollywood story.
I don't suppose any legal eagle sites out there have a more in-depth look at this one? Legal and/or copyright sluts (myself included) want to know if this decision means anything other than a bunch of fanboys (myself towards the front of the line) finally get to buy the Miracleman trade paperbacks we've been coveting.
...I think Journey's Steve Perry still owns the rights to Todd McFarlane's haircut.
...that Todd MacFarlane learned that his money can't buy him everything.
Even though it's nice to see a fellow Canadian's success, his "I've got the world by the balls" attitude has finally been proved to be incorrect.
I've heard plenty about MarvelMan/MiracleMan, and I look forward to seeing and reading more of him.
3.There was a contract in 1992 (when McFarlane promised that he would treat Gaiman "better than the big guys").
4.McFarlane breached the 1992 contract.
5.There was a contract in 1997 (this was the rights swap of Gaiman's interests in Medieval Spawn and Cagliostro for McFarlane's interest in Miracleman, plus setting royalty percentages for all uses of Angela and allowing "one-off" projects using the characters).
If he treats the "big guys" worse than he treated Gaiman... we might see a couple of another cases enter court as well.
Could someone provide some background on this matter... The slashdot article, and the two links it provides all speak in a manner that can only be deciphered by someone who is familiar with the case... I'm having trouble figuring out exactly what went on... Something about little guy writing something, big guy using it, little guy suing... All existing in the comic book world (hmmm, does this really fit in the legal category?)
So could someone give me a run up on who the players are? (i.e. "Gaiman" "McFarlane" "Image" "Medieval Spawn" "Cagliostro" "Miracle Man")
Education is a better safeguard of liberty than a standing army.
Edward Everett (1794 - 1865)
I could care less who wins this...just a two huge egos fighting over something any two normal people would have fixed with a 20 min conversation...anyway I own issue #9 of spawn...the issue that caused all this...is it worth anything?..I got laid off from my dotcom job like 2 years ago and in desperate need of cash.
hook
I had never heard of that character until just now. Unfortunately, all I can think about is those scam preachers who slap you on the forehead and call it a miracle. "Sir, Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ tells me you have a problem with your ears? You've been using hearing aids for the last 10 years, is that right? Well NO MORE! Let Jesus unclog those ears for you! *SLAP* IT'S A MIRACLE!"
It pains me to see two parties, I so much admire, going to court. Hopefully there will be no hard feelings, or what poses for them will pass.
A feeling of having made the same mistake before: Deja Foobar
Bwahahahahahahahaha!
Ok now that thats out of my system.....
McFarlane is a businessman first and has been for a long time, once he was a great illustrator (probably still is...when he does draw....) and his high horse attitude just makes stories like this and situations like this very amusing.
I was actually shocked when I read this headline, as I have not followed comics seriously in many years....but those two are big boys in the industry....and I'm glad for Gaiman
I can almost see McFarlane standing there before trial in his best brooding glare (ala the intro to the Spawn animated series) saying "....you cannot hope to win against Lord McFarlane, you cannot hope...ahh screw it....would you care for a limited edition gold-plated Malebolgia figure and we'll call it even?"
Sehr geehrter Toilettenbenutzer!
What about Angela?
I was pissed off when McFarlane killed her in Spawn #100 (she was the coolest Spawn character and we never got enough of her), saying that he would never bring her back, but now if Gaiman had some right on her that McFarlane disputed I wonder if he killed her just to piss Gaiman off.
And now that Gaiman's right on her are affirmed, what will he do with her, sell it to McFarlane so he can keep her dead or find some way to ressuscite her???
"The obvious mathematical breakthrough would be development of an easy way to factor large prime numbers." Bill Gates,
(From Comicon Pulse Article)
they found that McFarlane and Gaiman had entered into agreements in 1992 and 1997 and that McFarlane had breeched both agreements
It's a rough world when you can't put pants on an agreement.
Spellcheckers. Gotta love 'em, gotta hate 'em.
From the SpiderMan suit that came back from the Secret Wars series.
I noticed in one of the links that the jury was made up of all women. Now I know it's a stereotype that girls don't like comics as much as boys but Mcfarlane's lawyer couldn't have been happy about that.
:)
Then they are quoting comic books during the trial
In his closing statement, Gaimans' attorney said the case was about "keeping promises, being fair... and telling the truth."
