Spawn 400,000

The ten year old court battle between Neil Gaiman and Todd McFarlane has reach it final throws.  Back in February 2012 the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals laid the hammer down on Todd, saying he actually had to pay Neil for those characters and stories he came up with within the Spawn universe - which was one of those book that took full advantage of the 1990's comic boom turning Todd from a fan-favorite comic artist to a minor toy and to some extent media millionare.  Because of the verdict the Arizona Federal Bankruptcy Court has ordered the release of nearly $400,00 from an escrow account created when Todd McFarlane Productions files bankruptcy back in 2004. 

It's not clear to the immediate public how Todd is doing these day other the the bankruptcy, the lack of anything new seeming to come out of his toy company - Heroclix is the fever of the flava these days - and no one has heard dick from Spawn other then the comic that went off the rails when they made the lead character God.  On the one hand you have to praise the guy for taking his minor fame and flipping into into that toy company.  On the other hand while no one who is not directly involved can say precisely what the argument of the law suit involved, there is a pattern here that seem to point to Todd McFarlane acting like a complete dick towards creators who came to work with him, and even some he had nothing to do with at all.

Image comics was started to address the concerns of creators who felt that mainstream comic publishing was screwing them over - and the fact of the matter it was.  The stories about Jack Kirby was a 1000 pound Hulk in the room and every comic collecting circle and fanzine, and even got a mention in the press every once in a blue moon.  So creators like Marc Silvestri, Todd McFarlane and Jim Lee struck out on their own as a direct reaction to Marvel and DC treating like they bent over to pick up the soap.   It was when the 1980's passed the baton to the 1990's, right at the time people like Alan Moore, John Byrne, Neil Gaiman and Alec Ross were setting the stage for what we now know of at the 1990's Comic Boom.   90% of image comics published then were 24 page posters with the hint of a story somewhere in there, but they were selling by the millions like everyone else.  For Todd McFarlane to turn around 10 and 15 years later claiming rights to properties every motherfucker knows was not his to begin with - the story of every aspect of the Spawn books were published pretty much everywhere and Todd was getting TV time too and speaking on creator right way back in the early 1990's.   It wasn't like he was hosting his own talk show, but Spawn was one of those book that Hollywood wanted to capitalize on and pretty much did so interviews with him were kinda part of the whole frenzy.  Spawn was one thing, it was Todd's creation so many he figure he owned every aspect of it even if the law said different.  Todd McFarlane also tried to claim Miracleman - the Alan Moore classic reboot - which Todd had fuck all to do with.   So we may not know every line in the actual legal documents but a dick move is a dick move no matter how you look at it.