McFarlane's lawyer's closing argument referred again to Gaiman's statement in the script to SPAWN #9: "It's your playground; I'm in for an afternoon on the swings."
Seemed funny to me.
The Toddler- prick that he is - is also very creative, and could be said to have saved the industry, AND He created the Spidey's-black-suit = symbiote = Venom waaaaaaaaaayyyyyyyyyyy back in Amazing Spiderman 299-301. So this being a forum dedicated to all things open source, he had every right to snake back his creation
I went to battle MC Escher but drew a blank
It's actually worth reading now.
They've got J. Michael Straczynski (of Babylon 5 fame) writing the book now, and it's pretty good.
I had thought I would never read a Marvel comic again, but I'm happy to read ASM now.
Jon Acheson
All opinions expressed herein are my own, and not those of my employers, who are appalled.
Joan, who had the 4.00pm in the office sweep, collected. A mad rush to get down to the courtroom -- I left books, glasses, pens and my phone behind in the lawyers' office, and zoomed.
The jury ruled in our favour. I appreciate their work, and the incredibly hard work of the legal team, enormously. I regret that it needed to happen.
Tomorrow, with any luck, I get my phone back.
(and earlier....)
Lots of requests for interviews about the trial, which I'm saying no to. Win, lose, or win some counts and lose others, I think my position's going to be the same on that. As I explained to one journalist, it's not wrestling.
Thats nothing... I know several people in the Comic/Anime/Etc community here in Mexico and when a local Comic Convention wanted to have McFarlane come here to sign autographs and do a conference, the guy demanded (aside from his pay) that he and his family be "awarded" a one week vacation in Ixtapa Zihuatanejo, with all expenses paid.
The Convention guys agreed, bought them the air tickets, booked the hotel... everything. So McFarlane comes to the opening of the Convention, signs 2 hours of autographs, and then leaves the friggin place!
Turns out that once he had the tickets, he called the airline and the hotel and changed the dates on his reservation! The guy just ignored his contract (Which required him to stay 3 days at the convention and do a conference) and took the vacation and the money! The Convention organizers tried to sue, but of course, this involves international law and treaties and it would have been far too expensive... So they decided to just drop matters...
Of course, the year after that, they invited Will Eisner, and he was absolutely great... He spent more than 3 hours talking about his work and answering questions... he even showcased work by local aspiring artists and gave them some good natured advice, and pointed out to the audience what he liked and disliked about the pieces.
No sig for the moment.
Over my career I've worked with a number of people I'll unhelpfully lump together as artists. Graphic artists, web designers, would-be comic book artists, 3-D modellers and animators, 2-d artists. Great people, generally very sane. Of these artists, a significant number have owned and decorated their offices with McFarlane's Spawn figurines. And never just plain old Spawn. Spawn the Bloodaxe, Alien Spawn, Pirate Spawn, Raven Spawn, She Spawn, Wings of Redemption Spawn, Spawn VII, Dark Ages Spawn - Samurai Wars, Techno Spawn, or Spawn the Bloodaxe and Thunderhoof. Each and every one more EXTREME than the last. There have been 22 different series of figurines. By my back of the envelope calculation, there are approximately seventy billion distinct Spawn variants.
What's the point? The character is alien and pointless. A friend at one point suggested that the Spawn comic books were for teenagers who found Batman not gritty enough and too realistic. Grade school kids who need something more EXTREME to try and shock their parents. The figurines may be very distinct, but they certainly are all EXTREME. Multiple layers of billowing clothing, draped in chains, with random pipes and hoses stuck in various unlikely places. Sure, they're detailed, but they're just random. The effect isn't cool, just busy. They certainly never approach the real creepiness of a master like H.R. Giger. They're not shocking, just childish. What exactly is the appeal of Spawn?
McFarlane really bothers me, his work (assuming the things coming out with his name all over them are his work) is disassociated with reality. Spawn is inane. McFarlane can even taint unrelated works. http://trigunner.giborama.com/trigunner/merchandis e/mcvash.html">McFarlane's interpretation of Vash from Trigun was needlessly
draped in chains, just like Vash never was in the series, turning Vash into some bizarre bondage version of himself.
So what exactly is the draw of McFarlane and his work, especially Spawn? I certainly don't see it.
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That was sarcasm, if you didn't catch it. McFarlene is a bit sue happy. Paladium had a fairly neat post-apocolyptic gothic horror world called "Nightspawn". Other than the fact that it had the name "Spawn" in it, it was totally different conceptually other than "horror".
But if you are tight for money, it doesn't pay to fight a legal battle. So now Nightspawn doesn't exit and it's been renamed to Nightbane.
No! It's a *SIG*. Keep the Special Interest Groups away! (Con joke!)
Either that, or "I could care less, (but it would take some work)".
OS Software is like love: The best way to make it grow is to give it away.
Are you capable of explaining how it qualifies as "sarcasm"? Hello? Anybody in there? *knock*, *knock*.
Nope, empty. Go figure.
That's so sad. For you. So, what other ethically-challenged slimeballs do you "admire"?
If you recall, pre-Spawn Todd M. was working for Marvel. Believe me, nobody could touch his artwork in The Amazing Spider-Man (I believe there were other titles that came before). Before long, Todd was pencilling and inking, and understandably grew tired of his "new 9-to-5 box" (suggesting not his hours so much as the stagnation of his job).
Btw, and totally off-topic, even here Todd had webs flying like crazy around Spidey, especially when he was hanging upside-down, etc. The precursor to the chains...
His art was popular enough Marvel did their best to keep him, and gave him his own mag, "Spider-Man", sans prefix. I believe Todd got to write a few of these as well. But he didn't like the fact that his creative whims with Spidey were still kept in check by Marvel, and, iirc, Marvel was having a hard time paying him what he was worth.
*POOF* Todd goes solo and creates Spawn. What artist doesn't dream of a title where they have complete control, cradle to grave? It was several issues before Todd even let someone else do some artwork in the mag. I remember being surprised the first time I saw two names signed to a cover -- How could Todd let someone else control his "baby"?
Anyhow, heck, who in any field doesn't dream of being able to have final say-so on what happens at their job? If you want it done right [and have nobody to blame but you], do it yourself.
I would agree that Spawn's plot was often fairly juvenille (I haven't read in years, I'm afraid), but that's hardly the point. Todd can draw and dream up some pretty cool looking beasts, Spawn and Spidey being his two most popular. And this ability is so strong his success has bled right into other markets.
McFarlane is the Michael Jordan (or insert ball player of your generation) of comics, and what roundball player doesn't have a few inspirational pics of [a younger] Jordan tacked up on the wall?
It's all 0s and 1s. Or it's not.
Take the First Issue with the Black Costume (secretwars #8) value = $8-10 dollars. Then look at Todds run on the Amazing Issues with Venom's Introduction = $80-$140 Nuff said!
I went to battle MC Escher but drew a blank
Somewhere in the conception of Spawn was a good idea--a disbeliever in any conception of God or the hereafter dies violently and, without any real understanding of what he is doing, makes a deal with infernal powers, and returns, not knowing exactly what happened or what he should do next. A good writer could have made a fascinating story from such a character. But it didn't take me more than a few books to realize that McFarlane was not that writer. There is a special frustration one gets from seeing a good idea botched--I remember feeling this frustration with many Batman comics--and I gave up on Spawn before Neil Gaiman ever showed up. I could track the issue down, I suppose, but why?
As for Spawn's appearance, I thought his initial garb was striking, although I could have done without the chains. It must be said though that Spawn looks vaguely like a lot of comic-book characters--McFarlane didn't really conceive anything new. I take it that Spawn's costumes grew more and more elaborate as the comic progressed, and McFarlane learned that money could be made in toys. He's Barbie for straight males. As for why people like that sort of thing, I ask, why do so many people go in for cartoonish depictions of Hell, with their Etrigan-style monsters, colorful sets and backgrounds, and an overabundance of red and black costumes?
hyacinthus.
Read this article at my fave comic site...
Miracleman: Frequently Unanswered Questions
Large print giveth, and the small print taketh away
I'm pretty sure that the original version was common until the late 1980s, when, like all irritating things with perfectly reasonable alternatives, the "lazy" version began to take over.
Or perhaps I was just oblivious until then.
Mind the Gap
Actually I have been receiving many suggestion to extend my sig...
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OGG -> Maui HI,
SQL -> San Carlos CA,
Basically the ammount of airports in the world is such that you can find -almost- any three letter code in the IATA directory
No sig for the moment.
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